Are the Voyager novels not as popular?

[Ktrek]

I know I'm only one reader but I would be happier with the Trek line if Pocket worked on a little more balance every year. Six TOS books this year is just too many in my opinion. A couple TOS books a year I think is good and leaves enough months to do justice to all the other series and even make room for a new original series now that Vanguard is ended. I have been reading and collecting Trek books for over 20 years and in all that time the TOS books are usually the weakest and poorly written stories. I still buy them and I still read them but out of what is over 100 TOS novels ever published only a handful are anywhere near "classic" reads that I would call top tier books in the series.

I have been really pleased with Ms. Beyer's approach to the novel series and think she has done an excellent job but I would like to see more authors produce some VOY material. They don't leave other series to only one author so why should VOY be so restricted? I understand that a new direction had to be taken with the series but now that that has been established there is really no good reason to leave the franchise only in Beyer's hands.

Kevin

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

^Exactly. The ratio of 24th/23rd/22nd century stories must be working out pretty well for Pocket, because it's been close to what we got this year for the last 3 or 4 at least.
I know I've been pretty happy with the output for the last few years. Sure some series might get a few more books one year, or one might not get any, but usually the next year the spread ends up more even.
Since 2009 we haven't gone more than 1 year without at least one book or story for each current series.

Agree. The release schedule feels right to me and no active series is absent from the book stores for too long.

 

[Christopher]

I know I'm only one reader but I would be happier with the Trek line if Pocket worked on a little more balance every year. Six TOS books this year is just too many in my opinion.

Lots of readers evidently disagree, since TOS is the strongest-selling series to this day. It dominates the schedule because it sells well.

 

[Relayer1]

I know I'm only one reader but I would be happier with the Trek line if Pocket worked on a little more balance every year. Six TOS books this year is just too many in my opinion.

Lots of readers evidently disagree, since TOS is the strongest-selling series to this day. It dominates the schedule because it sells well.

And therefore helps keep Treklit viable ! I'd prefer more 24th century novels, but if TOS sells well, so be it.

I would, if it was done so as not to put off casual readers, prefer more interconnectedness in the TOS stuff though. I liked the way it was done in Vanguard. Can we have another TOS era miniseries ?

 

[ryan123450]

Yeah if TOS was connected in some way to the Lit-verse, I would be all over like any other series.

 

[Ktrek]

TOS may sell better but that doesn't mean that the TOS books are very good. Popularity by the general public says very little as to what is good and what is not because the general masses settle for mediocre most of the time. I would not be as opposed to TOS books being published if they were well written but sadly, in my opinion, the majority of them come off as no better than throw away pulp fiction of the 1940s variety. Fast reads but easily forgotten. The really well done TOS books are so far and few between it's actually amazing that they sell at all.

Kevin

 

[Relayer1]

TOS may sell better but that doesn't mean that the TOS books are very good. Popularity by the general public says very little as to what is good and what is not because the general masses settle for mediocre most of the time. I would not be as opposed to TOS books being published if they were well written but sadly, in my opinion, the majority of them come off as no better than throw away pulp fiction of the 1940s variety. Fast reads but easily forgotten. The really well done TOS books are so far and few between it's actually amazing that they sell at all.

Kevin

It doesn't matter what you (or I) think about TOS novels - they sell and money talks. Besides which, the people that buy and enjoy them have a right to a say too, and they obviously want them to continue.

As to quality, I've read a few good ones and a lot of poor to average ones. More fool me for buying them all. I've just ordered the next few...

 

[The Wormhole]

I know I'm only one reader but I would be happier with the Trek line if Pocket worked on a little more balance every year. Six TOS books this year is just too many in my opinion.

Lots of readers evidently disagree, since TOS is the strongest-selling series to this day. It dominates the schedule because it sells well.

And therefore helps keep Treklit viable ! I'd prefer more 24th century novels, but if TOS sells well, so be it.

I would, if it was done so as not to put off casual readers, prefer more interconnectedness in the TOS stuff though. I liked the way it was done in Vanguard. Can we have another TOS era miniseries ?

Thing is, I think it's because they aren't interconnected that's a big factor in why they're the best selling.

 

[Christopher]

Thing is, I think it's because they aren't interconnected that's a big factor in why they're the best selling.

Probably. Not everyone's invested enough in Trek Lit to want to follow a whole series. Many readers just want to pick up the occasional standalone adventure that piques their interest.

 

[Greg Cox]

Thing is, I think it's because they aren't interconnected that's a big factor in why they're the best selling.

Probably. Not everyone's invested enough in Trek Lit to want to follow a whole series. Many readers just want to pick up the occasional standalone adventure that piques their interest.

You also want to be faithful to the original source material.

Presumably, people who pick up a TOS book want it to be like the original TV series--which was not exactly big on "interconnectedness."

In other words, making TOS books more interconnected would make them feel less like the actual show!

 

[ronny]

I prefer the ongoing 24th century plot line because it's outpaced the shows and I don't know where it's going. With the TOS books I know more or less where I'm going to end up. We might get a good adventure with a TOS book but I'm not going to be surprised on the level of something like Andoria leaving the Federation or much of what happened in the Destiny books.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

I also prefer the ongoing 24th century plot line, due to the interconnectedness. It has caused me to become an avid Trek lit reader as apposed to casual. The stand alone novels are good, but I don't get the same sense of anticipation from them as I do 24th Century lit. I love the character/plotline development we are getting from the TNG, DS9, and Voyager books.

 

[BillJ]

TOS may sell better but that doesn't mean that the TOS books are very good.

The 24th century books publish just as many poor books as the 23rd century books.

 

[Christopher]

Well, as I've said many times before, one of the strengths of the Pocket Trek line is that it doesn't do just one type of story, but encompasses a variety of tastes. Some people like interconnected stories while some prefer standalone stories, and Pocket offers both.

 

[Ktrek]

Well, as I've said many times before, one of the strengths of the Pocket Trek line is that it doesn't do just one type of story, but encompasses a variety of tastes. Some people like interconnected stories while some prefer standalone stories, and Pocket offers both.

But nobody likes spending $8.00 on sub-par stories. Pocket releases a lot of books that never would be released by other publishers if they didn't have the name "Star Trek" attached to them. The line's consistency has also declined greatly since Marco left. His love of and care for Star Trek was obvious in the quality of stories he let come out. This month's TOS novel "Devils Bargain" was one I had high hopes for because we have a new author in the Trek line, and one who is a friend of Greg Cox, but sadly it's one of the worst Trek books written since the 1990s. I kind of wish Simon and Schuster would lose the Trek line as it may be time for CBS to look to another publisher for the series. It's not just a series that needs a "relaunch" but the whole franchise in my opinion.

Kevin

 

[Thrawn]

The only 24th century novel published in 2012 that I didn't like was Fallen Gods, and that was one of eight. I think that's pretty similar to the success/failure rate Marco had, actually.

I'd have agreed with you up until last year, but I thought last year kicked ass.

I don't read TOS so I don't have much to say about that part of the line, though.

 

[F. King Daniel]

While my fondest Trek novel memories are from TOS, my enthusiam for new generic TOS (for lack of a better term) books is very low. The planet-of-the-week-all-toys-back-in-box formula been done to death, pretty much.

That said, I can't disagree more with Ktrek. For the most part, I've loved the 24th century stuff that's come out over the past couple of years.

 

[ryan123450]

I don't think quality has changed much over the last few years, but I do wish there was an effort made to pick up/ continue some of the plot threads left hanging from the Marco days. The Fall of Section 31, the Ascendants, Klingon Empire, and New Frontier. And then there was the whole indistinguishable From Magic issue.

 

[Relayer1]

While my fondest Trek novel memories are from TOS, my enthusiam for new generic TOS (for lack of a better term) books is very low. The planet-of-the-week-all-toys-back-in-box formula been done to death, pretty much.

That said, I can't disagree more with Ktrek. For the most part, I've loved the 24th century stuff that's come out over the past couple of years.

I'd assume that the majority of posters here feel much the same - I certainly do. The more casual (and more numerous) TOS fans don't seem to be here on these forums. Probably because they are more, er, casual.

It would be nice if the Trek novels were written with us in mind. The 50 or 60 copies they would sell would be fantastic...

 

[zarkon]

eighties continuity was best continuity

The only TOS books I've really enjoyed in the last fifteen years are pretty much the errand, brothers keeper & shatnerverse books