The State of Star Trek Literature

[darkwing_duck1]

Back OT:

1. How do you feel the Trek book line has done in the last 12-15 months?

My ability to partake is pretty limited at the moment, but the of books I HAVE had the chance to read were at least acceptable (Vanguard and Losing the Peace)

2. What specifically have you liked in regards to the entire Trek book line in that time? Any favorite novels?

see above


3. And what specifically have you disliked in regards to the Trek book line of the last year or so? Any bad or disappointing novels?

I was a little dissapointed that they had to do the whole Borg Invasion thing just to "shake things up"...they just HAD a major shake up event: the Dominion War. The kind of devistation they portrayed from the BI is the sort of damage that war should have inflicted.

4. Any new recurring trends or themes in the last 12 months have you noticed? Anything you've liked or disliked about them?

not having read all that many, I don't want to comment on this

5. What editorial decisions and changes from the last 12-15 months have you like or disliked?

1) BRING BACK MARCO!

2) see #1

6. What changes would you like to see in the Trek book line? Be it production choices or story editorial decisions?

I know I'm going to be told I'm in the minority, but it's the way I feel:

More OC books. Fewer "canon cast" books. I've gotten to the point where as much as I love the Trek universe, I just can't bring myself to care about "what happens next" to Riker, Kira, or who the frak ever.

I want NEW crews to learn about and NEW missions to explore. I want to see the "forgotten tales" of the Trek universe. I want to see the stories of the ships and crews that do the day-to-day legwork that makes the Federation work, not just the "glory boys" flying around in their fancy super-duper-latest and greatest ubercool "flagship".

Give me (for example) a story about the crew of a pressed into service 100 year old Connie trying desperately to keep pirates from starving out some remote colony sector all on their own because the high muck amucks at HQ think it's more important to keep the Earth-Betazed corridor free and clear for ambassadorial traffic or some such.

Tell me (for another example) about the Starfleet Security detail on Rigel X trying to keep a gang-war from breaking out between the Sigma Iotians and a family from Orion Syndicate while the Chief of Detail has to fend off the "advances" of the Matriarch of said Syndicate family.

That would get me revved up again about Trek, not the nth regurgitation of the adventures of Captain Untouchable Scriptimmunity and his equally untouchable crew...

 

[F. King Daniel]

It just occurred to me that ten days ago today would have been the US release of Alan Dean Foster's Star Trek: Refugees, the first of the post-STXI line.

A moment of silence, please...

(*sniffle*)

 

[Christopher]

^Yeah, and I would've had a brand-new book to sell and discuss at Shore Leave next month.

 

[David Mack]

^ And I would have had a brand new book to premiere at Shore Leave next month. I feel your pain. Yea brother, we reach.

 

[TerraUnam]

Well, there's always DTI and Rough Beasts of Empire.

 

[Defcon]

Well, there's always DTI and Rough Beasts of Empire.

Assuming you planned to talk about Christopher's and David Mack's next books respectively here, Rough Beasts of Empire is by David R. George III. David Mack's next Star Trek projects are Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game, 1/4 of Vanguard: Declassified and Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions.

 

[TerraUnam]

Drat. So close. Got my Typhon Pact books crossed.

 

[xortex]

Well the typhon pact is certainly turning the ufp irrelovant in short order changing the balence of power. A bully will eventually emerge and Earth well have to endure intolerably evil agendas for a while and may get blamed for a few. Friendly enemies will abound to which there is no defence possible anymore. Vulcan should be the first ally to fall victem. Tptb will have carte blanch to any criminal activity that serves their interests and the non interference directive will take on a whole other meaning as it will come from them not us. i wouldn't mind seeing the Enterprise hunted until it can find a good powerful ally to put us in better standing with the typhon (blood)pact. This is like the shifting political landscape of star wars where the dark side was winning and was more powerful due to the traitorous Darth Vader. I wouldn't be surprised if certain sectors of the galaxy became off limits to the Federation or what is left of it. We are at their mercy.

 

[xortex]

It would make alot of sense if the vulcans became our friendly enemies or as a new book puts it heaven's devils.

A conquered Earth and shifting alliegances. Brilliant.

 

[ProtoAvatar]

A conquered Earth and shifting alliegances. Brilliant.

Brilliant? Hardly.

Battlestar Galactica was disappointing the first time I saw it.

 

[JWolf]

The state of Trek literature is that S&S thinks eBooks should cost more then their paper counterparts. SO those of use who bought a reader to use to read Trek eBooks are being shafted big time by S&S.

 

[xortex]

Well maybe that's exactly the point, Humanity created something in its own future that is hated and feared and represents disharmony as it draws closer to the present.

 

[xortex]

Starfleet cannot make a deal with the Klingons/Romulans as it might overwhelm its resources and exploit said 'friendship' to its breaking point. It cannot stand divided. The fall of the federation is inevitable. Torn apart by its own ideals. There has to be something more important that unifies the races out there than merely that. But we may find that the more we push the more we are pushed back.

 

[Thrawn]

^ I don't know what the hell Star Trek you've been reading, but it's certainly not the same one I have.

 

[xortex]

Sorry. I haven't been reading any of it so I'm out of this conversation. but I do think making the world darker does tend to make the characters brighter if that's the intention or not. What I meant to say is the Federation is being cut a short leash. Am I wrong about that?

 

[TerraUnam]

Yes.

 

[JD]

Personally, I think if things continue the way they are, it might actually make for a stronger Federation in the (very) long run.

Spoiler: A Singular Destiny

The expansion of the Khitomer Accords is obviously going to be strengthening their alliances with those races, and (possibly) lead to their eventually joining up. Whether they do or don't join in the future, those stronger alliances can't help but make the Federation (and their allies) stronger.

 

[TerraUnam]

I agree, the flashpoint being the current Romulan split. That is a tinderbox waiting for a novel. Not the one in the current lineup, but one where the two enter into all-out warfare over who speaks for the Romulan people. Apologies to Dayton Ward, but I don't think the series is there yet. This would be the novel where either the Romulan Star Empire or the Imperial Romulan State fall and the other emerges as the single Romulan government.

Consider that if the Imperial Romulan State wins and the whole Romulan people come into the Khitomer Accords with the Federation, a festering cold war that has existed since before the founding of the Federation will have been finally resolved.

I don't think the series will be ready for this until the ENT Romulan War arc is resolved, as there would be so much to interplay there.

 

[JD]

That really does seem to me like the direction they're headed. I just really don't see two different Romulans Governments being able to coexist for a long period of time.

 

[kkozoriz1]

Thanks to the latest movie, they won't have to co-exist for long