Freelance, like KRAD for CoE.
And that's exactly my point. DS9 wasn't a high priority while Margaret was in charge.
And that's exactly my point. DS9 wasn't a high priority while Margaret was in charge.
Just finished Destiny. Some Spoilers
- Thread starter JRoss
- Start date
Sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. Margaret had exactly eight months on the job after Marco was laid off, and then she was laid off. Publishing schedules are set far in advance. Everything she worked on during that brief period between downsizings had been set in place while Marco was still there. She had a plan to deal with DS9 but never got to act on it because she wasn't given the chance. After her departure, the next editor (the now-departed Jaime Costas) went a different way. And so it goes.
So how do things stand with the new order ? Things seem so different in the DS9 camp now that it would seem a little unsatisfactory to explain the changes with a few flashbacks (if we are lucky) or a conversation or two.
Despite the name, freelancers don't work for free. Remember, there was a global economic crisis going on at the time. There were questions about whether the publishing industry would even survive. Publishers were hemorrhaging money and desperately cutting costs everywhere they could. And Simon & Schuster cut costs by laying off editors, first Marco, then Margaret. At the time, when they couldn't even afford to keep paying their own editorial staff, there was zero chance that they would've authorized paying a freelance editor.
Margaret was laid off only eight months and three weeks after Marco was. That's not long enough to shepherd even a single book through the production process from beginning to end.
As for Margaret's priorities, I spoke to her at the New York Comic-Con just two months after Marco was laid off, and it was clear that she'd already given a lot of thought to her plans for DS9. That was one of the main things I recall her talking about to the authors, along with (and as part of) the Typhon Pact project.
Dave, I concede the point.
Chris, I'm well aware freelancers don't work for free, but I would think that they cost substantially less than a full time staff editor.
However, other than the two Typhon Pact novels, which as mentioned only featured DS9 characters, we've had no DS9-central stories in quite some time that continue from The Soul Key.
Chris, I'm well aware freelancers don't work for free, but I would think that they cost substantially less than a full time staff editor.
However, other than the two Typhon Pact novels, which as mentioned only featured DS9 characters, we've had no DS9-central stories in quite some time that continue from The Soul Key.
Doesn't matter. S&S laid off Marco because they couldn't afford to pay, period. If you're S&S, and you have to save X amount of money, and so you lay off a senior editor whose salary equals X, you can't turn around and then him back as a freelancer. If you do that, you're not saving X, you're saving X-Y. But you can't afford to save only X-Y, you have to save X. The math just doesn't allow it.
Oh, please. Zero Sum Game as a DS9 novel in all but name.
The Never-Ending Sacrifice, anyone?
I know DS9 hasn't gotten the kind of schedule anyone would prefer, but that's not for want of love for DS9. It's because of repeatedly bad circumstances.
I'd prefer to see DS9 populated with more new characters as well as Vaughn, Prynn, Ro & Quark with Kira on Bajor. Sisko has a connection to the prophets and Bajor that cannot be denied so he'll have to return at some point as well.
For Bashir, Ezri and the rest, let them get on with their lives. Have their stories continue, drawing on what shaped them during their time on DS9 while letting them grow in new ways. I'd prefer that the original crew not all end up back on the station.
For Bashir, Ezri and the rest, let them get on with their lives. Have their stories continue, drawing on what shaped them during their time on DS9 while letting them grow in new ways. I'd prefer that the original crew not all end up back on the station.
The station is now only a part of the DS9 story. Sisko, O'Brien, Garak, Rom, Ezri, Bashir and co are all off elsewhere. Kira has quit too - it would be good to have Bashir back on the station...
I'd rather have people on the station who have a specific need to be there. Kira and Ro due to their being Bajoran. Sisko and Vaughn because of their connections to the orbs and the Prophets. Prynn for the dynamic with Vaughn.
Bashir isn't the wide eyed innocent doctor he was at the start. Let him go off and have some new adventures.
Garak is on cardassia which has always been a part of the DS9 story. Rom is running things on Ferenginar but Quark's is the embassy so Rom and Leeta can always show up there.
Hasn't O'Brien been through enough? Let him ejoy raising his kids for a few years. It would be nice to have a fairly normal family for once, where the kids or spouse aren't killed or assimilated or whatever. Molly's already been through a lot.
Bashir isn't the wide eyed innocent doctor he was at the start. Let him go off and have some new adventures.
Garak is on cardassia which has always been a part of the DS9 story. Rom is running things on Ferenginar but Quark's is the embassy so Rom and Leeta can always show up there.
Hasn't O'Brien been through enough? Let him ejoy raising his kids for a few years. It would be nice to have a fairly normal family for once, where the kids or spouse aren't killed or assimilated or whatever. Molly's already been through a lot.
You're still not understanding the desperate financial straits the publisher -- along with the whole country -- was in at the time. S&S and other major publishers were in danger of going bankrupt. They had to slash all the costs they possibly could. Even after laying off Marco and dozens of others, they were still losing so much money that they needed to institute a second wave of layoffs (which took Margaret's job) less than nine months later. If they couldn't even afford to keep the reduced number of editors they had, they certainly couldn't afford to hire a freelancer. Not in 2009.
I understand perfectly.
I also think that the way publishers do business is needlessly wasteful and if they had a better business model, they wouldn't have been hit so hard.
Enough derailing, let's get back on topic.
I also think that the way publishers do business is needlessly wasteful and if they had a better business model, they wouldn't have been hit so hard.
Enough derailing, let's get back on topic.
While you really do have some good points story wise, I still think from a real world perspective I'd just rather now lose any more characters. I don't see why Bashir can't grow and develop as a character while still on the station. And I'm not saying I'm against him going on future missions for the real SI with Sarina secretly working for S31. I'd just rather see those as side stories while his primary job is DS9's Doctor. I honestly, don't believe that he would ever honestly work for S31 on purpose.
I for one don't really mind that there was a bit of a jump forward in the DS9 continuity to bring it into line with the TNG novels.
Is it really so hard to believe that three years would pass on DS9 without that much happening on the station? I know whenever we happened to be looking there was crazy shit going on ALL THE TIME, but perhaps they had a run of bad luck and now things have settled down somewhat and it's just been a bit quiet?
Is it really so hard to believe that three years would pass on DS9 without that much happening on the station? I know whenever we happened to be looking there was crazy shit going on ALL THE TIME, but perhaps they had a run of bad luck and now things have settled down somewhat and it's just been a bit quiet?
Well, except that Rough Beasts of Empire confirmed that a number of major events did happen in the unchronicled years.
Apparently, trek lit begins to share a number of similarities with star wars lit, superhero comics, etc - essentially, any long series which focuses on a few characters (regardless of the size of the universe in which they operate).
'Crises' appear - meant to shake things up, to change the status quo, remove franchise fatigue - or, at least, give this impression.
'Destiny' is a textbook crisis set in the star trek universe.
'Crises' appear - meant to shake things up, to change the status quo, remove franchise fatigue - or, at least, give this impression.
'Destiny' is a textbook crisis set in the star trek universe.
