October 2017 Star Trek novel
- Thread starter JWolf
- Start date
There is none. The only book (according to Memory Beta) in October the "Autobiography of Jean Luc Picard".
As has been explained in the other threads about the other gaps, it is a by-product of Discovery's existence being prioritized and everything else in the franchise shifting around that. As a result, we've ended up with months in which there are no new novels released. Not that this is much of an issue, Pocket is still doing ten Trek novels this year, which is more than most other franchises get. Plus, there's the Captain Picard autobiography and Prometheus novel to satisfy us.
And I would bet there were one or two TOS novels that were pulled. There were a surprising lack of them this year, and thats what happened the last time a TOS "prequel/reimagining" came out, with the first Kelvin film.
That seems unlikely. Remember how long ago Discovery was announced -- the first word was in February 2016, and by August the news was out that it would be set in the TOS era. Which means the behind-the-scenes folks at CBS and Pocket must've known about the TOS-era timeframe well before then. So the lack of TOS books this year presumably isn't because of anything being "pulled," but because there would've been enough advance notice not to commission them in the first place.
And I don't know what you mean about the same thing happening when the first Kelvin film came out. That was in 2009, and that year featured two Vanguard novels and TOS: Troublesome Minds. The cancelled books set in the Kelvin Timeline would've come out in 2010. It was known all along, or nearly so, that the Bad Robot movies would be in an alternate timeline, so there was no reason to avoid novels set in the Prime TOS era. On the contrary, early 2010 was loaded with TOS books that I think were meant to lead into the Kelvin novels -- Inception, two of the novellas in Seven Deadly Sins, Unspoken Truth, and The Children of Kings.
I stand corrected. Though I do seem to remember some year that was purposefully lacking in TOS novels for whatever reason.
2008 avoided the 23rd century altogether, no TOS or Vanguard novels were released that year due to the fact that Trek XI was originally due out that year and all the novel plans were made before it was postponed to 2009. As no one at the time knew what impact the movie would have on the franchise, it was decided to avoid the 23rd century to be safe for the time being. By the time the 2009 novels were being planned enough was known to establish Trek XI was an alternate timeline and so they went ahead with TOS and Vanguard again.
I imagine there is a lack of 23rd century content this year for similar reasons, though to say TOS novels were "pulled" would be inaccurate, they likely intentionally chose not to do any at least until it became clear what Discovery means for the 23rd century. We may see a return to the 23rd century next year.
I imagine there is a lack of 23rd century content this year for similar reasons, though to say TOS novels were "pulled" would be inaccurate, they likely intentionally chose not to do any at least until it became clear what Discovery means for the 23rd century. We may see a return to the 23rd century next year.
That's an interesting theory, but it doesn't match my memories. Nobody at Pocket Books ever told me to stay away from the 23rd century because we didn't want to step on the movie's toes. If that was supposedly the reasoning back then, that's news to me.
At one point, Pocket did request that I write a nuTrek novel before I tackled my next TOS book, but that was just a matter of scheduling.They wanted to fast-track the NuTrek stuff, so what became RINGS OF TIME got put off until later, but, as far as I know, there were never any concerns about continuity issues. That never came up in any of my discussions with the folks at Pocket.
For what it's worth, I also have a memory of Marco posting something like this at some point. In particular, I think this was the reason that Destiny avoided the TOS era, despite including elements from all the other Trek shows.
Memory is a fallible thing, however - I'm not positive I'm 100% right. But that sounds familiar.
Hmm. What was I doing in 2008 then, if I wasn't writing a TOS novel?
(Quickly checks bibliography.)
Looks like I was tied up with THE 4400 and CSI that year, which may explain why I skipped 2008 with regards to TOS. But, again, I don't remember any conversations with Margaret or Marco or Ed where they asked to stay away from TOS because of the upcoming movie. I just work remember working on THE 4400 books for Margaret and the CSI books for Ed . . . because they needed 4400 and CSI books at the time. (And then I did a TERMINATOR book for Titan.)
(Quickly checks bibliography.)
Looks like I was tied up with THE 4400 and CSI that year, which may explain why I skipped 2008 with regards to TOS. But, again, I don't remember any conversations with Margaret or Marco or Ed where they asked to stay away from TOS because of the upcoming movie. I just work remember working on THE 4400 books for Margaret and the CSI books for Ed . . . because they needed 4400 and CSI books at the time. (And then I did a TERMINATOR book for Titan.)
Maybe Pocket assumes that the novel will sell better if published shortly after the new Trek series pilot?
DH is a Trade Paperback, so it's not part of the MMPB schedule. I think it's also being published by Gallery Books, who handles the TBP's rather than Pocket, who does just the MMPBs.
Margaret and Ed probably kept you busy with other stuff and were hoping that you were to busy to pitch a TOS novel.
And to think I never saw through their sneaky plan! Come to think of it, Ed had me do two movie novelizations around that time, too: UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS and DEATH DEFYING ACTS.
At last I understand why I novelized a Catherine Zeta-Jones movie that went straight to video. It was all to keep me from writing TOS for a year!
