Peter David interview on Star Trek.com

[donners22]

http://startrek.com/article/peter-david-takes-fans-down-blind-mans-bluff

Quite an entertaining interview, covering his thoughts on the Trek book world in general, New Frontier, James Doohan's biography and more.

One disappointing thing was this:

I also have a lot of interesting directions I’d take the books if the series keeps going. But I honestly have no clue if that’s going to come to pass. “Blind Man’s Bluff” was the last book on my current contract, and I’ve been asking Pocket for a year if the series is going to be continuing. I have yet to get a straight answer, or any answer. So for all I know, “Blind Man’s Bluff” is the last hurrah of New Frontier.

That's a poor effort on the part of Pocket, and I think the Trek book world would be a lot weaker with the loss of New Frontier. Indeed, they're the only Trek books I buy these days.


One positive:

We’re also planning to publish the long-awaited second book of my “Hidden Earth” trilogy not too long after that.

I've been waiting for that for ages! I thought it had been abandoned, but that's great news.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Wow, I'll be very disappointed if Blind Man's Bluff is the final New Frontier novel. I've loved the series from beginning to now (hiccups and all) and I will sorely miss the series. The New Frontier novels are amongst the few regular Star Trek novels that I look forward to anymore.

 

[Corran Horn]

I like the series, and I've enjoyed them in the past, but as Emh says the quality ebbs and flows.

 

[JD]

I've really enjoyed NF for most of it's run, but I wouldn't be that upset if the series ended. It's had a good run, but to be honest I like most of the other series, especially Titan and Vanguard, better. And if it did end, it would open to schedule for more of those and other series.

 

[shanejayell]

I no longer read anything by David since he wrote 'Before Dishonor.'


Just came in here to say that.



Carry on!

 

[DorkBoy [TM]]

That's too bad. I still haven't gotten around to reading Treason. It's on my to be read pile, along with like 20 other trek books, sigh.

New Frontier used to be my favorite but it feels like it jumped the shark years ago. Hard to even remember exactly when now. It's still a fun series but nowhere near as good as some of the other stuff. Agree with JD - Titan, Vanguard, and lately the Voyager books have been where the action is.

And to think, until very recently, I didn't even buy Voyager books.

 

[Turtletrekker]

New Frontier used to be my favorite but it feels like it jumped the shark years ago. Hard to even remember exactly when now.

When it stopped being a series about a ship and a crew.

New Frontier has had a good run but it lost its direction a long time ago. If it were to end now, I would look back on the series fondly, but wouldn't really miss it.

 

[Thrawn]

^ I really disagree, I think that Stone & Anvil is the strongest book in the whole series. But I will say, it could have ended there. I've enjoyed the stuff after the time skip a lot, but it does seem to not quite know where it's going.

 

[Defcon]

Honestly, if Schlesinger decided to discontinue the New Frontier Series, that would be the first strike against him in my book.

You may like David's writing style or not (I happen to really like it), but no matter what New Frontier is an important piece of the diversity in the Trek book line in my opinion.

But I hope the lack of talks with Peter David is just a case of something falling on the wayside because of all the editorial shenanigans.

 

[Snaploud]

How many writers get the chance to continue their own series for 18+ books? I'm surprised the editors let him go as long as they have...

 

[Manisphere]

It's true. I can live with it ending at 18 books but it's awaiting the new NF book that has brought me back into Trek after a long break. Well, long being since Sorrows of the Empire. I'm picking up other ST books this month as a result. See how that works?

As for jumping the shark, yeah he did that but Missing in Action and Treason are among my favorite NF books. That's what's cool about David as a writer. He reminds me of Vonnegut. He clings to cliche. He actually makes cliche clever and fun. There really isn't any writer like him on the Pocketbook bench.

 

[nickyboy]

Come on Pocket Books, sort out a multi-book contract for PD pronto!

 

[Deano2099]

I don't want NF to end, but I'd quite like it to conclude. Give PAD a last 3-book, 3-year deal and have him tie the series up in a satisfactory way.

 

[JarodRussell]

I dunno, New Frontier kinda nuked the fridge with the Exbalibur-A thing for me. Something every fanboy does in his fanfics.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

Considering the editorial upheaval over the past couple of years, I'm not surprised he hasn't received word on extending the series. I'm sure now that Schlesinger and company will get this squared away in time and we'll eventually see more New Frontier.

 

[Snaploud]

They're probably waiting on the sales numbers for Blind Man's Bluff.

 

[donners22]

I dunno, New Frontier kinda nuked the fridge with the Exbalibur-A thing for me. Something every fanboy does in his fanfics.

Also something which three of the five series did, so I don't think he can be too heavily criticised for something which was done repeatedly in canon.

 

[JD]

I don't have a problem with another Excaliber, my problem is just that he has spread his characters out to far and made his cast to big.

 

[David cgc]

I think that probably contributed to things being less "on" than they were in the beginning with New Frontier. The difference to me was after the time-jump. "Cold Wars," "Being Human," "Gods Above," and "Stone and Anvil" were all pretty much on-course, but after that, I don't think the series quite stuck the landing when it moved forward. Two starships were doable, especially since they were operating in tandem and had a common descent of characters, but now we're at, what, three ships and a starbase? Combine that with fact that the publishing pace for NF has slowed considerably, and it just doesn't feel like there's been a new status quo established. Everything still feels like an up-in-the-air timejump novelty, even after all these years.

 

[neogothboy74]

I don't want NF to end, but I'd quite like it to conclude. Give PAD a last 3-book, 3-year deal and have him tie the series up in a satisfactory way.

This. What you said. I'd rather the series not end with just some random book, but I'd be fine with it ending as long as they give it an actual ending with some amout of closure. The NF series has been my favorite Trek Lit series for a few years now (I started reading the series in 2007) and if it's to end I'd rather it not just be 'cancelled' but given a good send-off, with enough space to wrap up all the continuing stories in a satisfying manner.