Why so few Lost Era novels?

[DGCatAniSiri]

With regards to the 2387 issue, they certainly have the option of choosing to drag their heels to get to this development - I mean, the jump from 2381 to 2386 happened almost in real time, while previous 'years' in the books have gone on for several out of universe years. It's been borderline breakneck, particularly when you factor in that you can generally expect that only around six books out of each year takes place in the 24th century time frame, given the TOS, Enterprise, and Seekers lines also running and putting out new books over the last few years. There are some gaps to be filled - Fallen Gods, the Titan novel, ended on a cliffhanger, probably meant to be returned to in the next book in the series, but instead the next Titan-esque novel, The Poisoned Chalice, took place an in-universe two years later, and the events in The Fall resolved the overarching reason for that cliffhanger without directly addressing it.

If anything, I'd prefer it if they took at least a few years to go slow, maybe even tell some stories set further back in the timeline in that intermediate time, allow TNG and DS9 to really stabilize themselves and let the audience get to know the various cast members who have been introduced without getting much of a solid identity. TNG and DS9 have been heavily event focused, plot oriented, as opposed to being character driven, and it has been a bit of a drag on the novels. If anything, taking their time and avoiding barrelling forward into 2387 could easily be an advantage.

 

[Jinn]

If the Voyager novels going with 2 months per book we still have 26 novels set before 2387. I'm happy.

 

[Danlav05]

The Lost Era (which is between the Generations prologue and Encounter At Farpoint) is of great interest of me and in many ways can be divided in two:

(a) The further adventures of Kirk's crew following his disappearance (prior to their appearances in the TNG era)
(b) the early adventures of the TNG, DS9 and VOY folk

There are 8 books under the Lost Era banner (The Sundered, Serpents Amongst the Ruins, The Art of the Impossible, Well of Souls, Deny Thy Father, Catalyst of Sorrows, The Buried Age, One Constant Star) as well as:

Mere Anarchy: It's Hour Come Round
The Captain's Daughter
Vulcan's Forge
Cast No Shadow
Vulcan's Heart
The Valiant
Terok Nor

plus the TNG/Voyager Starfleet Academy YA series and Stargazer series

Outside of the novels, starting with comics, we have Spock Reflections and Captain's Log: Harriman featuring Spock and McCoy respectively on the Enterprise-B following the Generations prologue; 'The Veteran' (Unlimited #8) featuring an older Captain Sulu and Kang; plus Enter The Wolves, a graphic novel explaining why Spock and Sarek stopped talking.

Older Sulu also appears in the audio drama Transformations as well as the fan film World Enough and Time and, at a stretch, the 'Federation: The First 150 Years' book as an audio intro.

And finally, Captains Chekov (later Admiral) and Uhura appear in two fan projects played by the original actors: 'Of Gods and Men' set 12 years after Kirk's death and the upcoming 'Star Trek: Excelsior - Tomorrow's Excelsior' audio play.

Of course that does not count the characters appearances in TNG era material (and in one case beyond into another universe...)

 

[Idran]

Terok Nor is under the Lost Era banner as well, actually.

Also, isn't "The Valiant" essentially part of the Stargazer series even if not officially? I thought it was essentially the "pilot" for that series.

 

[Christopher]

Also, isn't "The Valiant" essentially part of the Stargazer series even if not officially? I thought it was essentially the "pilot" for that series.

That's correct.

 

[The Wormhole]

Terok Nor is under the Lost Era banner as well, actually.

Not exactly. The novels have their own "Star Trek: Terok Nor" banner, with "a saga of The Lost Era" tagged beneath it. Yes, I know I'm being anal and splitting hairs.

 

[jaime]

I would have thought the novels can talk about the Hobus supernova...Star Trek online can't touch the 2009 movies with its license either, but is allowed to deal with Hobus etc because that occurred in 'prime' continuity.
The official tie in comic for the film even had an Sto uniform on their Captain Data. (I believe the design come from Sto and not the other way round I may be mistaken though)

 

[The Wormhole]

STO is allowed to touch the Prime Universe stuff from Trek XI like Hobus, but the novels aren't even allowed that much. Or at least that's what I'm always told.

 

[Christopher]

STO is allowed to touch the Prime Universe stuff from Trek XI like Hobus, but the novels aren't even allowed that much. Or at least that's what I'm always told.

We've been able to allude to things from the movies, like tattooed Romulans and Red Matter. I'm honestly not sure what the precise parameters are.

 

[tomswift2002]

Getting back to the original question, the Jean Lorrah novel "Survivors" could also be considered a Lost Era novel, as it delves into Tasha Yar's back story before "Encounter At Farpoint", plus Peter David's novel "The Captain's Daughter" also occurs after Generations prologu in the early age of the Lost Era. Of course there's the 1990's TNG/Voyager Starfleet Acadmy series, and Jeri Taylor's two Voyager novels and I believe the Vulcan's Soul trilogy also takes place in the le?

 

[jaime]

Getting back to the original question, the Jean Lorrah novel "Survivors" could also be considered a Lost Era novel, as it delves into Tasha Yar's back story before "Encounter At Farpoint", plus Peter David's novel "The Captain's Daughter" also occurs after Generations prologu in the early age of the Lost Era. Of course there's the 1990's TNG/Voyager Starfleet Acadmy series, and Jeri Taylor's two Voyager novels and I believe the Vulcan's Soul trilogy also takes place in the le?

If that's the criteria then there's obviously the first Imzadi, and Children of Hamlyn covered some of Tasha's past too.

Edit: I think cold equations also gave us a big chunk of soongs life pre data.

 

[Tribbles and Bits]

STO would be a in a bind if they could not depict the aftermath of Hobus since the story there starts in 2409. STO seems to be able to borrow from whatever it wants though. There elements of the 2009 movie that are part of the lore like the development of the Jellyfish (Spock's ship in 09). The Narada and Nero are mentioned as well. There are elements of the current lit continuity right up to the start of Destiny and they also added Vesta class ships a few years after launch.

 

[jaime]

STO would be a in a bind if they could not depict the aftermath of Hobus since the story there starts in 2409. STO seems to be able to borrow from whatever it wants though. There elements of the 2009 movie that are part of the lore like the development of the Jellyfish (Spock's ship in 09). The Narada and Nero are mentioned as well. There are elements of the current lit continuity right up to the start of Destiny and they also added Vesta class ships a few years after launch.

That's because they licensed and stuck with existing continuity roughly up to when they launched the game...so countdown and the books get in, sometimes just as homage with dates fiddled, they diverge around destiny partially because that was going on at the time, and partially because they had already made all the borg stuff part of the game. However, since we recently had a big temporal shift in the game, and there will likely be another before the end of the year, we don't know if the divergence between continuities will be more glossed over. They got the vesta in by approaching the designer and books people by fan request (the Titan is in there too)
They are not adverse to retcon ING stuff to fix problems, but there is also a one off book that talks about the differences and sets up the games continuity.

Who knows....by the end of 2017 star trek could succeed where destiny almost did and actually be one coherent online game /TV/ novel continuity, within reason.

There's a side of me that finds that an exciting prospect.

 

[jaime]

Oh...and after wandering off track....

They cannot touch anything not from the Prime universe in 2009 trek. The countdown comic was fair game, suggesting borg upgrades to Romulan ships in the style of Nero etc is all allowable. Nothing after the universe jump though apparently.
There is a lookalike Hulk of what might be a wrecked Jj prise that turns up now and then, or used to, and red matter related items (red matter capacitor) are almost impossible to still get these days. It's a purely prime universe affair, and not a bad one, allowing for the requirements of an mmorpg.