Have the new Relaunch novels been resized?

[Saul]

How many books did Andy release by himself though? I don't want to choose favorites here. I think some writers just work better together. It's a pity the Romulan War books were finished early. Maybe a comic series would be good?

 

[Daddy Todd]

How many books did Andy release by himself though? I don't want to choose favorites here. I think some writers just work better together. It's a pity the Romulan War books were finished early. Maybe a comic series would be good?

According to ISFDB, Andy hasn’t written any solo novels, Trek or otherwise.

 

[Therin of Andor]

How many books did Andy release by himself though?

Andy tried to submit stories but got nowhere, IIRC.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

I think Andy was the talent though. Everything Martin wrote was pretty awful to me. I used to resent my book of the month being a Martin novel when there were so many better writers. All of his solo book contracts should have gone to Bennett or Mack or McCormack, etc.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Seize the Fire by Martin is arguably one of the worst trek novels I have read. It was so bad i didn't finish it. However the Titan novels he wrote with Mangels are fantastic.

 

[JD]

I wonder what ever happened to Martin. I think he only wrote one more Star Trek book after that and I haven't heard much about him since. I wonder if he was irritated at all by the trimming of the Romulan War books. I suppose authors are used to that sort of thing but sometimes I wonder when something like that happens if they're just a little bit peeved (they're human too after all). Also I have to imagine that cut into his paycheck a bit. Instead of getting paid for 3 books he just paid for 2 so I imagine it stung a bit economically as well.

It seemed to me like the reaction to his stuff was fairly negative, so I wouldn't be surprised if that had some part in him not writing more.

 

[tomswift2002]

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Seize the Fire by Martin is arguably one of the worst trek novels I have read. It was so bad i didn't finish it. However the Titan novels he wrote with Mangels are fantastic.

As I recall, Martin was better at describing the worlds and doing the world building, whereas Mangels was good at doing the dialog and action, and when it was just Martin, you had great sets, but a high school play for the characters.

 

[Stevil2001]

Martin's "worldbuilding" in the two solo Titan novels I read (Seize the Fire and Fallen Gods) was painful. Giving everything a funny name does not worldbuilding make.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Martin's "worldbuilding" in the two solo Titan novels I read (Seize the Fire and Fallen Gods) was painful. Giving everything a funny name does not worldbuilding make.

As I mentioned, "Seize the Fire" has been sitting on my desk with its bookmark only one-fifth of the way in. I cannot make myself keep reading. I found myself asking, "Did anything interesting happen on this page?" I was a huge fan of the Mangels/Martin team.

I was so keen to have "Fallen Gods" in my hands, especially when I saw the artwork for the German edition, with three Andorians - and even a warship named for my Tuckerized Andorian persona, Therin. Sadly, I haven't found the time to even riffle the English-language one yet, except to see Pava's name...


Cross Cult's cover art for "Titan: Fallen Gods"/"Gefallene Gotter" by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[F. King Daniel]

I liked Seize the Fire. But then, I like a lot of books (and movies, for that matter) that the internet insist are bad.

 

[Jinn]

I liked Seize the Fire

I take it you're also paid by Simon&Schuster?

 

[Therin of Andor]

I liked Seize the Fire. But then, I like a lot of books (and movies, for that matter) that the internet insist are bad.

And I have read some Trek books that others have hated, but I cannot make myself go back to "Seize the Fire". And it's about three times the word count of "DS9: The Laertian Gamble".

 

[F. King Daniel]

I take it you're also paid by Simon&Schuster?

You'd be amazed/disappointed/horrified [delete as applicable] what I'd do for money.

 

[Bryan Levy]

I really like Black Fire, even though people are generally pretty critical of it. And I like The Klingon Gambit, too. But I’ve seen people speak highly of Enemy Unseen around here, and I did not like that one very much.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I really like Black Fire, even though people are generally pretty critical of it.

"Black Fire" was a hoot! What helped to make it palatable was that it turned up after a considerable hiatus. We were a bit starved for new novels. Came out in January 1983, so it had been April since the last original novel and July since ST II's novelization. (Later, I learned that Sonni Cooper used to run William Shatner's fan club, so maybe that explained the escapist fanfic vibe of this novel.)

And I like The Klingon Gambit, too.

I was okay with that one, but a step down after the excitement of "The Entropy Effect" and TMP. What was a bit weird was that Vardeman's two novels both required the crew to be under the influence of weird vibes/substances

But I’ve seen people speak highly of Enemy Unseen around here, and I did not like that one very much.

Not that memorable, but no complaints.

Ah yes, "Attack of the Tiny Werewolf"! Who could forget!
http://mightygodking.com/2009/02/23/and-the-circle-is-complete/

(If you've never seen these parody covers, do please indulge yourself.)

 

[Christopher]

What was a bit weird was that Vardeman's two novels both required the crew to be under the influence of weird vibes/substances

As I recall, what bothered me about Mutiny on the Enterprise was that the exaggerated character traits I'd taken as evidence of mental influence in The Klingon Gambit (like McCoy's technophobia being amped up to a fanatical degree) were unchanged in MotE even when they weren't under alien influence. That's when I realized that they were just out of character.

 

[Saul]

It seemed to me like the reaction to his stuff was fairly negative, so I wouldn't be surprised if that had some part in him not writing more.

I thought a lot of the books he worked on were fairly well received but the Romulan War books less so. I'm guessing sales were a factor and some other financial issues in the industry that might have required cutbacks. There's still a strong output of material but seems like fewer writers.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's a shame Pocket are so quiet about sales figures. I'd be very curious to see how the rather hostile reaction some of the novels received related to their sales. For an example in another media, Star Trek Into Darkness was ultra-divisive, The Last Jedi of Trek movies, yet was the biggest money movie in the franchise (with the possible exception of TMP, adjusted for inflation)

 

[JD]

I thought a lot of the books he worked on were fairly well received but the Romulan War books less so. I'm guessing sales were a factor and some other financial issues in the industry that might have required cutbacks. There's still a strong output of material but seems like fewer writers.

I've seen almost nothing but negative reactions to both Seize the Fire and Fallen Gods. If anything it seemed to me like the the Romulan Wars books were his best received solo books.

 

[TheAlmanac]

For an example in another media, Star Trek Into Darkness was ultra-divisive, The Last Jedi of Trek movies, yet was the biggest money movie in the franchise (with the possible exception of TMP, adjusted for inflation)

Is Into Darkness really analogous to The Last Jedi, though? That implies there's a sizeable segment of fandom who prefer it to the movies before and after it in the trilogy, which I haven't observed to be the case.

Into Darkness is more like the Highlander II: The Quickening of Trek movies--the previous director came back with a major retcon that almost anyone could've told him was a bad idea, but the movie managed to be the highest-grossing in its franchise anyway.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Is Into Darkness really analogous to The Last Jedi, though? That implies there's a sizeable segment of fandom who prefer it to the movies before and after it in the trilogy, which I haven't observed to be the case.

Into Darkness is more like the Highlander II: The Quickening of Trek movies--the previous director came back with a major retcon that almost anyone could've told him was a bad idea, but the movie managed to be the highest-grossing in its franchise anyway.

Highlander II was critically panned. Star Trek Into Darkness was met with favourable reviews but was very divisive amongst the fanbase, as was Last Jedi.