But didn't Christopher already say that the reason the post-STXI novels were cancelled wasn't because of continuity?
We are still clutching at straws. The original public statement was something vague like Pocket Books had "decided to put them aside for now". Was it
Margaret?
Being strict with continuity may not be the main concern. (Yes, I recall
Christopher saying it was not "the" reason.) Perhaps it's as simple as the writing team not having the time or inclination to read through four long original novels, by four different writers, and stressing about all manner of accidental easter eggs, clashes, red herrings, duplications, missed opportunities, etc, when they are tring to put out the best movie sequel they possibly can.
The YA "Starfleet Academy" novels are prequels. Shorter. More controllable.
The "ST Onging" comics have mostly been revisiting old TOS storylines, prescribed/approved by the movie's writing team, and deliberately peppered with their own choices of easter eggs and red herrings. Shorter. More controllable.
The four original novels are like four wild cards tossed into the mix and a time when all aspects of the movie are being kept secret. The more we would have read in those four novels, the more we would have known what was not going to be in the new movie.
I still have no problem with Pocket Books deciding not to dabble in the new movie's sandbox yet, whether they were instructed by CBS Consumer Products, or JJ's team, or the then-current Pocket editor, or whoever. It's not without precedent to sit and wait.
"Probe" is an unfortunate, excellent example of what happens when a novel is proposed and accepted, promoted in the media, and then there is a concern about having made that approval, for whatever reason. Looking back now, it seems silly for anyone to have worried what the whale probe's secrets were. Especially when the novels and comics are read by only 1-2% of a movie's audience anyway.
But it's a rather vocal 1% and some of them have very high expectations and little patience. (It alway grates on me when we know that an author has spent 12-18 months of their life toiling over a novel, and then some fans boast of breezing through - and sometimes dismissing it - in a matter of hours.)
There was also "The Lost Years: The War Virus", which was proposed, promoted in "Starlog", then rejected when the novel was completed. To our surprise, new installments
were eventually added to the saga and it was finished off after all. "Rihannsu" was also eventually finished. So there are precedents that hiatuses
are just hiatuses.
There's no conspiracy. It was just a decision to not open a potential Pandora's box for the moment. I'll be
very surprised if those four books are shelved forever.
