Further Destiny

[MatthiasRussell]

I wish it were released in hardback as well. An epic trilogy like that deserves a hardbound. I would think it would also encourage purchases by collectors and those who already have the originals but want one that looks good on their shelf and will last longer.

Oh well. I'll be buying it as I originally borrowed them from a friend and they are the books that got me reading star trek again. Hopefully I will one day be able to meet David Mack at a convention to get it signed, turning it to one of the prize objects on my shelf.

 

[Jedi_Master]

^That is interesting. Star Wars Novels are often released in hardback, even when they are scarcely 250 pages long.

And "Spock's World" showed Lucasfilm the way, but the SW potential readership is huge when compared to the ST potential readership.

With the economic downturn, and the reduced budgets of many American families, would it not behoove Treklit to try to promote their books to libraries?

Public library budgets have also been slashed and the USA doesn't have a Public Lending Rights Scheme (Australia does!), so the authors only receive one royalty payment for a book bought for a library, even though hundreds of patrons might read it.

Or to try to encourage libraries to promote the novels?

In my experience, many public librarians are SF media and Star Trek fans, but this will vary from library to library. You could always try approaching your nearby libraries. The public library near me has two large, glass, display cabinets and the locals are encouraged to book out the display space for a month - whatever weird collectibles they are into - and the librarians set up a side display of related materials they stock on the current theme.

I found my first trek novel on the shelves of my local library, and have been a fan ever since. There could be thousands more kids like me, waiting to fall in love with treklit, but without the resources to purchase the books themselves.

I thought more public libraries had moved to stocking trade PBs and omnibuses anyway. They are less expensive than hardcovers, have higher quality paper than MMPBs, and seen as less "disposable" than MMPBs.

I would love to see exact figures when it came to potential readership of ST vs SW novels.

My local library is treated by the community as a dumping ground for children, and a place for people to get DVD's to copy. Libraries regularly spend full price for Non - fiction books that will be read two or three times tops, so PB's would not be budget stretchers.

 

[LightningStorm]

And I simply did not have the time or desire to add new material or rewrite the existing text when I had other pressing deadlines with which to contend.

Please, please, please say one of those deadlines involved a followup to The Calling. PLEASE!?

 

[David Mack]

^ I wish I could. But I can't. I was scrambling to rewrite the outlines for the upcoming TNG trilogy (my first two proposals were rejected), and I ended up far behind schedule, where, sadly, I remain to this day. As I'm sure one can imagine, my editors and publisher hate me right now.

 

[Stoek]

^ We still love you though. Do you happen to know if they'll be releasing the omnibus edition as an e-book as well (kindle specifically)?

 

[David Mack]

I think so, but I'm not 100% certain.

 

[MikeRy71]

Last week I ordered the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy...Recieved Mere Mortals first and HAD to wait for Gods Of Night, which came in the mail today. Needless to say, I tore right into it and feel I won't be disappointed one bit!!!
After I read the Destiny triology I'll go back and read the Next Generation relaunch and then everything after Destiny...Keep 'em coming!!!

 

[Therin of Andor]

I would love to see exact figures when it came to potential readership of ST vs SW novels.

No way you'll get access to that, and the active fandom for both franchises waxes and wanes. But you can make certain guesstimates by studying what's available and how often bookshops restock. SW certainly has the broader demographic and the essential child representation, who will hopefully move on to adult SW novels. Also, there are only six key SW films, with everything else padding out the timeline.

With ST, really there hasn't been a core kiddie sect within the fandom since TOS in early prime time syndication in the 70s, and TAS. There are 30 seasons of ST episodes out there, plus eleven movies, over a 40 year period. People probably don't feel they need to fill as many gaps.

Libraries regularly spend full price for Non - fiction books that will be read two or three times tops...

That's not true, you know. If a public library spends too much money on stock that does not circulate sufficiently, their budget will drop accordingly. Borrowing stats are extremely important. It can also be that such reference works are used in the library, but not taken out on loan.

 

[F. King Daniel]

^ Except that those "previously on" blurbs would swiftly spin out of control. How much history does one recap in that manner? The bottom line is that the novels have a historian's note to place it in the chronology/continuity, and any details of backstory that are relevant to the current story are (in theory) explained in the text of the novels themselves.

Just the bare neccessities. It'd be more of a scene setter than a specific recap (which, as you say, should be in the books themselves). A blurb for the series.

For a Voyager novel, for example, that it's been X years since Voyager's return, that Janeway died, the Borg came in force severly damaging the Federation before being finally defeated/freed and that Voyager is back in the DQ with a slipstream drive, a new captain and a new mission.

For TNG, that it's been X years since Nemesis, the Enterprise-E has many new crew members to replace those who have moved on, that Picard and Beverly are married with a son, and that the Borg came in force and were finally defeated/freed/whatever. That the Enterprise's mission of exploration and space-diplomacy continues.

For DS9, that it's been X years since the series ended, Y since the pre-Typhon Pact novel series, and that the crew have gone their seperate ways. Then say whatever whoever the novel's focussing on is doing now (i.e. Sisko commanding the USS Robinson - the how and why will be told in the novel itself)

We should have a competition. Who can write the best, most enticing "update blurb" for a series in 120 words or less.

(or not)

 

[F. King Daniel]

I do think new novels would benefit from a "Previously on...." one or two paragraph preface to bring newbies up-to-date before reading the latest Voyager or Typhon Pact TNG novel.

I would think this would be a deterrent to many casual readers. We see it here all the time: "Do I really have to read this other book, that previous trilogy and that comic to enjoy this new novel?"

The authors do attempt to make each book as self-contained as possible. I once read "Fate of the Phoenix" as a newbie fan - who hadn't even seen "The Enterprise Incident" - before realising that the harder-to-find "Price of the Phoenix" had also set lots of (bizarre) wheels in motion.

Wheras I would find it off-putting to be told about something as huge as the Borg invasion or Janeway's death or Voyager's slipstream drive in passing. It'd take me out of the story making me think I need to read Destiny and Before Dishonor and Full Circle first. A "series blurb" (without off-putting citations - a list of related novels can go at the back) giving a newbie these game-changing concepts going in, would illiviate that.

 

[Therin of Andor]

It'd take me out of the story making me think I need to read Destiny and Before Dishonor and Full Circle first.

But... Pocket already has your money and the author has a royalty.

How do you insist that online sellers and mail order catalogues include this material in addition to the cover blurb? They would refuse.

A "series blurb" (without off-putting citations - a list of related novels can go at the back) giving a newbie these game-changing concepts going in, would illiviate that.

Or, that may well cause the reader to leave the book on the shelf. Pocket does not have your money and the author has no royalty.

Book numbering on covers/spines, book lists at the back, dramatis personaes, starships vs floating heads, even footnotes (in the Bantams): I've heard just as many complaints for and against each of these. In the end it's a judgement call from the editors/designers/marketing people of the day, and budget.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I believe the opposite. That people will look at a Voyager book on the shelf, flick through, go "WTF? Captain Who? Cali-what? This isn't Voyager!" and put it back on the shelf. But a short introduction to the current state of the Trek Lit verse, updating readers in broad strokes, would replace that feeling of confused newbie alienation with comprehension.

We're not talking massive change. Just stick a paragraph or two on the "historian's note" page.

 

[JD]

Yeah, but they already give us all of that information adequately in the text of the story, so I don't really see any need to pull it out. Honestly, if you just look at the back cover blurbs, I think most of them make it pretty clear that the stories are part of an ongoing series, and that things have changed since the shows ended.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I believe the opposite. That people will look at a Voyager book on the shelf, flick through, go "WTF? Captain Who? Cali-what? This isn't Voyager!" and put it back on the shelf.

How would an explanatory note stop that reaction? It would seemingly confirm their concerns.

confused newbie alienation

For a time, in the days of our now-extinct ST club's afternoon meetings that attracted 80 or so people per month, I asked by the committee to drop all in-jokes and running gags from the formal part of the meeting so that the handful of "newbies" would not feel alienated. The meetings became so dry and PC that the less-new people started wondering why the meetings had any formal part to them at all; it was seen as hampering the entertainment. Then new "newbies" complained that the meetings were dry and boring and all anyone cared about was watching videos.

But newbies will always be newbies, until new newbies take their place. "Alienation" is an essential part of joining any group, or even reading an ongoing book series. You can try to alleviate that new feeling, but there will always be new stumbling blocks because that "alienation" is part of being new.

 

[TerraUnam]

^ I wish I could. But I can't. I was scrambling to rewrite the outlines for the upcoming TNG trilogy (my first two proposals were rejected), and I ended up far behind schedule, where, sadly, I remain to this day. As I'm sure one can imagine, my editors and publisher hate me right now.

Ouch.

Well, I have been looking forward to your new trilogy and eagerly await the first teasers.

Let's not say your story proposals were rejected; they were simply Insufficiently Awesome.