....sadly we've since learned that Enigma Tales is actually set before 2387 and the "3 years" thing was some kind of mistake
All will be solved when we find out that Cardassia spent three (relative) years in a time dilation bubble just before "Control" in a one-shot comic book.
On this page of the review thread. EDIT: I just saw comments on the next page throw it back into question
There is no way the story can be meaningful and take place in 2386. There's one Historian's Note versus multiple references to the passing of 3 years. It's 2388.
Not to worry. It certainly seems as though the book was written with the intention of it being set in 2388, but that editorial bottled it Not to worry.
IMO it really is supposed to be set in 2386 with the references to "three years" being a simple mistake, likely based on it being three years (actually, a little over) gone by in the real world since Garak took over the Cardassian government. We've seen these kind of mistakes happen before, like Cold Equations mistakenly claiming to be 25 years after Farpoint instead of only twenty, and everyone after the fact seems very careful not to confirm it's supposed to be set in 2388, even the Memory Beta article is only claiming the novel is set in the 2380s. I won't be surprised if future novels ignore the "three years" references and act as though the novel takes place in 2386 anyway.
I really don't understand WHY people are so obsessed with wether or not this is set in 2386 or 2388. In no way whatsoever are Romulus or the Hobus event a part of this novel. It literally has no meaning to any part of this story. And still, people are obsessing. Really, it's no big deal where this particular story is involved. I understand a lot of folks need to know what Pockets/TrekLit will do with the Hobus event, but when it comes to Enigma Tales.....Let it go.....
I'm surprised this has gotten as out of proportion as it has. It seems an obvious mistake, and there is precedent for these kind of mistakes. Whatever, just as long as everyone remembers not to lose their shit when the next 2386 novel refers to the events from Enigma Tales in the past tense, I guess it don't matter much at all.
Well, unless Una McCormack or one of the editors confirms it, we still don't know with absolute certainty. Memory Beta isn't any more official than we are here.
It's not just references to Garak being in office for three years, though; there's also been enough time since The Missing for Alden to get his doctorate. Three years is believable; less than a year isn't. Spoiler: Enigma Tales Also, the sections involving Bashir are a lot more poignant if Bashir's been in the coma for 2-3 years, not mere weeks.
Yeah, it just doesn't make sense for Enigma Tales to be anything less than a few years since The Crimson Shadow - so much has happened in the years that Garak has run the country (the completion of parliamentary reform, the inquiry into the occupation begun one year after he took office and completed two years since, the length of Areti's role, changes in culture, the sense of time passing - some of these are more subjective, but still). I must admit I posted a lot on MB for it to be in 2388 (including the note on date in the articl), but that is because the text overwhelmingly supports three years since The Fall. The editorial mistake here - not the author's mistake - was trying to give a face-lift to something whose skeleton is formed as something else. What was needed instead was a change to the core text by the editors, rather than the incongruous, even bizarre historian's note.
And yet, I will not be surprised to read a novel which is definitely 2386 make reference to the events of this one in the past tense.
The Hidden Universe Travel Guide: Klingon Empire includes a fictional advert for an event in 2388. EDITed to correct typo 2398 > 2388