TOS: Foul Deeds Will Rise, by Greg Cox (November 25, 2014)

[Leto_II]

Figured this one needs a thread, considering Simon & Schuster just released the official synopsis-blurb for it:

An all-new Star Trek novel, set in the popular and blockbuster Original Series movie era!

In the year 2288, not long after the events of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier: Captain James T. Kirk, in command of the Enterprise-A, is on a peacekeeping mission to an independent star system, where two rival planets, Oyolo and Pavak, are attempting to negotiate a settlement after years of bitter conflict. Oyolo has fought violently against Pavak’s past attempts to exploit and colonize it, with atrocities and bloodshed on both sides. Neither world is aligned with the Federation, which has been aware of the situation in this sector for some time, but stayed out of the conflict until requested to act as a mediator. Beyond the obvious humanitarian motives, Starfleet has a vested interest in promoting peace in this troubled region. Interplanetary wars are in no one’s best interests—especially for Kirk, when assassination committed to disrupt the peace process is involved!

(Thanks to The Trek Collective for posting a link to the announcement.)

Definitely the novel I'm most looking forward to this year (in a year crammed to the gills with amazing releases). Not one, but two TOS movie-era books coming in 2014 (the other being Jeff Mariotte's), and this one falling in my absolute-favorite time period, Kirk's command of the Enterprise-A, between The Voyage Home and The Undiscovered Country.

Also, great to see the story chronologically placed in 2288, a bit beyond the year in which the fifth movie takes place, but still some time before Sulu leaves the starship. 2287 was getting rather stuffed full, there, and there's plenty of breathing-room during the rest of Kirk's command of that ship for many other stories to happen.

 

[Enterprise1701]

I hope this novel will have interesting and meaningful Enterprise-A crewmembers. We never get to see any of them except Valeris in The Undiscovered Country.

Edit: Never mind I just checked Memory Alpha. Valeris was the helm officer. So she might be a senior officer and we had no junior officers with meaningful roles in the films.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^It would be nice to read about other crew members of the Enterprise-A besides the Big Three, especially if they're junior officers on their first assignment.

--Sran

 

[BritishSeaPower]

Interesting... maybe they're testing the waters for some more Movie-era material.

 

[Leto_II]

^It would be nice to read about other crew members of the Enterprise-A besides the Big Three, especially if they're junior officers on their first assignment.

There was transporter chief (and Scotty protégée) Sara Tuchinsky in the second DC Comics series, who had some nice moments as those issues progressed, and who later showed up in Mere Anarchy: The Blood-Dimmed Tide and The Rift (well...as "Ensign Tooch," a victim of Richard Arnold, but in Peter David's original manuscript and to my mind, she's still Tuchinsky).

But yeah, given the relative paucity of stories set aboard the Enterprise-A overall (in the novels, at least), the number of opportunities for junior-crew development have been rather small.

Glimpsing an older Kirk and his command staff (and their decisions) through the eyes of a younger generation of crewers aboard that starship, post-Genesis, would be interesting. There was a quantity of this in the comics, but none yet in the novels, to my recollection.

Interesting... maybe they're testing the waters for some more Movie-era material.

Would certainly hope so. Was listening to that Trek.FM podcast featuring Greg Cox discussing Foul Deeds, and has it really been three years since the last TOS movie-era book (Cast No Shadow, in 2011)? Can't believe it's been that long already.

Although, most authors tend to pitch a particular era that interests them, usually not the other way around, and most TOS-intentioned writers have lately typically rolled in the direction of the 5YM, rather than the Enterprise-A era, for whatever personal creative reasons/preferences might exist.

That huge influx of Five Year Mission-era novels released alongside the massive, ongoing 24th century series these past two or so years have basically soaked up most of the available publishing slots during that time period. (Which, again, comes down to the individual choices of individual authors, mostly.)

Still, there's ample room there to cover yet during those eight years of the 1701-A's service, and, apart from more post-TVH stories, I'd love some more immediate-TMP-era tales. Jeff Mariotte's upcoming book (Serpents in the Garden) appears to fall closer to TWOK than TMP, judging from the blurb ("Admiral Kirk," etc.), but I'll still take it.

 

[ryan123450]

I thought Serpents takes place during "The Lost Years."

 

[Paris]

I thought Serpents takes place during "The Lost Years."

I've been curious about it's placing since it was announced. I haven't seen any confirmation of which year it's supposed to take place in. Have you seen different?

 

[The Wormhole]

No, nothing firm regarding when Serpents in the Garden takes place. The blurb doesn't say anything on the matter, and the cover avoids the issue by having Kirk out of uniform. In my opinion, it'll likely be set before TWOK, since that is allegedly more marketable than being connected to TMP. But then I could be completely wrong and it is TMP related in disguise, like DTI Forgotten History kind of was.

 

[Shik]

^It would be nice to read about other crew members of the Enterprise-A besides the Big Three, especially if they're junior officers on their first assignment.

There was transporter chief (and Scotty protégée) Sara Tuchinsky in the second DC Comics series, who had some nice moments as those issues progressed, and who later showed up in Mere Anarchy: The Blood-Dimmed Tide and The Rift (well...as "Ensign Tooch," a victim of Richard Arnold, but in Peter David's original manuscript and to my mind, she's still Tuchinsky).

Interestingly enough, Sara Tuchnisky (now Sara Kocher) is rather proud of her fleeting Trek fame. I'd named a ship after the character when I had the alpha-alpha version of my project on my personal site some 15 years ago & she wrote about it on her blog, as part of how she became "famous." (or "fanmous", as I'd originally misspelled) Incidentally, I also tossed that link & the story to Peter David's wife over on Livejournal a few years back & she said that he was pleased at her enduring fame.

Also, these titles are getting more & more obscure. I'm waiting for one of my favorite I, Claudius lines is used: "Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out."

 

[Reanok]

Thanks for posting the synopsis I'm really looking forward to Reading new Tos movie era novels .Some my favorite novels take place during between the Tos movies.

 

[Leto_II]

No, nothing firm regarding when Serpents in the Garden takes place. The blurb doesn't say anything on the matter, and the cover avoids the issue by having Kirk out of uniform. In my opinion, it'll likely be set before TWOK, since that is allegedly more marketable than being connected to TMP. But then I could be completely wrong and it is TMP related in disguise, like DTI Forgotten History kind of was.

I think it was during that recent podcast that it was mentioned (or maybe theorized) that Serpents is going to be a movie-era book (they were discussing how few we've gotten of late), which made me use the same assumption there, I guess. Hope we get some harder info on this soon.

Interestingly enough, Sara Tuchnisky (now Sara Kocher) is rather proud of her fleeting Trek fame. I'd named a ship after the character when I had the alpha-alpha version of my project on my personal site some 15 years ago & she wrote about it on her blog, as part of how she became "famous." (or "fanmous", as I'd originally misspelled) Incidentally, I also tossed that link & the story to Peter David's wife over on Livejournal a few years back & she said that he was pleased at her enduring fame.

Thanks for posting that -- had no idea she was an actual person. Reading PAD's stuff, you can spot lots of real-world "homages"; should've suspected this was one, too.

 

[Greg Cox]

Regarding the crew, there's at least one new crew member that gets a fair amount of "screen time," but, honestly, the emphasis is on Kirk . . . and Chekov.

One of my goals for this book was to give Chekov a chance to shine, since I've always kinda neglected him before. Indeed, one of the advantages of setting it in the movie era was so that I could write "Chekov, the intrepid security chief," as opposed to "Chekov, the green young ensign."

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^Speaking of Chekov, I wonder what happened to the communicator and phaser he left in 1986.

--Sran

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

^Speaking of Chekov, I wonder what happened to the communicator and phaser he left in 1986.

--Sran

They were probably locked up as spy devices.

 

[C.E. Evans]

^Speaking of Chekov, I wonder what happened to the communicator and phaser he left in 1986.

They were placed in a police evidence locker where they were eventually lost and never seen again.

 

[Christopher]

I believe the Eugenics Wars novels established that Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln retrieved them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

"Chekov, the intrepid security chief," as opposed to "Chekov, the green young ensign."

Agreed. You don't want to see him chicken out.

Because then the novel would have to be called Fowl Deeds Will Rise.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

I believe the Eugenics Wars novels established that Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln retrieved them.

Was Isis involved?

--Sran

 

[Greg Cox]

I believe the Eugenics Wars novels established that Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln retrieved them.

Yep! Seven and Roberta cleaned up after Chekov in the books . . . .

 

[Leto_II]

They're likely sitting in a family-heirloom trophy case in Janeway's ready room, time-looped like Kirk's birthday-glasses.

Quick question about the novel, Greg:

You mentioned on Trek.FM that the book brings back a character from the TV series, one Kirk hasn't encountered in twenty years, and that this person appeared in an episode that was less-cheerful in tone than others.

Had a few theories as to whom this might be, after quickly scrolling down the list of TOS episodes; right now, my short-list of potentials includes Capt. Ronald Tracey, Ben Finney, and (yes) Dr. Janice Lester (deliberately skipping over "superpowered" characters such as Charlie X and the Gorgon, owing to the novel's synopsis).

Would've included Garth of Izar, except another novel and at least one DC Comics story arc have already dealt with him in the movie era. Any further hints you can drop us?