Pocket's 2010 Schedule Announced on TrekMovie.com

[LightningStorm]

Well, this is simultaneously really damned nice and kinda sucky.

First the really damned nice part:

1. Three David Mack books! Wow. I'll be buying those for sure.
2. Typhon Pact books. Been looking forward to those. I'm cautiously optimistic about the Titan book. Cautiously because of where the Titan is (or is supposed to be) and how the Pact is way out there too. Aventine and TNG should be good. DS9, while it will hopefully be good... well, see below.
3. The two new anthologies. Both sound great I'll definitely be picking those up.

And the parts that are not so good:

1. WAAAAAY too many TOS books on the schedule. After I praised this year's schedule for being so nicely balanced next year's is wildly lopsided.
2. Did the nuTrek books really need to be put back to back like that?
3. DS9. While it might be wishful thinking on my part, I'm going to interpret this "jump forward" as less of a "jump" and more of a simple telling of DS9 stories in that time frame while leaving the past to be told at a later time in a later novel or two or more. Kind of like how Ezri was there in Destiny but we could still have gotten novels in the past where we see her get to where she is. But I'm afraid that this is going to be a dropping of the Mirror Universe and Ascendant story lines altogether. I mean, it was Marco's baby after all and he's not there anymore.

The other big issue with this is that it makes all those past arguments of "it doesn't make sense to artificially rush the DS9 books forward" a lot silly, since this is exactly what they are doing. What happened to let a series progress at a pace that suits the story?

4. With the exception of one short story, there is a conspicuous lack of KRAD and Andy Mangels for the next year. Here's hoping one of them will get the September spot that has yet to be contracted.

And the stuff that is neither good nor bad.

I'm going to wait for reviews on the nuTrek books (save for Mack's) before buying those. I liked the movie and would be interested in novels in that universe but need to see where it goes, especially with the "put everything back" edict.

 

[LutherSloan]

My main reaction is that I really hope they mix up those novels better. I'm not too keen on a whole block of JJ-verse novels with nothing else in between. That seems like a lot.

Looking forward to the Typhon Pact miniseries. Doesn't really bother me that there won't be any Voyager, Enterprise, or Vanguard. I will be somewhat annoyed if the upcoming Enterprise book leaves open a lot of loose ends. However, since we are getting a total of two books each of Vanguard and Voyager this year, it doesn't bother me that they are taking a brief break.

I'm not entirely surprised that DS9 is finally leaping forward. I am a bit surprised that we aren't getting a 'Full Circle' style book that fills in that time period somewhat. Granted, this could still happen, but probably not before the DS9 Typhon Pact book.

Does anyone know if the idea for an Excelsior series is officially dead now? There hasn't been a peep since 'Forged in Fire' came out more than a year and a half ago.

 

[ronny]

I don't care what the schedule looks like, there's always going to be thoughts of "how come they don't have this and so much of that" so I'll just leave those comments.

I'm indifferent to the nuTrek although as, someone else pointed out, the author line up is solid so I'm expecting good things.

My first thought when I read the DS9 book was "here come the complaints about the time jump even though a ton of people were bummed it was being left behind". Thanks for not disappointing me folks.

The only books I plan on skipping are the NF books. I was lame and bought the trade of Treason and so I'll be waiting to see if the new NF trade comes out in mm form. And if not then I'll get it used on Amazon. I don't have my hate on for Pocket for doing this, I just buy too many books to justify buying books that will come out cheaper later.

The only thing I'm bummed about is the SCE book pushed off again.

All in all a solid line up, more for the authors than the line up, but nothing new that's making me grab my crotch since it seemed like the the stuff I'm most excited about I already knew about.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Wasn't there a line in the Destiny trilogy where Bowers says to Dax something along the lines of, "if we though 2376 was interesting, 2377 was even more so."

That was Jake and Nog in the Good that Men Do actually.

 

[Corran Horn]

I'm on board. Sad to see no Vanguard but I guess we are getting spoiled this year.

Not sure about the DS9 jump-ahead. Of course it has happened before (with NF too) so I guess we will see what happens.

Nice to David Mack well represented. I guess the Martin/Mangels team-up as well as Ward/Dillmore is on hiatus. (I remember something mentioned about Ward/Dillmore in the afterword of the last Vanguard novel)

I'm looking forward to next year.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

Wasn't there a line in the Destiny trilogy where Bowers says to Dax something along the lines of, "if we though 2376 was interesting, 2377 was even more so."

That was Jake and Nog in the Good that Men Do actually.

D'oh! Thanks for clarifying. I was reading TGTMD shortly before Destiny, but hey, I still screwed that up anyway.

 

[8of5]

My first thought when I read the DS9 book was "here come the complaints about the time jump even though a ton of people were bummed it was being left behind". Thanks for not disappointing me folks.

As a general thing I'm happy to see DS9 moved the same period as the rest. What I'm worried about is it being done without any effort to bridge the gap and tie up loose ends. We obviously don’t know what will be done yet, but I certainly get the feeling The Soul Key is mainly about tying up the mirror universe stuff, and this new Typhon Pact novel will be all about the then and now of the Pact.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Well, the good part is that those Typhon Pact books sound fantastic. I can't wait. The bad part is...a year. I have to wait a year, and endure a summer of nothing but NuTrek and TOS before it. How will I make it? Plenty of my top authors contributing in 2010, so that's good, and a DS9 TYphon Pact book intrigues me (though I hope they don't ignore the 2377 stories by jumping ahead like this- hopefully the current relaunch will stay). To be fair, the prime universe TOS books at the beginning of the year look interesting, and the nutrek book's authors are very skilled, so maybe it won't be so bad after all.

PS. Christopher Bennet has a nuTrek novel as his 2010 contribution, not a prime universe one! He must be thrilled, but as warned, the Deranged Nasat froths and rages . Oh, I'll be buying it of course (Bennett is my favourite Trek author) and I'll pick up the others too.

 

[Broccoli]

No Shatnerverse...sadness, although not unexpected.

 

[JD]

The more I think about it, the more I'm wondering if perhaps the Typhon Pact will simply be a chance for us to see what the DS9 characters are up to in the post Destiny time period, and not an actual permanent jump. With the way things are working out, I think this would probably make the most sense. Plus, it could be a cool way to give some fun little sneak peeks of what is coming up in the 2377 storyline.

 

[OmahaStar]

I'll be buying it of course.

I won't.

But on a positive side ...

SD Perry with a pre-TOS book. That should prove fun.

Children of Kings? Nope, I'm sorry, but Margaret B proved she is the second-best Pike author ever (after Dorothy Fontana, of course). Why give a Pike story to an unknown? (with Pike, he is, anyway)

Oh, it's because Margaret has her own story coming out ... A post-Trek VI Saavik story. I believe I speak for everyone on the planet when I say "WANT!!!" and I am unanimous in that.

About the JJ-verse stuff ... What's the point? The writers (and bennett) can't make any changes, everything has to be exactly the same at the end as when they started ... Didn't we have like 15-20 years of that kind of nonsense?

There's probably only one guarantee on the list, and that comes from Mista George. His DS9 book will be roughly double the page count of the other books. Pick it up, it'll be great value for the money.

For the "seven deadly sins" ... The Borg as gluttony? I don't see it at all ... The Borg don't eat. So ... no idea how they'll turn that one around.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

For the "seven deadly sins" ... The Borg as gluttony? I don't see it at all ... The Borg don't eat. So ... no idea how they'll turn that one around.

Read "Destiny". All will be revealed. Gluttony is very appropriate.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

The more I think about it, the more I'm wondering if perhaps the Typhon Pact will simply be a chance for us to see what the DS9 characters are up to in the post Destiny time period, and not an actual permanent jump. With the way things are working out, I think this would probably make the most sense. Plus, it could be a cool way to give some fun little sneak peeks of what is coming up in the 2377 storyline.

Here's hoping.

 

[KingstonTrekker]

The responses posted here so far bring new truth to the old saying "You can't please all of the people all of the time." Because Pocket offers us such a varied slate of excellent series, there is no possible way that every series can receive equal attention in any one, two, or even three-year span.

Plus, Pocket is a BUSINESS. They want to make $$. As a result, it is a NO-BRAINER to schedule 4 JJVerse books in the summer of 2010 (hoping to build on ST09's success this year.) Same with scheduling Prime Universe Captain Pike-era and Commander Kirk/Spock novels earlier in the year.

Personally, I am going to miss not having an Enterprise or Voyager novel next year. However, I am expecting that the upcoming Romulan War novel will keep me satisfied until 2011. Same with Full Circle (which was excellent) and the upcoming Unworthy --which have put Voyager back on the map and given it new direction. (And for everyone complaining about DS9 moving forward to 2382...look at how well "moving Voyager forward" worked in Full Circle and have some faith that the same will be done WELL for DS9. Moving each series forward makes sense to align the 24th Century titles -- and nothing precludes going back and re-visiting the intervening years in future books.)

I am not a fan of New Frontier and the last Vanguard novel has left me lukewarm on that series. Other people on here love these series. So be it...let's just be grateful that Pocket provides us with such a rich landscape of books and series. If your favourite series is not represented, or is under-represented, next year, have faith that your turn will come in 2011 (as it has in previous years.)

Looking forward to the rest of 2010 and onto 2011 -- a great time in Trek literature!

 

[Snaploud]

Book to continue the "New Frontier" series, set after "Treason," but will likely still be set before the events of the "Destiny" trilogy from Peter Mack (which shook up the 24th century and Starfleet).

I wonder if David Mack is annoyed that one of his relatives (distant cousin?) is getting credit for the Destiny trilogy.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

No Shatnerverse...rejoicing, although not unexpected.

Fixed.

 

[JoeP]

With Orci and Kurtzman saying numerous times in interviews that they've used the novels as background before writing the new movie, could there perhaps be some level of involvement, however minor, on the JJ-Trek books? I'm not suggesting creative direction or anything, but maybe giving their thoughts on the basics or the outlines??

Just a thought.

 

[TGTheodore]

"Sloth" using the Pakleds by Greg Cox.

I see 3 for 3 in this idea!

The whole anthology sounds really fun!

--Ted

 

[Snaploud]

In the Fall Pocket Books will do four books, all set in 2382, with four captains (including bringing Deep Space Nine in line with the rest of the 24th century books), all telling the story of how Starfleet deals with rise and threat of the Typhon Pact.

I guess this means I'll be catching up on DS9R by fall of next year (probably much sooner, though).

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Not happy with DS9 being pushed forward. Unless The Soul Key actually wraps a lot of things up (which, considering the fact that the Ascendents storyline hasn't even got started, isn't all that likely), it feels forced to me.

I think the fact that the Ascendent storyline hasn't started is a plus in this case. We don't know when they're coming, so as long as they don't do anything significant in The Soul Key, they can show up post-Destiny without being too forced. There are other plotlines I'd hate to see skipped (like the situation with the Dominion), and I do hope we see some gap-filling stories in the future.

It's nice to see some nuTrek novels showing up, although four in a row seems a bit much. Of course, that could be my own preference for the 24th century at work. I'm sure there's someone out there thinking "Why are they doing all these silly Typhon Pact books? I want to read about Kirk!". These things move in cycles.

I'm not sure about letting David Mack play around in the new universe, though; I saw what he did to the last one.

Yeah I hope someone told Mack he isn't allowed to cause wide spread death and destruction in this one.

Also to thye people complaining about the amount of TOS books remember the new Trek film which has and is still in process of making a shitload of money, Pocket is probably trying to cash in on that with TOS books, also i hope someone will include a Robau reference somewhere.