Pocket's 2010 Schedule Announced on TrekMovie.com

[Paris]

Excellent schedule for 2010 . All of the TOS era books look great. Insights into prime-Kirk and prime-Spock before they were together are always welcome. More prime-Pike is great news, and MWB's Saavik book sounds great. Maybe about the child her and prime-Spock may have had post STIV?? Three TOS books that don't take place during the 5YM is great. I love further universe building .

I would be wary of the nuTrek books if they weren't being written by some of the best treklit authors Pocket Books has. Wariness is now excitement . I wonder who will write the fourth one?

The Typhon Pact seems to be in good hands. I'm not even close to being upto date on the DS9-R, so jumping ahead may be a good thing. DRGIII is the guy to bridge the gap, if this is what they actually plan on doing. I will endeavor to catch up before winter 2010.

The only things i'm really disappointed with are: (1) we're only getting a total of one short story in 2010 by KRAD. No full length novels ? Any chance he will write the fourth nuTrek book? NuTrek Klingons ? Maybe some other book just not scheduled yet? WTF?...and (2) no new Voyager novels. I'm not as mad over this one and I can understand it in terms of business. Pocket had to make sure that the two 2009 VOY-R boooks were well recieved before they commissioned more. Also, with Voyager being in the DQ, getting them back for the TP mini-series would have seemed forced, having only been gone for two books. Maybe more in 2011...
​

 

[Starbreaker]

I'm so far behind on all the series, but I would like to get the (Nu Trek, JJ Verse, OMG My Canon??!!) books.

 

[Xavier_Storma]

Long time reader, first time poster.

I am very disappointed about that release schedule.

I am really enjoying the 24th century books, the Enterprise relaunch and Vanguard, and all we get for 2/3 of 2010 is TOS and JJTrek (the only two series I have no interest in what-so-ever).

I though that the 24th century books were selling well. Titan was on the bestseller list, wasn't it? Why change a winning horse? Why no more 24th century adventures?

What about the Gorkon? The Corps of Engineers? The TREK universe has grown so much beyond TOS. Why reduce it to it?

I though at least in literature we would have the opportunity to enjoy all various TREK incarnations... yet even here the JJverse starts messing up (no I did not like the movie).

I am sad.

 

[J47]

Well, on the bright side it looks like I'll be saving money on books next year. The TOS books hold no interest for me (I don't think I've ever bought a TOS book outside of the various crossover series, and even then it was mostly for completion's sake). Depending on the reviews, I may check out Bennett and Mack's nuTrek novels, although I hate the "put in back in the box" mentality which we had so successfully moved away from as of late (I'm not saying I don't understand the policy, it's merely that I've been enjoying the "anything can happen" idea). I completely understand why Margaret has put so much TOS/nuTrek into 2010, but it might've been nice to have it spread out a little bit.

"Treason" will probably get picked up, as I haven't bothered with the trade paperback.

I'm excited for the Typhon Pact novels. The first three sound particularly interesting, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the TNG outing...political books can either be compelling or fall completely flat. I don't have a problem with DS9 jumping ahead to join the other series in the timeline, but if they were going to do this, I would've preferred a bridging book in between, rather than after. Don't get me wrong - I loved Full Circle, but we already had an idea of where the Voyager characters were in the TNGR timeline (not to mention, we're only talking about a two year gap). With the exception of Dax, Bowers & co, we don't know anything about what's happened happened to our beloved cast of characters over a five year period. Obviously, there's the potential to go back and explore the time period in the future, but it would be dominated by that "put it back in the box" mentality.

 

[Starbreaker]

There won't be a new Trek movie, so the JJ books will sell well, it's a marketing decision that will probably pay off.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There won't be a new Trek movie

Yes, there will. They're writing it now.

 

[Lonemagpie]

There won't be a new Trek movie

Yes, there will. They're writing it now.

Starbreaker means in 2010- the movie they're writing now will be in 2011

 

[Defcon]

^^^ I assume he meant in 2010.

ETA:
Lonemagpie beat me to it.

 

[Deano2099]

As much as I have problems with some of the decisions revealed in this schedule, I have to say, fandom never ceases to amaze me with its hyperbole and disproportionate reactions.

Take these common but schitzophrenic reactions:

"OMG, why weren't there any TOS books ready to capitalize on the new film?" Well, because it's a recession and no one knew if the movie would be a success, and they wanted to avoid stepping on ST09's toes.

"OMG, why so much TOS?" Well, we've barely been getting ANY TOS for the last two to three years now, because they didn't want to step on ST09's toes, and now they'd like to put books out there because of ST09's popularity.

I swear to God, you can never win with fandom.

Those reactions are by different people.

 

[captcalhoun]

oh, forgot: will get 7DS and Shattered Light. pissed by delay of OOTC.

 

[Deano2099]

There won't be a new Trek movie, so the JJ books will sell well, it's a marketing decision that will probably pay off.

Not so sure, I mean, the first movie just came out some months ago, the next one is tentatively due Summer 2011. That puts the books right in the gap in the middle. At the point where the post-release hype is gone and the pre-release hype hasn't started yet. I'm sure Pocket's marketing department know better than I do but I certainly don't understand it.

And they're MMPBs too, rather than trades, so it'll be harder to really push this "There's no movie, but there are books" thing in stores.

Pretty disappointed, and really worried about CoE now, I can see the next book vanishing and the reprints never being finished, which would be a shame.

 

[ToddCam]

As much as I have problems with some of the decisions revealed in this schedule, I have to say, fandom never ceases to amaze me with its hyperbole and disproportionate reactions.

Take these common but schitzophrenic reactions:

"OMG, why weren't there any TOS books ready to capitalize on the new film?" Well, because it's a recession and no one knew if the movie would be a success, and they wanted to avoid stepping on ST09's toes.

"OMG, why so much TOS?" Well, we've barely been getting ANY TOS for the last two to three years now, because they didn't want to step on ST09's toes, and now they'd like to put books out there because of ST09's popularity.

I swear to God, you can never win with fandom.

Those reactions are by different people.

THANK YOU. This complaining about complaining thing warrants a complaint! If it were the same people doing the complaining, that would be one thing. It's like saying, "Oh, the Democrats were complaining about Bush, but now the Republicans are complaining about Obama! You just can't please some people!" No, you are never going to make everyone happy, because different people want different things.

 

[Idoliside]

Thinking about it, wouldn't it have been better to stagger the series over several months, rather than releasing four in a row maybe mix it up. Say release one of the TOS, one JJ, one RL and repeat over the next months. Be nicer for those of us who have to wait till October

Unless the books arn't ready until then (ie not written) in which case i wholly retract that last comment.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Thinking about it, wouldn't it have been better to stagger the series over several months, rather than releasing four in a row maybe mix it up. Say release one of the TOS, one JJ, one RL and repeat over the next months. Be nicer for those of us who have to wait till October

Unless the books arn't ready until then (ie not written) in which case i wholly retract that last comment.

Well, ADF said in that interview that his was due for delivery in October - which suggests the others will be due in November, December and January, and therefore aren't written yet.

 

[Xavier_Storma]

It is going to be a very long year then...

 

[Trent Roman]

^ That's certainly all true, or close to it, but it's also true that we've had very little TOS for a really long time.

That's the problem with unbalanced schedules, I think. If one picks a round number like 5 years and adds up all the books of the various series, I'm sure there will be plenty of TOS to be found (it helps that a five-year span would include the last Year of TOS), but because of uneven distribution it always seems like somebody is losing out. For obvious reasons, most people don't think in five-year spans, but more in the shorter term, so one goes through cycles of alienation. There's something off-kilter about this kind of editorial favoritism every time 'something' happens, although this 'something' is a lot more of a something than the previous somethings were. (Er...)

What worries me, is that this schedule is evidently designed to take advantage of the popularity of Abrams' Product. But 2011 is meant to see the release of Abrams' Product Part II: The Search for More Money (anybody else think two years between films is too little? I'd prefer three...), which, given the success of the first and the gangbusters performance of Transformers II, is bound to initially do quite well too. So will we want to make 2011 another TOS/AP heavy year to take advantage of that? 2013? And so on, and so forth... I wonder if this might not be the new standard, at least until the film series collapses again.

And of course a bunch of nuTrek books is a great idea to capitalize on the success of the film. I think the only problem is that the two are put right next to each other, and I'll admit I'm a little annoyed about that too. I wonder if it would've really made much difference to swap the Typhon Pact and nuTrek placement, or maybe reduce the TOS or nuTrek schedules by one or two and fit a couple more books in between.

In the interests of fairness, I can see a reason for doing that. I'm not quite sure what Clark means by organizing the year into 'themes' (honestly, who's going to care except people like us?), but having books come out month-to-month 'trains' the reading public into becoming monthly customers, into creating a purchasing habit so to speak. You go to the store and there's a book you want, then next month the same, then next month the same, then next month the same... That's good conditioning. Not sure what will happen when we hit the latter third of the year, but at that point maybe enough people will have been trained that instead of just wandering away from the line they'll instead go looking for their 'missing' product and note when the next release will be, which gets them more involved (there might also be crossover sales, but I don't see that having much of an impact). I think it's a schedule designed to draw in new readers, in tune with the film drawing in new fans, which isn't a bad idea. Frequently with these sorts of things, it's harder to get new people in and convert them into regulars than retain those who have already become regulars, so if that's the case then I suppose it makes sense to appeal to that demographic.

Yeah, as you surmised, Trent, my Typhon Pact/Deep Space Nine novel will be entitled The Rough Beasts of Empire. At least, that's my working title. I may yet change it.

That's what I figured. You've always had innovative titles, but that really didn't sound right. Perhaps it's KRAD's yen for Yeats in titles that's rubbing off on me.

I though at least in literature we would have the opportunity to enjoy all various TREK incarnations... yet even here the JJverse starts messing up (no I did not like the movie).

Indeed. I'm trying to think of what the best-case scenario for us mid-timers would be. If the Abrams' Product books sell very well, it might finally be enough to loosen up the one-book-per-month restriction and go back to the old schedule, although we'd have to do something about the editorial understaffing as well. On the other hand, if the AP books sell well, we might also see them taking over even more of the schedule and what we'll call Golden Age Trek permanently consigned to tertiary status.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Man of Steel]

Okay, I had a chance to look at the list and analyze it and here's what I think:

January
"Sorrows of Empire" by David Mack
Mirror Universe story set during the TOS era and an expansion of Mack’s short story from the "Glass Empires" anthology...
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Already ordered but might have to reread GE again because I'm not sure if Sorrows picks up from where GE left off. Anyone know?



February
"Inception" by S.D. Perry
Set before The Original Series, the book is story of four people at the start of their careers. Commander Kirk and the woman he loves Dr. Carol Marcus, Commander Spock and his chance encounter with an botanist, Leila Kalomi.

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Sounds interesting. Not sure about it but I would go with a title change. It seems like this story is going to be expanding on the movie.


March
"Treason" by Peter David (mass market reprint)
Reprint of April 2009 New Frontier trade paperback.
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If this already came out in paperback, why is it being reprinted? Waste of a month.


April
"The Children of Kings" by Dave Stern
Set on Christopher Pike’s Enterprise (including Spock and Number One), the book focuses on the Orion Syndicate, a dying girl and the kidnapping of a Starfleet officer. This is Dave Stern’s first TOS novel (if you don’t count his 1994 Captain Sulu audio adventure “Transformations”). Stern has written four Enterprise novels, and is a big classic Trek fan and former Star Trek editor for Pocket Books.
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I'm trying to figure out if this is a stand alone or if it's connected to some other story coming out later in the year... Is this set before events in The Cage?

I enjoyed his ENT books and was wondering when he'd write another one..



May
"Unspoken Truth" by Margaret Wander Bonanno
Set after Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the book focuses on Saavik wondering where does she belong, dealing with her half Vulcan/half Romulan nature. Can Vulcan and Starfleet be the wrong answer?
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I don't remember Saavik ever being in Star Trek VI. If I recall correctly, she remained behind on Vulcan in Trek III. It was Valeries that was in VI,


June (possibly July)
Untitled New Frontier by Peter David [trade paperback]
Book to continue the "New Frontier" series, set after "Treason," but will likely still be set before the events of the "Destiny" trilogy from David Mack (which shook up the 24th century and Starfleet).
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Not a fan of NF so this is a free month for me.


THE SUMMER OF JJ TREK


June
"Refugees" by Alan Dean Foster
No details, except that the ‘refugees’ are not the Vulcans.
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No Comment till after I read the novelization.


July
"Seek a Newer World" by Christopher Bennett
Enterprise on a "world-building" mission, but again not the Vulcans.
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Again, no comment because this doesn't really tell me anything about what it's about. Although, the choice of CLB seems out of place here.


August
"More Beautiful than Death" by David Mack
Finally, this one will deal with the Vulcans remaining after the destruction of their home planet.
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I could have sworn they were all beamed onto Enterprise and relocated somewhere else to resettle..


September
Untitled 4th New Star Trek Movie era book
The fourth book is not yet under contract, so no details are available, but it will possibly be a Scotty story.
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Why Scotty? Why not a story featuring the two Spocks?


FALL INTO THE 24TH CENTURY AND THE TYPHON PACT


October
"Seize the Fire" (TITAN) by Michael Martin
Captain Riker and the USS Titan face the Gorn who are looking to step up and secure their position with in the Typhon Pact.
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I like Titan and I have all the others so I'll be getting this. Though, how did the Gorn get all the way here?


November
"Zero Sum Game" (AVENTINE) by David MackAventine under the command of Captain Dax is assigned to aid with the insertion and extraction of Starfleet operatives behind Breen lines
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Didn't Clark once mention there would be no Aventine novels?


December
"The Rough Beasts of Empire" (DS9) by David R. George III
The Deep Space Nine series jumps forward to 2382. The book is a tale of intrigue and machinations with DS9 characters dealing with the Romulans, who are a divided people looking to cement their rightful position as the leader of the Typhon Pact, by any means necessary. The book will also deal with the Tzenkethi.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sounds interesting and I might get it because I very much enjoyed George's Crucible trilogy. I'm hoping he continues that with the rest of the characters. Having said that, it seems like this story belongs in TNG and NOT DS9.


January 2011
"Path of Disharmony" (TNG) by Dayton Ward
Picard’s Enterprise is assigned to the least glamorous mission, babysitting a conference on Andor, but it is here that the Typhon Pact will show their strength by daring to reach into the heart of the Federation to raise their standard as the pre-eminent power. This book will also focus on the Tholians.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Why is Picard always the "lucky" one?



Why isn't all six books coming out all at once? Why do we have to wait another year for the resolution? (The back of ASD says a six part series)


ANTHOLOGIES

Spring 2010
"Seven Deadly Sins"
Series of short stories using one of Star Trek aliens (or universe) to represent each of the ’seven deadly sins’:​

• The Romulans (Pride) by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore
• The Cardassians (Envy) by James Swallow
• The Klingons (Anger) by Keith R.A. Decandido
• The Pakleds (Sloth) by Greg Cox
• The Ferengi (Greed) by David Mcintee
• The Borg (Gluttony) by Marc Giller
• Mirror Universe (Lust) by Britta Dennison

-----------------------------------------
This is nothing new as it was announced last year so why it was mentioned again is beyond me. I just wish it was coming out earlier.

Summer/Fall 2010? (date not finalized)
"Myriad Universes: Shattered Light"
Three ‘what if?’ stories, from David R. George, Steve Mollmann & Michael Schuster, and Scott Pearson. Similar to the two "Myriad Universes" anthologies put out in 2008.

-------------------------------------------
Yeah, yeah. I'm getting this. I enjoyed the others but like Shards and Shadows, I wish there were 12 stories here instead of three.


​

2011?
"Out of the Cocoon"
Collection of four ‘COE’ e-books (57, 58, 59, & 60) by Robert T. Jeschonek, Kevin Killiany, William Leisner, and Phaedra M. Weldon.
------------------------------------------------
Why delayed again?
​

WHAT ISN’T ON THE LIST
There is a lot planned through 2010, but there are also a few things that are not on the list. According to Clark, future books from the Vanguard, Voyager and Enterprise series are all on the potential list for 2011 (including the follow-up to this October’s “Romulan War” novel). Clark says that they tried to fit Voyager into the Typhon Pact mini-series, but it didn’t mesh with where Voyager series is headed (which will next be seen in the October VOY novel "Unworthy"). As for the the future of the ‘Shatnerverse,’ Clark had no answer on if there will ever be a follow-up to William Shatner’s 2007 novel "Collision Course."

--------------------------------------------------


Let's see:


1) I suppose the 2 Vanguards out this year make up for not having one in 2010 and the same goes for VOY and Titan.


2) Why no ENT dealing with the aftermath of Romulan War?
3) Where exactly is Voyager heading?
4) Why no answer on Shatner's books? She either knows or she doesn't? How could you end a series before it concludes?

5) When do we get to see the birth of Picard and Crusher's baby and will Titan ever deal with Riker's daughter at some point? By that I mean adjusting to life as parents and how they deal with it...

6) What happened to the Captain April novel that was mentioned?
7) Also wasn't there supposed to be a Sisko Lost Era novel?


All in all, I'm not to keen on next year. It seems like it'll be a slow and uneventful year. Sure there's some stuff I'll get but the others are just so so. I think there's way, way to many TOS on the schdule and I'm not exactly sure what the difference is between the current TOS and the new TOS.


In my opinion, I think Margret Clark is killing Trekkie.. If Marco was still around, I'm sure this lineup would have been A LOT better.


Now, when do we get to see covers for this stuff?




​

 

[Christopher]

I think it's too soon to jump into the new timeline created by ST'09 since the next movie will probably contradict what's written in those stories.

That's why we're doing standalones -- to minimize that risk. And hey, if they are contradicted, just think of them as another alternate timeline.

I'm excited about the JJ-verse novels, but I agree that I wish they were more spread out. Maybe alternating with the Typhon Pact novels?

Might be better for the veteran readers, but a whole new audience of Trek fans has been created by the movie, and if we want to grab their attention and say, "Hey! There are books too," then it's better to make a big summer Event out of it. And the Typhon Pact is an Event too, because Events sell well.

I'm guessing the final 2 Typhon Pact novels will be out some time in 2011. I wonder what crews they will focus on? (Either that, or the event's been compressed to 4 novels... I'd be OK with that)

I don't think it was ever specifically planned to be 6 books. Its length was unsettled, and they settled on four.

Glad to see Titan on the board... but what are the Gorn doing way the heck out there?

Who says the Federation's the only civilization that travels beyond its borders? Historically, people have travelled far from home for many reasons -- trade, exploration, the need for resources, conquest, missionary work, exile, etc.

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?

That was Marco's philosophy. Margaret has a different approach.

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.

There was never a series, just a "pilot." If interest had been strong enough to support followups, there'd probably be one by now. (Heck, I was hoping to be on my third or fourth Ex Machina followup novel by now.)

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.

Gluttony doesn't exclusively refer to eating. It means having an insatiable appetite for anything, consuming anything to an excess and being unable to get enough of it. (Like being a glutton for punishment.) The Borg have an insatiable desire to devour everything in their path. That's gluttony.

July
"Seek a Newer World" by Christopher Bennett

I don't think Bennett's style really fits nuTrek, which seems to me like a more action oriented series. And Bennett and action doesn't really mesh up well IMO.

Well, it's good to challenge oneself and try new things. I haven't really tried to focus on action in my previous Trek novels, which is why the action wasn't their strongest suit. This time, I'm definitely writing it with action more centrally in mind.

October
"Seize the Fire" (TITAN) by Michael Martin
That's the spot that I would have given to Bennett.

That would've been nice. I would've enjoyed being part of a collaborative process like Mere Anarchy again. But I couldn't have done both that and the Abramsverse book, and I couldn't very well pass up the chance to help introduce a new book line (which might be very profitable).

I though that the 24th century books were selling well. Titan was on the bestseller list, wasn't it? Why change a winning horse? Why no more 24th century adventures?

There are still 24th-century adventures, the Typhon Pact books. And there will be more in the future.

Every year is different. Look back over Pocket's release schedules for the past ten years or so and you'll see that no series has consistently gotten the same amount of focus every year. What gets little or no attention one year could be heavily featured a year or two later. So you can never assume that a single 12- or 18-month schedule represents a new permanent policy. It's just the way things worked out according to the particular needs of that year.

 

[MNM]

I'm excited about the JJ-verse novels, but I agree that I wish they were more spread out. Maybe alternating with the Typhon Pact novels?

Might be better for the veteran readers, but a whole new audience of Trek fans has been created by the movie, and if we want to grab their attention and say, "Hey! There are books too," then it's better to make a big summer Event out of it.

If even 0.1% of the people who went to see the new movie enter a book shop next year looking for new Star Trek books I will eat every book I own.

While I can understand the general idea and thinking behind such a scheduling idea, I would be majorly surprised if the was any noticable difference in sales doing it that way, than if the books were more evenly distributed by type over the year.

 

[Starbreaker]

There won't be a new Trek movie

Yes, there will. They're writing it now.

I meant in 2010. I'm not that dense.