Going forward: Emphasis on canon or original characters?

I tend to think of as a charcater's life expectancy being contingent upon their healthy behaviour in life. So Vaughn was active at 100-plus because he had been a field agent all that time, and the relatively advanced health service of the Fed meant that his earlier Bond-esque fitness really complemented what Federation science could do for him. The same applied to Picard, whose fitness in youth was mentioned on screen (the marathons, for example), which has resulted in science giving him a better old age.

But other characters like Soong or Joseph Sisko weren't top-of-the-line in youth, they probably ate too much unhealthy food, didn't exercise, drank too much, or whatever ... science couldn't repair them in that manner? Of course the ancient admiral in that early TNG episode doesn't quite fit this pattern.

I know this isn't exactly a watertight argument, but it seemed to fit in my mind how people could age in certain ways and others differently.

The only other thought I could suggest was some kind of post-birth genetic enhancement, to ensure that the natural degredation of human bodies and cells don't occur, and that people can therefore live longer, conceive after menopause, etc. But isn't that contrary to Trek's prohibition on genetic engineering? And we still have problematic people like Joseph Sisko and Soong

 

I also like how rejuvination is used in fiction by Dan Abnett for Black Library: but there it very much is an economic thing, connected to monetary wealth, which isn't very 24th century Trek, nor is it dependent on the character's youthful fitness.

 

I can't see Trek lit ever moving so far ahead of the TV series' that that becomes an issue. As cool as it would be to see the "Next next generation" come up and take over, phasing out the TV characters would be a big financial risk.

 

Beyond its inclusion in an Enterprise episode why do we have to have or think about future Enterprises? Why do these need to be the focus? For the crews, it's like the name is cursed! The benefit of Treklit is getting away from TV-centrism and showing that interesting things happen to other people - a la Vanguard, New Frontier, DTI, Articles & A Singular Destiny.

Otherwise we end up having narrow-focus cheese, like the Shatner books, the use of Sela in every Romulan plot for two decades of writing, and even the Klingon Empire series and its 'every Klingon from tv in one book' set-up, which suggest that only a few score people are important in the entire universe!

 

Mentioning Articles i would love a sequel to that KRAD

 

Or any book by Krad, but it would be good to see another Articles, since it was so good at suggesting the scope of the Federation

 

I admit that I come at this from a different perspective. If I wanted to write about non-canon characters and ships, I'd write an original novel. The whole point of writing a tie-book is to play with somebody else's toys.

If I'm writing a Green Hornet story, I want to write about Britt Reid and Kato. If I'm writing STAR TREK, I want to write about Kirk and Spock and the Starship Enterprise . . ..

 

Whereas for me, much of the interest is in taking things only glimpsed or briefly portrayed in canon and finding out more about them.

 

So, Greg and Christopher are very different people...must say I saw that coming !

Treklit needs both so it's all good !

 

Infinite diversity in infinite Trek novels!

 

It'd have to be a Myriad Universes or alternate future tale, since the Enterprise NX-01 destroyed the Delphic Expanse 400 years early and rendered the Battle of Procyon V moot. If there ever is an Enterprise-J in Trek Prime, it may be very different from what we saw in "Azati Prime"

 

However that may be a different Expanse, part of the Sphere Builders' first invasion which the Federation thwarted leading them to go back in time...anything is possible.

 

Oh, the delights of the Temporal Cold War ...