Help me restore my excitement of Trek Lit

[Admiral_Young]

I too haven't been excited for a Trek book in quite a while. The last one I can think of was Christopher's DTI and prior to that Mack's Sorrows of Empire. I guess the only three books upcoming that I'm looking forward to are Christopher's DTI: Forgotten History, David Mack's Rise Like Lions, and Michael Martin's To Brave the Storm.

There was a time where I would be excited for each Trek novel coming out every month...I think my current waning excitement has to do with the lack of DS9 novels and the state TNG is in right now.

 

[Idran]

I too haven't been excited for a Trek book in quite a while. The last one I can think of was Christopher's DTI and prior to that Mack's Sorrows of Empire.

Watching the Clock was only four months ago, that's not that long.

 

[Christopher]

^Time is relative.

 

[ronny]

My voracious reading of Treklit is directly related to the length and comfort levels of my daily commute to and from work. Wonderful when I was traveling by train for four hours per day, and no playground duty at lunch. Unluckily, I now live a mere 15 min.

I'm not sure I would call trading a 2 hour commute for a 15 minute walk "unlucky".

My interest in Trek lit has taken dips in the past and I'm in one of those dips right now. Until last week the last Trek book I've read is The Rough Beasts of Empire. I keep meaning to get to everything that's been published since but haven't. They look good but I've been reading a lot of Stross, Silverberg and Haldeman. The one ST story I've read since then was the second story in Shattered Light. I started the last story but switched to Forever Peace by Haldeman.

I want to read Declassified in preparation for What Judgments Come but Neal Stephensons new book is coming out. I'm sure that will be a distraction.

 

[Thrawn]

RonG - have you read Children of the Storm yet? I can't tell from the OP. If not, that might do it; that turned out to be The Book I'd been wanting since Destiny. I also hadn't been especially impressed since Destiny, but Children was just delightful.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I wouldn't worry too much if your excitement for Trek lit has diminished. People come and go as regards the intensity with which they pursue an interest or hobby. Sometimes they even leave the field fallow for a bit, and return later feeling refreshed for it. For my part, while I enjoy Trek lit as much as ever, the pure excitement has indeed diminished. That's not due to any drop in quality or lack of interest on my part, but just my changing circumstances.

There were times in my adolescence when the next Trek novel was probably my primary motivation to get on with life; got to get the next piece of the expanding picture, got to see what happens to so-and-so. Trek wasn't the only thing in which I invested, of course, but it was the essential recreation. I found it to be one of the very few outlets available for the particular mix of emotional and ideological concepts I struggled with; Trek lit offered a great deal of comfort and, in a sense, guidance. Having since been deposited into adulthood (more or less intact), it's become more of a pure enjoyment. Trek lit still has my appreciation, and I still buy each and every new novel, but it's now a pleasant monthly occurance rather than the next goal. While that's a good thing overall, I must say to some extent I actually do miss the buzz. It was nice when Trek lit was the highlight of the month, not just a satisfying feature thrown in there.

It's rather the same with TV Trek, really. I started watching Voyager at age 11 and it was capable of genuinely exciting me. Sometimes I fondly wish I could recapture that. Isn't a sense of perspective disappointing?

 

[Admiral_Young]

Four months is long enough when as I stated I used to be excited for each month's upcoming Trek offering. That isn't the case now.

 

[Sci]

Four months is long enough when as I stated I used to be excited for each month's upcoming Trek offering. That isn't the case now.

I really don't think that the fact that your excitement fell off within less than half a year tells us anything about your long-term feelings towards the line. Now, if another six months pass and you're still unenthused, then that might say something. But it's not like it's uncommon for excitement levels to vary over the course of a year, depending on what projects are being released.

 

[Idran]

Plus each month used to have multiple books released, not just one at best. That could be as much a factor of the slowed down pace of TrekLit publication than a function of the quality of the books.

 

[Admiral_Young]

You guys are totally missing the point that I attempted to make which was aside from one or two books coming down the line I've not been as excited for Trek Lit offerings as I once was. It is possibly different from what RonG is feeling and described in this thread.

 

[Sci]

You guys are totally missing the point that I attempted to make which was aside from one or two books coming down the line I've not been as excited for Trek Lit offerings as I once was. It is possibly different from what RonG is feeling and described in this thread.

No, I get your point, I just don't think that four months is enough time for your drop in enthusiasm to fall outside of what I suppose you'd call the "standard deviation" from the average level of enthusiasm you might reasonably expect to experience in a year.

Every year, there are projects I'm excited about and every year, there are projects I'm not interested in. Trek Lit has had periods in the past where for upwards of six to eight months, I just wasn't interested in the books being released, so my level of enthusiasm would drop during those months. That doesn't mean that, on the whole, I'm less enthusiastic about Trek Lit than I was in, say, 2001 -- it just means that during that shorter period of time, I wasn't enthusiastic.

I think you might be confusing a drop-off in short-term enthusiasm with a drop in long-term enthusiasm. If you're still unenthused in several months, then I think you will have reasonably be considered to have a drop in long-term enthusiasm.

 

[RonG]

RonG - have you read Children of the Storm yet? I can't tell from the OP. If not, that might do it; that turned out to be The Book I'd been wanting since Destiny. I also hadn't been especially impressed since Destiny, but Children was just delightful.

I hadn't read CoTS yet, but I'm sure it will be great, as were Kirsten's first two entries.
I started with CNS, and so far it seems not bad...

Every year, there are projects I'm excited about and every year, there are projects I'm not interested in. Trek Lit has had periods in the past where for upwards of six to eight months, I just wasn't interested in the books being released, so my level of enthusiasm would drop during those months. That doesn't mean that, on the whole, I'm less enthusiastic about Trek Lit than I was in, say, 2001 -- it just means that during that shorter period of time, I wasn't enthusiastic.

I think you might be confusing a drop-off in short-term enthusiasm with a drop in long-term enthusiasm. If you're still unenthused in several months, then I think you will have reasonably be considered to have a drop in long-term enthusiasm.

You raise a good point, Sci. Personally, these last few years were filled with projcts that excited me, but the execution fell somewhat flat IMO.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Except those four months were just a recent example of books that I have been excited for. If we're talking about overall releases over a projected period of time then I've not been excited as much as I have been in the past. There are only one or two books upcoming that I would consider being excited about.

My excitement level, or lack of seems to be something silly to be nitpicking about. I'll admit that perhaps I'm not explaining myself properly. It is known to happen from time to time when I'm extremely tired.

 

[BrotherBenny]

I have a friend whose interest in ST has decreased to zero over the last five years, not because the books were bad, but because her interests changed. It didn't help that Voyager almost went the way of the dodo between Spirit Walk and Full Circle as that was her favorite, but now she won't even read the new books, no longer has interest.

Until you get to that point, I don't see a problem in your interest waning.

 

[Smitty]

I have a friend whose interest in ST has decreased to zero over the last five years, not because the books were bad, but because her interests changed. It didn't help that Voyager almost went the way of the dodo between Spirit Walk and Full Circle as that was her favorite, but now she won't even read the new books, no longer has interest.

Until you get to that point, I don't see a problem in your interest waning.

Yeah, that happened with me and Star Wars books. Having said that though, this happened to me with Star Trek Lit and I was away for many years. When I finally stumbled back into it there was so much that was new that I cant read them fast enough!

 

[Relayer1]

I completely lost interest in the Star Wars literature and won't be going back, but also drifted away from Trek books, albeit to a slightly lesser extent. The old novels that left everything back as they were just got old and pointless to me.

It was the idea of Destiny (which, ironically, I do not like very much) that sucked me back in. I may not understand the love out there for Destiny, but things actually moved on - there was change !

I have gone back and caught up on all of the relaunch novels and have (apart from the early Voyager offerings) liked pretty much all of them. Some have been outstanding - Articles of the Federation, Kirsten Beyers Voyagers (better than the series !), DTI to name but a few.

My enthusiasm is at a high at the moment despite the relative let down of a couple of the Typhon Pact novels, but my expectations were rather high for that.

With the lack of Trek on TV we are in something of a golden age for the novels - the shackles are off and the lit-continuity is the only thing that counts !

 

[JD]

Well, if you want to get technical, the Abrams movies are the only things that count for the franchise as a whole. But that doesn't mean the books can't count for you.

 

[Relayer1]

Well, if you want to get technical, the Abrams movies are the only things that count for the franchise as a whole. But that doesn't mean the books can't count for you.

True, but they don't really affect the 'prime' timeline, at least not until we get to the loss of Spock.

I like the Abrams film (as long as I don't think about it too hard) but am more enthused further developments in the original timeline !

 

[F. King Daniel]

the shackles are off and the lit-continuity is the only thing that counts !

What about Star Trek Online? I've heard a few players say the exact same thing about their ongoing continuity.

 

[Relayer1]

the shackles are off and the lit-continuity is the only thing that counts !

What about Star Trek Online? I've heard a few players say the exact same thing about their ongoing continuity.

Well, I have no idea if there are going to be any more Online novels (I presume not), but I don't think the activities of people in a video game actually counts as a continuation.

I expect some gamers will disagree, but it's not the same as a film, episode, radio drama or novel. At least to me.