The Future of "Novel-Only" Lines

[USS Firefly]

Come on now. You of all people could make sense of it.
David Mack Said there was a plan when it comes to the novels. Hopefully it’s just a split. You have the prime novel verse series and the new timeline set up by Picard.
Or they go the comic book route and have some big event that meshes the two continuities together.

That would be great, because I am not going to read the Picard or Kelvin novelse. And I love and miss the prime novel verse series

 

[Christopher]

So basically, if the Novelverse timeline circa 2380-2386 contains developments from previous years (2376-2378/9) and at the same time cannot be reconciled with the onscreen timeline, I was wondering if we would see contradictions with other parts of Trek (DS9, VOY) down the line..

Again, it's always possible that new screen canon can contradict any tie-ins. That's the nature of the beast, and it's happened countless times before with Trek and other tie-in lines. It's the rule, not the exception.

However, my personal policy has always been that if a tie-in is consistent with the onscreen universe, then I feel free to count it in my personal timeline until and unless it gets contradicted later on. No sense worrying about future contradictions until they happen. After all, every science fiction story will be contradicted by real life eventually, so you can't start reacting prematurely to what might happen in the future. As of this moment, nothing in the novels prior to 2380 has been contradicted. It might be contradicted in next week's Lower Decks episode for all we know, but it hasn't been yet, and that's the only meaningful standard -- the facts on the ground right now, not worries about what might happen down the road. Nothing in life is guaranteed to last forever, but if you worry about that before you have to, you just needlessly ruin what you have now.

 

[Reanok]

I wish we could get a Enterrprise Rise of the Federation book to finish the cliffhanger ending of the last book that Had Trip and wrapped up the Section 31 storyline in it that came came out a few years ago.

 

[tomswift2002]

I wish we could get a Enterrprise Rise of the Federation book to finish the cliffhanger ending of the last book that Had Trip and wrapped up the Section 31 storyline in it that came came out a few years ago.

Oh good grief no. That book ran out of gas 1/10 of the way through.

 

[Damian]

I was thinking about the DS9 line of relaunches (mostly because I continue to hope to see a DS9 finale novel, I know, not likely to ever happen but still) and as far as I know not much of the last seen DS9 line of stories have been contradicted, have they?

Has Picard touched on anything from the DS9 storyline other than the Romulan angle? And IIRC the Romulans weren't a huge part of the DS9 story anyway, mostly the Breen.

Where Deep Space Nine last was seen in the novels, is there anything there that contradicts where Picard is now? Sure there are parts of the backstory, like the end of the Borg, that are contradicted but those parts of the backstory really aren't part of the current storyline in DS9 anyway. There'd be no reason to even reference those elements in a new book.

And unless Deep Space Nine was depicted in Picard there's nothing as far as I could tell that would prevent someone from writing a DS9 finale based on where DS9 is at the time we last saw them.

 

[KRAD]

The only DS9 related things in Picard that I recall are Quark-related -- he's franchised Quark's Bar so there are branches elsewhere, and part of one character's cover identity during a sting operation was that he'd had business dealings with Quark.

 

[Damian]

Sorry, my computer is acting up and for some reason I can't save my edited changes so I'll just add it here:

And I figure any elements that are, like Admiral Akaar being the C&C in the novelverse, can be sort of 'glossed' over....probably not even really mentioned to just make it easier. There'd probably be no reason to mention some of those things anyway.....an omission isn't a contradiction to canon in that case.

 

[Christopher]

Where Deep Space Nine last was seen in the novels, is there anything there that contradicts where Picard is now? Sure there are parts of the backstory, like the end of the Borg, that are contradicted but those parts of the backstory really aren't part of the current storyline in DS9 anyway. There'd be no reason to even reference those elements in a new book.

Most post-NEM DS9 fiction has been part of the Typhon Pact narrative, which is completely incompatible with Picard's backstory. I don't see a way to continue it from where it left off.

 

[Damian]

Most post-NEM DS9 fiction has been part of the Typhon Pact narrative, which is completely incompatible with Picard's backstory. I don't see a way to continue it from where it left off.

Right, but the last few DS9 novels didn't really have much to do with the Typhon Pact that I recall. It was mostly the Ascendants, Kira's 'resurrection', Odo returning to DS9 and the other Bajoran who returned from the ancient Bajoran past (sorry, I can't remember his name).

Couldn't a new novel just pick up where the last one left off without bringing up the Typhon Pact, at least to a significant degree?

I mean, I don't expect it to align with Picard, I'm just looking for a way to have a DS9 finale novel that ties up the major loose ends, sort of like "Collateral Damage" seemed to do with TNG and what I figure "To Lose the Earth" will probably do with Voyager...and perhaps not even be all that contradictory to Picard (if that would be a concern).

 

[Jinn]

The station got kinda blown up because of the Typhon Pact, so any continuation would either come up with a new explanation for the destruction, ignore the issue, or discard the new station.

Personally, I'd keep the post-Typhon Pact McCormack novels, as they're mostly just relating to Cardassia and reset DS9 to pre-Destiny status.

 

[Danlav05]

I was thinking about the DS9 line of relaunches (mostly because I continue to hope to see a DS9 finale novel, I know, not likely to ever happen but still) and as far as I know not much of the last seen DS9 line of stories have been contradicted, have they?

Has Picard touched on anything from the DS9 storyline other than the Romulan angle? And IIRC the Romulans weren't a huge part of the DS9 story anyway, mostly the Breen.

Where Deep Space Nine last was seen in the novels, is there anything there that contradicts where Picard is now? Sure there are parts of the backstory, like the end of the Borg, that are contradicted but those parts of the backstory really aren't part of the current storyline in DS9 anyway. There'd be no reason to even reference those elements in a new book.

And unless Deep Space Nine was depicted in Picard there's nothing as far as I could tell that would prevent someone from writing a DS9 finale based on where DS9 is at the time we last saw them.

DS9 was the msot cvhanged line in the novels - the characters all got the msot development beyond the screen. Not to mention they blew up the station and built a new one.

 

[Damian]

The station got kinda blown up because of the Typhon Pact, so any continuation would either come up with a new explanation for the destruction, ignore the issue, or discard the new station.

Personally, I'd keep the post-Typhon Pact McCormack novels, as they're mostly just relating to Cardassia and reset DS9 to pre-Destiny status.

DS9 was the msot cvhanged line in the novels - the characters all got the msot development beyond the screen. Not to mention they blew up the station and built a new one.

Yeah, but unless any of that was mentioned in Picard, or unless DS9 was actually shown intact in it's original version on Picard, then there's nothing technically contradicted.

Sure, the backstory is completely different, but what I'm saying is that in theory they could write a DS9 finale that doesn't technically contradict Picard as far as where the story of DS9 was when it was last seen, if you don't focus on how it got to this point, but just focused on moving the story forward and concluding the major plotlines as we last saw them.

I guess what I'm saying is based on Picard is there anything that prevents there being a new DS9 station, Kira being a Vedek returned by the Prophets, the weird goings on at the Bajoran moon, that sort of thing? Without focusing on how those things came to be in prior books. For instance, the Typhon Pact hasn't been featured in a DS9 book in a while. And I'd probably keep references to the current Federation President and Admiral Akaar from a minimum to nonexistent even. Those storylines have at least been resolved so there'd probably not be any real reason to bring them up to a significant degree at least.

I mean, certainly S&S could commission a DS9 finale and not worry at all about Picard. But what I'm wondering is are potential conflicts with Picard even really an issue if a book is written to resolve the hanging threads in DS9 that doesn't focus too much on the past?

Now of course all this is probably just a fantasy anyway. I haven't heard any thing at all or even any hints to a DS9 novel, sadly. Of course it's been a while since DRGIII has written a Star Trek novel. I can hope that's because he's working on that grande DS9 final , since he seems to have written the last few DS9 novels (hey, a guy can dream )

 

[Reanok]

Ditto I'd like more Ds9 novels to come out too.

 

[JD]

Yeah, but unless any of that was mentioned in Picard, or unless DS9 was actually shown intact in it's original version on Picard, then there's nothing technically contradicted.

Sure, the backstory is completely different, but what I'm saying is that in theory they could write a DS9 finale that doesn't technically contradict Picard as far as where the story of DS9 was when it was last seen, if you don't focus on how it got to this point, but just focused on moving the story forward and concluding the major plotlines as we last saw them.

I guess what I'm saying is based on Picard is there anything that prevents there being a new DS9 station, Kira being a Vedek returned by the Prophets, the weird goings on at the Bajoran moon, that sort of thing? Without focusing on how those things came to be in prior books. For instance, the Typhon Pact hasn't been featured in a DS9 book in a while. And I'd probably keep references to the current Federation President and Admiral Akaar from a minimum to nonexistent even. Those storylines have at least been resolved so there'd probably not be any real reason to bring them up to a significant degree at least.

I mean, certainly S&S could commission a DS9 finale and not worry at all about Picard. But what I'm wondering is are potential conflicts with Picard even really an issue if a book is written to resolve the hanging threads in DS9 that doesn't focus too much on the past?

Now of course all this is probably just a fantasy anyway. I haven't heard any thing at all or even any hints to a DS9 novel, sadly. Of course it's been a while since DRGIII has written a Star Trek novel. I can hope that's because he's working on that grande DS9 final , since he seems to have written the last few DS9 novels (hey, a guy can dream )

I don't really see the point of doing a finale if you can't reference most of what happened in the past books. If it there is going to be a finale that ties up all of the pre-Picard books in the series, I would think that's the kind of thing that could be exempt from having to be consistent with what's been established in Picard.

 

[Damian]

I don't really see the point of doing a finale if you can't reference most of what happened in the past books. If it there is going to be a finale that ties up all of the pre-Picard books in the series, I would think that's the kind of thing that could be exempt from having to be consistent with what's been established in Picard.

Well, that's probably true. If S&S were to commission a DS9 finale I imagine it would be like the upcoming Voyager book, fully part of that continuity.

I was just wondering if where DS9 was last we saw them, are those elements as they stand now incompatible with Picard, regardless of how DS9 got there. Is a new station, Kira being a Vedek and returned by the Prophets, the mysterious moon... is any of that contradicted by Picard? Forgetting for a moment how we reached that point.

But yeah, you're probably right. If we were to get one final DS9 novel then they'd probably allow it to be written within that existing continuity. Otherwise why do it in the first place?

And I realize this is all a pipe dream. The only reason we're even getting "To Lose the Earth" is that was announced a long time ago. Otherwise I doubt we'd even see another Voyager book. Frankly, as busy as Kirsten Beyer must be and with S&S seeming to have moved on from the prior spin-offs, it's probably no small miracle that they just didn't decide to bag it and call it a day. In a way Voyager fans owe Beyer a bit of thanks for fitting in writing a novel within what must be a busy schedule. No one probably would have blamed her if she just decided she couldn't get it done right now. She must be Wonder Woman or something (IIRC she has a family too--she must not sleep).

 

[Scout101]

Definitely disappointing to not get a 'wrap up' book for what the DS9 line was doing. Was building up to big things with the wormhole, prophets, etc. and would have been good to get a resolution, even if it was rushed into a single book when it may have been planned for more. Nothing stops the ENT line from continuing at the moment, but would be nice to get some resolution there too. Hoping the VOY book got that treatment, knowing it won't continue.

Suck to invest in something this long and not try to clean up at the end. That year-long hiatus we got last year kinda screwed us on some of these long standing book series. Always a risk with tie-ins, sure, but still disappointing.

 

[Charles Phipps]

A shame I just started the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. 5 books in. Its certainly a lengthy series but Trek benefits from "series" like this.

Sadly, those are gone now.

 

[Damian]

Definitely disappointing to not get a 'wrap up' book for what the DS9 line was doing. Was building up to big things with the wormhole, prophets, etc. and would have been good to get a resolution, even if it was rushed into a single book when it may have been planned for more. Nothing stops the ENT line from continuing at the moment, but would be nice to get some resolution there too. Hoping the VOY book got that treatment, knowing it won't continue.

Suck to invest in something this long and not try to clean up at the end. That year-long hiatus we got last year kinda screwed us on some of these long standing book series. Always a risk with tie-ins, sure, but still disappointing.

A shame I just started the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. 5 books in. Its certainly a lengthy series but Trek benefits from "series" like this.

Sadly, those are gone now.

Yeah, that's my main gripe about the novelverse lines ending. Not that my books and their stories will disappear suddenly. Just that they won't continue. They basically went on for about 2 decades, a long time. And after a while I just figured they would continue to go on as long as Star Trek books were still being released. Until the 2018 drought I just didn't really think about them ending, at least anytime in the near future.

Those of us that enjoyed the relaunches I guess got invested in those stories and wanted to see them continue to the next 'episode'.

Now I suppose you can argue every series comes to an end. I just wish their was some grand series finale to tie them up. And it is very disappointing that DS9, pretty much the book series that started the idea of the relaunches in the first place, won't get a finale of its own.

 

[Scout101]

I was hot and cold about the DS9 books as they went through various phases, but was definitely interested in where they were going with the wormhole history, just sad to not get the payoff.

 

[KRAD]

A shame I just started the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. 5 books in. Its certainly a lengthy series but Trek benefits from "series" like this.

Sadly, those are gone now.

Why is it a shame that you just started it?

Speaking as the co-creator and editor of that series, I hope you enjoy it!