Novel feature by Empire Film Magazine

[Csalem]

To tie-in with the release of the new movie, Empire film magazine have put up a feature on their website explaining the different novel series and highlighting certain books by a number of authors. Not a bad feature, and nice bit of publicity for Pocket:
http://www.empireonline.com/features/star-trek-expanded-universe

 

[The Wormhole]

Interesting selections, though I think for The Lost Era I'd have chosen Serpents Among the Ruins (although, Forged in Fire probably is more accessible to casual fans) and for Stargazer I'd have chose The Valiant.

Also, they claim Jack Crusher is in the Stargazer novels. But as I remember, he was never introduced in the series.

 

[DorkBoy [TM]]

I like their Titan recommendation. It is at least interesting.

Over a Torrent Sea was generally panned on the trekbbs but it was one of my favorites.

 

[Christopher]

I appreciate the shoutouts, though I wish they'd spelled my last name right.

And somebody should tell them that Forged in Fire is not part of The Lost Era. TLE begins after the Generations prologue in 2293, and FiF is set mostly in 2290.

 

[Paris]

...Over a Torrent Sea was generally panned on the trekbbs but it was one of my favorites.

Really?! I don't recall it being panned here. I was always under the impression that it was one of the prefered entries. It was one of mine...Are you able to provide any examples?

 

[Thrawn]

I loved it.

 

[ryan123450]

Me too! And that was a pretty good article but I would have emphasized Destiny more. And I would have tossed some love to Kristen Beyer too.

 

[tomswift2002]

I'm surprised no one noticed the error right at the beginning of the article. The article says

The first original Star Trek tie-in novel (i.e. not the novelisation of an existing episode) was Spock Must Die! by sci-fi legend James Blish, published in 1970.

That's incorrect! The first tie-in novel was Mack Reynold's Mission To Horatius in 1967.

But why did the pick "Over A Torrent Sea"? I found that descriptions of everything on the planet bogged the story down. I would've gone with Synthesis or Red King.

And Zero Sum Game??????

Also, I think they screwed up on "The Return" page. "The Return" is good, but in the write-up for the series the author says Spock goes to Veridian 3 in "The Ashes Of Eden". As I recall, Eden occurred 80-90 years before Generations.

 

[The Wormhole]

Also, I think they screwed up on "The Return" page. "The Return" is good, but in the write-up for the series the author says Spock goes to Veridian 3 in "The Ashes Of Eden". As I recall, Eden occurred 80-90 years before Generations.

The prologue and epilogue of The Ashes of Eden are set after Generations with Spock visiting Kirk's grave on Veridian III. In fact, both were turned into the first chapter of The Return anyway.

 

[JD]

I agree with most of what they said in there, except I would have gone with Orion's Hounds. Also as Christopher pointed out, FiF was not a TLE novel.

 

[DorkBoy [TM]]

...Over a Torrent Sea was generally panned on the trekbbs but it was one of my favorites.

Really?! I don't recall it being panned here. I was always under the impression that it was one of the prefered entries. It was one of mine...Are you able to provide any examples?

Good, I'm glad I wasn't the only one that liked it.

I can't provide examples now, that was a really long time ago. I think it was in the review thread but I'm not really sure. The few discussions of the book I had on here were with people who didn't like it. Maybe it wasn't a general reaction, just what I read. (That seems to be just my luck on these boards!)

 

[Therin of Andor]

Are you able to provide any examples?

"Over a Torrent Sea" reviews:
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=82552

I liked it!

The first original Star Trek tie-in novel (i.e. not the novelisation of an existing episode) was Spock Must Die! by sci-fi legend James Blish, published in 1970.

That's incorrect! The first tie-in novel was Mack Reynold's Mission To Horatius in 1967.

They simply missed the adjective "adult". "Spock Must Die!" was the first adult original "STAR TREK" novel, and "Mission to Horatius" was marketed to children. Today it might have been labeled for "Young Adults".

 

[tomswift2002]

But still, doesn't matter whether it is adult or children, Horatius was still the first tie-in Trek novel.

 

[Therin of Andor]

But still, doesn't matter whether it is adult or children, Horatius was still the first tie-in Trek novel.

If the person writing the article was thinking in terms of novels for adult fans, "Mission to Horatius" wouldn't have come into his radar.

I realised, after about six months of buying second hand Bantam, Corgi and Ballantine/Del Rey ST novels in 1980, that my younger brother's old copy of "Mission to Horatius" was in our childhood toybox. I retrieved it, but it's not in the same bookcase as my novels. It's on a shelf beside "Trillions of Trilligs" and "A Giant in the Universe".

 

[Sxottlan]

Kind of odd that they didn't include the Voyager Re-Relaunch.

 

[Csalem]

Just noticed that the writer of the article posted a comment under it to say he has been reading Trek books for twenty years so at least it was written by someone with some knowledge of the books. Maybe he has not read Voyager yet which is why he did not include it?
Personally speaking, I have been reading Trek books now for 13 years but have not read Stargazer and only one Gorkon novel, so if I was putting together a feature I would probably not include them.

 

[tomswift2002]

If the person writing the article was thinking in terms of novels for adult fans, "Mission to Horatius" wouldn't have come into his

Even if it was released as a part of a children's line, the book has since been reissued as part of the adult line, and thus, it is the first tie-in.

 

[Christopher]

Kind of odd that they didn't include the Voyager Re-Relaunch.

The focus of the article was on the series that were original to the books, rather than the continuations of the shows. The writer made an exception for the DS9 post-finale books because of their importance and quality.

 

[Ben]

They also totally screwed up the explanation for how to get out of the dungeon without using the wizard key!

 

[Therin of Andor]

If the person writing the article was thinking in terms of novels for adult fans, "Mission to Horatius" wouldn't have come into his

Even if it was released as a part of a children's line, the book has since been reissued as part of the adult line, and thus, it is the first tie-in.

No one is disputing its status as "the first tie-in". As I said, I've owned a copy of "Mission to Horatius" since the 60s, long before I really knew what Star Trek was!

I was attempting to suggest how and why it is often overlooked. Adults reading the article are unlikely to want to be recommended a YA novel. Magazine article authors consider their audience; a similar article in a magazine for kids would be the place to make a fuss over past kidlit tie-ins.