TOS Chronology Question

[marlboro]

What is the last TOS novel to feature the entire crew?

I'm reading "Shadows on the Sun" at the moment, and it made me curious if there are any books that take place between it and Generations.

 

[Christopher]

By in-universe chronology? Either The Last Roundup by Christie Golden, The Ashes of Eden by William Shatner with Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, or The Fearful Summons by Denny Martin Flynn. The Voyages of the Imagination chronology puts them in that order, but I think that's a bit arbitrary, since none of them are in continuity with each other. By publication date, I think Roundup is the most recent of the three. (Also, I would never recommend that anyone read The Fearful Summons.)

 

[marlboro]

First off: thanks for the quick reply. And, yes, I meant in-universe chronology. I haven't read any of the Shatnerverse stuff, but The Ashes of Eden looks intriguing.

I think I have actually read The Fearful Summons back when I was in high school. That's the one that is a thinly disguised rehash of the Iran Contra scandal, right? It's one of the reasons I didn't seriously get into Trek books for another 20 years.

 

[David cgc]

First off: thanks for the quick reply. And, yes, I meant in-universe chronology. I haven't read any of the Shatnerverse stuff, but The Ashes of Eden looks intriguing.

Aside from a brief framing sequence that's mostly a preview for "The Return," there's nothing very Shatnerversey about "The Ashes of Eden" that sets it outside the regular novelverse (indeed, it was referenced in "Cast No Shadow"). I think I prefer the DC comics adaptation to the novel by a nose, but it's still good.

The framing stories of "Best Destiny" and "War Dragons" both take place in a sort of vaguely-defined post-TUC un-retirement with the E-A still in service somehow.

 

[Christopher]

I think I have actually read The Fearful Summons back when I was in high school. That's the one that is a thinly disguised rehash of the Iran Contra scandal, right?

No idea. All I remember is that the whole book was basically an excuse to reuse a deleted ST VI opening montage with Kirk assembling the crew for a mission, and that it was otherwise not a book I want to remember.

Aside from a brief framing sequence that's mostly a preview for "The Return," there's nothing very Shatnerversey about "The Ashes of Eden" that sets it outside the regular novelverse (indeed, it was referenced in "Cast No Shadow").

Although it's still pretty Shatnerversey in terms of its storytelling and characterization, though not as extremely so as later books got.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The framing stories of "Best Destiny" and "War Dragons" both take place in a sort of vaguely-defined post-TUC un-retirement with the E-A still in service somehow.

I believe they take place after the events of Sarek (which IIRC picks up immediately after STVI), where the crew get a reprieve from their decommissioning.

 

[Stevil2001]

Best Destiny actually does explain it; it opens with the Enterprise on its way back to Earth (the long way round), but then the crisis du jour happens and the Enterprise finds itself pressed into service. At the end, Kirk requests (and receives) a reprieve from retirement for both ship and crew. The Voyages of Imagination timeline puts all the books with the E-A unexplainedly in service (which includes Sarek) after Best Destiny as a result.

Also, @marlboro, I believe you're right. I remember Kirk supplying some aliens with "advanced weaponry," which turns out to water guns. LOL. Except not.

 

[Christopher]

I believe they take place after the events of Sarek (which IIRC picks up immediately after STVI), where the crew get a reprieve from their decommissioning.

You're remembering wrong in a couple of ways. None of the first three TUC novels -- Best Destiny in 1992, Shadows on the Sun in '93, and Sarek in '94 -- were in continuity with each other. This was the height of the era when novels were required to have no continuity between them, except for the occasional direct sequel like Best Destiny was to Final Frontier. So each one is a totally independent and incompatible followup to TUC, and each handles the retirement of the Enterprise differently. Best Destiny specifically reverses the retirement at the end (a change I was always surprised Diane Carey was allowed to get away with). Shadows on the Sun has the retirement take effect on schedule. And Sarek ignores the issue altogether and just has the Enterprise still in service post-TUC with zero explanation. And of course, later books like The Ashes of Eden, The Fearful Summons, and The Last Roundup are also out of continuity with the first three and each other.

For a while, I figured the first three books could be reconciled by assuming that the reprieve at the end of BD was temporary, that Sarek took place while it was in effect, and that the reprieve was then rescinded between Sarek and Shadows -- so I had to mix up the publication order to make it work.

 

[F. King Daniel]

For a while, I figured the first three books could be reconciled by assuming that the reprieve at the end of BD was temporary, that Sarek took place while it was in effect, and that the reprieve was then rescinded between Sarek and Shadows -- so I had to mix up the publication order to make it work.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. I knew it wasn't all the novels released at the time, but I knew there were a couple that could be fudged together.

 

[Leto_II]

Sarek is probably the easiest one to reconcile/fit in, since IIRC there's little to no discussion about the "retirement" issue, and it's open-ended on both sides. The Fearful Summons and The Last Roundup both already have the Enterprise-A "retired," so I tended to place them after all of the other books except for The Ashes of Eden

Spoiler: The Ashes of Eden spoilers

(where we see that ship's final fate).

But Roundup features certain character-details (such as regarding Kirk's nephews) that are somewhat incompatible with other books (including Sarek), but it's been so long since I've even read it that I'm rather fuzzy on the specifics (apart from obvious stuff like names, such as "Julius Kirk," or whatever it was).