So... Has All the Upheavel Been Due to Behind the Scenes?

[Frontier]

I Love Trek Lit. I'll keep reading it as long as we've got good authors, like we do and have certainly had the past decade.

But I have to be honest, the past 3 years or so, have seemed really... chaotic.

I mean, the DS9 relaunch was such a beautiful coordination of authors and editors offering us new characters that we got to flesh out and grow attached too. Then, somewhere around Warpath/Soul Key, there got to be a bit of a hiccup relating to S.D. Perry, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong?

The Voyager relaunch, meanwhile, started out with Christie Golden, but then, something happened there too. We switched to Kristen Beyer, whose work I've enjoyed. Still, it was a hiccup of sorts, right? I'm not sure exactly where they're intending to go with it. I'm hopeful. And at least the hiccup was less noticed because so fewer books where published post-finale.

The TNG relaunch though has really made me motion-sick, in a sense. Perhaps it was intended that the big E not have an easy time filling the shoes of her departed senior staff, but it's since become tiresome. I've even grown slightly weary of Picard/Worf/Geordi/Crusher, from the perspective of... without two or three more regular characters to bounce off of, they aren't enough almost?

Now it seems everything is supposed to be brought together, time-wise. But such seems to have done much damage to the DS9 relaunch. I'm speaking of Elias Vaughn, Kira Nerys, Taran'atar for starters...

What was done with Sisko in the Typhon Pact novel would well and truly piss Avery Brooks off if such a plot where thrown at him during the series. The whole thing feels like a violation to his character, even if it ends up being what he needed to do to protect everyone he cares for. Sisko is a strong character, who has been pushed to do things no other captain has, but I don't think he could ever abandon his family like he has. It's too much of who he is.

I'm not sure where Voyager is going, direction wise. What the effect of the editor changes made in the past two years will have there.

DS9, the station herself, feels totally ignored and forgotten. A place to mention briefly and otherwise forget, which I hope is remedied soon.

Making Ezri Dax a Captain, let alone of a ship like the Aventine, still hits me as proposterous. I keep reminding myself those events are at least 4 years after DS9 ended, but it still strikes me as odd.

Leaving Bashir to languish, apparently more or less left behind by all the rest on DS9... what the hell?

Will the holographic rights debate be brought up via the Doctor at any point soon?

Will we see movement towards the 2387 established in the prequel comic 'Countdown' with Data resurrected, Captain of the E? Picard as Ambassador? Et cetera?

Will the Enterprise-E ever have a senior staff of more than 4 members that we can get to know and care for?

My apologies if I'm seeming to complain too much. Especially if any of you authors take it as complaints towards you, which such is not. There has been a lot of good writing. Rather, my gripe is more with direction.

I'm just frustrated, and spun around, and longing for the days when the release of the latest Trek novel made me salivate with anticipation over spending time with old friends again...

I'm wondering and hoping if a lot of the upheaval has been due to behind the scenes changes?

If the direction will soon be brought into better focus and what not?

If some of the strings left to flutter in the wind will be tied off or resumed?

 

[shanejayell]

I mean, the DS9 relaunch was such a beautiful coordination of authors and editors offering us new characters that we got to flesh out and grow attached too. Then, somewhere around Warpath/Soul Key, there got to be a bit of a hiccup relating to S.D. Perry, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong?

Did some digging at Memory Beta:

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Fearful_Symmetry

"This book was originally announced to be written by a new Star Trek author Leanna Morrow, scheduled for release in April 2007. The release was then pushed back to August and later taken off the schedule. In July 2007 it was announced the novel’s authorship had been transferred to Olivia Woods with a new release date of July 2008."

Sounds like Leanna couldn't put together a reasonable draft of the novel, which might explain the 'bump' in DS9.

Also the whole Trek line has had a bad case of revolving editors. They went through.. 3? Four? over the past few years.

 

[Frontier]

Also the whole Trek line has had a bad case of revolving editors. They went through.. 3? Four? over the past few years.

We've certainly lost at least 3 in the past few years. Ordover I think, left of his own accord to pursue other things. Then they unceremoniously axed the brilliant Marco Palmieri, for which I'm still upset over ((the books that came out when his name was flying around this forum where some of the best, and the DS9 relaunch in particular, gave me a lot of confidence in him)), and now also apparently Margaret Clark got the axe too, and we're on someone new whom I don't know the name of yet...

 

[Defcon]

Margaret Clark "got the axe" quite some time ago, and her successor Jamie Costas left on her own to spend time with her newborn after her maternity leave.

For the last few months someone has been editing the line who wants to "keep a low profile".

 

[Christopher]

Then, somewhere around Warpath/Soul Key, there got to be a bit of a hiccup relating to S.D. Perry, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong?

As shanejayell said, Stephani Perry had nothing to do with those books. There was an author switch on Fearful Symmetry from Leanna Morrow to Olivia Woods. Ms. Woods had to start from scratch, which delayed things, and the book ended up considerably longer than she or editor Marco Palmieri expected. So rather than make the readers wait another year for the whole thing, Marco decided to publish the first half of the story as Fearful Symmetry and the rest the following year as The Soul Key. After that, Marco was laid off and Margaret Clark took over DS9, deciding to jump it forward to be in synch with the post-Destiny continuity.

The Voyager relaunch, meanwhile, started out with Christie Golden, but then, something happened there too. We switched to Kristen Beyer, whose work I've enjoyed. Still, it was a hiccup of sorts, right? I'm not sure exactly where they're intending to go with it. I'm hopeful.

That happened well before the other stuff you're talking about. Golden's last VGR novel was in 2004. Her VGR novels were edited by John Ordover. Ordover moved on and Golden got caught up with other projects, and when Marco Palmieri took over responsibility for VGR, he took his time working out a new direction for the VGR novels, which was delayed when the decision was made to do the Destiny trilogy. But Kirsten's VGR novels got off to a strong start with Full Circle and Unworthy, and her third, Children of the Storm, comes out in a few months. All indications are that it's going strong now.

The TNG relaunch though has really made me motion-sick, in a sense. Perhaps it was intended that the big E not have an easy time filling the shoes of her departed senior staff, but it's since become tiresome. I've even grown slightly weary of Picard/Worf/Geordi/Crusher, from the perspective of... without two or three more regular characters to bounce off of, they aren't enough almost?

It wasn't intended to have a revolving-door approach. Sometimes authors take stories or characters in unexpected directions, and that necessitates some adaptations. In this case, that simply happened to occur rather early in the process.

But it was only in the first few books that there was any substantial instability in the crew. The TNG cast established in Greater Than the Sum has continued on through three Destiny volumes, Losing the Peace, and Paths of Disharmony with only one departure. Jasminder Choudhury, Taurik, T'Ryssa Chen, Dina Elfiki, Rennan Konya, and Hegol Den have become stable members of the cast alongside Picard, Worf, Crusher, and La Forge for half a dozen books now, twice as long as the initial growing-pains period.

Now it seems everything is supposed to be brought together, time-wise.

Not entirely. It's more accurate to say that it was decided to move all the series into the post-Destiny timeframe, so that none of them would have to be left out or avoided the way DS9 was in Destiny. But each series has followed its own individual pacing since then. The four Typhon Pact books are spread out over a year and nine months. Voyager is still in 2381 while TNG and TTN have jumped ahead to late 2382. Next month's Indistinguishable from Magic is set even further ahead in '83, whereas the following month's DTI: Watching the Clock spans early '81 to early '82.

What was done with Sisko in the Typhon Pact novel would well and truly piss Avery Brooks off if such a plot where thrown at him during the series. The whole thing feels like a violation to his character, even if it ends up being what he needed to do to protect everyone he cares for. Sisko is a strong character, who has been pushed to do things no other captain has, but I don't think he could ever abandon his family like he has. It's too much of who he is.

Or maybe it's a complication to his character, the beginning of a storyline that will challenge him to grow beyond where he is now, in the same way that he started out in a dark place in "Emissary" and grew beyond it over the course of the TV series.

DS9, the station herself, feels totally ignored and forgotten. A place to mention briefly and otherwise forget, which I hope is remedied soon.

It's worth pointing out that the decision was to make DS9 characters available for the post-Destiny setting so they wouldn't be left out. That doesn't mean there can't still be stories set in earlier years aboard the station. After all, we've had TOS novels set in the movie era coexisting with TOS novels set in the TV era for decades.

Making Ezri Dax a Captain, let alone of a ship like the Aventine, still hits me as proposterous.

The Dax symbiont has over three centuries of experience, including stints as a politician, an engineer, a test pilot, a diplomat, and a science officer, as well as several lifetimes as a parent. I find it bewildering that anyone could think a Dax wasn't qualified to be a captain. Sure, Ezri was unsure of herself in that first year before she really learned to embrace what the symbiont offered, but it doesn't seem logical to expect she'd remain that way forever.

Will we see movement towards the 2387 established in the prequel comic 'Countdown' with Data resurrected, Captain of the E? Picard as Ambassador? Et cetera?

Unknown. The novels aren't obligated to conform to what the comics did, but they aren't forbidden to either.

I'm wondering and hoping if a lot of the upheaval has been due to behind the scenes changes?

If the direction will soon be brought into better focus and what not?

If some of the strings left to flutter in the wind will be tied off or resumed?

Certainly the layoffs precipitated by the global economic crisis of 2008-9 caused disruptions in the flow of the books. But a lot of the problems you point out -- the delay in the VGR post-finale books, the delays in Fearful Symmetry/The Soul Key, the initial crew instability in the TNG post-Nemesis books -- predated those layoffs and have already been resolved. VGR is on a solid course with Kirsten Beyer and is one of the most critically praised Trek series of the past few years. The TNG command crew has been almost entirely stable for half a dozen volumes spanning two years of story time and two and a half years of real time. And while DS9 has moved forward in an unexpected and controversial new direction, it is at least moving forward, and it would hardly be the first time DS9 has done something daring and challenging.

 

[Janos]

Will we see movement towards the 2387 established in the prequel comic 'Countdown' with Data resurrected, Captain of the E? Picard as Ambassador? Et cetera?

Unknown. The novels aren't obligated to conform to what the comics did, but they aren't forbidden to either.

I'm just not sure books focusing on Picard as an ambassador would be profitable (maybe some might be interesting, but I just don't see that viable for the lit franchise).

That said, Data being back would be cool and Picard being an ambassador for a time would be cool too, with a transition to something else with Starfleet fairly quickly afterwards. Would readers follow a book where Picard was captaining a ship that wasn't the Enterprise? Or if he was in TNG, an Admiral that guides the Captain of the Enterprise and crew? That undercat the E's Captain, doesn't? The TV/books had Picard as Captain squarely in charge with minimal admirality interaction (although one could say those exchanged could have been between scenes, sicne Captains would need to speak with the Admirality). In NF, PAD has the Admirals integrated into the story, but they certainly aren't the core of the book. Anyhow, while there is no obligation as Christopher says to follow the comic, the comic itself isn't canon, so S&S could move towards bringing Data back, but that's an editorial decision. All this has me curious about what teh ST license holders expect in terms of IDW amd S&S work. And, do IDW and S&S editorial talk at all in any way?

 

[JarodRussell]

Margaret Clark "got the axe" quite some time ago, and her successor Jamie Costas left on her own to spend time with her newborn after her maternity leave.

For the last few months someone has been editing the line who wants to "keep a low profile".

Ed Schlesinger?

 

[Christopher]

All this has me curious about what teh ST license holders expect in terms of IDW amd S&S work. And, do IDW and S&S editorial talk at all in any way?

CBS only expects the novels and comics to stay consistent with the onscreen canon. Consistency among different tie-ins has never been a requirement, although there are some faint inklings that Bad Robot may desire a greater degree of consistency among tie-ins to the new movie continuity.

I have the impression that the Pocket and IDW staffs are basically on friendly terms but prefer to strike their own paths. Mostly their continuities are incompatible (and indeed some of the IDW Trek miniseries are incompatible with one another), but there have been occasional cross-references, such as IDW doing a New Frontier miniseries on the one hand, and characters and elements from IDW's Klingons: Blood Will Tell being referenced in the novels on the other hand.

 

[JD]

^IDW also did a Myriad Universes miniseries that was promoted as part of the same series as the books.

 

[Bishop76]

CBS only expects the novels and comics to stay consistent with the onscreen canon. Consistency among different tie-ins has never been a requirement, although there are some faint inklings that Bad Robot may desire a greater degree of consistency among tie-ins to the new movie continuity.

Really? That would be outstanding if that were the case. What makes you think that they're going for that greater consistency?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

CBS only expects the novels and comics to stay consistent with the onscreen canon. Consistency among different tie-ins has never been a requirement, although there are some faint inklings that Bad Robot may desire a greater degree of consistency among tie-ins to the new movie continuity.

Really? That would be outstanding if that were the case. What makes you think that they're going for that greater consistency?

Christopher did write one of the "new Trek" novels that were shelved. That may give him some insight.

 

[Christopher]

Really? That would be outstanding if that were the case. What makes you think that they're going for that greater consistency?

I don't think that, I've just noticed some things suggesting that there's a chance it could be the case. Mainly their decision to shelve the four Abramsverse novels that I and my colleagues wrote for last year. If they're only willing to have prequel tie-ins published, it implies they prefer to avoid the risk of tie-ins being contradicted by subsequent movies. But that's largely conjectural.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

For the last few months someone has been editing the line who wants to "keep a low profile".

Ed Schlesinger?

I'm fairly sure that, based on things Christopher has said, that Schlesinger is one of the editors in the mix; he may even be "the one in charge," so to speak.

To get a more concrete idea of who's working behind the scenes, I'd suggest checking the author acknowledgement pages in the books over the next few months. Paths of Disharmony, for instance, names Emilia Pisani as having an editorial role.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I don't think that, I've just noticed some things suggesting that there's a chance it could be the case. Mainly their decision to shelve the four Abramsverse novels that I and my colleagues wrote for last year. If they're only willing to have prequel tie-ins published, it implies they prefer to avoid the risk of tie-ins being contradicted by subsequent movies. But that's largely conjectural.

Pure Speculation Ahead!

I wonder if authorial credit could have been an issue with Bad Robot. The promo covers for the four "new Trek" novels had the authors credited, but I've noticed from the Starfleet Academy novels that the authors are not credited on the covers. I recall that the Alias novels also did not credit the authors on the covers. Perhaps Bad Robot has an issue with crediting tie-in authors, and that could have caused friction with the four books.

 

[Bishop76]

Really? That would be outstanding if that were the case. What makes you think that they're going for that greater consistency?

I don't think that, I've just noticed some things suggesting that there's a chance it could be the case. Mainly their decision to shelve the four Abramsverse novels that I and my colleagues wrote for last year. If they're only willing to have prequel tie-ins published, it implies they prefer to avoid the risk of tie-ins being contradicted by subsequent movies. But that's largely conjectural.

Ah, I see. I hadn't heard of any tie-ins being shelved. Interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

[DimesDan]

I don't think that, I've just noticed some things suggesting that there's a chance it could be the case. Mainly their decision to shelve the four Abramsverse novels that I and my colleagues wrote for last year. If they're only willing to have prequel tie-ins published, it implies they prefer to avoid the risk of tie-ins being contradicted by subsequent movies. But that's largely conjectural.

Pure Speculation Ahead!

I wonder if authorial credit could have been an issue with Bad Robot. The promo covers for the four "new Trek" novels had the authors credited, but I've noticed from the Starfleet Academy novels that the authors are not credited on the covers. I recall that the Alias novels also did not credit the authors on the covers. Perhaps Bad Robot has an issue with crediting tie-in authors, and that could have caused friction with the four books.

IF that is the case, then that's a really retarded reason for pulling them.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Perhaps Bad Robot has an issue with crediting tie-in authors, and that could have caused friction with the four books.

IF that is the case, then that's a really retarded reason for pulling them.

Agreed.

But I have noticed that there's a trend toward not crediting authors on tie-in novels. For instance, I recently bought a batch of the Merlin novels, and I was mildly annoyed to discover that the only place where the author is credited is on the title page.

And, as I noted, Bad Robot has a history of not crediting tie-in authors.

Like I said, though, that was entirely speculation on my part that authorial credit could have been the issue, and I'd like to think that Bad Robot is more mature than that.

 

[David Mack]

^ That would not have been cause to pull the books, Allyn. That would only have resulted in redesigns of the covers.

Though I am not at liberty to discuss what intelligence I've received from behind the scenes, the postponement of the four books had nothing to do with authorial credit --- which Bad Robot could not have revoked, anyway, since it's guaranteed to the authors in our contracts, and also because Bad Robot does not, in fact, own Star Trek.

 

[JD]

There are Merlin books?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^ That would not have been cause to pull the books, Allyn. That would only have resulted in redesigns of the covers.

A very good point, Dave.

There are Merlin books?

Novelizations, yes.

There are two lines. One is in the same hardcover format as the latest batch of Doctor Who New Series Adventures. The other is a junior novelization line, in trade paperback, which novelizes two or three episodes per 100 page book.

There are not original Merlin novels, and they currently have no plans to do original Merlin novels. (I've enquired. I even submitted a proposal on a lark and received back from the line's editor the nicest rejection letter I've ever seen.)