Spoilers Post-Coda novelverse

[F. King Daniel]

I'm curious what everyone's thoughts are, now novels are going back to a more strict, 90's-ish tie-in format. We won't be seeing the established TV characters going though anything too life-changing unless it's reset somehow at the very end, but I wonder if the USS Discovery-A or Pike's Enterprise get some original (or even returning, in the latter's case) characters along for their missions that can be lastingly affected?

And I wonder if down the line we'll get any more original novel Trek series', like Vanguard, New Frontier or SCE?

 

[Charles Phipps]

Well right now we do have the Picard and DISCO tie-ins that I very much enjoy.

The Autobiogrphy of Spock was also very tied into the new Trek series.

 

[Jarvisimo]

I'm not sure what to think - it could be positive in allowing really experimental novels and diverse author choices who can do really interesting things with the setting.

Ultimately every novel is an island, and that's nice. But in being an island, they might suffer from the curse of the reset button - wherein nothing 'adds' beyond itself. But then that's most novels published outwith franchises! Maybe it's good to escape the curse of continuity?

But I also realise that it was continuity that led me to read the books, starting with New Frontier back in the 90s. That meant reading even books I thought were tosh, simply because they were part of the continuity. Without that, I am not sure I'll read any alas, which frustrates me knowing my own failings in this regard....

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I feel like it's likely that we'll see some loose connective tissue, if nothing else - "hey, this thing previously established in the Litverse doesn't contradict anything, we can bring it forward."

With regards to the novels proper, it does seem like, with regards to TNG, DS9, Voyager, and probably Enterprise (since it seems that Rise of the Federation is going to be wrapped for the time being), we are going back to standalones, but that's not a bad thing necessarily - personally, I have been waiting a long time for some novels to sort of "rehab" season one of TNG, for instance, smooth out some of its edges in terms of how it connects to the subsequent continuity, so there's room for such a thing. Likewise, I think there really is a level of comfort in getting to revisit the times we know and are familiar with most and have a new adventure.

Plus, as we're seeing between Shadows Have Offended and Revenant, it's also opening the doors to let some new voices into the franchise who there wouldn't necessarily have been room for in the time of ongoing post-Nemesis novels. And that right there seems like something that NEEDS celebrating - not in any way a slam on our regular line-up, but it HAS been lacking in diversity in the writers over the last few years, and that's just not in keeping with the Trekkian ethos.

So I wouldn't expect to see any novel-only series for several years, minimum - as long as the spotlight is going to be on the in-production shows, probably any new idea and focus would be put on the shows, rather than the novels, since the job of tie-ins is, effectively, to supplement the shows, not to "take the spotlight" or anything by doing things that could just as functionally be on screen. Y'know, it was 1997 when New Frontier began, DS9 was in its fifth season, Voyager its third, First Contact had made it to home video... It took a while for what was the height of 90s Trek to reach the point where they let a novel-exclusive line begin, and while I'm sure that, with that history in favor, it probably won't take as long to see another new novel line begin, that one day there will be another series originating in the novels, it's going to be some time as the shows keep going. I mean, they're holding off on the active production of the 31 series to avoid the risk of oversaturation, so that's clearly something that's in the minds of the heads over at Paramount/CBS.

We might not see as strongly connected ongoing stories within the novels as we've been used to, but I think it wouldn't be wrong to expect something like the small scale stuff we got in the Discovery novels, where they were expanding, growing, and connecting Discovery into the greater tapestry - now we can see that returned by having things established in 2010s/2020s Trek appear in the settings of 1990s/2000s Trek.

Y'know, we had The Enterprise War referencing various versions of Pike's Enterprise from across the years that have tried to fill that gap and more or less contradicted one another. I'd believe there being similar kinds of welding in store in future stories, things that will show how these events echo into the future.

 

[ryan123450]

Unfortunately I’m not going to be interested in reading tie-ins to shows I’m not watching, so unless I decide to keep watching Picard, I don’t see me being interested in 90% of the new books going forward.

 

[The Wormhole]

With it looking like there's only going to be about eight novels a year from now on, and as of next year there will be three live action shows with their own tie-in novel. Assuming each current TV show gets two novels a year, that already eats up six novels. We're still going to be getting TOS novels, since they're the best selling of the Trek line, so that leaves only one empty slot, which will either be taken up by another TOS novel or perhaps a TV series-era novel set during one of the older shows. That's probably going to be the novel line up for the foreseeable future. I'm thinking it'll be years before another novel-exclusive series launches, probably not until the current shows begin to wind down.

 

[Ronald Held]

Probaby will have to wait and see. Now if I could get two TOS noveks a year...

 

[Charles Phipps]

Unfortunately I’m not going to be interested in reading tie-ins to shows I’m not watching, so unless I decide to keep watching Picard, I don’t see me being interested in 90% of the new books going forward.

I mean, obviously. I don't read Voyager novels because I didn't like Voyager.

 

[rfmcdpei]

The novelverse that we know and like could only come about because we lacked new televised Trek for a dozen years. I certainly liked most of the stories we got and the novelverse generally, but it was a phenomenon that could only exist because the larger franchise was dormant. More, it was something that most fans did not pick up.

The novelverse of our generation may be coming to an end, but the stories remain.

 

[seigezunt]

I hope we don't see a return to the Arnold era. That put me off of the novels. I'd prefer something like the 80s, where they published outright slashfic and stuff that would divert from the continuity and never get picked up in another novel, mostly.

Maybe an Ishmael-like novel, where the TOS crew travels to the universe of some obscure old show, like "Pete and Pete" or "Fish."

 

[Christopher]

I hope we don't see a return to the Arnold era. That put me off of the novels. I'd prefer something like the 80s, where they published outright slashfic and stuff that would divert from the continuity and never get picked up in another novel, mostly.

I doubt we'll get either of those extremes. The '80s stuff happened because the universe was much less clearly defined back then; it's not that the novels diverged from continuity so much as that there was so little continuity established that they were free to extrapolate things in the gaps that seem bizarre to us knowing what we know now. When inconsistencies did occur, it was a result of having less detailed references and less access to video of the episodes than we have now, not the result of a deliberate divergence from continuity. Things are very different now, the universe far more clearly defined, so that kind of wild-and-wooly approach won't come again.

And the crackdowns of the Arnold era were the result of one person's controlling tendencies. It's true that there's less room for flexibility in tie-ins to a current, ongoing show, but it doesn't have to go to that extreme. Arnold saw the books and comics in an adversarial light, as something that had to be kept in check lest it sully "Gene's vision." Currently, with Kirsten Beyer as the liaison between shows and tie-ins, it's evidently much more of a friendly partnership.

 

[Tuskin38]

I mean, obviously. I don't read Voyager novels because I didn't like Voyager.

Funny, I'm the reverse. I love the Voyager novels, but didn't like the series very much.

The Books are better written than 90% of the series was.

 

[Thrawn]

I think Kirsten Beyer and Una McCormack are by a considerable margin the best recent writers of TrekLit; if you've missed out on Beyer's Voyager novels that's a shame. (And I didn't even watch much Voyager, and what I did watch didn't speak to me.)

 

[JoeZhang]

The barely hidden Anti-abortion message in the last two Voyager novels put me off her as a writer.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The barely hidden Anti-abortion message in the last two Voyager novels put me off her as a writer.

Trek has always addressed social issues. Did the books make you consider the issue more deeply, or did you just dismiss it?

 

[Daddy Todd]

Trek has always addressed social issues. Did the books make you consider the issue more deeply, or did you just dismiss it?

It painted a woman who didn’t choose to be a parent as a monster. That’s the kind of argument that’s only compelling to someone who’s already a True Believer. I found it repugnant.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Maybe an Ishmael-like novel, where the TOS crew travels to the universe of some obscure old show, like "Pete and Pete" or "Fish."

"To life immortal!" Which is the crossover I've wanted since 1988...

 

[Charles Phipps]

It painted a woman who didn’t choose to be a parent as a monster. That’s the kind of argument that’s only compelling to someone who’s already a True Believer. I found it repugnant.

Oh dear, now I am curious what the context was.

 

[JoeZhang]

Trek has always addressed social issues. Did the books make you consider the issue more deeply, or did you just dismiss it?

I dismissed it entirely as I am not a child - it was an obvious, impossible to miss, Anti-abortion text.

I don't need to consider more deeply as a man that a woman has a right to an abortion and a right to control her own body.

At the time the book was written there was an ongoing battle to reclassify an embryo as a child at six weeks and make abortion of said embryo a crime in many countries. It's one of the areas anti-abortionists push.

The two final voyager books make it clear that in the future not only is a embryo legally a baby at six weeks but has its own rights. This is wrapped in lengthy passages where it's clear only a monster would really consider an abortion and a character is linked with the embryo to make it clear any real woman would protect a six week embryo because it's clearly a child.

It was utter utter bollocks, a disgrace and should have never seen publication in a Star Trek novel.

 

[thribs]

Probably just TOS and ENT novels for me afterwards. Maybe LD if they make any