What unseen Star Trek event do you want to read about next?

[Markonian]

Trek should probably go into the far future instead, and go back to it's roots, in exploration and awe - [...] - Star Trek should be creative and awe inspiring - we might as well have wormhole-drives and exploration of other galaxies.

--> Enterprise-J, Universe-class

I'd like to see the time past the 24th century as well. I like the current iterations, of course, but it is tempting to see what's beyond and so many hints of what could happen.

When will the Federation expand into different quadrants and into the Mirror Universe (the Galatic Commonwealth is ripe for a merger) and make the first steps into nearby galaxies?

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

It could be really awesome - it could work as a series too, if CBS don't want to go with the new timeline - like early TNG and ENT, it would be like a new beginning, full of awe.

Also a chance to have some far-future technology that is more in line with current expectations, such as space suits that are basically like the Liquid Metal Terminator - you just step into the blob, and it forms around you - flies under it's own power, etc.

Early TNG is often derided, but actually, the sense of awe and experimentation in season one was sometimes great - like when The Traveler catapults the Enterprise across the galactic supercluster.

Or when Riker is talking about that legendary planet, and it de-cloaks in front of them. The sense of weird, wonderful, exotic, wacky places that was absent in subsequent series.

 

[ronny]

As for unseen events:

Bajoran resistance

I thought that was fairly well covered in the Terok Nor Lost Era books:

Day of the Vipers · James Swallow
Night of the Wolves · S.D. Perry & Britta Dennison
Dawn of the Eagles · S.D. Perry & Britta Dennison

Day of Vipers is awesome. The other to books are pretty good but James Swallow set a pretty high bar with the first book.

I think there was also some resistance stuff covered in The Rebels trilogy by Dafyd ab Hugh although I don't remember those books being particularly good.

 

[Greg Cox]

As for unseen events:

WWIII to Enterprise
Cardassian War
Invention of Transporters
The Pegasus incedent (original)
Other races aftermath of the Desiny events, not just the Federation
Bajoran resistance
Enterprises B&C

As a kid, I liked to imagine that the transporters were based on the technology invented in THE FLY . . . .

"help me . . . ."

 

[Lee Son of Pete]

I pitched that to Pocket, but got no interest. It wouldn't feature enough familiar characters or elements to be marketable.

Whilst I'm not overly bothered about that particular story, I hope they ease up on that at some point because I really think the novelverse continuity will only really mature as it moves away from the TV shows.

 

[bbailey861]

My my, aren't we a war-loving bunch (including yours truly)?

Pretty much, yes. My vote also is for the Cardassian Wars.

 

[Greg Cox]

I pitched that to Pocket, but got no interest. It wouldn't feature enough familiar characters or elements to be marketable.

Whilst I'm not overly bothered about that particular story, I hope they ease up on that at some point because I really think the novelverse continuity will only really mature as it moves away from the TV shows.

I don't know. Just to play devil's advocate, I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to assume that the average reader wants a STAR TREK novel to bear some resemblance to the movies and TV shows. Presumedly, that's why they picked up a STAR TREK novel in the first place, instead of an original sf novel.

I mean, suppose you picked up a Sherlock Holmes novel, expecting to find Holmes and Watson up to their old tricks on Baker Street, only to discover that it was about a pair of detectives named Bartleby and Malone, who were working out of a brothel in Berlin, that Holmes had retired, and that Watson was now working independently as an undercover operative in Argentina, alongside a reformed Sebastian Moran . . . .

Now, you might well find this very exciting and intriguing, or you might also react negatively. "Hey, I wanted to read a Sherlock Holmes story . . . who the heck is this Bartleby character?"

 

[Lee Son of Pete]

I could understand it, I just think they'd be wrong.

 

[Greg Cox]

I could understand it, I just think they'd be wrong.

Unless, of course, they just wanted a Sherlock Holmes (or Star Trek) fix . . . .

 

[Odo]

Regarding the Cardassian Wars, we also have James Swallow's 'The Slow Knife' in the Seven Deadly Sins Anthology

 

[Odo]

I could understand it, I just think they'd be wrong.

Unless, of course, they just wanted a Sherlock Holmes (or Star Trek) fix . . . .

Some people want their archetypes and icons, some people want their character development and change. Both are important.

 

[Lee Son of Pete]

What about scenes from the books that you'd like to see on screen? Personally I'm thinking Ro Laren the time she pretended to be a Dabo Girl, that I'd like to see.

 

[Lee Son of Pete]

I could understand it, I just think they'd be wrong.

Unless, of course, they just wanted a Sherlock Holmes (or Star Trek) fix . . . .

Some people want their archetypes and icons, some people want their character development and change. Both are important.

Yeah totally. I suppose my point was I hope Pocket Books don't neglect the latter for the perceived marketability of the former. I think it mainly applies to the developing timeline(s) set after the TV shows.

 

[Greg Cox]

Unless, of course, they just wanted a Sherlock Holmes (or Star Trek) fix . . . .

Some people want their archetypes and icons, some people want their character development and change. Both are important.

Yeah totally. I suppose my point was I hope Pocket Books don't neglect the latter for the perceived marketability of the former. I think it mainly applies to the developing timeline(s) set after the TV shows.

I would hope that there would be room on the list for both. It can be fun to expand beyond the TV shows, as with Christopher's DTI books, but it would probably be a mistake to assume that every reader wants to leave the TV shows behind. There's a reason that "STAR TREK" is printed in big type on the front covers--to attract fans of the movies and TV shows!

(Says the guy who has a new 5YM book coming out!)

 

[TJ Sinclair]

Really, I'd love to see some more "Second 5-Year Mission" stories again. The era between TMP and TWOK. It's been quite a few years since we've had any, and there's still room for some exploration in there.

And I know it would never happen, but I'd love to see what's become of Belle Terre (from New Earth / Challenger) in the 24th century.

 

[JD]

I would be interested in seeing some first contact stories for some of the major races, like the Trill, the Betazoids, Bolians, Catians, ect.

 

[Christopher]

Really, I'd love to see some more "Second 5-Year Mission" stories again. The era between TMP and TWOK. It's been quite a few years since we've had any....

No, it hasn't. The second half of DTI: Forgotten History, which came out only 9 months ago, is set in the post-TMP era.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I would be interested in seeing some first contact stories for some of the major races, like the Trill, the Betazoids, Bolians, Catians, ect.

Agreed. There's great potential for interesting exploration/diplomacy stories centred on worlds that will go on to join the Federation. The fact that these would be cultures with a confirmed future role to play, rather than random planets-of-the-week, would add greater significance to the proceedings, and it would be a chance to really flesh out some of these races.

How much do we really know about Saurians, or Grazerites, or Arkenites? Only scattered tidbits. And a political piece detailing the untold story behind Betazed or Efros' entry into the UFP would be fascinating.

After Rise of the Federation explores the earliest years, I hope we'll see novels - or even a series - about the blossoming of the Federation and its swift expansion. When we "last" saw the Federation it was a fledgling nation with five member states, when we "next" see it in the mid-23rd century it has about a hundred members, some quite exotic. I'd love to have some of the stories told, especially as it would satisfy both those wishing to see more "pure" Trekkian tales (exploration, discovery, new worlds) and continuity fans (who would get to see the history of established planets developed further). In fact, such stories would be a great way to satisfy fans of continuity without bogging the novel down in the minutiae, making it easily accessible to casual readers also.

Can you tell I'm enthusiastic?

Oh, and someone take us to Denobula, for goodness sake!

 

[TerraUnam]

I pitched that to Pocket, but got no interest. It wouldn't feature enough familiar characters or elements to be marketable.

I know this is difficult to answer since you might get to tell this story another time but how might you have done it?

I didn't have solid plans, but I thought it would be cool to organize a multi-author collaboration, sort of a cross between how Mere Anarchy and Vanguard were done. A series of books spanning the whole era and covering major events in that time, from early human-Vulcan relations to the founding of the first human colonies and the rise of the Space Boomers to the Warp 5 Project. But I never actually talked to anyone else about it -- I thought I should float it with the editor first and see if there was any prospect for it before I got anyone else involved.

But it would've been difficult to pull off, and wouldn't have felt too much like Trek, because we couldn't really have used that many aliens -- Vulcans mostly, plus maybe Denobulans and Draylaxians at some point -- and the technology would've been a lot less advanced. It would've felt more like an original near-future SF series than a Trek series -- which would've been an interesting challenge for me creatively, but probably not an easy sell for Trek readers. In retrospect, though, it's more fun to do something like Rise of the Federation where I've got a lot of aliens and interstellar politics and such to play with. And it might give me the opportunity to explore the pre-ENT period in retrospect, at least to some degree.

I always think of it as the "Great 98", 2063-2161, First Contact to the Federation. I always wanted to see how United Earth managed to pull itself together. Some notions crossed my mind as Earth pulls itself up by the bootstraps.

I was born in 1982 so I'd be 81 in 2063 at First Contact and therefore could be around chronologically. Zeframe Cochrane would be my niece's generation; she's 20 months old.

I did the math in the movie theatre when I saw First Contact and it gave me a kick.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

Really, I'd love to see some more "Second 5-Year Mission" stories again. The era between TMP and TWOK. It's been quite a few years since we've had any....

No, it hasn't. The second half of DTI: Forgotten History, which came out only 9 months ago, is set in the post-TMP era.

But dealing with time travel, alternate timelines and stuff. I'd just like to see a straightforward "Second 5-year mission" tale. A little exploration, a little first contact, with a threat that isn't quadrant- or galaxy-spanning.

Is that too much to ask?