Hmm, very interesting. It's kind of what I expected though. It makes sense. It's the writers job to come up with the story and it sounds like sometimes the editors just point them in a particular direction--and sometimes they are just given a blank slate, which is not surprising either. I wonder, though, do editors ever just give an author a total blank slate? Just like, 'we want a Star Trek story pitch from any TV series'. Or do they say 'we'd like you to write a TNG book?' Does the blank slate ever go that far to leave even the specific series open?
I wonder how the editors pick an author for a story. Is it just someone's turn basically. 'Christopher's up next to write a Star Trek novel' (assuming that particular author is currently available of course). Though I guess sometimes it's because a particular author has adopted a series (i.e. Christopher seems to be our go to Enterprise novel guy, Kirsten Beyer was the go to Voyager novel gal, etc.). But when it's something more generic I wonder how the editors determine which author to ask for a book?
I also find it interesting that James Swallow was asked about a potential Vanguard novel. I guess I just assumed that was Mack and Ward's baby. I wonder where a Swallow Vanguard book might have taken us? Alas, we will never know.
I'm glad to see a Titan based Picard novel coming out. I admit I'm intrigued to see what elements James might include from the existing Titan series as he has hinted at. And I look forward to seeing a Worf/Enterprise novel at some point. I was a bit surprised there was virtually no mention of the Enterprise in "The Last, Best Hope", though as others have argued they probably wanted to wait to see where Picard went before tackling any plot lines there. While you can't avoid plot conflicts completely, it probably doesn't make sense to write something in a book that might have a good chance of being contradicted right off the bat. It'll be interesting to see if an Enterprise based Picard novel similarly might include some familiar litverse elements. Even "The Last Best Hope" included a nod here or there (Worf being Picard's first officer and some of the Cardassian bits in the novel felt like they could have fit nicely with the Cardassian based DS9 novels that McCormack had previously written).
