New Frontier?

[Gate11au]

Um wow no more NF i have only read the first few but they were really good but then again i like everything Peter David writes in the trek-verse so if he not doing any more NF and not under contract dose that mean we will not get any more Peter David Star trek novels at all.
as for The IFM i have not gotten to it yet just started Typhon Pact i am starting to think that may be i should not read it at all so not to get stuck with the continuity problems would this make the the next lot of Typhon pact books harder to follow or easier?

 

[USS Firefly]

You can read them both, the continuity problems aren't that big

 

[Therin of Andor]

dose that mean we will not get any more Peter David Star trek novels at all.

It seems that PAD has had a falling out, of sorts, with the current editor, but PAD is also in recovery following a stroke, so getting well again is #1 on his agenda at present.

PAD doesn't write ST books without a contract, so until the editor hears a pitch he likes...

 

[Relayer1]

...as for The IFM i have not gotten to it yet just started Typhon Pact i am starting to think that may be i should not read it at all so not to get stuck with the continuity problems would this make the the next lot of Typhon pact books harder to follow or easier?

It's referenced in at least one other book so it is still in continuity, even if you have to fill in the gaps yourself about how some developments were resolved to get back to where the other books pick up.

It's pretty dumb how things were handled by the editor...

 

[Allyn Gibson]

dose that mean we will not get any more Peter David Star trek novels at all.

It seems that PAD has had a falling out, of sorts, with the current editor,

What are you basing that on? PAD has worked with Ed Schlesinger on all his post-Ordover New Frontier books.

 

[Defcon]

Yeah, to me it seems more that Schlesinger has decided to cut down both the roster of regular authors and of the series, and PAD and NF (and some other people) ended up on "wrong side" of the cut.

No falling out, just an ediorial decision (and bad business manners by Schlesinger by simply ignoring authors he doesn't want to work with anymore).

 

[tomswift2002]

Yeah, to me it seems more that Schlesinger has decided to cut down both the roster of regular authors and of the series, and PAD and NF (and some other people) ended up on "wrong side" of the cut.

No falling out, just an ediorial decision (and bad business manners by Schlesinger by simply ignoring authors he doesn't want to work with anymore).

Not necessarily. There could've been a contract involved that specified that Peter David had to write "X" number of novels, and Schlesinger had to go along with, at least til the contract ran out.

 

[JD]

^That was the impression I got from second hand comments people have posted on here. It sounds like he finished all of the book on the last contract, and they never set up a new one.

 

[Therin of Andor]

What are you basing that on? PAD has worked with Ed Schlesinger on all his post-Ordover New Frontier books.

I'm aware of that.

PAD's blogs (and KRAD's) have mentioned frustrations with not being able to make pitches, not hearing back from Pocket and no contracts being offered to them. Of course, they are also being professional in not stating in print exactly what's going on.

Or maybe I just dreamed it.

If that's not a falling out "of some kind", then it's at least a stalemate, or a failure to communicate, from somewhere. It seems weird when you know that Ed once worked so closely with PAD, on lots of NF and his original fiction - and that KRAD did some editorial work on "No Limits", IIRC.

There could've been a contract involved that specified that Peter David had to write "X" number of novels, and Schlesinger had to go along with, at least til the contract ran out.

On PAD's blog, he has explained how he had a few three-book contracts with Pocket but the last NF was a two-book contract. He was told there wouldn't be a new NF contract till figures were in for the most recent book - and no one at Pocket has supposedly said anything to him since. But he and Ed have had a long author/editor collaboration going at Pocket.

 

[donners22]

I would love to see one last New Frontier book. That series has been pretty much the only Trek books I've bought in the last decade. I'd read that he was working on the belated second part of his original fantasy trilogy though, and no doubt recovering from his stroke would be his primary focus at the moment.

 

[Deano2099]

I'm aware of that.

PAD's blogs (and KRAD's) have mentioned frustrations with not being able to make pitches, not hearing back from Pocket and no contracts being offered to them. Of course, they are also being professional in not stating in print exactly what's going on.

I'd speculate that PAD probably commands a higher fee than most of the other Trek writers, due to his relatively high-profile in the comic book world, so if they're cutting costs, it stands to reason they'd be using him less.

The KRAD thing is weird - it doesn't exactly shed much light on the issue, but he had the whole thing with Starcraft: Spectres, which he finished and turned in the manuscript for, and then Pocket nixed it and handed it to another author for reasons we don't have a clue about... and I'm fairly sure the editor of the Starcraft line at the time is the same guy editing Trek now.

 

[NightJim]

Just out of interest, has there been some sort of statement made or is it just the continued absence of New Frontier releases that has sparked this conversation again?

 

[JD]

The KRAD thing is weird - it doesn't exactly shed much light on the issue, but he had the whole thing with Starcraft: Spectres, which he finished and turned in the manuscript for, and then Pocket nixed it and handed it to another author for reasons we don't have a clue about... and I'm fairly sure the editor of the Starcraft line at the time is the same guy editing Trek now.

I hadn't heard about the Starcraft incident before. That does seem odd. The new editor's behavior at Pocket is weird. I would think the you would at least want to say something to these writers when the do stuff like that.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The KRAD thing is weird - it doesn't exactly shed much light on the issue, but he had the whole thing with Starcraft: Spectres, which he finished and turned in the manuscript for, and then Pocket nixed it and handed it to another author for reasons we don't have a clue about... and I'm fairly sure the editor of the Starcraft line at the time is the same guy editing Trek now.

It may have had nothing to do with Pocket. It could just as easily have been an issue on Blizzard's end. They could have said, "Yeah, this isn't what we had in mind," and back to the drawing board Pocket went.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'd speculate that PAD probably commands a higher fee than most of the other Trek writers, due to his relatively high-profile in the comic book world, so if they're cutting costs, it stands to reason they'd be using him less.

Yes, that became obvious when NF made the leap to its run of first-release-in-hardcover instalments (and then a NF duology in trade, when Pocket cut back on hardcovers). I recall Marco explaining that the royalty rate on hardcovers was higher (trades a little less but better than MMPB), and then the author gets a second bite of the cherry when the hardcover goes to MMPB.

 

[Markonian]

Just out of interest, has there been some sort of statement made or is it just the continued absence of New Frontier releases that has sparked this conversation again?

Continued absence.

But for what it's worth, last month saw the release of New Frontier: Finstere Verbündete (Dark Allies) by the German publisher. Mean cliffhanger. April will see Excalibur: Requiem.

 

[Deano2099]

It may have had nothing to do with Pocket. It could just as easily have been an issue on Blizzard's end. They could have said, "Yeah, this isn't what we had in mind," and back to the drawing board Pocket went.

While I can well imagine that's the case, it's still the sort of incident that could easily sour a relationship between writer and editor if one thought they weren't getting the support/help they needed from the other.

Probably also worth noting the book was being written during the second round of editorial upheavals at Pocket and I believe it switched editor part-way through. So many spinning plates, someone gets the wrong end of the stick somewhere, someone gets annoyed with someone else, then they easily become someone you don't really want to work with in the future. Messes happen.

 

[iarann]

I'd speculate that PAD probably commands a higher fee than most of the other Trek writers, due to his relatively high-profile in the comic book world, so if they're cutting costs, it stands to reason they'd be using him less.

I don't know if this is still the case, but back in the 90s it was PAD's success in Trek novels that was leading to a higher fee in other areas like comic books. He was far better known for his New York Times bestselling Star Trek novels than he was his work on the Incredible Hulk or X-Factor.

These days that might not be the case, but other than his work adapting the Dark Tower I can't think of any big seller he has written in quite sometime. He is popular with fans and very talented, but comics don't sell like they used to and Peter David was never quite a best seller.

If I had to guess, PAD would be more expensive because of that previous Star Trek success, much like Timothy Zahn and his Star Wars novels, if he truly does command a higher rate than someone like David Mack which I'm not sure is the case.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I love the series and am doing a "book by book" review on my by blog following the omnibus. The first one is already up.

http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2013/06/star-trek-new-frontier-is-father-of.html

New Frontier is awesome but it's definitely something I can imagine sticking in the craw of those who prefer their Star Trek a little more serious. NF doesn't do serious well. The last books were incredibly dark and I dare say actually disturbing.

But yes, I love NF and wish we could have just ONNEEEEEE more book to wrap things up given everything ended on a cliffhanger.

 

[ryan123450]

Here's a question. I know most of the relaunch stuff is given pretty specific placement in the timeline. Does anyone know what months of 2380 do Turnaround or Treason take place in?