Geoff Hamell suggested this on Psi Phi, and I posted it there, but it's being cross-posted here as well for the sake of the newbies, and to stop me from killing anyone who asks these questions.
Thanks to Michael Schuster, Pf2144 (Jon), Will Devine, Andrew Timson, Ian McLean, and Bob "Bobatiel" Manojlovich for their suggestions and assistance; Christopher Bennett for a question I nicked; Slave of Seven for updating and pinning this; and Keith DeCandido, Marco Palmieri, and Ann Crispin for patiently answering some questions. Hopefully this will be the last time they're asked.
UPCOMING/MISSING PROJECTS
Q. What happened to Challenger?
A. Star Trek: Challenger is on hold while Diane Carey pursues development of original fiction. Its return is indefinite. Marco Palmieri explains: "Not to confuse the issue with the obvious, but there never was a Challenger series. Only the hope that it would continue in much the same manner as, say, New Frontier. The mistake on our end, clearly, was touting it as a new series prematurely."
Q. When will the fifth Rihannsu novel come out? What about books 3-5 of The Yesterday Saga by A.C. Crispin? Split Infinities? Are there going to be any more Dark Passions books?
A. The fifth Rihannsu book, The Empty Chair, will be out when Diane Duane finishes it. According to her blog, she has been working on The Empty Chair for the past couple months, so hopefully it will appear soon. The earliest we are likely to see it, however, is on the 2005 schedule.
The rest of The Yesterday Saga is almost finished being written, as per A.C. Crispin herself in July 2003. As of December 2003, she was "up to my ears in the... project." The books will tentatively be titled Return to Yesterday, Yesterday's Vulcan, and Yesterday's Destiny.
Whenever it does appear, however, Split Infinities will likely have a different name to avoid conflict with Star Wars's Infinities mini-series. Accordging to Marco's Q&A: "Split Infinities (which was only a working title) got backburnered, but will see the light of day at some point. Dark Passion's 3-4 was only hypothetical, and is not actually in development."
Q. If I've heard about a book and it isn't on the schedule, does that mean it was cancelled?
A. No. There are always plenty of books in development that haven't been scheduled yet. And remember, the schedule is always tentative and subject to change. The schedule is more a hope than a promise. (Thanks to Christopher L. Bennett)
Q. Is there a good place to find out about books that actually were cancelled?
A. Yes there is! Check out Steve Roby's page, Star Trek: The Lost Books. The page also has information on the oft-mentioned Probe/Music of the Spheres and A Flag Full of Stars debacles.
ASPECTS OF TREKLIT
Q. What is the order of the DS9 relaunch titles?
A. The "core" titles of the relaunch belong in this order, chronologically speaking:
The Left Hand of Destiny, Books One & Two
The Lives of Dax
Avatar, Books One & Two
Section 31: Abyss
Gateways #4: Demons of Air and Darkness
Gateways #7: What Lay Beyond: "Horn and Ivory"
Mission: Gamma
- #1: Twilight
- #2: This Gray Spirit
- #3: Cathedral
- #4: Lesser Evil
Rising Son*
Unity
The Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Books One - Three
...and more to come....
* actually runs concurrent with books from Abyss through Lesser Evil
A timeline of these plus related relaunch materials can be found here: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB17&Number=1048874
Note that this is the chronology order; publication-wise the relaunch began with Avatar. LHOD was published between Rising Son and Unity, while TLOD came out years before Avatar and was republished the same time Rising Son was first published.
And as noted on the timeline, yes the relaunch will continue post-Worlds of Deep Space Nine.
Q. What is the Shatnerverse?
A. In order to prevent confusion, those novels written in collaboration between the Reeves-Stevens and William Shatner have been set aside in their own continuity. This way, casual references to Kirk being alive will not slip into other books and confuse the poor readers. However, this has not stopped the Shatnerverse books from referencing other works, including Ship of the Line and The Dominion War Tetralogy. The novels in the Shatnerverse are:
Odyssey
- The Ashes of Eden
- The Return
- Avenger
The Mirror Universe Trilogy
- Spectre
- Dark Victory
- Preserver
Totality
- Captain's Peril
- Captain's Blood
- Captain's Glory
Q. What is Star Trek: S.C.E.?
A. S.C.E. is a series of eBooks chronicling the adventures of the U.S.S. da Vinci and its Starfleet Corps of Engineers response team. Available in eBook format up to book #35 and in four paperback collections up to book #16. More information available here: http://www.psiphi.org/cgi/upc-db/sce/
FEW AND FAR BETWEEN?
Q. Why aren't there any more Star Trek comics?
A. Checker Book Publishing recently announced a plan to reprint the old Gold Key TOS comics from the 1960's and 70's into trade paperbacks. As for new comics, Wildstorm declined to renew their license because of declining profits, and no one else has picked it up. J.G. Hertzler is trying to create a Klingon graphic novel, however, and a comic company may take out a license to at least do this one story. Stay tuned for more info.
Q. Why are the S.C.E. paperback reprints so rare?
A. S.C.E. was primarily concieved of and executed as an eBook series. Any paperback concerns are secondary. Anyway, only so many books fit on the schedule every year, and the editors do their best to maintain a balanced approach, meaning there is not always room for S.C.E. Besides, you can always just buy the eBooks. That's what I did.
Q. Why are there so few TOS books this year? Why are there so few TNG books this year? Why are there so few DS9, VGR, ENT, NF, CHA, SGZ, GKN, etc. books this year? Does Pocket hate me and want to destroy my favorite series?
A. No. As said before, Pocket tries its best to create a balanced approach, however this balance is achieved over several years, not within each year, to give them more freedom. Hence, 2004 is TNG-heavy; whereas 2001-03 have had a lot of DS9; and 2000, 2002, and 2005/06 were/will be TOS-heavy. Also note that VGR relaunch, NF, CHA, SGZ, and GKN are single-author series, and will thus probably have one to two books at max each year.
During the last four years (Jan 2000 - Dec 2003), there have been 111 Star Trek books published and the series distributions broke down thusly (thanks to Keith DeCandido):
17% are cross-series
20% are original Star Trek
16% are Star Trek: The Next Generation
15% are Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
8% are Star Trek: Voyager
6% are Enterprise
7% are Star Trek: New Frontier
1% are Star Trek: Challenger
4% are Star Trek: S.C.E.
4% are Star Trek: Stargazer
2% are Star Trek: I.K.S. Gorkon
Q. Where are my nonfiction books?
A. Nonfiction sales have been abysmally down for Pocket's Star Trek books recently; their last big effort, Star Charts, apparently sold very poorly despite being the coolest book ever (except if you're James Dixon). For the forseeable future, there will not be many nonfiction ST titles from Pocket, though John Ordover said he tentatively had an idea in the works. Also: The Unseen Frontier: Declassified Images From the History of the Federation has been cancelled. Get over it.
MISCELLANY
Q. Why aren't the books numbered anymore?
A. Because the editors don't want to number them. By and large, they don't actually occur in any sort of sequential order, so the only purpose of the numbers is to create a sort of "assembly line" impression about the books. Also, whether or not a book was numbered was becoming increasingly arbitrary -- what made The Q Continuum Trilogy numbered when The Best and the Brightest was not? Besides, they look ugly on the covers. Sequential series, such as I.K.S. Gorkon or New Frontier will likely continue numbering for the time being, at least in the booklist if not actually on the covers.
Q. Why can't people from outside the U.S./Canada (except Quebec) participate in the Strange New Worlds anthologies/short fiction contests?
A. The reason is tax laws. For the contest to work in the UK, the EU, Australia and just about everywhere else it would have to comply with their tax laws. As a company based outside of the UK, for example, Pocket US can not sponsor a contest. (Pocket UK can, but there hasn't been sufficient evidence, either in sales or demand from the public, to make them think it's profitable. There was a letter campaign a few years ago, but I don't think much came of it.)
Though NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and North American tax treaties avoid this issue, not all of Canada is open to the contest, either. Language laws prohibit the contest in Quebec unless entries are accepted and final product is available in French.
Q. What happened in Stargazer: Oblivion on pages 72, 74, 195, and 197?
A. The first printing has an error that means some text is omitted on these pages. The full text can be found on the SimonSays site. Alternatively, you could buy the eBook or do as I am, and keep your eyes peeled for the second printing. Margaret Clark, editor of Stargazer, says: "Look at the copyright page, you know that page you blow by it's got the Paramount mountian and Gertude (the Pocket logo has a name, like who wouldn't?) the 1 should be missing and the first number should be a 2. This is the second printing the printing errors were corrected on this edition."
Q. I just read David R. George III's wonderful Serpents Among the Ruins and wanted to know whether the oft-referenced "Iron Mike" Paris has been in any ST novels, and what his relation to Tom Paris is.
A. It is wonderful, isn't it? Anyway, "Iron Mike" Paris was referenced in the novel Stargazer: Gauntlet. He is the father of Stargazer's Cole Paris and Voyager's Owen Paris, who is of course the father of Tom.
Q. What's a good source of information on Star Trek novels?
A. Well, TrekBBS's TrekLit forum of course, but if you didn't know that, you wouldn't be here, would you? Also, the Star Trek Books Board at psiphi.org has some authors/editors who post there. Other key TrekLit links:
Steve Roby's The Complete Starfleet Library: http://www.well.com/user/sjroby/lcars/index.html
David Henderson's Star Trek Booklist: http://www.psiphi.org/cgi/upc-db/booklist.html
Psi Phi Book Database - Upcoming Books List: http://www.psiphi.org/cgi/upc-db/upcoming.html
Psi Phi Book Database - 2004 Schedule: http://www.psiphi.org/cgi/upc-db/schedule-2004.html
The Star Trek Novel Rankings: http://origin.0catch.com/st_novelrankings.htm
Marco Palmieri's (Editor, Pocket Books) Q&A: http://www.simonsays.com/subs/qaap.cfm?areaid=44&userid=7
QUESTIONS TO NEVER ASK
Q. Which Star Trek books are canon?
A. Short answer: none. Long answer: read Steve Roby's "Every Fan's Canon Primer," which will not only answer your question in detail, but humorously ridicule you for asking it. http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/showflat.php?Board=UBB17&Number=1702839#Post1702839
Q. Why is this month's book late?
A. The books come out during a rough four-week period and have no set street date, unlike the higher profile Harry Potter and Star Wars. Hence, your only assurance is that mass market paperback will be out by the middle of the publication month, and other books (trade paperback/hardcover) by the end of it, since they are on a different production schedule thingy.
Q. If Terri Osborne cuts off Keith DeCandido's hair, will he lose his amazing power to write so many books?
A.
Thanks to Michael Schuster, Pf2144 (Jon), Will Devine, Andrew Timson, Ian McLean, and Bob "Bobatiel" Manojlovich for their suggestions and assistance; Christopher Bennett for a question I nicked; Slave of Seven for updating and pinning this; and Keith DeCandido, Marco Palmieri, and Ann Crispin for patiently answering some questions. Hopefully this will be the last time they're asked.
UPCOMING/MISSING PROJECTS
Q. What happened to Challenger?
A. Star Trek: Challenger is on hold while Diane Carey pursues development of original fiction. Its return is indefinite. Marco Palmieri explains: "Not to confuse the issue with the obvious, but there never was a Challenger series. Only the hope that it would continue in much the same manner as, say, New Frontier. The mistake on our end, clearly, was touting it as a new series prematurely."
Q. When will the fifth Rihannsu novel come out? What about books 3-5 of The Yesterday Saga by A.C. Crispin? Split Infinities? Are there going to be any more Dark Passions books?
A. The fifth Rihannsu book, The Empty Chair, will be out when Diane Duane finishes it. According to her blog, she has been working on The Empty Chair for the past couple months, so hopefully it will appear soon. The earliest we are likely to see it, however, is on the 2005 schedule.
The rest of The Yesterday Saga is almost finished being written, as per A.C. Crispin herself in July 2003. As of December 2003, she was "up to my ears in the... project." The books will tentatively be titled Return to Yesterday, Yesterday's Vulcan, and Yesterday's Destiny.
Whenever it does appear, however, Split Infinities will likely have a different name to avoid conflict with Star Wars's Infinities mini-series. Accordging to Marco's Q&A: "Split Infinities (which was only a working title) got backburnered, but will see the light of day at some point. Dark Passion's 3-4 was only hypothetical, and is not actually in development."
Q. If I've heard about a book and it isn't on the schedule, does that mean it was cancelled?
A. No. There are always plenty of books in development that haven't been scheduled yet. And remember, the schedule is always tentative and subject to change. The schedule is more a hope than a promise. (Thanks to Christopher L. Bennett)
Q. Is there a good place to find out about books that actually were cancelled?
A. Yes there is! Check out Steve Roby's page, Star Trek: The Lost Books. The page also has information on the oft-mentioned Probe/Music of the Spheres and A Flag Full of Stars debacles.
ASPECTS OF TREKLIT
Q. What is the order of the DS9 relaunch titles?
A. The "core" titles of the relaunch belong in this order, chronologically speaking:
The Left Hand of Destiny, Books One & Two
The Lives of Dax
Avatar, Books One & Two
Section 31: Abyss
Gateways #4: Demons of Air and Darkness
Gateways #7: What Lay Beyond: "Horn and Ivory"
Mission: Gamma
- #1: Twilight
- #2: This Gray Spirit
- #3: Cathedral
- #4: Lesser Evil
Rising Son*
Unity
The Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Books One - Three
...and more to come....
* actually runs concurrent with books from Abyss through Lesser Evil
A timeline of these plus related relaunch materials can be found here: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB17&Number=1048874
Note that this is the chronology order; publication-wise the relaunch began with Avatar. LHOD was published between Rising Son and Unity, while TLOD came out years before Avatar and was republished the same time Rising Son was first published.
And as noted on the timeline, yes the relaunch will continue post-Worlds of Deep Space Nine.
Q. What is the Shatnerverse?
A. In order to prevent confusion, those novels written in collaboration between the Reeves-Stevens and William Shatner have been set aside in their own continuity. This way, casual references to Kirk being alive will not slip into other books and confuse the poor readers. However, this has not stopped the Shatnerverse books from referencing other works, including Ship of the Line and The Dominion War Tetralogy. The novels in the Shatnerverse are:
Odyssey
- The Ashes of Eden
- The Return
- Avenger
The Mirror Universe Trilogy
- Spectre
- Dark Victory
- Preserver
Totality
- Captain's Peril
- Captain's Blood
- Captain's Glory
Q. What is Star Trek: S.C.E.?
A. S.C.E. is a series of eBooks chronicling the adventures of the U.S.S. da Vinci and its Starfleet Corps of Engineers response team. Available in eBook format up to book #35 and in four paperback collections up to book #16. More information available here: http://www.psiphi.org/cgi/upc-db/sce/
FEW AND FAR BETWEEN?
Q. Why aren't there any more Star Trek comics?
A. Checker Book Publishing recently announced a plan to reprint the old Gold Key TOS comics from the 1960's and 70's into trade paperbacks. As for new comics, Wildstorm declined to renew their license because of declining profits, and no one else has picked it up. J.G. Hertzler is trying to create a Klingon graphic novel, however, and a comic company may take out a license to at least do this one story. Stay tuned for more info.
Q. Why are the S.C.E. paperback reprints so rare?
A. S.C.E. was primarily concieved of and executed as an eBook series. Any paperback concerns are secondary. Anyway, only so many books fit on the schedule every year, and the editors do their best to maintain a balanced approach, meaning there is not always room for S.C.E. Besides, you can always just buy the eBooks. That's what I did.
Q. Why are there so few TOS books this year? Why are there so few TNG books this year? Why are there so few DS9, VGR, ENT, NF, CHA, SGZ, GKN, etc. books this year? Does Pocket hate me and want to destroy my favorite series?
A. No. As said before, Pocket tries its best to create a balanced approach, however this balance is achieved over several years, not within each year, to give them more freedom. Hence, 2004 is TNG-heavy; whereas 2001-03 have had a lot of DS9; and 2000, 2002, and 2005/06 were/will be TOS-heavy. Also note that VGR relaunch, NF, CHA, SGZ, and GKN are single-author series, and will thus probably have one to two books at max each year.
During the last four years (Jan 2000 - Dec 2003), there have been 111 Star Trek books published and the series distributions broke down thusly (thanks to Keith DeCandido):
17% are cross-series
20% are original Star Trek
16% are Star Trek: The Next Generation
15% are Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
8% are Star Trek: Voyager
6% are Enterprise
7% are Star Trek: New Frontier
1% are Star Trek: Challenger
4% are Star Trek: S.C.E.
4% are Star Trek: Stargazer
2% are Star Trek: I.K.S. Gorkon
Q. Where are my nonfiction books?
A. Nonfiction sales have been abysmally down for Pocket's Star Trek books recently; their last big effort, Star Charts, apparently sold very poorly despite being the coolest book ever (except if you're James Dixon). For the forseeable future, there will not be many nonfiction ST titles from Pocket, though John Ordover said he tentatively had an idea in the works. Also: The Unseen Frontier: Declassified Images From the History of the Federation has been cancelled. Get over it.
MISCELLANY
Q. Why aren't the books numbered anymore?
A. Because the editors don't want to number them. By and large, they don't actually occur in any sort of sequential order, so the only purpose of the numbers is to create a sort of "assembly line" impression about the books. Also, whether or not a book was numbered was becoming increasingly arbitrary -- what made The Q Continuum Trilogy numbered when The Best and the Brightest was not? Besides, they look ugly on the covers. Sequential series, such as I.K.S. Gorkon or New Frontier will likely continue numbering for the time being, at least in the booklist if not actually on the covers.
Q. Why can't people from outside the U.S./Canada (except Quebec) participate in the Strange New Worlds anthologies/short fiction contests?
A. The reason is tax laws. For the contest to work in the UK, the EU, Australia and just about everywhere else it would have to comply with their tax laws. As a company based outside of the UK, for example, Pocket US can not sponsor a contest. (Pocket UK can, but there hasn't been sufficient evidence, either in sales or demand from the public, to make them think it's profitable. There was a letter campaign a few years ago, but I don't think much came of it.)
Though NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and North American tax treaties avoid this issue, not all of Canada is open to the contest, either. Language laws prohibit the contest in Quebec unless entries are accepted and final product is available in French.
Q. What happened in Stargazer: Oblivion on pages 72, 74, 195, and 197?
A. The first printing has an error that means some text is omitted on these pages. The full text can be found on the SimonSays site. Alternatively, you could buy the eBook or do as I am, and keep your eyes peeled for the second printing. Margaret Clark, editor of Stargazer, says: "Look at the copyright page, you know that page you blow by it's got the Paramount mountian and Gertude (the Pocket logo has a name, like who wouldn't?) the 1 should be missing and the first number should be a 2. This is the second printing the printing errors were corrected on this edition."
Q. I just read David R. George III's wonderful Serpents Among the Ruins and wanted to know whether the oft-referenced "Iron Mike" Paris has been in any ST novels, and what his relation to Tom Paris is.
A. It is wonderful, isn't it? Anyway, "Iron Mike" Paris was referenced in the novel Stargazer: Gauntlet. He is the father of Stargazer's Cole Paris and Voyager's Owen Paris, who is of course the father of Tom.
Q. What's a good source of information on Star Trek novels?
A. Well, TrekBBS's TrekLit forum of course, but if you didn't know that, you wouldn't be here, would you? Also, the Star Trek Books Board at psiphi.org has some authors/editors who post there. Other key TrekLit links:
Steve Roby's The Complete Starfleet Library: http://www.well.com/user/sjroby/lcars/index.html
David Henderson's Star Trek Booklist: http://www.psiphi.org/cgi/upc-db/booklist.html
Psi Phi Book Database - Upcoming Books List: http://www.psiphi.org/cgi/upc-db/upcoming.html
Psi Phi Book Database - 2004 Schedule: http://www.psiphi.org/cgi/upc-db/schedule-2004.html
The Star Trek Novel Rankings: http://origin.0catch.com/st_novelrankings.htm
Marco Palmieri's (Editor, Pocket Books) Q&A: http://www.simonsays.com/subs/qaap.cfm?areaid=44&userid=7
QUESTIONS TO NEVER ASK
Q. Which Star Trek books are canon?
A. Short answer: none. Long answer: read Steve Roby's "Every Fan's Canon Primer," which will not only answer your question in detail, but humorously ridicule you for asking it. http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/showflat.php?Board=UBB17&Number=1702839#Post1702839
Q. Why is this month's book late?
A. The books come out during a rough four-week period and have no set street date, unlike the higher profile Harry Potter and Star Wars. Hence, your only assurance is that mass market paperback will be out by the middle of the publication month, and other books (trade paperback/hardcover) by the end of it, since they are on a different production schedule thingy.
Q. If Terri Osborne cuts off Keith DeCandido's hair, will he lose his amazing power to write so many books?
A.
(Although strangely, every fanfic I seem to come up with in my head comes from me trying to fill in some gap from Voyager - go figure! 
)
