A Time to Reminisce - A look back at the "A time to" series

[Defcon]

As some of you might know I write for the media tie-in site Unreality SF, and late last year I contacted the authors of the "A Time to" series to take a look back on the series ten years after its publication, and all of them agreed (with Dayton representing both himself and Kevin Dilmore). Due to personal reasons the whole project was delayed on my end, but now the article is finally finished and ready.

The article is separated into three parts, with two of them already online and the third following tomorrow around noon GMT.

Part One
Part Two

Some excerpts:

“The writers and editors of the Star Trek novels had begun collaborating and thinking about more long-term story arcs,” recalls writer David Mack. “Back in 2001, Marco Palmieri, at that time an editor working on the Star Trek novels, masterminded the ‘relaunch’ of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He and the authors he hired reconceived DS9 as a long-arc serial narrative that would explore many worlds and perspectives, and he introduced new characters into the DS9 setting to replace those the show had scattered to the ends of the galaxy. In many ways, Marco’s editorial vision for the DS9 novels was one that we emulated, to varying degrees, when we set the new direction of TNG fiction.”

The initial idea was for A Time to… to span 12 books, released monthly throughout 2004, forming six duologies. “With six duologies, different highlights were doled out with the writers challenged to come up with Enterprise-worthy mission that didn’t duplicate one another,” explains Robert. “Over time, the schedule and writing challenges led J. Steven [York] and Christina [F.] York to bow out, and as the outlines were coming together, marketing weighed in and asked that the line be trimmed from 12 to no more than nine books, so Keith was asked to tidy it all up [in a single volume].”

John was a natural choice for the Wesley-centred parts of the miniseries, having wanted to bring back Wesley long before his Nemesis cameo. “[John Ordover] knew I had tried several times to take up Wesley Crusher’s story as a Traveler,” he recalls, “but Paramount would never let me do a ‘Wesley as a Traveler’ book because the TNG movies and TV show had left that completely unexplored. They were worried that a TV show or movie might make a casual comment, such as ‘Too bad Wesley Crusher died last week’, which would have completely negated any story I came up with.

Much of the series’ direction was established prior to the conception of Sow and Harvest. “As I said, we were brought on relatively late in the game, at least so far as the hashing out of character arcs and plot threads being woven through the different books,” says Dayton. “I suspect John knew at least most of what he wanted to see tackled, and the authors who ended up taking on those character arcs (Bob Greenberger, David Mack, and Keith DeCandido) likely brought their own ideas to the table, and the plots developed outward from there in service to those characters. Our job was to start ‘aligning the stars’, so to speak, with respect to at least a few of those characters while telling our ‘bridging tale’.”

When part three, which will investigate the series’ extraordinary legacy, is posted I will provide the link.

 

[Kilana2]

I can hear and see the German fans still lamenting the lack of translation of the A time to.... series. I enjoyed it myself, especially the last three novels.

 

[Reanok]

Nice reviews of the TNG A time to Miniseries of novels Defcon. I reread all the A time to novels last year. The last 3 novels in the mini series are really good.

 

[Stevil2001]

Thanks, Jens, this is very interesting. Nice insights now that we're far enough on for candor.

 

[Defcon]

I enjoyed it myself, especially the last three novels.

Robert Greenberger commented on this widely held opinion in part 3 of the article,<promotional voice> which is online now </promotional voice>.

Robert concurs, but disagrees with fan consensus about the importance of the earliest instalments. “I’m sorry the fans divide the books into halves, considering the first four or six to be superfluous,” he admits. “Each contributed to the greater whole and without them, Dave and Keith could not have successfully reached the crescendo they did. I think it’s a good, solid series of yarns that proved to be the beginning of a new era for the publishing programme.”

Some more excerpts:

“Changing the storytelling style of TNG from episodic to serialised didn’t require anything more than the decision to do it,” David Mack (who wrote A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal) agrees. “Nothing about the setting or the characters was ever less than conducive to threaded story arcs. It was a matter of style, a preference by its creators.


“At the time TNG was produced, most series were episodic in nature,” he observes. “Serialised dramas were fairly rare on American television at that time, though the few that existed – such as Hill Street Blues, for instance – were often critically acclaimed. Episodic narratives, with story arcs that extended over seasons or across the entire run of a series, didn’t come into vogue until after TNG was off the air. And such arcs were even rarer in feature films.”

Keith’s book was the debut of Nanietta Bacco, the new Federation President, who went on to become a key player in many subsequent books. “I was absolutely thrilled,” Keith enthuses. “I honestly never expected the character ever to appear again after Articles of the Federation, and to see her appear in over a dozen novels after that has been very heartwarming. The character was partly based on (and a tribute to) my late great-grandmother, who died in 2003 at the age of 98. The fact that so many writers wanted to get a shot at her (and all of whom enjoyed writing her) is one of the great joys of my tie-in writing career.”

“Though the books didn’t actually set this up, my favorite of the threads that the series worked back to is Riker’s promotion and he and Deanna preparing to head off to the Titan,” Dayton offers. “For me, that represented a turning point for the novels, because – and we really didn’t even realise this at the time – we were about to have the leash loosened for the Next Generation characters the same way things had been relaxed for the Deep Space Nine and Voyager novels.”

 

[Paul Weaver]

There were two key scenes in Nemesis that were deleted. When I found out that Wil Wheton's had been cut I was furious, but I'm so glad it happened.

The second scene that I'm thankful was removed was apparently from an alternate universe (in one of the recent Q books), the new First Officer. Possibly acceptable if Worf wasn't staying on the ship, but having Worf playing second fiddle to a new untried teenager?

The missing holes - why wasn't Lwaxana there being the biggest, why is data emotionless? Why is an android getting fat and old? Were expertly filled. Nemesis is still an awful end to the 24th century on screen, but A Time To at least removed some of the worst parts.

 

[Idran]

The second scene that I'm thankful was removed was apparently from an alternate universe (in one of the recent Q books), the new First Officer. Possibly acceptable if Worf wasn't staying on the ship, but having Worf playing second fiddle to a new untried teenager?

To be fair, Martin Madden wasn't a teenager; the actor that played him in the deleted scene, Steven Culp (who also played Major Hayes), was around 45 at the time.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

This is fantastic, thank you for putting this retrospective together! I remember greatly enjoying the Time to... series as it came out, although it lost me for a time with the Iraq War allegory planet. (Not that I disagreed with the sentiment, but I remember thinking it seemed too on-the-nose at the time... although in retrospect that is probably what we needed. I guess it's time to re-read!)

 

[bfollowell]

I definitely have fond memories of this series. I feel some were just a tad above average, while some were off the charts. I speak in terms of the story lines, not the writing. I felt that was top-notch all around. I especially loved novels three, four, seven, eight and nine, Sow, Harvest, Kill, Heal, and A Time for War, A Time for Peace, respectively. I had started reading Trek lit again after about a ten year hiatus. I had started with the Deep Space Nine relaunch about eight months before, moved on to Voyager, and I knew when I started these, I was quickly approaching the Destiny series that I had so badly wanted to get to.

That was a little over four years ago and I've been a faithful and steady reader ever since.

Thanks for the memories.

 

[Mooch]

I found the A Time To... series so boring I've hardly read a Trek book since. Actually I can't blame it all on the series (they aren't that bad, I just thought they were overly drawn-out and didn't live up to their potential) but it was around the time I stopped having much time to read anymore. I think the last Trek book I finished was part of Mission: Gamma. I'm getting rather a large backlog.

 

[DaveR]

This is fantastic, thank you for putting this retrospective together! I remember greatly enjoying the Time to... series as it came out, although it lost me for a time with the Iraq War allegory planet. (Not that I disagreed with the sentiment, but I remember thinking it seemed too on-the-nose at the time... although in retrospect that is probably what we needed. I guess it's time to re-read!)

I, on the other hand, also found it too "on-point" but did disagree with it.

I don't say that to begin a political debate, but to highlight how great Mack's writing is. Because while I did feel that way, I still really enjoyed the novels and thought they were almost the best of the ten books.

 

[DonIago]

I found the A Time To... series so boring I've hardly read a Trek book since. Actually I can't blame it all on the series (they aren't that bad, I just thought they were overly drawn-out and didn't live up to their potential) but it was around the time I stopped having much time to read anymore. I think the last Trek book I finished was part of Mission: Gamma. I'm getting rather a large backlog.

I must say, I've never heard anyone describe the series, particularly the last three books, as "boring" before...

Are you sure you're remembering the right books? Heh.

 

[Defcon]

This is fantastic, thank you for putting this retrospective together!

Thanks for the memories.

You're welcome.

A little question to the hive-mind:

For the immediate short-term future I don't have plans for another "round-table" discussion article (although I have some ideas in the back of my mind), but in case I would plan to do another one: What would you like to see?

(Disclaimer: I'm just testing the waters here, no promise that any of the ideas mentioned here will be realized.)

 

[DonIago]

I'd be curious for more information on "Destiny", which always seems to be a popular and controversial trilogy. As far as a roundtable, anything from discussing the origins of the books to how subsequent books were irrevocably altered by the events could be fair game.

 

[Csalem]

How about a roundtable on Double Helix? It was always a bit of an unusual crossover series.

 

[JD]

The first stage of the DS9 Relaunch could be a good topic for something like this, or Vanguard. With only four people involved for the majority of the series, Vanguard would probably be the easiest to put together.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

Great idea, JD! I would love to find out more about how the DS9 relaunch was developed.

KRAD -- in one of his own podcasts, I believe -- gave a sort of oral history of the SCE/CoE series and that was incredibly interesting. Interviews with the many contributors to that series would also be fascinating to read (though probably too big a project to undertake).

 

[stardream]

I'd be curious for more information on "Destiny", which always seems to be a popular and controversial trilogy. As far as a roundtable, anything from discussing the origins of the books to how subsequent books were irrevocably altered by the events could be fair game.

This.

 

[Defcon]

KRAD -- in one of his own podcasts, I believe -- gave a sort of oral history of the SCE/CoE series and that was incredibly interesting. Interviews with the many contributors to that series would also be fascinating to read (though probably too big a project to undertake).

Not quite all authors, but:

http://unreality-sf.net/2010/10/04/miracle-workers-remembering-sce/

And for completeness sake, there also already was one about Strange New Worlds:

http://unreality-sf.net/2009/06/21/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-a-look-back/


As for the other suggestions, a couple match what I already had in mind, others I hadn't thought of. Definitely will keep these in mind when the bug to write another one hits me again.

 

[Christopher]

How about Mere Anarchy? That was another closely collaborative process that could be fun to reminisce about.