I thought the book was setting up something like that (or, more accurately, that Thad's repairs were dependent on the Jazeri, thus leading to problems because of the synth ban)-- it certainly could be done in a later book, though.
Bashir gave Vedek Bareil a positronic brain implant in "Life Support" . I wonder if that would be illegal after 2385?
Just finished listening to the podcast interview. Intriguing that the original PIC novel idea from Swallow was not Titan-related. I presume that if that isn't picked up in the show at some point, we might get it in novel form. Normally when reading I miss out on all themes and hints by taking everything at face value. I'm smugly self-satisfied that this time I got the themes, and the underlying ideas, e.g. why Tuvok isn't there. It's great that James pushed for Christine Vale to be included. Her biography can be seen as TrekLit agnostic when it needs be, and fitted well into the PIC "A Gutted World"-like setting. In my personal continuity, I assume the TrekLit characters from "Taking Wing" did serve on the Titan, they just moved on by the time The Dark Veil is set. Just so that I interpret the novel correctly - in the canon timeline, the Titan never went to the Gum Nebula, right?
I liked it, It was cool seeing the various storylines from the old novels and the new shows being woven together. As for any inconsistencies from the novel verse and wheat we've seen on screen, I'll just blame the Krenim for all that.
Finished up the novel last night and have a few thoughts. Firstly, y'know what... I am very glad that this book was commissioned and written. It made the synth ban more meaningful in a way I wasn't expecting. Emotively, there were moments that truly brought a tear to my eye. - Thadd... Being just the brightest little spark. Incredibly, painfully, bittersweet, that. All the accompanying internal debate over whether the Troi-Riker's even had a home... - The Jazari explaining why they had to leave, and the sorrow, and guilt, felt by Troi and Riker in the face of that. That got me good. By the end of the scene I was imagining Troi walking over to take holo-Data's hand before the simulation faded out. Lots of feelings there. Outside of the purely emotive stuff: Wait, with the Romulan scientist - was that... A hint as to the cause of the supernova? The reason he was such a simp for the Halick? If it was... Does that mean it won't be a major focus of Picard season 2? Seems unlikely that such a clear answer would be given only to then do it again on the show. I was sad that Vale in the prime timeline, as opposed to the novelverse, is so hard and quick to assume malice. Wonderful use of the character and her prior life, but damn. That was hard. AND NO BOIMLER! Not that I was ever expecting his transfer to Titan to be permanent. Still, would've been great fun to see him outside of his role on Lower Decks. (sorry, spelling is gorped througout. Audiobook listener, me.)
Thanks for all the positive comments, folks - much appreciated! That's right. Because of the loss of ships during the Mars incident and the political fallout from that, Titan had to stay closer to home.
There were rumours that Brooks might be interested in returning but it could just be a rumour. https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/avery-brooks-retired-return-star-trek-deep-space-costar/
Hey folks! Bruce and I just released our interview with James Swallow on the Positively Trek Book Club podcast! We had a terrific conversation - James really is very gracious - and we hope you enjoy it!
Great interview on Positively Trek.It was really nice to hear James discussing writing about Thad Riker and about Will Riker and Deanna Staying in Starfleet and talking about the Jazari and the romulan characters in this book. And filling out more the back story for the Picard tv series.
That site isn't trust worthy at all, they grab on any rumor with no solid lead, and even make up their own 'sources'.
This was very nice. I love the fact that the Picard-related media are somewhat closely woven together. And frankly the series itself is not the most important one for me. McCormack's book was just amazing. Up to a point I thought that Mr Swallow's novel wasn't projecting as much gravitas, which is of course not a bad thing in itself. But after finishing it and thinking it through again it seems to me that it touches the important 'serious' elements of the Picard 'multimedia publishing endeavour' (I don't know the word for 'series, books, and comic books'): how Big Diplomatic Forces react to cataclysmic events, and what the various reactions on two 'competing' sides are. All motivations of the characters involved felt completely natural (given what we know of their back-stories). Despite the fictional 'staffage' the plot of the novel felt fully realistic. And well, it's also a solid action novel :-) [Voted 'Above Average']
On the subject of Positively Trek, since you recently did episodes about series/season finales, are you going to do episodes discussing season/series premieres?
It's on our list! Not sure when we'll do it, likely around the time of the next season or series premiere. But it's definitely something we want to cover at some point.
I was unsure about that aspect, since I don't consider the "I, Mudd" androids to be sentient at all; they were just drones controlled by a single central computer (Norman) with very rigid, limited programming. But the book was vague enough about their origin that there's wiggle room, and it did say that the Jazari initiated new programs and learned to emulate humanoid behavior more, as well as implying that there was more than one group of the androids in the galaxy. So maybe the Mudd ones were just a more limited or impaired subset of the breed. I don't see why that should be the case. The Titan's original Gum Nebula survey starting in Orion's Hounds began around March 2380 and was already done by Sword of Damocles in June '80 (I intended it as a permanent setting for the series, a volume larger than the entire Federation, but Geoffrey Thorne chose to say the ship had already moved beyond it, though later books had it return there). There's no conflict between the Titan novel timeline and the Picard timeline prior to 2381, when Destiny happens in the novels. So as far as I'm concerned, there's no reason the first four TTN novels couldn't still be valid. Riker & Troi's decision in Hounds to have a kid works just as well timing-wise with Thad's birth as Tasha's.
I've read through Chapter 9 so far. I like so much of what is in this book, but it has a major strike against it. The scenes of the Tal Shiar member torturing a Jazari were extremely off-putting. I realize that this is consistent in style with what the show portrayed in "Stardust City Rag," but being understandable does not equate to it being enjoyable. Thad and the Romulan captain are both bright spots in the book.