Dear TOS novel writers, it's not you. It's me.

[jaime]

I think I described Atia's hair as "wine-dark"; so, kind of a henna red colour. I'd like to return to the Lionheart crew one of these days...

Ta, knew it was coloured. Semi punk classical Roman figures do tend to stick in the mind. And it's a rare and interesting thing to see a follow up to bread and circuses that takes it at least a bit seriously. Whilst obviously lamenting the lack of TV series in the books in my posts, I too wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of the Lionheart. I think ebook serials for original Trek characters could be the next big thing.

 

[Christopher]

I think I described Atia's hair as "wine-dark"; so, kind of a henna red colour.

Wine-dark? So if you looked really closely at her hair, would Odysseus be sailing across it?

 

[jaime]

Wine-dark? So if you looked really closely at her hair, would Odysseus be sailing across it?

He's from the other classical history corner.

 

[JD]

Indeed. But those are marketed that way. A reader picking up a Deep Space Nine novel may reasonably expect Sisko or OBrien to get more than a cameo no?

Not necessarily, most of the books make it clear that they are set after the series, where those characters are no longer major players, so if someone picks up one of those books expecting to see those characters, then that's their mistake and not the fault of the author.

 

[jaime]

Not necessarily, most of the books make it clear that they are set after the series, where those characters are no longer major players, so if someone picks up one of those books expecting to see those characters, then that's their mistake and not the fault of the author.

That's my point though...imagine you are new to ds9, brought into Trek via the new series, and watched Ds9 streaming...are you gonna enjoy that book more or less? Stay or go?

 

[ConRefit79]

Is the abundance of TOS novels set before the refit something pushed by the publisher or is it the author's preference? It seems to me there's room for many stories set after the refit or between TFF and TUC.

 

[Christopher]

Is the abundance of TOS novels set before the refit something pushed by the publisher or is it the author's preference? It seems to me there's room for many stories set after the refit or between TFF and TUC.

The preference for 5-year-mission novels has been around for decades. Even at the very start of Pocket's line, only a few novels were overtly set post-TMP, and even those didn't do much with the setting, basically just telling 5YM-style stories but with higher ranks for the supporting characters. There have been a fair number of novels set in the era of TWOK and subsequent movies, but little interest in the post-TMP period. I explored that period in Ex Machina, which I hoped would be the start of a series, but the sales weren't strong enough to warrant a continuation.

Oddly, it used to be quite different in the comics. The first Marvel TOS comic and both of DC's TOS series were set primarily or exclusively in the movie era. Marvel didn't have a choice, since their license was solely to TMP-related stuff, but DC had carte blanche to the whole franchise and still preferentially set their comics in the "present" of the movie era. And yet, pretty much right after Generations came out and ended the movie era, that stopped. Most of the TOS comics stories published from 1995 onward have been set during the 5-year mission. I find it odd that the novels have always had a preference for 5YM stories with occasional brief forays into the movie era, while the comics were overwhelmingly movie-era while the movies were being made and then overwhelmingly 5YM thereafter. Maybe it's because the comics, as a monthly, ongoing narrative, were seen more as something that happened in "real time" and had to stay current with what was happening in the movies, something that ceased to be the case once the TOS movies were over.

 

[Jinn]

The preference for 5-year-mission novels has been around for decades.

Interestingly in Germany no kind of TOS book does really well in terms of sales numbers and the only reason that we still get one each year is that the other novels do good enough to support one TOS novel per year and nostalgia I suppose.
And all of this despite the fact that the seven TOS novels published by Cross Cult were the Crucible trilogy, Twilight's End, Mudd in your Eye, The Joy Machine and No Time Like the Past, all of which are, to my knowledge considered at least rather good.

 

[ConRefit79]

Thanks Chris. I enjoyed reading Ex Machina. Guess I haven't been looking hard enough for Movie era stories. I know their was one new novel and a few recent short stories. But The only other I recall were Probe and a story I didn't read which involved Kirk and Co help save Sulu's daughter after TUC.

 

[stardream]

That's my point though...imagine you are new to ds9, brought into Trek via the new series, and watched Ds9 streaming...are you gonna enjoy that book more or less? Stay or go?

A friend of mine was really into TNG back in the day. She used to read the TNG books but fell behind because of real life. She expressed her disappointment to me that when she decided to start reading them again the books were nothing like the TV show she loved.

 

[jaime]

A friend of mine was really into TNG back in the day. She used to read the TNG books but fell behind because of real life. She expressed her disappointment to me that when she decided to start reading them again the books were nothing like the TV show she loved.

I went a similar path, came back when I read Destiny sort of by accident, accepted the reason for Picards out of character stuff there, and then carried on, even catching up a bit....but as time as gone on, the feeling of dislocation has just increased, to the point I am always on a knife edge of just giving up. I even got a refund on one book when I realised it wa gonna go nowhere. The recent Fall umbrella series, following on on from giving up on the Typhon Pact books, really didn't do much to keep me inching ever closer to giving up. I basically have given up the TNG books, truth be told. Ds9 is on a knife edge. Only Voyager is a must buy scenario. And that's almost the reverse of my TV taste back in the day. It's a strange day when the series I left halfway through its first airing is the only book series working for me.
Maybe I should try enterprise or TOS books....since I get bored by the TV versions, I will probably love the books, based on this set up....or not.

 

[Thrawn]

Conversely, I gave Destiny to my dad, who watched a little bit of TNG and nothing else, and to a friend of mine, who never saw any TNG at all, and they both devoured the whole trilogy and asked for more. (Both are reading Vanguard at the moment.)

So if you're looking for the TV show, the books may not work as well for you, but it seems like they stand on their own much better than they used to.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

What might be a good compromise is to create books set in the 5ym timeline, only involving another ship and crew entirely. It would be interesting to see what was happening to other back then and if the Enterprise was really the big cheese the show by default made it to be.

 

[Christopher]

What might be a good compromise is to create books set in the 5ym timeline, only involving another ship and crew entirely. It would be interesting to see what was happening to other back then and if the Enterprise was really the big cheese the show by default made it to be.

Ummm....

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Vanguard

 

[Nyotarules]

One of my fav ST books is 'Sarek' set after TUC. I find the 5YM mission books too focused on the Holy 3, but then I am not a huge fan of Kirk anyway lol
However I contradict myself by reading the 'The Crucible' series at the moment

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Ummm....

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Vanguard

Yeah, well, it's hard sometimes to tell what's what. It has this character, but then there's these guys and etc...

 

[Jinn]

but then I am not a huge fan of Kirk anyway lol

BURN HER WITH FIRE!!
I'm just kidding. I'm actually not thaaaat fond of Kirk myself. *hides behind desk*

 

[Leto_II]

Is the abundance of TOS novels set before the refit something pushed by the publisher or is it the author's preference? It seems to me there's room for many stories set after the refit or between TFF and TUC.

I always found it morbidly amusing during John Ordover's tenure as editor back in the '90s that he never purchased any novels set between TVH and TUC -- apparently to him, the only Enterprise-A stories worth telling were the ones taking place AFTER The Undiscovered Country, when Kirk and crew were getting ready to retire, LOL. About the only TFF-era novel we ever saw during the Ordover regime was Probe, but that book was first commissioned way back during Dave Stern's time as editor, and got grandfathered in through a ton of rewrites by various authors.

Otherwise, Ordover was pretty much a staunch "5YM"-guy right to the very end.

(ETA: I just remembered, we also got The Captain's Table: War Dragons, too. Still, it's pretty much the exception that proves the rule, and even that book was still at least 50% five-year mission.)

Thanks Chris. I enjoyed reading Ex Machina. Guess I haven't been looking hard enough for Movie era stories. I know their was one new novel and a few recent short stories. But The only other I recall were Probe and a story I didn't read which involved Kirk and Co help save Sulu's daughter after TUC.

Also, the upcoming Prey trilogy by John Jackson Miller looks to be at least partially set during the TOS movie-era (specifically, during Kirk's command of the Enterprise-A), and of course there are Greg's two recent movie-era tales (Foul Deeds Will Rise and Miasma), if you haven't checked those out yet, too:

http://www.startrek.com/article/kirk-picard-sarek-more-in-action-in-upcoming-trek-novels

But yeah -- I've kinda sadly grown desensitized to the lack of proper movie-era stories, despite maybe getting at least one or two "token" ones per year (this year's definitely an exception). From what Christopher has told us, his upcoming TOS novel (The Face of the Unknown) was originally intended to be set post-The Motion Picture, but Pocket Books requested a 5YM-timeframe instead, to tie into the 50th anniversary festivities this year.

 

[ConRefit79]

^
Thanks. I've read Foul Deeds and recently got a sample of the novella Miasma.

 

[JD]

That's my point though...imagine you are new to ds9, brought into Trek via the new series, and watched Ds9 streaming...are you gonna enjoy that book more or less? Stay or go?

If they knew going in that it was set after the show, then I don't see why they wouldn't enjoy it. If they go in not knowing, then that's their own fault for not paying attention to what they were buying. Like I said before, the books that are set after the shows tend to make it pretty clear, so it doesn't take much effort to figure out what books are after and which books are during the shows.