The New Editors of the Star Trek Book Series

[Christopher]

I was so used to Trek books every month when John Ordover was editor.

The standard is still one mass-market paperback per month. That only falters in unusual circumstances, like when the four planned Abramsverse novels were pulled and left a gap in the schedule.

It was shock to me after Marco was no longer editor.

It was a shock to all of us.

I liked the DS9 arc of books each month and then you see them streched out to the point where it's a yearly thing or every six months or more. If there was a good Star Trek show on the air I believe there would be more interest inthe novels.

With so many different series, it was fairly common for any given series to get only 1-2 books per year, or even less, depending on the year. Some years one series would get more focus due to a particular event, and then the following year that series might not be heard from at all because another series was the focus of the year's big event.

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm a lifelong Trekkie, but it's simply a matter of fact that STAR WARS is much more popular with the general public than STAR TREK--and always has been.

Well, except between 1966 and 1977...

You mean when Planet of the Apes was the big scifi franchise?

 

[Fer]

I don't see why fans see Star Wars as "better" when Trek has complicated characters and story arcs. .

It's not really a matter of which is "better." I'm a lifelong Trekkie, but it's simply a matter of fact that STAR WARS is much more popular with the general public than STAR TREK--and always has been. STAR TREK is a popular, long-running franchise, which is great, but STAR WARS is this huge phenomenon like TITANIC or HARRY POTTER. You can't really compare the two . . . or expect stores to treat them the same.

Also, when it comes to Trek novels vs. Star Wars novels, the Star Wars novels form more of an ongoing narrative. Each book has a timeline in the front, showing you where every book fits in the overall chronology, starting at 5000 years before the original movie and extending up to 45 years or so after it.

Star Trek novels on the other hand are more varied-- I tend to think as the Star Trek universe as thick where the Star Wars universe is long. While the Star Wars narrative follows mostly just the history of the Sith and the Skywalker family, Star Trek focuses on many different starships featuring many different crews, the bulk of which are in the same part of the 24th Century.

The result is one feels it's possible to take in the entire Star Wars timeline from beginning to end-- in fact, the timeline in the front of the book makes it seem even desirable to do so to fully understand the history of the Star Wars universe. But with Trek, it's been more of a case of exploring the galaxy, and each individual exploration may not seem as essential reading.

That is changing of course, now that Star Trek novels have shifted direction and started taking the Trek universe past the endings of each series. Destiny and Typhon Pact have definitely been building an ongoing narrative. But it just seems to me that the desire to read the entire timeline would be a contributing factor as to why all the Star Wars books have stayed in print while the Star Trek books haven't.

 

[NextGen123]

I wish that there was a story where Picard became an admiral of Starfleet for a sustained period of time. I remember it in the TV show in the alternate universe time lines or some alien holodeck Riker was involved in. I remember a scene where Troi was his assistant out to negotiate with the Romulans and Tomaluk. If I remember he commanded the respect Picard did only in the Romulan Empire.

Now that Next Gen isn't on TV anymore the authors could take chances with the characters. I am sure Paramount would not to be happy about changes but it would be nice if there was a story to shake things up in a very big way to get readers coming back like they did when Trek was on the air.

 

[Christopher]

Now that Next Gen isn't on TV anymore the authors could take chances with the characters. I am sure Paramount would not to be happy about changes but it would be nice if there was a story to shake things up in a very big way to get readers coming back like they did when Trek was on the air.

Uhh, where have you been for the past few years? Riker and Troi have gone off to their own ship and had a daughter, Picard and Beverly have gotten married and had a son, Worf is in a relationship with the new security chief, and Geordi commanded his own starship for two months. And if you want a story that shakes everything up in a very big way, it doesn't get any bigger than the quadrant-wide Borg invasion of the Destiny trilogy from 2008.

The studio licensing people (formerly Paramount Licensing, now known as CBS Consumer Products) have been very supportive of the changes made in the books for around the past decade or so. If they weren't happy about them, they'd never have let them happen.

 

[JD]

Yeah, and that's just TNG. There have been just as big of changes in the other series too.

 

[Starbreaker]

Now that Next Gen isn't on TV anymore the authors could take chances with the characters. I am sure Paramount would not to be happy about changes but it would be nice if there was a story to shake things up in a very big way to get readers coming back like they did when Trek was on the air.

Have you read any books in the past decade?

The status quo is gone.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I don't see why fans see Star Wars as "better" when Trek has complicated characters and story arcs.

Maybe SW fans don't want "complicated characters and story arcs".

 

[NextGen123]

Yes I have been a reader of the books for the past decade. I have read Davic Mack's Destiny series. I have read all about Troi and Riker and their child.

However it saddens me to see the Trek section to shrink to such a small size at the bookstore. I am trying to suggest a way to get readers to come back in a big way. When I went to Books A Million yesterday the section was so tiny I would have missed it had I not looked at all the books on the bottom shelf.

 

[Christopher]

^But all the things you're suggesting have already been done, and they haven't affected the size of the Trek section in bookstores.

Besides, as has been pointed out countless times on this BBS, a great many Trek readers buy their books online, so you can't assume that the small selection in brick-and-mortar bookstores means that the audience isn't there. It just means that a lot of the audience buys the books elsewhere.

 

[Sci]

I sincerely doubt that the Star Trek lines would have been able to sustain a publishing schedule of one new mass market paperback per month for six years after the last Star Trek TV series left the air if the lines weren't selling reasonably well.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I haven't bought a book in a bookshop since The Empty Chair. Online's cheaper too - I got Indistinguishable From Magic brand new, almost half price, from Amazon.

 

[JB2005]

^ This. Every year in December, Amazon has the Trek upcoming publications available for pre-order, and I generally go through it going "want, want, want, want, want" and buy about half of them! And I'm guessing a lot of people do the same? Like has been repeatedly said, Trek readers (Sorry guys) are geeks, and so we adopted the whole online buying schtick a lot sooner than everyone else!

 

[DimesDan]

I haven't bought a book in a bookshop since The Empty Chair. Online's cheaper too - I got Indistinguishable From Magic brand new, almost half price, from Amazon.

I picked that up from Forbidden Planet in London when I was there back in April and I think it was about half price as well.

Although I did buy a copy of Vanguard: Open Secrets for a penny plus £2.80 postage at the weekend online and it came through yesterday.

 

[NextGen123]

With the Destiny series,which was one of the best I have read in years, why can't there be another war arc? The Romulans are still against the federatioon. Starfleet has much reduced resources. Couldn't the Klingon alliance fall and they could team up with the Romulans,Telerites or the Andorians? I like the established bad guys.

I have to tell you I read David Mack's first part of the Typhon Pact and couldn't get through the other ones. I read his Mirror Universe book with Spock and intend to get the sequel. I wish all the series were as fast paced. That's what the stories need.

 

[Sci]

With the Destiny series,which was one of the best I have read in years, why can't there be another war arc?

'Cos this is Star Trek, not Star Wars.

The Romulans are still against the federatioon.

Not as of Rough Beasts of Empire.

Starfleet has much reduced resources. Couldn't the Klingon alliance fall and they could team up with the Romulans,Telerites or the Andorians? I like the established bad guys.

?

The Andorians and Tellarites aren't bad guys.

 

[Christopher]

With the Destiny series,which was one of the best I have read in years, why can't there be another war arc?

Why would there be? We've had plenty of wars in ST already, and it's never been primarily about war.

The Romulans are still against the federatioon.

Nope -- relations are currently pretty stable. Not actually friendly, but not hostile either.

Starfleet has much reduced resources.

So do all its neighbors, which is why they'd be insane to start a war now, when they need to focus on rebuilding.

Couldn't the Klingon alliance fall and they could team up with the Romulans,Telerites or the Andorians?

Destiny made the Federation's alliance with the Klingons stronger than ever. The Romulans are traditional enemies of the Klingons, and they're members of the Typhon Pact, whose members also include the Kinshaya, who really hate the Klingons. The Tellarites and Andorians are founding members of the Federation, and while the Andorians have recently seceded, they've clearly got no interest in fighting a war. They're too busy struggling to prevent their species' extinction.

 

[JD]

With the Destiny series,which was one of the best I have read in years, why can't there be another war arc? The Romulans are still against the federatioon. Starfleet has much reduced resources. Couldn't the Klingon alliance fall and they could team up with the Romulans,Telerites or the Andorians? I like the established bad guys.

I have to tell you I read David Mack's first part of the Typhon Pact and couldn't get through the other ones. I read his Mirror Universe book with Spock and intend to get the sequel. I wish all the series were as fast paced. That's what the stories need.

Please no. Destiny was enough war to last Trek for quite awhile IMO. If anything I'd rather see the alliances continue to grow. There are still plenty of good stories that can be told without going back to wars again.

 

[Therin of Andor]

With the Destiny series,which was one of the best I have read in years, why can't there be another war arc?

Huh?

Already?

First we have people asking why "Star Wars" sells better than "Star Trek", then we have people wanting more wars in their "Star Trek".

"... to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before" and not fight too often.

 

[JB2005]

"Space...the Final Frontier - of combat - these are the Voyages of the - heavily armed - Starship Enterprise...its five year - combat - mission, to explore strange new worlds - and bomb them - to seek out new life forms and new civilizations - and bomb them - to go boldly - and heavily armed - where no man has gone before"