True, but I'll take it. See. I said there was nothing to worry about. I knew books would be back early next year BTW, any books you're working on that you can comment on at this point?
It’s been so long, I’m not sure how to process this. Is this a dream? New Trek novels? It’s been so long! Seriously, though, I’m really excited for the Tilly novel. I do kinda wish we could get a novel set actually ON Discovery with the crew, but I also recognize that the show’s timeline hasn’t really offered much opportunity on that front, with most episodes picking up right after the one before, and it’s nice to get a deeper look at what shaped these characters. Maybe season two will give us more of an opportunity for those kinds of stories.
If there were anything I could comment on, it would've been announced today. However, I can report that my short story collection Among the Wild Cybers is out in paperback as of today, and has been out in e-book form for about a week now.
None if the articles I've seen have mentioned the number of novels coming out over the whole year, but the announced books come out in January, March, and April so we might not get a February book. In the past TPBs and e-books didn't count towards 12 books a year, so unless the new contract is drastically different, I have a feeling that is probably still the case. Which I realize now would mean the Tilly book might not count towards the 12 books, and could mean we're only getting 10 MMPBs. They did say more announcements were coming, so we could still hear about January and February MMPBs.
There was a perceptive piece written by Steve Mollmann on his blog a few months ago about a problem with heavily serialized television, that even with an ensemble that has lots of interesting character stories to tell, the ensemble and their permutations are chained to the needs of the serial, and other ways of exploring the characters, through standalone episodes, fall by the wayside. He was writing about Stranger Things, but I thought that applied to things like Discovery as well. Maybe in season two the producers can strike a balance between serving the metaplot and telling standalone "strange new worlds" stories. Certainly, the novels and comics could do that as well, though, as you say, there really needs to be "space" between episodes for such stories to slot in. Not that that problem -- contiguous stories -- ever stopped Big Finish productions in their Doctor Who audios. Heck, Big Finish opened up something like a five year gap between "Planet of Fire" and "Caves of Androzani," and the latter story begins where the former ends.
An exciting day. It’s great that the authors will finally be playing with all the toys in the sandbox for the first time in a decade. I’m guessing/hoping there will be a MMPB every month after March and that the Discovery trades will be in addition to those. So if there are three Discovery books for season two like there were for season one, we could end up with 13 books in 2019, plus any ebooks that come out. By a quick count it seems we lost 18 books caused by the delays over the start of Discovery and then the contract hiatus. But there have been four Discovery novels (so far) and three Prometheus novels to ‘make up for it.’ I’m excited for the Tilly novel. Of all the Discovery characters, a novel about her is most interesting to me. A Klingon novel reconciling the Discovery Klingons with the Litverse would be my top choice though.
I wasn't sure how that all works. I didn't know if anyone can comment on anything not announced today. Glad you have something coming out though and I hope to see a new Enterprise book on the horizon at some point I'd love to see more for next year, though I suppose with the long layover it may take a little time to get things flowing again (assuming they return to doing them once/month). I have to say I'm shocked and thrilled that they have something coming out in January already. I thought it'd be spring or summer at the earliest for the next books. BTW, did anyone say anything about Kirsten Beyer's Voyager book. I know that's still under the old contract but I didn't see any references to it and was wondering if I missed it somewhere. I mean, that could be a February book...you know, just saying. But all joking aside, last thing I read is that it is definitely being written and if I remember correctly she had started working on it. Christopher said: ↑ "Keith has clarified on Facebook that his unannounced tie-in projects are NOT Star Trek-related." Awe, that's a shame. I mean, I'm glad he's got projects going on but I was sort of hoping he was returning to the Star Trek fold for a novel. I miss his and Peter David's Star Trek novels (I'd love to see New Frontier come back at some point--The Return left some loose threads I'd love to see him continue with). Another question I have for anyone, thinking of The Return, did anyone comment on any E-book novella's? I know there was no specific E-Books announced but I wasn't sure if that was brought up today P.S.--sorry I mangled this up a bit. I decided to copy a later comment on this so I didn't have a double post and it didn't quite work as I thought.
That’s too bad. Though if I’ve read between the lines over the years correctly, the overall issue keeping him from doing more novels is an interpersonal one, so it’s no surprise.
Sadness! Well, can't let that spoil todays news. I'm still all hot and bothered by these announcements!
I've heard some of that myself, though I'm not sure how much of that is rumor and how much is he's just not interested in doing Star Trek novels right now. I remember reading something by Peter David a few years back (before he did "The Return") that he thought NF may have run it's course--he still seemed open to doing more Star Trek books but they weren't renewing his contract or weren't getting in touch with him (or something to that effect). Now obviously they had him do "The Return" but I thought it was interesting they were only released as E-book novellas (though when you put all 3 together you basically get a full length novel). He and DeCandido are two I'd love to see come back to the fold though. Margaret Wander Bonanno is another who's books I always enjoyed and would love to see come back someday. I mean there's a lot of novel writers I'd like to see return someday, even for just a one off book. Though I have no complaints about the current authors. I can't say I've read a book in the last, say, 20 years that I haven't enjoyed. There have been a lot of new characters introduced in the different relaunches and I've come to consider them important to the continuing stories. They all do a good job maintaining consistency with each other when writing those characters, probably a challenge considering they each have their different writing styles (though I guess it's sort of like different writers writing for a TV series).
Somebody, for the love of god, write a Shar/Tenmei book that features just them, in love, and kicking asses.
The best news today. So relieved things are getting back on track. Can’t wait to see how the story unfolds from here.
Or, you could check out the link Christopher posted upthread and read the comments that ensue, since those comments make it pretty clear that the lack of interest isn't with him.
As Christopher has already said, it was, in fact, a coincidence. I had no idea there was even going to be an announcement today. I'm kinda out of the loop these days. Nothing would make me happier than to write more Trek fiction. But there's nothing planned at present. I just happened to be musing about two projects that I haven't been able to talk about for several months. They're two separate projects in two different licensed universes, one of which I've worked in before (but not Trek), one of which mine will be the first fiction ever created to tie into it. (Wow, that was a tortured sentence.) I've got plenty to keep me busy, and y'all should check it out. If you like my Trek work, chances are good you'll like my other work, too.