What is happening with Star Trek literature?

[Greg Cox]

I'm pretty far removed from the Star Trek book scene these days, do they still publish Star trek books that aren't just tie ins to the current shows? I thought that they had specifically killed off the non-tie in Trek book line with that Coda nonsense, and were mostly focusing on those IDW comics for spin off material of the older shows..

They are absolutely still publishing Trek books based on the earlier series. A new TNG novel by Dayton Ward came out just last week, and I have a new TOS novel coming out next month.

This is the misunderstanding I was just speaking of: "Coda" only wrapped up one particular string of Trek novels; it did absolutely did not mean that there would no more TOS novels, no more TNG novels, no more DS9 novels, etc. We're still writing those, just like we did before the linked post-Nemesis "Litverse" and just like we're still doing afterwards.

In a very real way, we've just gone back to writing the books the same way we did before the TNG-era TV shows ended, allowing the 24th-century novels to become more serialized since the TV versions were no longer a going concern.

And for those of us who mostly write standalone TOS novels, nothing has changed at all: before, during, or after.

 

[jaime]

Thing is, in the two years between learning Picard would overwrite the Lit Con and the Coda trilogy being published, everyone was posting here "I hope they wrap the Lit Con up and don't leave it hanging like Star Wars did the Legends continuity." And you know what, they all got their wish. Granted, they likely weren't expecting everything to be destroyed and have its existence negated, but you knew the Lit Con wouldn't be revisited again anyway, meaning you all went into Coda (something many of the fans were demanding) knowing it was the last time you'd be visiting that particular continuity anyway.

Now I've voiced my disagreements with the creative decisions made in the Coda trilogy, and I don't particularly see how it's supposed to be more comforting than what Star Wars did, but to claim the Coda "alienated" fans really inappropriate given the sole reason it exists is because the fans wanted some sense of closure for the Lit Con. If Paramount or S&S or whoever really wanted to alienate the fans, they wouldn't have bothered with Coda and have just left the Lit Con with Collateral Damage or To Lose the Earth as the last publication in that continuity with no closure whatsoever.

Yes, the scheduling of Trek novels in recent years has been unfortunate, though I understand that has more to do with internal issues at S&S and not really anything that can be fixed while they hold the Trek novel license. However, the switch to trade paperbacks should be a non-issue, Star Wars has also made the switch to TPB and abandoned MMPBs and they don't seem to have their sales impacted. Hell, they've even begun reprinting Legends novels as TPBs.

It alienated me. I didn’t even bother finishing reading it, and wish I hadn’t bought it, and it kind of soured me on the time and money I poured into paying attention to the whole thing. Only the Voyager books ended up mostly unblemished, because at least that tied up its arcs, and still had its cast mostly involved.

If I have bought any of the modern books since then, it’s been by accident in a kindle sale.

 

[jaime]

To be fair, Star Wars acts like their books are all canon (post 2014 books, I mean). Trek has never viewed the novels as anything more than official fanfiction.

Kind of. There was some brief slightly-more-official-unofficially stuff. Imzadi was wink and nudged, and then Jeri Taylor wrote some Voy stuff.

 

[Greg Cox]

Kind of. There was some brief slightly-more-official-unofficially stuff. Imzadi was wink and nudged, and then Jeri Taylor wrote some Voy stuff.

But even Taylor's books stopped being treated as "canon" almost as soon as she stopped working on the show.

No media tie-in book is ever truly "canon" because they can and will be contradicted by the onscreen version if the need arises. This is not a value judgment; it's simply the nature of the beast.

The tail does not wag the dog.

 

[Ricky Spanish]

No media tie-in book is ever truly "canon" because they can and will be contradicted by the onscreen version if the need arises.

It does make one consider why is canon so important? Because the same thing is true even for the TV shows. Something only counts as long as that particular creator has power over the property. Then it becomes fair game to change, once the power structure of the property shifts.

 

[jaime]

But even Taylor's books stopped being treated as "canon" almost as soon as she stopped working on the show.

No media tie-in book is ever truly "canon" because they can and will be contradicted by the onscreen version if the need arises. This is not a value judgment; it's simply the nature of the beast.

The tail does not wag the dog.

Hence kind of.

 

[JWolf]

I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a relative some years back.

ME: "I just saw that new movie. I loved it."

THEM: "Would I like it?"

ME: "Absolutely not."

Both my statements were accurate.

That's the way it is for my wife and I. Some movies I really like she does not or would not.

 

[Extrocomp]

Who cares what happened to Star Trek literature. What just happened to TrekBBS? I really hope this ugly new layout is just temporary until they get all the systems working.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

Who cares what happened to Star Trek literature. What just happened to TrekBBS? I really hope this ugly new layout is just temporary until they get all the systems working.

I legit logged onto the site for the first time in a hot minute, saw the new look, saw this thread title, and thought it was about the site re-design.

I like it though...

 

[The Ghoul Next Door]

Who cares what happened to Star Trek literature. What just happened to TrekBBS? I really hope this ugly new layout is just temporary until they get all the systems working.

This is part of a planned upgrade that was first announced a month ago. Basically, we upgraded our software from our v1.x instance of XenForo, to the latest v2.2. The update provides a number of improvements, both in the user experience, and behind-the-scenes.

The general layout is here to stay, but if there are specific design elements that don’t seem to work properly/are hard to read/etc, you can always bring them up in QSF for our Tech Admin to review.

 

[Smiley]

If you want to switch to the gray or Big Blue theme, that can be changed at the bottom left of any page of the BBS. There are also some new preferences that can be changed, such as hiding the suggestions for similar threads at the bottom of pages. Those are the big takeaways I got from visiting the QSF thread.

I wish we had more happening with Trek Lit, but it is giving me time to reread and try new-to-me books from the publishing history.

 

[USS Firefly]

If you want to switch to the gray or Big Blue theme, that can be changed at the bottom left of any page of the BBS.

Thanks I didn't know that

 

[Bryan Levy]

It does make one consider why is canon so important? Because the same thing is true even for the TV shows. Something only counts as long as that particular creator has power over the property. Then it becomes fair game to change, once the power structure of the property shifts.

Because the word that we focus on shouldn’t be “canon”, it should be “continuity”. “What’s in continuity” is a valid question, helping to understand what parts of a specific story relate to other parts of the ongoing narrative. “What is canon” is a mostly bogus question that is basically shorthand for people to dismiss things that they don’t think should “count”. If it’s official, it’s all canon. But saying something is “out of continuity” shouldn’t be the dismissal that saying something is “out of canon” has become. Otherwise, no enjoying Gotham by Gaslight, no enjoying 1602, no enjoying 40 minutes of Yesterday’s Enterprise.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Modern Trek books are as readily available everywhere, same as any other book. If you can't find any at a local book store, it's because that store chose not to order them, not because S&S didn't make them available to that store.

Almost every bookstore will special order a book for you. I am in Australia and was very used to a three-month wait for new books in the 80s.

My science fiction specialist has "Every new Star Trek novel" special-ordered for me, and I usually have mine a week or so before they turn up in other shops. I let them know if a new not-novel book is due, and they have often anticipated me wanting it. For a while there, I was getting some Trek books a few weeks before the US fans were reporting finding them, but Covid-19 disrupted that flow somewhat.

My favourite comic store has my standing order for "Every new Star Trek comic" and I usually also pick up the omnibus trade reprints, too.

Sure, if you want to be selective about which titles you decide to buy, or need to riffle a Trek book before purchase, Star Trek titles not getting ordered by shops for the "New Titles" shelf is annoying, but those shops also get frustrated if they order things on spec and nobody buys them. Many book shops only order two copies of many books these days, only ordering more when those sell fast.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'm pretty far removed from the Star Trek book scene these days, do they still publish Star trek books that aren't just tie ins to the current shows? I thought that they had specifically killed off the non-tie in Trek book line with that Coda nonsense...

Since the "Coda" (2021) trilogy:

All of these novels also have an unabridged audio!

∗ "TOS: Living Memory" by Christopher L. Bennett, read by Robert Petkoff, 2021, 627 min.
∗ "TOS: Harm's Way" by David Mack, read by Robert Petkoff, 2023, 711 min.
∗ "TOS: Lost to Eternity" by Greg Cox, read by TBA, 2024, xxx min. (Forthcoming.)

∗"TNG: Pliable Truths" by Dayton Ward, read by Robert Petkoff, 2024, 510 min.

∗ "DS9: Revenant" by Alex White, read by Robert Petkoff, 2021, 645 min.

∗ "VGR: The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway: The History of the Captain Who Went Further Than Any Had Before" edited by Una McCormack, read by Kate Mulgrew, Tantor Audio, 2021, 500 min.

There have also been "autobiographies" for Kirk, Picard, Spock and Sisko, but no audios for those.

 

[Lord Hierarch]

Its kind of funny reading posts and threads here and elsewhere with the death of a litverse or the SW EU. Cause I only ever dipped by toe and waddled into the wiki's. CODA sounds like it was a mess that ended with a reset button for the new'verse, and Legends to Canon was and is a giant mess of references, call backs, and uncertain canonical statusus .

...

But where's the SNW and ENT books?

I need my 2170-2200 era explored.

i need my NX fix.

Stick it in me. I can handle it!!!!

In a very real way, we've just gone back to writing the books the same way we did before the TNG-era TV shows ended, allowing the 24th-century novels to become more serialized since the TV versions were no longer a going concern.

My first trek book was the one with the space cloud that cannabilzed the soviet carrier. The one with the upside down battlestar. Ghost Ship, I think it was called.

Ah, fond memories.

 

[Anson Mount Seleya]

But where's the SNW and ENT books?

There's currently one SNW novel, The High Country by John Jackson Miller. There's two others forthcoming, Asylum by Una McCormack coming in November and Toward the Night by James Swallow coming April 2025.

 

[David Mack]

CODA sounds like it was a mess

Only to people who didn't understand it. Unless you've read it for yourself, what do you really know?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Kind of. There was some brief slightly-more-official-unofficially stuff. Imzadi was wink and nudged, and then Jeri Taylor wrote some Voy stuff.

When and by whom was Imzadi "wink and nudged"?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Only to people who didn't understand it. Unless you've read it for yourself, what do you really know?

I listened to Book 1 and half of Book 2 during a looooong Sydney lockdown for Covid-19. Maybe not a good idea in hindsight, but the story was never "a mess" and was certainly a reflection of some bleak times.

Really enjoyed the way the action kept spiralling towards a (perhaps) inevitable conclusion.