E-Book Status

[Jeff Ayers]

Howdy,

I just learned this from Marco and he told me I could pass this information on to everybody:

"Star Trek ebooks are taking a hiatus beginning in April. Ebook editions of our print books will continue to be released."

Sorry to once again pass on bad news. I promise to post some good news soon.

Jeff

[Defcon]

I was never so sad to be right with my predictions.

[Man of Steel]

I know I'm gonna regret this but....


Why?

Indefinate Hiatus?

[evansmj]

I can only hope that the use of the word "hiatus" rather than "cancellation" means that there's a chance for a revival in the future.

Also, I hope the Corps of Engineers line can continue in other ways. Perhaps once the existing eBooks are printed in trade form, new anthologies can pick up where "Remembrance of Things Past" left off.

[Steve Roby]

I may be way behind in reading SCE/COE, but imho it's been an important part of the Trek books mix. Not only because it's had its share of great stories (and it has); not only because it introduced and developed some great new characters and allowed some more familiar characters a chance to shine (Sonya Gomez, to name an obvious example); not only because it seemed to be a great way to bring new writers into the mix; not only because it allowed some interesting tie-in stories to other book events (Gateways, DS9R, Vanguard); not only because it had the flexibility to tell a wide variety of stories with a wide variety of tones; not only because it lived up to what a Star Trek series should be -- character-driven science fiction stories true to the Trek universe, from a slightly different perspective... but for all those reasons.

Here's hoping this is a temporary setback.

[KRAD]

Yup, it's true. This was the announcement I mentioned in my LiveJournal that was going to be made in March. Well, here it is, March already. (Where does the time go?)

The word "hiatus" was quite specifically chosen. There is a possibility that the original eBook line will be revived in some form or other down the line.

If this decision annoys you, the best thing you can do is 1) buy the existing eBooks (which aren't going anywhere) and 2) support the print compilations (which also aren't). Buy the Corps of Engineers trade paperbacks (Aftermath, Grand Designs, and Creative Couplings are available at your local bookstore, and Wounds is coming later this year), and buy Mere Anarchy and Slings and Arrows when they're put into dead-tree form (Mere Anarchy is tentatively scheduled to come out in 2009, probably to coincide with the Abrams movie's release, though that's very preliminary right now). And buy the eBooks for your laptop, your desktop, your PDA, your Sony Reader, your Kindle, whatever.

So yeah, Remembrance of Things Past was (for the time being, at least), the finale of Corps of Engineers (which, BTW, TerriO was aware of when she wrote it). I thought it was as good an ending as one could hope for: the story involved most of the cast, and the series wound up ending the way it started, with a TNG crossover. More to the point, it ended with the da Vinci zooming off to its next mission. Captain Gold, Commander Gomez, and the rest of the gang of loonies are still out there solving the galaxy's problems, one disaster at a time.

I had more stories I wanted to tell of the good ship da Vinci, and maybe some day they'll get told. I also had at least four or five other miniseries in development (one of which was set up in Ghost, maddeningly enough). In the meantime, I've got 74 SCE/COE eBooks and two anniversary miniseries to look back on and be proud of. I think we did some excellent work -- but then, I'm biased. If you don't believe me, read what Steve Roby wrote above (and thank you for that, Steve).

[Rosalind]

Steve Roby wrote:

---

Here's hoping this is a temporary setback.

I hope so too. I'm also way behind with ebook reading, actually just general reading thanks mostly to the thesis. I have enjoyed almost all the ebooks I've bought over the years and I was looking forward to more. I hope it won't be a long wait.

[Kopernikus]

No more SCE-Books for the time being, thats sad to hear. (Yes I know, it's partly thanks to people like me who never got into ebooks and always waited for the print-editions....) But hopefuly the remaining Print-Editions will stay as entertaining as Grand Designs was, which I just finished a couple of days ago.
Mere Anarchy: Great, thanks a lot (Yes I know, waiting for the print-edition...). Has anything about the number of volumes and the format (TPB/MMPB) been decided yet?

[KRAD]

Kopernikus wrote:

---

Mere Anarchy: Great, thanks a lot (Yes I know, waiting for the print-edition...). Has anything about the number of volumes and the format (TPB/MMPB) been decided yet?

It'll almost definitely be a single trade paperback, as with the COE compilations.

[KRAD]

I would like to give very public thanks to:

Mike W. Barr, Christopher L. Bennett, Ilsa J. Bick, Randall N. Bills, Margaret Wander Bonanno, Greg Brodeur, Scott Ciencin, Loren L. Coleman, Mike Collins, Kevin Dilmore, John S. Drew, Ian Edginton, Dave Galanter, Allyn Gibson, Christie Golden, Glenn Greenberg, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Jeff D. Jacques, Heather Jarman, Robert T. Jeschonek, Dan Jolley, Kevin Killiany, Paul Kupperberg, William Leisner, David Mack, Andy Mangels, Jeff Mariotte, Michael A. Martin, Steve Mollmann, John J. Ordover, Terri Osborne, Aaron Rosenberg, Cory Rushton, Michael Schuster, Dean Wesley Smith, Dayton Ward, Howard Weinstein, Phaedra M. Weldon, Richard C. White, Christina F. York, and J. Steven York.

You guys all did amazing work and made me look good (yes, Bubba, even you). Thank you for that from the bottom of my feet.

[BrotherBenny]

*stalks KRAD with phaser rifle*Here KWAD, here little KWAD, Elmer Fudd has a cawwot for you.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a more sensible note, I've really enjoyed the SCE/COE up to the end of Creative Couplings, and look forward to the remainder. I will buy both the Mere Anarchy and Slings and Arrows TPBs when they come out, I promise.

My favourite of all so far has to be Mack's Wildfire

[Smiley]

I'm a fan of SCE and MA, but the eBooks have been going through a dry spell lately in my opinion. The first two Slings and Arrows stories were so-so, and the only standout CoE story is The Light. I hope that if and when eBooks come back, they can recapture the quality they had at the beginning. I wouldn't mind seeing them quarterly so that they become more of an event.

[Ktrek]

Well KRAD I'm sorry to hear this. I kind of figured the news would not be good but was hoping for the best. I was just about to have my wife buy me a Sony Reader for my birthday just so I could collect the ebook only series. I guess I'll have to find something else expensive for her to buy me now! Anyway, you did have a great run!

Kevin

[JAG]

Sorry to hear this.

[Turtletrekker]

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen...