2024 book releases

[thribs]

I just read the synopsis to Lost to Eternity. Looks likes Mr Cox is dealing with the near future again. I always weary when people approach that time since they always treat the world similar to our world when it should be radically different. Hearing about podcasts just sounds too muck like our world. I would have preferred if it had a different name. Anyway i doubt the person will find out much as to what happened to her.

 

[LastRideOut]

The cover for Pliable Truths is consistent with the cover for Shadows have Offended since both look like watercolored covers. I'm guessing S&S is going for a certain look for the new standalone TNG novels.

That said, the cover for Lost to Eternity looks much better.

 

[Greg Cox]

I just read the synopsis to Lost to Eternity. Looks likes Mr Cox is dealing with the near future again. I always weary when people approach that time since they always treat the world similar to our world when it should be radically different. Hearing about podcasts just sounds too muck like our world. I would have preferred if it had a different name. Anyway i doubt the person will find out much as to what happened to her.

Not even the near future. A third of the book is set in 2024.

It's funny. When I first started plotting this book, way back at the beginning of the pandemic, when everything was shutting down, I deliberately set the "present-day" segments in 2024 in hopes that the pandemic and masking and social distancing and all would be over by then, so that my intrepid podcaster heroine could run around freely without me having to mention masks and such on every page. Little did I realize that the book would end up being published in the year it was set!

And, yes, for better or for worse, it's very much set in in "our" present-day . . . just like the whale movie was.

 

[thribs]

Not even the near future. A third of the book is set in 2024.

It's funny. When I first started plotting this book, way back at the beginning of the pandemic, when everything was shutting down, I deliberately set the "present-day" segments in 2024 in hopes that the pandemic and masking and social distancing and all would be over by then, so that my intrepid podcaster heroine could run around freely without me having to mention masks and such on every page. Little did I realize that the book would end up being published in the year it was set!

And, yes, for better or for worse, it's very much set in in "our" present-day . . . just like the whale movie was.

Fair enough but I feel that 1986 was far enough away from major events like solar system exploration and World War III to get away with it. I imagine Trek's 2024 to be very different to that of our own. Technology also feels more advanced in their universe that podcasts just feels antiquated for them. I feel like they would have been a big thing in the late 90's there.

 

[Christopher]

Fair enough but I feel that 1986 was far enough away from major events like solar system exploration and World War III to get away with it. I imagine Trek's 2024 to be very different to that of our own. Technology also feels more advanced in their universe that podcasts just feels antiquated for them. I feel like they would have been a big thing in the late 90's there.

The nature of fiction, though, is to be tailored for its audience. And that means anything you write that's meant to be set in the present is adjusted to fit the current present. You can see that in how Picard and Strange New Worlds have portrayed the early 21st century. It's all archetypes and symbols, after all, not a literal history. The whole point of doing a "present-day" story within a futuristic series is to cross elements of that future over with a present that's familiar to the audience. If it's an alternate present, then it's just as alien as the future stuff and doesn't serve the same conceptual purpose.

 

[Greg Cox]

Fair enough but I feel that 1986 was far enough away from major events like solar system exploration and World War III to get away with it. I imagine Trek's 2024 to be very different to that of our own. Technology also feels more advanced in their universe that podcasts just feels antiquated for them. I feel like they would have been a big thing in the late 90's there.

There's perhaps an interesting book to be written (probably by another writer) about some futuristic alternate version of the 21st century that's more Trekkish than our real-life present day, but, honestly, that's a completely different book and approach from what I set out to do here. Indeed, the whole idea for that particular plotline came from listening to true-crime podcasts with my girlfriend and thinking it would be fun to explore somebody doing a similar podcast about Gillian's mysterious disappearance, so the podcast angle was always the impetus for the whole book. And the San Francisco portrayed in the book is "our" San Francisco, not some an alternate-history version with advanced technology.

Traditionally, STAR TREK has alway treated the "present day" as being our real-life present. See also "Assignment: Earth," "Tomorrow is Yesterday," VOYAGER's "Future's End," etc. I'm confess I'm a sucker for these kinda stories, where STAR TREK's sci-fi future bounces off our everyday present. Makes for a nice contrast and change of pace, IMO.

(How well I pulled it off remains to be seen, of course. I'll be curious to see what people think of the book come July.)

Meanwhile, I should mention that the other two plotlines, set during TOS and the Movie Era, have all the usual high-tech trappings you'd expect to find in a STAR TREK story: starships, an alien world, transporter beams, etc. It's only Melinda's investigation that takes place in the here and now, as opposed to some alternate version of 2024.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Specific technological and social developments that co-exist in our reality don't necessarily also have to coexist in alternate realities. There's nothing about the creation of podcasts themselves that decides which ones will be popular.

In a world full of augments, social upheaval, and catastrophic wars, for instance, as a whole, people might be more interested in big picture issues than individual crimes. Or they might long for entertaining escapism from the chaos outside their front door. Or they might be too busy trying to survive to seek mystery, too focused on their own lives to think about other people's problems; we really can't predict it.

 

[Greg Cox]

In a way, this comes down to the same issue we faced when I wrote the Eugenics Wars books decades ago, in that there were two equally valid ways to address the contradiction between vintage Star Trek lore and what actually happened in 1990s in real life:

1) Throw real history out the window and imagine a kick-ass, apocalyptic SF war novel set in an imaginary 1990s that never happened, or:

2) Try to cheekily squeeze the EW into the actual 1990s we all lived through.

Both approaches are valid, but the latter option seemed like more fun so that's what we went with.

Ditto here. I wasn't personally interested in writing a book set in an imaginary version of 2024, because then you lose the novelty of sticking STAR TREK into "our" present day, as in the whale movie, the Gary Seven stories, etc.

Ultimately, it's a matter of taste.

 

[Christopher]

Anyway, I'm puzzled by the notion that podcasts are somehow a unique attribute of the current generation that wouldn't be found in any other time or timeline. I mean, the name is a recent coinage, the delivery system is a bit different, but they're essentially just radio shows, and those have been around for a century. No reason to think they wouldn't be around in the future, or in an alternate present. (Heck, the spec novel I'm currently finishing up is set 85 years from now and has a podcaster in it, though I call him a webcaster since the term itself, if not the concept, seemed like it would be dated by then.)

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

And prior to that, of course, we had serial magazine stories, penny dreadfuls, and the like. No matter the medium employed, following particular stories, issues, or gossip all the way to the end will never not be enthralling to some. The subject matter/genre and level of sensationalism or accuracy may change, depending on a variety of factors, however.

 

[The Wormhole]

Season 2 of Picard already showed a 2024 that is basically in line with our present, with the only notable exception being that in Picard's 2024 there's a more robust space program than we currently have in the real world. And though there is a brief throwaway reference to the Sanctuary Districts, Picard's 2024 is very different than the 2024 we saw back in DS9 Past Tense. So I'm okay with this book being in our 2024 rather than some fictional extrapolation based on what's been established in prior Star Treks.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Besides, what the world looks like to one group of individuals vs another is largely dependent on point of view (bias, opinion, emotion), personal circumstances, and the knowledge one has access to.

And it's okay if the fake world has better tech than we do. Heck, we have more now than we know, between top secret military and civilian projects.

 

[thribs]

Anyway it should be fun reading about their 2024. According to Memory Alpha that’s only 2 years before the world goes to s**t with World War III. I’ve always wanted a novel about that.

 

[Christopher]

According to Memory Alpha that’s only 2 years before the world goes to s**t with World War III.

I don't buy that. It comes only from a barely-visible history screen graphic in "In a Mirror, Darkly Part 2," and it's hard to reconcile with TNG evidence that appeared to place the war closer to midcentury. At most, I might believe that later history counts 2026 as the beginning of a series of conflicts that gradually escalate to a nuclear war in the 2050s or thereabouts. Which seems to be consistent with Pike's description of the buildup to it in the SNW premiere episode.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Hindsight as to what started the conflict may differ from the theory posited at the time everyone first started to feel like they were in a world war. Depending on who you ask, you might get different answers, even if there's a largely accepted/taught reason or combination of reasons why.

 

[Greg Cox]

Anyway it should be fun reading about their 2024. According to Memory Alpha that’s only 2 years before the world goes to s**t with World War III. I’ve always wanted a novel about that.

Not to argue, but just to manage expectations: that isn't this book. "Their 2024" is just our 2024, the one we see outside our windows, aside from the fact that some time-traveling do-gooders absconded with a couple of humpback whales back in 1986.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

This came out earlier this month.

 

[Greg Cox]

This came out earlier this month.

Not seeing the image. What is it of?

 

[David cgc]

Anyway, I'm puzzled by the notion that podcasts are somehow a unique attribute of the current generation that wouldn't be found in any other time or timeline. I mean, the name is a recent coinage, the delivery system is a bit different, but they're essentially just radio shows, and those have been around for a century. No reason to think they wouldn't be around in the future, or in an alternate present. (Heck, the spec novel I'm currently finishing up is set 85 years from now and has a podcaster in it, though I call him a webcaster since the term itself, if not the concept, seemed like it would be dated by then.)

Ironically, at this moment, "webcaster" is probably the more dated term for what's commonly called a "streamer" today. The FXGuide podcast uses "netcasting," an odd little affectation that also feels like it's from the younger, happier days of the internet.

If feels like "podcast" is already a dead metaphor, anyway. There are no more iPods being made, and, to my everlasting annoyance, a lot of people refer to the shows or individual episodes as "pods," not seeming to realize where the term came from (probably because podcasting really took off with smartphones, once you didn't have to download the episodes to your computer, and then download them from your computer to your iPod). No, the pod is what you listen on, not what you listen to! Yes, I will stand athwart language yelling, "stop!" in this particular case.

This came out earlier this month.

Memory Alpha doesn't support embedding images in other websites. The linked file is a Time Magazine special issue on Star Trek, but it seems to be an evergreen one they reprint over and over from time to time (I'm seeing essentially the same cover for a 50th anniversary edition, 55th anniversary, and others).

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/TIME_Magazine

Googling it, I just noticed they apparently used the same photo for a "50 years of Trek" edition earlier (this one is 55+).