Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoilers)

[RonG]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Q-Squared is another old favorite that quite fits the bill (maybe that's why it's a favorite ).

I can name a few other novel from the mid to late 1990's that tries to capture the "epic" feeling, and some even came close, but somehow fell short: Invasion!, Q-Continuum Trilogy, Devil's Heart ... (of course, that's not to say I didn't like them).

Just to set the record straight: I don't look only for these "epic" style books. Far from it, I read (and love) many Trek novels. It's just that when I try and pinpoint what is it that made certain novels my favorites (like Millennium , which begat this specific topic), the matter of "epic"-ness ( ) came up front and center.

 

[Smiley]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

I'm of the mind that big events with galactic or higher stakes should be uncommon. If they happen too often, then they lose some of what makes them special.

 

[JD]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Have you read the DS9R, because they get pretty epic as they go along IMO.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

RonG said:
While many of the novels are honest-to-Q Trek classics, I personally feel that there's a lack of truly "epic" Trek stories

I read/devoured all the early Pocket novels as they were published and the ones that felt really epic to me, as I read them, due to the potentially high stakes under threat, were "The Wounded Sky" (IIRC, there was a seemingly irrepairable split in the fabric of space), "Strangers from the Sky" (history recorded the wrong race as Earth's "first contact"), "Final Frontier" (the original Enterprise must launch early - with Robert and Sarah April from TAS), the first hardcover, "Spock's World" (Vulcan wants to leave the UFP, and ancient history is related), and "TNG Vendetta" (the Borg are really pissed!).

More personal, but deeply engrossing, early stories were "The Entropy Effect", "Yesterday's Son"/"Time for Yesterday", "Uhura's Song" (a mighty chunky regular MMPB) and "TNG: Metamorphosis" (the first TNG "giant" MMPB about Data).

 

[Eminence]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Oh man, does this take me back! I was reading a Star Trek book a day at the time (trying not to read for class LOL)...and I probably owned 50 to 60 of them too. I remember the second book wasn't at my local bookstore, so it took me a while to get through them, but I loved this trilogy. Couldn't wait to find out what happened next!

I wonder where these books are now...gotta find em!

 

[RonG]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

JD said:
Have you read the DS9R, because they get pretty epic as they go along IMO.

Sure have, JD the DS9R is pretty much my favorite Trek novel series (slightly edging Vanguard ). Only problem is the loooong wait between "installments"...

 

[JD]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Well, at least we are (hopefully) getting the next one later this year. Along with Terok Nor, possibly the Mirror Universe anthology (Shards and Shadows) and Myriad Universes, and Destiny. If even half if these things have DS9 it will be a good year for us Niners.

 

[RonG]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

JD said:
Well, at least we are (hopefully) getting the next one later this year. Along with Terok Nor, possibly the Mirror Universe anthology (Shards and Shadows) and Myriad Universes, and Destiny. If even half if these things have DS9 it will be a good year for us Niners.

Off topic (DS9R-related)for a sec - I think the long wait between books really damages the effect of any series on its audience - including the DS9 Relaunch. The first few years (up to Unity ) consisted of perhaps the finest Trek "storyarc", and were a joy to read.

Following the Worlds of Deep Space Nine, it seemd that the series did have an overall vision for the (IMO) "second act" of the Relaunch, but the waiting time for each new book/story blurred (at least to me and to some of my Trek reader friends)the line between "waiting with baited breath" and "what the is taking so long?!?" reader reactions.

Back to the topic of the "epic" trek stories\books, I think that the DS9 Relaunch is on the verge of losing its momentum (again, IMO) in that regard.
Good thing we have Vanguard (hope book 4 doesn't take too long to complete) and Titan (just read the first two books, but that's for another thread).

 

[Holytomato]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Strangers from the Sky and Final Frontier were invalidated? When did this happen?

"That said, if having Millennium be (stay?) in-continuity means that the quality of later work will suffer for it"





Why?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Holytomato said:
Strangers from the Sky and Final Frontier were invalidated? When did this happen?

Well, "Strangers from the Sky" has essentially been retold with different Vulcan "first contact" stories: the movie "First Contact" and the ENT episode, "Carbon Creek".

"Final Frontier" was written before the Star Trek Office declared TAS non canonical. Alternatively, I guess the poster may be assuming this book won't jibe with JJ Abrams' new movie? Or maybe the quote in ST III that the ship was "20 years old"?

Both novels also use Earth dates extrapolated from the "ST Spaceflight Chrononolgy", and these dates were invalidated by Data's statement of an Earth date in TNG's "The Neutral Zone".

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

RonG said:
I think that the DS9 Relaunch is on the verge of losing its momentum (again, IMO) in that regard.

You can always read them again, you know. Some of them are even better second time around.

I started "Warpath" today for the first time. I took a long break between Books 1 and 2/3 of WoDS9, but I picked up where I left off, with no problem, just before Christmas and now I'm into "Warpath".

You know, way back in 1980, all Star Trek novels were at least eight months apart.

 

[Multimedium]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

RonG said:
I think that the DS9 Relaunch is on the verge of losing its momentum (again, IMO) in that regard.

I agree. I was a huge fan of the DS9 Relaunch, but after a two year gap between books I'm just not that excited about about it. I wish Pocket would spread out the different series more evenly than they have the past few years.

Therin of Andor said:
You know, way back in 1980, all Star Trek novels were at least eight months apart.

In 1980 the books were stand alone and not a long continuing story arc like the DS9 relaunch, and we are talking about two years.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

There are plenty of ongoing novel series in fiction whose installments come out years apart. It's just that Trek fans got spoiled by the extremely unusual situation that prevailed in past years, where most trilogies or series had their installments come out right after each other. Fans of any other long-running series in non-tie-in SF, fantasy, and the like have always had to wait a year, two years, three years, more between installments.

Besides, Fearful Symmetry was the victim of unforeseen delays. It was originally intended to come out last year. It's not like the editors maliciously decided to force people to wait two years.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Multimedium said:
In 1980 the books were stand alone and not a long continuing story arc like the DS9 relaunch, and we are talking about two years.

Two years is not a long time for SF novel series.

And, as I said, you are allowed to reread a book, before the next one arrives, to remind yourself of the storyline.

But I find that the the DS9 Relaunch events are pretty unforgettable. Hey, I still remember the startling events of "Avatar" quite vividly, and I have only read that once - when it first came out.

 

[RonG]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Waiting 2 years (or even 1 year) is a bit TOO long, especially when you consider that most SF series (not media tie-ins) are written by a single author, so a wide gap between installments is more understandable (IMO).

Trek series (incl. DS9R) are usually written by different novelists, which should allow a smaller gap between books (which is better when reading an open-ended series and not a finite series).

In the current rate, a DS9R reader (and I look at myself for an example) that wants to reach the "conclusion" of the arc, may wait well into the next decade...

 

[JD]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Personally, I'm just happy that Fearful Symmetry is actually coming out soon. :thumbsup:

 

[Reanok]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

I agree with JD at least we're getting new Ds9 books the Terok Nor series and Fearful Symmetry and also the Mirror universe series Shards and Shadows and Myriad Universe.So I think it's nice we'll be getting several new Ds9 stories this year.

 

[I_like_Kai]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

Millennium Was the very first Trek book I read about 3 years ago, and it is because of this Trilogy that I have been hooked ever since.

I can remember after finishing it that I wanted to read every Trek novel I had missed so I started the DS9-R and loved it, I have to admit I agree with Christopher, we have been a bit spoiled in regards to the DS9-R because of the schedule that they were running then.

I have a question for the authors. Do the editors of the individual series take into account the amount of time between installments and how it will effect reader enthusiasm, and if so and they know a long wait is coming does it effect their chose on who will write the next story.(will they chose a known fan-fav after a long wait to encourage readers to get back in to the tale)

 

[Defcon]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

I_like_Kai said:
(will they chose a known fan-fav after a long wait to encourage readers to get back in to the tale)

I'm not an author, but I guess at least for Marco the answer for this one would be no, since both the first planned author and the new one for the next "Relaunch" novel are newcomers.

Granted, there is only a break of a bit more than 2 years between Warpath and the next novel if it isn't delayed again, but for the Relaunch that is a rather long wait between installments, although the time between installments seem to have increased gradually anyway:

Avatar 1&2 --> Abyss = 2 months
Abyss ---> Demons of Air and Darkness = 2 months
Demons of Air and Darkness ---> Horn and Ivory = 2 months
Horn and Ivory ---> Twilight = 10 months
Twilight ---> This Gray Spirit = same month
This Gray Spirit ---> Cathedral = 1 month
Cathredal ---> Lesser Evil = 1 month
Lesser Evil ---> Rising Son = 2 months
(Rising Son ---> Left Hand of Destiny, Book One = 3 months
Left Hand of Destiny, Book One ---> Left Hand of Destiny, Book Two = 1 month
Left Hand of Destiny, Book Two ---> Unity = 6 months)
Rising Son ---> Unity = 10 months
Unity ---> WoSTDSN, Volume One = 7 months
WoSTDSN, Vol. 1 ---> WoSTDSN, Vol. 2 = 8 months
WoSTDSN, Vol. 2 ---> WoSTDSN, Vol. 3 = same month
WoSTDSN, Vol. 3 ---> Warpath = 14 months
Warpath ---> Fearful Symmetry = 27 months

 

[Christopher]

Re: Finally read DS9 Millennium trilogy (8 year old spoiler

I suspect that, to some extent, the DS9 Relaunch has been a casualty of its own success. Marco was behind the project, and once it proved successful, it paved the way for more big projects from Marco like Titan, Vanguard, Mirror Universe, etc. And so Marco's gotten busier and busier, leaving only so much time he can devote to DS9. Or so it looks to me, anyway. Take that as an educated guess, not a fact.

And of course some of the delays have been due to unforeseen circumstances. Unity was postponed due to the pregnancies of S. D. Perry and Marco's wife, and Fearful Symmetry is a year late due to the change in authors. In both cases, the decision was made to take as much time as necessary to get it right.