1. She writes Voyager's characters extremely well and they seem to get the short end of the stick. They have to make room for new and improved versions of Dr. House and old grandma-like Farkas. I'm calling this the Vanguard Syndrome where major trek characters are starting to seem like cameos so that the authors can indulge themselves and not be stifled by established back stories.
I would suggest that it's a mistake to think of TV-originated characters and novel-originated characters as being in a separate category, or of some as being more or less important. They're all equal.
Actually, I think JonLuck has a point worth discussing. Why is it that recent writers (like Beyers) are determined to replace the on-screen characters with new, unfamiliar ones? No novel-generated character is ever going to gain the recognition and popularity of a character from television or movies, and to suggest that novel-generated characters are equal is a pipe dream. If the current writers are tired of writing about the familiar character and want to create new ones of their own, maybe it’s time for them to move on and write non-Trek books. And if the “march of time” in the current Destiny series means that these characters are too old to carry on, then bring the Destiny story line to a rapid close and roll back the clock.
It’s important to remember that the posters in this forum, who buy and read everything Trek, are the exception, not the rule. Many Trek fans don’t want to commit to the current novels with a plot line that stretches over a long list of books and focuses on unfamiliar ships and characters. They read a variety of things, not just Trekfic or even scifi, and want to be able to pick up a TNG, DS9, or VOY novel in the airport or bookstore and read about the familiar crew on the title ship (or station), interacting as they did on screen. They're unhappy to spend good money only to find those characters missing or glossed over and, because of that, are unlikely to buy another Trek book. There are few, if any novels that cater to that reader, and it’s past time for a change, imho.
