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The end of the Star Trek novelverse?

somtaawkharsomtaawkhar Member Posts: 10,222 Arc User
edited February 2021 in Ten Forward
David Mack has recently revealed on twitter that he, and two other authors, are working on a new trilogy in the Trek novelverse called STAR TREK: CODA


Given previous hints from the Trek authors that the novelverse as is was ending, so that it could be rebooted, and made to fit more inline with Picard, as well as CBS's overall desire to have all of them extended universe material be more consistent with each other, this does seems to be confirmation of that theory.
  • The ENT relaunch novels have been over for some years
  • There is one more TOS era novel coming out later this year, but it seems to be a total one off, not connected to any long running narrative
  • The TNG novels wrapped themselves up back in 2019
  • The Voyager relaunch novels just got an ending late last year
  • The DS9 relaunch novels have ended their major storyline, and the only upcoming book is one set during the series
Makes sense its ending now. Probably using the Romulan Supernova to wipe the slate, or do some timey wimey stuff, to get into the new Picard canon.

Comments

  • phoenixc#0738 phoenixc Member Posts: 5,459 Arc User
    edited February 2021
    David Mack has recently revealed on twitter that he, and two other authors, are working on a new trilogy in the Trek novelverse called STAR TREK: CODA


    Given previous hints from the Trek authors that the novelverse as is was ending, so that it could be rebooted, and made to fit more inline with Picard, as well as CBS's overall desire to have all of them extended universe material be more consistent with each other, this does seems to be confirmation of that theory.
    • The ENT relaunch novels have been over for some years
    • There is one more TOS era novel coming out later this year, but it seems to be a total one off, not connected to any long running narrative
    • The TNG novels wrapped themselves up back in 2019
    • The Voyager relaunch novels just got an ending late last year
    • The DS9 relaunch novels have ended their major storyline, and the only upcoming book is one set during the series
    Makes sense its ending now. Probably using the Romulan Supernova to wipe the slate, or do some timey wimey stuff, to get into the new Picard canon.

    There was never any such thing as a Star Trek novelverse, all novels were strictly non-canon (with a temporary exception during Voyager) and not meant to fit together across the board between different authors and publishing houses like the Star Wars EU did.

    Paramount did lift a lot of things from the fan community and novels which canonized little bits and pieces but that was it, there was no attempt whatsoever to ride herd on third party novels to wrangle them into a single coherent fictional history the way Lucas had Leland Chee doing for Star Wars EU.

    If CBS decided to pull their traditional licensing model and replace it with in-house novels only like Disney did with Star Wars it is a sad thing but not surprising with the way the big studios are trying to push their way into organized multi-media "universes".
  • artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    I enjoyed the Vanguard books. They're about the only part of the TOS era I'd constantly revisit. I also quite liked the DS9 relaunch series until it was cut short.

    I'm remain unfussed by non-canon books being taken in another non-canon direction. There's already PIC and DSC novels out anyway.
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

    #TASforSTO


    '...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
    'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
    'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

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  • phoenixc#0738 phoenixc Member Posts: 5,459 Arc User
    edited February 2021
    There was never any such thing as a Star Trek novelverse, all novels were strictly non-canon (with a temporary exception during Voyager) and not meant to fit together across the board between different authors and publishing houses like the Star Wars EU did.

    Paramount did lift a lot of things from the fan community and novels which canonized little bits and pieces but that was it, there was no attempt whatsoever to ride herd on third party novels to wrangle them into a single coherent fictional history the way Lucas had Leland Chee doing for Star Wars EU.

    If CBS decided to pull their traditional licensing model and replace it with in-house novels only like Disney did with Star Wars it is a sad thing but not surprising with the way the big studios are trying to push their way into organized multi-media "universes".
    Once again you show how little you know of the things you talk about.

    The large majority of Trek novels, since around 2000 onward, were made to fit into a shared narrative and universe. With many crossovers, shared plot points, etc. etc. between the various novel series, and authors. This was an explicit demand from CBS, along with the novels having to follow screen canon(which is why the current novelverse is ending, since it no longer follows screen canon) and the novel authors themselves have talked about it constantly since it began. You are 20 years, and over 200+ novels, out of date there.

    Also, pretty much every single novel released since the 90s has been under the license of Pocket Books. Very few actual novels have been released under different publishers since the mid 90s because CBS wanted it all in one place, just so they could keep this sort of consistency, and control, over the publishing of the novels. Just like IDW has been pretty much the only company allowed to make Star Trek comics since 2007. Only reference materials, like the Star Charts, and tech manuals, get published by other companies, since Pocket Books doesn't deal in that sort of thing usually.

    Hell, there is even a chart showing the chronological order of the novels in the novelverse.
    The%2BAlmighty%2BStar%2BTrek%2BLit-verse%2BReading%2BOrder%2BFlow%2BChart%2BMark%2BVI.png

    If you want to call that tiny subset which lacks many of the most important stories a "novelverse" then go for it. Many people have tried to put together charts like that, and it always ends up with a subset like that even at best. It is still nothing like the Star Wars EU in scope or coherency because Star Trek was never managed that way, even in the last twenty years (though as you pointed out that is probably set to change soon as CBS pulls all their novel licenses back like Daffy Duck hording coins).

    And yes, I did hear something about Pocket trying to encourage a certain amount of cross-reference in their later books though it really did not come across as a wide-ranging formal thing in the relatively few I read of those later novels, not a lot more than the older books written by authors who were in the Trek fan community and knew each other put in as nods to each other.
  • phoenixc#0738 phoenixc Member Posts: 5,459 Arc User
    If you want to call that tiny subset which lacks many of the most important stories a "novelverse" then go for it.
    That "tiny subset" is nearly every single Trek novel released in the last 20+ years, and includes everything from the Destiny trilogy depicting the Borg invasion, to every other major novel story arc like
    • The Typhon Pact
    • Vanguard
    • All of the Enterprise relaunch novels depicting the Romulan War, and the founding of the Federation
    • The Titan series
    • The lost Era series
    • The New Frontier series
    • The Stargazer series
    There is literally no major story missing on this list.

    I swear, you will say anything wont you?

    I take it you have no idea of the sheer number of Star Trek novels there are out there then.

    Nice for you that everything you consider a "major story" all fits into one neat little pidgeonhole, but that definition is rather subjective. Personally, I give more weight to the stories that actually influenced TNG and from that most later Trek series, than I do to the later stuff.

    For instance, the idea of Klingon houses and their being honorable instead of just stereotypical villains was one of the things canonized from third party novels (mostly The Final Reflection) for one thing, before that the only Klingon mention of houses was Kang's saying about not fighting in a burning house in TOS. Another example is the episode Where No One Has Gone Before was an adaptation of the Star Trek novel The Wounded Sky. There are others, some of which impact fan circles more than the aired shows (like for instance the Rihannsu novels) and some others that have had bits canonized in the shows, but you should get the idea by now.

    Also, I have to say I am not really that impressed by the ones you list. The New Frontier series is decent for the most part but the few books I have tried of the others were rather meh. The earlier ones published by Pocket tended to be a bit better on average though the quality varied rather wildly (feel free to disagree, liking a book is entirely subjective) the later ones often had a kind of paint-by-numbers feel to them, and as you yourself pointed out some went completely off the rails as far as Trek lore is concerned.

  • artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    And yet your actual quote was...
    There was never any such thing as a Star Trek novelverse, all novels were strictly non-canon (with a temporary exception during Voyager) and not meant to fit together across the board between different authors and publishing houses like the Star Wars EU did.

    It's wrong firstly because the DSC novels were also announced as canon before being dropped (and the VGR ones weren't, they were just assumed to be because of the authors), and secondly because there is a 'novelverse', not all novels are part of it, but they form their own section of the franchise, non-canon to the main Trek canon and yet formed their own canon with their own continuity and narrative oversight. Regardless of the existence of other Trek novels, these particular ones form a distinct meta-series.

    I personally was never a fan of the novelverse.

    but I know a lot of people like it so I considered that might want to hear the news its basically ending.

    They were like the old SW EU. They take far less time to execute than TV shows or films so they were more or less allowed to go on their own path with little major oversight keeping interest in the franchise ticking over whilst the real players of the franchise were being properly planned in the background.
    But by and large, they're massively different from their main franchise counterparts.
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

    #TASforSTO


    '...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
    'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
    'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

    Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
  • phoenixc#0738 phoenixc Member Posts: 5,459 Arc User
    edited February 2021
    artan42 wrote: »
    And yet your actual quote was...
    There was never any such thing as a Star Trek novelverse, all novels were strictly non-canon (with a temporary exception during Voyager) and not meant to fit together across the board between different authors and publishing houses like the Star Wars EU did.

    It's wrong firstly because the DSC novels were also announced as canon before being dropped (and the VGR ones weren't, they were just assumed to be because of the authors), and secondly because there is a 'novelverse', not all novels are part of it, but they form their own section of the franchise, non-canon to the main Trek canon and yet formed their own canon with their own continuity and narrative oversight. Regardless of the existence of other Trek novels, these particular ones form a distinct meta-series.

    I personally was never a fan of the novelverse.

    but I know a lot of people like it so I considered that might want to hear the news its basically ending.

    They were like the old SW EU. They take far less time to execute than TV shows or films so they were more or less allowed to go on their own path with little major oversight keeping interest in the franchise ticking over whilst the real players of the franchise were being properly planned in the background.
    But by and large, they're massively different from their main franchise counterparts.

    You are barking up the wrong tree, I was specifically not referring to the DSC tie-in stuff because that is not what Somtaawkher claims is being "replaced", instead it is what the quasi "novelverse" is being replaced with. Bit of a difference there.

    And none of the old novel stuff was ever considered fully canon (the closest it came was bits and pieces of some of them canonized later), though the producers of VOY announced that exception which has since fallen back into the Trek novel non-canon status. It was not just an impression, if you read interviews of the time they actually did say they were canon (though there was some pushback from others at Paramount/UPN about it too so it was never 100%).

    The meta-series side of the later Pocket-published Trek books was rather low-key and it is not well-known as a tight-knit formal shared universe such as the Star Wars EU, Eric Flint's 1632 series, Thieves' World, and others. The impression was more like writers who know each other inserting Easter eggs, like the Star Wars stuff in Firefly, even though a few characters of those novels did more than just cameos.

    And like I said before, whether the Pocket novels actually constituted a formal shared "novelverse" is a matter of opinion about the degree, though there is certainly some crossover.

    While my first comment in this thread could probably have been worded better, the point was that unlike the OP said it is nowhere near the slap in the face to the fanbase and book publishers that Star Wars EU getting stealth-axed was in that it was not comprehensive across the Trek-verse and was never officially canon at any level (though I do agree it is part of the same trend of IP holders snatching back licenses and micromanaging the alternate media content).


  • rattler2rattler2 Member Posts: 57,971 Community Moderator
    Can you guys chill out a bit?
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
    The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
  • artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    And none of the old novel stuff was ever considered fully canon (the closest it came was bits and pieces of some of them canonized later), though the producers of VOY announced that exception which has since fallen back into the Trek novel non-canon status. It was not just an impression, if you read interviews of the time they actually did say they were canon (though there was some pushback from others at Paramount/UPN about it too so it was never 100%).

    You're telling me about canon? Wow. I acually said they formed hteir own canon not that they formed part of the main Trek canon. Any work with some sort of oversight will have a canon, it's IP management.
    So no, the VGR novels were never canon, just like the KT games and comics Abrams tries to claim as canon to the main franchise, CBS said no so he couldn't.
    While my first comment in this thread could probably have been worded better, the point was that unlike the OP said it is nowhere near the slap in the face to the fanbase and book publishers that Star Wars EU getting stealth-axed was in that it was not comprehensive across the Trek-verse and was never officially canon at any level (though I do agree it is part of the same trend of IP holders snatching back licenses and micromanaging the alternate media content).

    Not a slap in the face at all. Nobody took those books, comics, and games away and no fan has the right to tell an IP owner how to manage their IP. It also wasn't even slightly stealthy.
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

    #TASforSTO


    '...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
    'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
    'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

    Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
  • phoenixc#0738 phoenixc Member Posts: 5,459 Arc User
    edited February 2021
    artan42 wrote: »
    And none of the old novel stuff was ever considered fully canon (the closest it came was bits and pieces of some of them canonized later), though the producers of VOY announced that exception which has since fallen back into the Trek novel non-canon status. It was not just an impression, if you read interviews of the time they actually did say they were canon (though there was some pushback from others at Paramount/UPN about it too so it was never 100%).

    You're telling me about canon? Wow. I acually said they formed hteir own canon not that they formed part of the main Trek canon. Any work with some sort of oversight will have a canon, it's IP management.
    So no, the VGR novels were never canon, just like the KT games and comics Abrams tries to claim as canon to the main franchise, CBS said no so he couldn't.

    Except that the point was that they were not considered part of the official canon formed by the various TV series and movies. The fact that they had a canon of their own is irrelevant (all stories technically have that, it is not actually a corporate thing though Hollywood likes to pretend it is).

    artan42 wrote: »
    While my first comment in this thread could probably have been worded better, the point was that unlike the OP said it is nowhere near the slap in the face to the fanbase and book publishers that Star Wars EU getting stealth-axed was in that it was not comprehensive across the Trek-verse and was never officially canon at any level (though I do agree it is part of the same trend of IP holders snatching back licenses and micromanaging the alternate media content).

    Not a slap in the face at all. Nobody took those books, comics, and games away and no fan has the right to tell an IP owner how to manage their IP. It also wasn't even slightly stealthy.

    That depends on how you look at it. While it is true publishing of the already existing Star Wars EU books continues to some extent, it is being done without paying many of the authors royalties according to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

    In fact, Disney has systematically pulled the licenses to publish works from IPs that Disney has acquired as soon as they run out, then transfer those licenses to other publishers (ones that they own when possible) and cut off the royalties to the authors and telling them that their royalty contracts were with the original publisher so they are out of luck getting anything from the new ones.

    Alan Dean Foster, Rob MacGregor, Donald Glut, James Kahn, and Michael A. Stackpole have all come forward and lodged complaints about it with the SFWA. The SFWA is gearing up a public awareness campaign to combat that nonsense so you might be hearing about it in the news soon.

    If you want to read an article about the problem one of them is here: https://polygon.com/2020/12/16/22166064/star-wars-alien-novelization-disney-royalties-sfwa-alan-dean-foster

    Also, while Disney said that the SW EU was not being eliminated, they weasel-worded the PR announcements to gloss over the fact that they were effectively killing it by not allowing many (if any) new books to be published for the old-canon universe anymore. And sure enough, as far as I know of all new Star Wars books have been in the Disney continuity instead of the EU one.

    You might not consider the royalties swindle or two-faced stealth-kill of the SW EU going forward when they tried to give the impression of happy coexistence a slap in the face, but personally I do.
  • nrobbiecnrobbiec Member Posts: 959 Arc User
    There are at least 285,000 universes in the Star Trek multiverse i think there's room for everything to be canon somewhere.
  • starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    nrobbiec wrote: »
    There are at least 285,000 universes in the Star Trek multiverse i think there's room for everything to be canon somewhere.

    Likely more than that since the 285,000 universes are only the ones involved with the Parallels incident. I don't know if that includes all Enterprise-Ds or only the Enterprise-Ds close enough to be affected by it. An Enterprise-D that was taken by the Caretaker years before Voyager shouldn't have appeared in Parallels.

    Just let this sink in. According to the novelverse, the X-men are part of the Star Trek multiverse. If you include comic books, then Aliens, Doctor Who, Green Lantern, Legion of Superheroes, Planet of the Apes, and Transformers are all part of the Star Trek multiverse.
  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    I seriously read Star Trek novels in the 90s or something only. Back then, I really didn't enjoy the TNG/VOY/DS9 novels they made, I think mostly because they simply didn't have a feel for the characters yet. (But there were some good ones, like Survivors.) The TOS novels I read were more enjoyable.
    The most recent Trek novel I read were A Stich in Time and Neverending Sacrifice. I enjoyed both of them.
    Maybe a relaunch could be a chance to get into it again?
    Nah, probably not. I am just not reading as much as I used to. At least not in the novel-reading sense. So much other entertainment available right now...
    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
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