Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Books

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

I just Twittered this article from TrekMovie... some thoughts:

I never got to read the original story, but I heard great things about it. Besides, David Mack rocks
Also, will I need to read the original story before the novel, or will the story's events be covered in full?

BEST PART OF THIS ARTICLE! this truly has me excited! 2010 can't arrive soon enough

on that note, some more details from the article:

Spoiler: the 2010 "meta story"

The new ‘alien threat’ that Clark referred to above is called ‘The Typhon Pact’ and it will become a major part of the books set in the 24th century. Clark explains that the pact is comprised of non Federation members who "watched the Federation insidiously ‘Root Beer‘ their way across the Galaxy and they realize the Federation is down and it is time to move." In 2010 this meta-story will be woven into TNG, Titan, and Voyager novels…and more.

One more tibbit

Spoiler: Voyager

Coming in November we will see thefollow up book, now titled "Voyager: Unworthy," also by Kirsten Beyer, which will show the ship going out on its new mission, which is inspired by the events of the Destiny Trilogy. Voyager characters have been popping around the TNG and Titan novels, but by the time of "Unworthy" the ship’s crew will include Chakotay, Seven of Nine, Tom Paris, and Harry Kim (and Neelix appears in some kind of cameo). In another new twist, the Voyager will be accompanied by a number of other "support ships" on its new mission. One thing that Clark would not say is who is the captain, but she did reveal that it was not Chakotay who is "dealing with having his soul ripped out" due to the "apparent death of Kathryn Janeway" [in Peter David’s 2007 TNG book "Before Dishonor"] as well as the other events of the Destiny series.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

Exciting stuff! Might not pick up "Sorrows Of The Empire", brilliant story and one of the best mirror universe stories every written, but not sure how much extra material will be worth the buy.

However im definitly looking forward to the new TNG and VOY novels, especially with those teasers :P
And of course the expansion to the DS9-RL, particularily "The Never Ending Sacrifice".

Also i'm kind of glad to see a few standalone novels ie the new TOS one. As much as we all love the ever expanding series it's good to see that pocket hasn't forgotten the roots of Trek.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

i hope they fix that cover for 'Losing the Peace' - Picard and Worf's rank pips are on the wrong side... (no combadges either..?)

and that's kinda how i imagined the Aventine...sleek and low-slung...

wanna bet the Crucible reprint got canned cuz of the Ellison case?

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

I see from the Trekmovie article that the Crucible hardcover has been cancelled. Is this anything to do with Harlan Ellison's lawsuit?

The Aventine design looks great! The primary hull looks quite like I imagined it would, with its elements of the Dauntless design. I'm looking forward to all of those books (even the Voyager ones. )

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

Yeah, the whole image seems reversed except for Worf's baldric. I guess it's better than the previous mockup with them in short sleeves.

The Aventine's design works, but then I wasn't really hung up on what my mind's eye tried to show me.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

I figured it was just because of the workload, with only one editor left to handle the whole line; something had to give. In any case, I'm just glad I didn't jump the gun and sell off the paperback editions of Crucible to make room for the expected hardcover.

I like the Aventine concept. I'm generally not a fan of the "let's streamline the ships and make them look fast" school of thought, because it's Earthbound thinking; streamlining serves no useful purpose for a ship that operates in vacuum. But the Aventine is a testbed for slipstream drive, and slipstream conduits are depicted as cylindrical and wormhole-like. And this ship looks like it's designed to fit into a cylindrical volume. So there's a practical engineering reason for it to look so sleek and speedboaty. And that gives it a distinctive look while still maintaining a Starfleet aesthetic.

If that's the case, though, it lends some interesting perspective to the question of whether other starship classes can be retrofitted with slipstream. If there's a "girth" issue, then slipstream might not be feasible for broad-beamed classes like Galaxy, Nebula, or Akira. Perhaps slipstream upgrades will have to be limited to narrow or small classes like Intrepid, Excelsior, Prometheus, maybe Nova. The Luna class, like Titan, might not be an ideal candidate for slipstream upgrade -- at least not until Starfleet's engineers solve the engineering problems. But I'm just speculating.

I like the Shattered Light subtitle for MyrU 3. Too bad about the delays, though.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

Star Trek : Crucible (which has benn cancelled) was to have a never-before-published short story. What will happen to that? Also will they ever publish a paperback version of the eBook series "Slings and Arrows"?

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

I was very disappointed to read that the omnibus hardcover of Crucible has been canceled.

I haven't read the Crucible trilogy yet, and I was looking forward to reading the expanded version in hardcover.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

Yup. Just dunno when yet.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

LOL, it's good thing I decided to check out this thread before starting a new one.

It looks like we definitely have a lot to look forward to in the next to years.

Spoiler: 2010 meta-story

All of this stuff sounds really cool, especially the Typhon Pact storyline, that sounds really interesting.I wonder if they are the new threat that they talk about in the description for A Singular Destiny, or if that is something else? The question I have though is how exactly Titan is going to tie into the story, will they end up back in known space again, or will they run into the TP while exploring? I'm glad to hear that the Aventine will be getting it's own book(s), I really liked them in Destiny, and I am happy that we will see more of them.

I really like the Aventine design, that's pretty close to what I had been picturing. I can't wait to see the final version on a book cover.

Spoiler: Voyager

Hmm, Chakotay won't be Captain any more. I wonder who the new one will be?

And I love the covers that have been revealed, although I do agree that Losing the Peace looks like it might need some work. But the DS9 covers, on the other hand, both look great.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

To give credit where credit is due...

Spoiler: A Singular Destiny, Losing the Peace and beyond

The Typhon Pact is actually introduced by KRAD in A Singular Destiny. Losing the Peace, though it will be published after ASD, takes place slightly earlier, in the days immediately following the Borg Invasion, and focuses more on the domestic fallout than on interstellar issues.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

I knew loading that case of A&W onto one of the Voyager probes was a bad idea. Can we not send something into space without it having to come back and bite us in the ass?

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

Pretty much all of this sounds cool, especially if the "meta-story" that Clark teases shakes out in the way it sounds:

Spoiler: Meta-Story spoilers

Namely, if the "Typhon Pact" is mostly races we already know, drawn into a sort of anti Federation collection of forces, a Warsaw Pact to the Federation's NATO. It would give the Feds a real political rival, not just a military nemesis, and could lead to all sorts of interesting stuff down the road.

I could be wrong, of course, but that's the way I read it, and either way, I've got plenty of faith in DeCandido and Leisner to make it make sense, as they get first shot at the apple.

Too bad about the Crucible book, though. It would've been a monster, but it sure would've looked pretty on the shelf.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

Spoiler: The Meta-Story

The Typhon Pact. Hmmm. I heard that and was immediately reminded of the Warsaw Pact because of the name. I wonder, though -- if it's centered in the Typhon Sector, as the name implies, does that mean it's anywhere near Sector 221-G? The first NF novel established the are of the former Thallonian Empire to be located near the Typon Sector and its Deep Space 5...

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

Ding, ding, ding, ding!

At least I assume so.

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

Hmm. If so, you've gotta wonder if the

Spoiler: Same As Above

Danteri Empire

will be amongst the baddies...

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

So much information... mind reeling...

Okay, quick thoughts. I said this before but it bears repeating: I'm happy about the balance between the various series and settings that look to be on tap for 2009, both pushing various stories further and given everybody some 'screen' time.

I'm of two minds on the cover for Losing the Peace. On the one hand, I love the background--the desolate sky/landscape, the zombie-like refugees trudging through the ruins (although is it just me or are the folk near Worf's shoulder wearing fairly modern apparel? jeans?), even the fuming piece of Enterprise debris (although the writing on the debris is reversed--what was it, an ambulance runabaout? ). That said, I don't like how Worf and Picard look like they've just been cut'n'pasted on top, and Picard in particular looks fucked up, his shoulders nearly twice as large as his hips. Come to think of it, are those even uniform pants? I think I see a pocket on his right flank...

Ooh, interesting. This is always something I'd have wanted to see from a potential book filling in the squashed timeline of "Endgame" - the ships that Starfleet had sent out to rendezvous with the Voyager ten years out, how the crews would interact, etc. I'm curious to see how the book will take up the challenge of a small fleet. Also...

Thank you for that. Yes, I know, 'not anytime soon'... Still, thank you for that. (I hope the new captain isn't Paris... it was hard enough buying him abandoning his family to pursue his career as the first officer).

The cover for Soul Key - sorry, but I don't like it at all. It looks cheap, something slapped together in a few minutes. Wormhole, outline of a hand that looks like it was taken off a zombie-film poster, and surely the most awkward bracelet ever. Conversely, the cover for Never-Ending Sacrifice is entirely awesome, grand and forlorn at the same time (lotsa ruins on 2009 covers, aren't there?).

I take it as read that this 'Pact' will be made up of a number of species/groups, hopefully a mix of new and familiar (too bad about them all being non-members... one or two Trojans might have been interesting too). This sounds good, and with KRAD doing the set-up too, very promising indeed.

Woohoo!

Aww. That's a heck of a push-back, and it seems strange considering that of all the anthologies, this would seem like the one that would give the editors the least work since it's a compilation of already-published material...

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

Re: Tentative Covers & Descriptions for Upcoming Summer 2009 Trek Book

Actually, I imagine that that might be WHY it was pushed back. If they only have so many man-hours they can dedicate to the publication of X number of books, I could see them deciding to prioritize new anthologies over anthologies of previously-published work.