How long for Novels based on Lower Decks

[chrinFinity]

I guess it's rough right now with the future of Simon & Schuster being up in the air, but we are finally getting a lot of good new canon material in the form of Star Trek: Lower Decks, right around 2380 which is a time period the novels are allowed to cover.

Anyone know how long until we can buy novels featuring these characters and story points?

 

[Daddy Todd]

Nothing has been announced, but then no books or comics have been announced beyond 2020, so, I’m gonna guess we’ll see something in 2021. Definitely comics, and probably a book.

it would be extra-cool if they got Alan Dean Foster to novelize the episodes, but I’m probably the only person in the galaxy who thinks that would be a good idea.

 

[dstyer]

You are not alone....

 

[thribs]

They exist. They’re called New Frontier.

 

[Relayer1]

It would have to be a somewhat different take on the characters to function in the wider Trekverse - the babbled delivery and slapstick cartooniness would be hard to make work in a novel.

 

[F. King Daniel]

They exist. They’re called New Frontier.

Now I want to see the NF cast drawn in LDS style.

 

[The Wormhole]

I will be very surprised if Lower Decks novels happen since sitcoms don't generally generate novel tie-in lines, at least not modern American sitcoms. Also, given the current Trek shows tend to have novel releases synced up with their premiere dates, the lack of a Lower Decks novel and there not one being on schedule leads me to believe there likely won't be any.

Regardless, with the remainder of 2020's schedule publicly known, a hypothetical Lower Decks novel definitely isn't happening before 2021, which we know nothing of regarding the schedule at the moment.

 

[JD]

Nothing has been announced, but then no books or comics have been announced beyond 2020, so, I’m gonna guess we’ll see something in 2021. Definitely comics, and probably a book.

it would be extra-cool if they got Alan Dean Foster to novelize the episodes, but I’m probably the only person in the galaxy who thinks that would be a good idea.

You are not alone....

Does Foster have a lot of experience writing comedy?

 

[Charles Phipps]

It should be comic books, definitely.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Does Foster have a lot of experience writing comedy?

Yes, there’s lots of humor in his original fiction.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Although I'd buy them, I can't see them doing LDS novels to be honest. Short stories in e-book format like the DTI ones a few years ago are a more likely bet.

 

[KRAD]

Also, given the current Trek shows tend to have novel releases synced up with their premiere dates, the lack of a Lower Decks novel and there not one being on schedule leads me to believe there likely won't be any.

I wouldn't read anything into that particular datapoint one way or the other, as it's 2020. The pandemic kinda messed everything up, both in publishing and in television. For starters, LD was supposed to be shown after Discovery's third season. Everything was thrown into total chaos thanks to the apocalypse.....

 

[Greg Cox]

It would have to be a somewhat different take on the characters to function in the wider Trekverse - the babbled delivery and slapstick cartooniness would be hard to make work in a novel.

Perhaps, but you'd also want to try to capture the zaniness and screwball-comedy aspects or what's the point?

A LOWER DECKS novel should not read like a mainstream TREK novel. It should read like a LOWER DECKS novel.

 

[Relayer1]

Perhaps, but you'd also want to try to capture the zaniness and screwball-comedy aspects or what's the point?

A LOWER DECKS novel should not read like a mainstream TREK novel. It should read like a LOWER DECKS novel.

Tricky.

How's the pitch coming ?

 

[Greg Cox]

Tricky.

How's the pitch coming ?

I wish!

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Does Foster have a lot of experience writing comedy?

Lower Decks is funny? Who knew

 

[Damian]

Perhaps, but you'd also want to try to capture the zaniness and screwball-comedy aspects or what's the point?

A LOWER DECKS novel should not read like a mainstream TREK novel. It should read like a LOWER DECKS novel.

Yeah, I agree.

I think it's possible you may see a Lower Decks novel someday, but it should reflect the show's atmosphere. I don't think it would make much sense to tie it into other shows, outside maybe an Easter egg sort of reference ('hey, that reminds me of the time I was on Deep Space Nine....' sort of thing).

Above all else it should be a funny novel. Something that will be much different then most Star Trek novels have been. Even New Frontier...while it certainly had some comical aspects they were still serious stories at their core. So I don't think LDS (if that's what were using as an acronym) would even be like New Frontier.

It's also a reason I think maybe a number of our current authors would love a chance to write one, and that's probably half the battle. Do you have people that even want to write a LDS novel? I think the answer is yes. I actually think writing a comedy novel would be almost more of a challenge. There is nothing worse than writing humor that falls flat...so the writer would have to be especially mindful of keeping things light and funny.

And the book format might even be different. Would it be a trade paperback like the current novels, or some other format. Or maybe shorter in length?

But there are plenty of ways it could be done.

 

[BrotherBenny]

I think eBook novellas/novelettes like the way CoE was done would be perfect for Lower Decks.

Wardilmore would be perfect for it.

 

[Orphalesion]

I mean theoretically books with funny and referential humour are possible (Disc World, for example)
But honestly a Lower Decks novel would have to be very, very different from average Trek novels.
I could see comics though, like the Bob's Burgers and Simpsons comics.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Warped by Ian McLean, on Flickr

The author already has one humorous Trek book under his belt... "Warped: An engaging guide to the never-aired 8th season of Star Trek: The Next Generation", based on his Twitter thread, "@TNG_S8", illustrated by Jason Ho.

Also loved the humour of David Mack's Kebron story in "New Frontier: No Limits", "Waiting for G’Doh, or, How I Learned to Stop Moving and Hate People":
http://davidmack.pro/short-story-series/star-trek-new-frontier/