The Lost Years

[garoo1980]

Hey everyone,

I've caught up with all the 2011 novels so I'm starting to go through my mighty backlog of older books. I've got a couple of these and the library has the others.

So, are they good? Should I read them all? Is it worth reading them all? Do you get more if you read them all or should I just read a couple?

Thanks!

 

[Christopher]

The original plan for The Lost Years was to do a trilogy, but the second book was heavily rewritten and the third book cancelled, and then there were two more books done years later under different editors. So they don't really fit together that well, continuity-wise -- for instance, Traitor Winds uses calendar dates putting it later than A Flag Full of Stars but in some respects is evidently set earlier (the Enterprise is at a less advanced stage of its refit, for instance). And there isn't much in the way of continuing story or character threads, not as much as originally intended, anyway.

I'd say the essential ones are The Lost Years and Recovery, since they're both by J. M. Dillard. The others are worthwhile too, though, particularly Traitor Winds, which is kind of a Hitchcockian thriller, an interesting change of pace for ST.

 

[Stevil2001]

They are all good, I think. Traitor Winds is the best, and A Flag Full of Stars the weakest, and the two J. M. Dillard ones are enjoyable, too. Reading them all in order (whether publication or chronological) would add to the experience of Kirk's developing character.

 

[timothy]

J.M. Dillard is one my favorite classic trek writers. I loved the entire series so it's up to you.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The first novel, simply titled "The Lost Years", is great. Definitely worth your time. The rest aren't on the same level. The one about the Klingon teacher on Earth took me ages to slog through.

 

[MikeRy71]

What I did was, I read The Lost Years, A Flag Full Of Stars, Traitor Winds, Recovery. All a part of The Lost Years saga, then read Star Trek: The Motion Picture which was Roddenberry's adaption and then right on into Bennett's Ex Machina.
Covered a lot of history and filled some gaps nicely in 6 books.

 

[Christopher]

^Keep in mind, though, that Ex Machina is not consistent with the Lost Years books when it comes to the portrayal of the end of the 5-year mission and the intervening years. (Nor, as I remarked above, are the various LY books entirely consistent with each other.)

 

[Enterpriserules]

Literary Treks has reviewed this one finally!

 

[F. King Daniel]

The OP really confused me until I saw the date. I was like, "Why was reading all the books from 2011 so important?"

 

[Therin of Andor]

I did enjoy them, and loved the original concept. Irene Kress's "The War Virus" was rejected outright after she turned it in, becoming the "lost" Lost Years instalment. My personal thrill was reading "A Flag Full of Stars" and picturing an older Number One from "The Cage" as Admiral Timothea Rogers.

When chatting to author Brad Ferguson online, I mentioned this - and he said that I was right! In his earlier drafts (later rewritten by JM Dillard), the Number One was intended to appear in scenes alongside the retired Robert April. Brad eventually had his unpublished version of the manuscript on his personal website for many years.

The final version of "A Flag Full of Stars" has roles for TMP's Captain Willard Decker and Chief DiFalco - on the partially-refit starship USS Enterprise saucer - and for NASA's Space Shuttle Enterprise.

 

[Enterpriserules]

I am really interested to read the rest of the series, even if the first book really didn't work for me.

 

[Reanok]

Traitor's winds by L.a.Graff is one of my favorite books in the lost years series of books.I read The lost years novel by J.m.Dillard a few weeks ago. I liked it and plan on reading these books again soon.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Irene Kress's "The War Virus"

Has the identity of Irene Kress ever been revealed? I’ve always assumed it was a pen name. ISFDB has no entry for that name at all, and Google has several, but none are obviously the one who wrote an unpublished Trek novel.

 

[JWolf]

I did enjoy them, and loved the original concept. Irene Kress's "The War Virus" was rejected outright after she turned it in, becoming the "lost" Lost Years instalment. My personal thrill was reading "A Flag Full of Stars" and picturing an older Number One from "The Cage" as Admiral Timothea Rogers.

When chatting to author Brad Ferguson online, I mentioned this - and he said that I was right! In his earlier drafts (later rewritten by JM Dillard), the Number One was intended to appear in scenes alongside the retired Robert April. Brad eventually had his unpublished version of the manuscript on his personal website for many years.

The final version of "A Flag Full of Stars" has roles for TMP's Captain Willard Decker and Chief DiFalco - on the partially-refit starship USS Enterprise saucer - and for NASA's Space Shuttle Enterprise.

Do you happen to have a link to the original version of "A Flag Full of Stars"? Thanks.

 

[Stevil2001]

Has the identity of Irene Kress ever been revealed? I’ve always assumed it was a pen name. ISFDB has no entry for that name at all, and Google has several, but none are obviously the one who wrote an unpublished Trek novel.

According to a Google Books search, she seems to be a friend of A. C. Crispin, as she gets thanked in the acknowledgements of a couple of her books (including some non-Trek ones).

 

[Therin of Andor]

Do you happen to have a link to the original version of "A Flag Full of Stars"? Thanks.

I still have the version I downloaded (on an old computer I have not turned on in ages). I will have to check. The author's website vanished years ago.

According to a Google Books search, she seems to be a friend of A. C. Crispin, as she gets thanked in the acknowledgements of a couple of her books (including some non-Trek ones).

Irene was also a good friend of Robert Greenberger.

Has the identity of Irene Kress ever been revealed? I’ve always assumed it was a pen name. ISFDB has no entry for that name at all, and Google has several, but none are obviously the one who wrote an unpublished Trek novel.

I did once follow what I thought was a strong lead and asked Bob, but he said that (at the time) "Irene" preferred not to have her identity known.

 

[Daddy Todd]

"Irene" preferred not to have her identity known.

Bummer! I'd love to get a chance to read her rejected draft.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Do you happen to have a link to the original version of "A Flag Full of Stars"? Thanks.

I didn't have to turn on the old computer. There is a PDF version of the file on my current laptop. Each page has two columns. However, each page also states:

All portions of this file not otherwise under copyright are
Copyright © 1991, 2000 by Brad Ferguson. All rights reserved.
Duplication or redistribution of this file in any form whatsoever is strictly prohibited.

So it's not something that can just be uploaded somewhere.