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42 comments on “NO LIMITS cover”
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Two questions:
1) Who’s the model (or is that the best painting on a Star Trek novel yet)?
2) Where can I buy a uniform that nice?
I’m looking forward to October!
Great looking cover! But I had always assumed that the sword was more of a short sword, like the Romans used. Can’t wait to pick up this (and the other) NF books!
Glad to see a new New Fronteir book. Also glad to see other writers contributing to PAD’s sector of the Star Trek Universe.
But when are we going to see the follow-up to Being Human? What really happened to Mark? Morgan? Xyon? Si Cwan? I need my fix!!!!!
These books are the best thing to come out of Star Trek since Deep Space Nine. Now can we see a story about the Captain and Soleta pairing up for a mission?
Here’s the back cover copy for the book:
The New Frontier like you’ve never seen it before!
New stories…
New authors…
New frontiers…
No Limits
In 1997, Star Trek: New Frontier debuted and became an instant sensation, chronicling the exciting adventures of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the U.S.S. Excalibur, as told by New York Times bestselling author Peter David.
Now, over a dozen books later, Peter David has gathered some of the finest Star Trek authors to tell new tales of the Excalibur crew:
Dayton Ward‘s thrilling adventure from Calhoun’s sordid past
Loren L. Coleman‘s tale of Shelby’s first experience with the Borg
Robert Greenberger‘s origin of “Lefler’s Laws”
Susan Shwartz‘s adventure with Soleta and Ambassador Spock
Terri Osborne‘s chronicle of Selar’s encounter with the Q
David Mack‘s tale of the longest day of Zak Kebron’s life
plus stories by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Susan Wright, Josepha Sherman, Ilsa J. Bick, Kevin Dilmore, Christina F. York, Robert T. Jeschonek, Peg Robinson, Mary Scott-Wiecek, Allyn Gibson, and Glenn Hauman & Lisa Sullivan.
Added Bonus! Peter David himself tells the untold story of Calhoun and Shelby’s honeymoon on Xenex!
—KRAD
While I’m at it, the table of contents:
Introduction by Peter David
Mackenzie Calhoun: “Loose Ends” by Dayton Ward
Elizabeth Shelby: “All that Glisters…” by Loren L. Coleman
Zak Kebron: “Waiting for G’Doh, or, How I Learned to Stop Moving and Hate People” by David Mack
Robin Lefler: “Lefler’s Logs” by Robert Greenberger
Morgan Primus: “Alice, on the Edge of Night” by Ilsa J. Bick
Soleta: “Revelations” by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Si Cwan: “Turning Point” by Josepha Sherman
Selar: “‘Q’uandary” by Terri Osborne
Burgoyne 172: “Oil and Water” by Robert Jeschonek
Mark McHenry: “Singularity” by Christina F. York
Arex: “The Road to Edos” by Kevin Dilmore
D’ndai of Calhoun: “A Lady of Xenex” by Peg Robinson
U.S.S. Excalibur: “Making a Difference” by Mary Scott-Wiecek
Katerina Mueller: “Performance Appraisal” by Allyn Gibson
Xant: “Redemption” by Glenn Hauman and Lisa Sullivan
Soleta: “Out of the Frying Pan” by Susan Shwartz
Burgoyne 172: “Through the Looking Glass” by Susan Wright
Calhoun & Shelby: “A Little Getaway” by Peter David
The Star Trek: New Frontier Timeline, compiled by Keith R.A. DeCandido
—KRAD
October 2003 will see the release of three New Frontier books. One is the trade paperback anthology that is the subject of this thread. One is the mass-market paperback Gods Above, which is the long-awaited conclusion to the story begun in Being Human that A Kilgore is jonesing for upthread. *grin* And the third is the hardcover novel Stone and Anvil, which will, among many other things, chronicle Calhoun and Shelby’s time at Starfleet Academy.
—KRAD
Nice cover (and it seems like Calhoun found the real Excalibur!).
For those of you who are wondering just who these authors are who will be playing in the New Frontier sandbox, a quick primer:
Dayton Ward is the author of ST: In the Name of Honor and stories in the first three Strange New Worlds volumes, and is co-author with Kevin Dilmore of six SCE eBooks (with a seventh on the way). He and Kevin will be writing two TNG novels and a short story for Tales of the Dominion War in 2004 as well.
Loren L. Coleman is mostly known as the author of more BattleTech and Mech Warrior novels by anyone not named Mike Stackpole. This is his first Trek work, but not his last…
David Mack is the co-writer of the DS9 episodes “Starship Down” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” the co-author of SCE: Invincible Books 1-2, the author of The Starfleet Survival Guide and the brilliant SCE: Wildfire Books 1-2. You’ll see his byline more than once on Trek stuff in 2004 as well. He is not the same guy who does the Kabuki comic.
Robert Greenberger, once the editor of DC’s Trek comic book, is the author of TNG: The Romulan Stratagem and TNG: Doors Into Chaos, and co-author of three collaborative Trek novels (one ST, one TNG, one DS9) with Our Web Host and Michael Jan Friedman (and Carmen Carter on the ST one). The brains behind the Enterprise Logs anthology, Bob’s also got two TNG novels and a Tales of the Dominion War short story coming in 2004.
Ilsa J. Bick has stories in two Strange New Worlds volumes, and her Star Trek The Lost Era novel, Well of Souls — the first-ever Rachel Garrett/Enterprise-C novel — will be out in November.
Keith R.A. DeCandido is the author of TNG: Diplomatic Implausibility, DS9: Demons of Air and Darkness, the two-volume The Brave and the Bold, over half a dozen SCE eBooks, short stories in What Lay Beyond and the upcoming Prophecy and Change and Tales of the Dominion War, another of the Lost Era books (The Art of the Impossible, coming out in October alongside this anthology), and the first two books in the ongoing I.K.S. Gorkon series, chronicling life on a Klingon Defense Force vessel (November and December).
Josepha Sherman, in collaboration with Susan Shwartz, wrote the acclaimed ST novels Vulcan’s Forge and Vulcan’s Heart. In addition to a story in Tales of the Dominion War, the two of them are working on the Vulcan’s Soul trilogy, the first book of which is due in early 2004.
Terri Osborne‘s Trek (and pro fiction writing) debut will come in September’s DS9: Prophecy and Change, with her second story coming a month later here.
Robert T. Jeschonek has had stories in three Strange New Worlds volumes.
Christina F. York is both a contributor to Strange New Worlds and the co-author with her husband J. Steven York of the eBook SCE: Enigma Ship.
Kevin Dilmore has written a bunch of stuff with Dayton Ward that I mentioned uptopic when I talked about Dayton. This is his first solo work. He’s also written Tons O’Stuff for Star Trek Communicator and StarTrek.com, and his interviews with Greg Cox, Our Web Host, Michael Jan Friedman, and Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens will appear in the “Signature Series” of reprint omnibuses this fall.
Peg Robinson has written a couple of stories for Strange New Worlds.
So has Mary Scott-Wiecek.
This is Allyn Gibson‘s second pro fiction sale, but the first one to see print (the second will be SCE: Ring Around the Sky early next year).
Glenn Hauman, the guy who runs this here web site, is the author of SCE: Oaths and was a production editor on several Trek CD-ROMs.
This is theologian Lisa Sullivan‘s first pro fiction sale, and is the first Trek author to also have published in scholarly journals with Latin and Greek titles.
Susan Shwartz‘s other Trek stuff is in collaboration with Josepha Sherman, which you read all about when I talked about her.
Susan Wright is the author of TNG: The Best and the Brightest, ST: One Small Step, VOY: Violations, DS9: Tempest, TNG: Sins of Commission, the cross-series duologies Dark Passions and The Badlands, and stories in The Lives of Dax and What Lay Beyond.
If you don’t know who Peter David is, what the heck are you doing here???
—KRAD
Thanks for the info, KRAD. With known release dates, I Jones no more.
I can`t wait to get that book (and the other two NF books as well, of course! ) 🙂
I like the No Limits cover and the idea to show Calhoun with the Excalibur sword you can also see on the other two new NF novels that will be out the same month.
But I would like this cover more if this Calhoun would actually look like the Calhoun shown on the earlier covers. Even when you read the descriptions in the books, I am sorry but this guy simply doesn`t look like him! I find that very disappointing.
But the contents should be great and of course, that is the most important thing 🙂
cover pretty
lots of authors good
calhoun yummy
annoying am i
ick sins of commission – that was my first trek book and almost my last. hard to believe i have over 90 of the little blighters now 😛 sorry, i just didn’t like that one. i can even remember sitting in maths class 9 years ago trying to get through it.
I am sorry but this guy simply doesn`t look like him!
I think it looks a lot like Calhoun from the painted covers, as close as you could expect from a live model… EXCEPT for the scar on his cheek, which is angled the wrong way.
Corey
I think it’s the wrong look for Calhoun. It’s not the general appearance, although I imagined that Calhoun had a sharper, more eagle-like face. It’s more the presence; Mackenzie Calhoun has a certain graceless untouchability, a rough edge, and a focused, determined, yet faintly gleeful ‘aura’ to him. He should seem utterly competent and on task — and possibly a bit mad.
The Calhoun on the cover is just… a guy in a Star Trek costume holding a sword.
Ooh… purty.
Props to Keith for the plethora of information about the new book.
Hi Peter, I finally decided to take the plunge and pick up a couple of your novels Sir Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life. I was pleasantly suprised, I loved Apropos and the preview of Woad to Wuin. And the beginning of Knight Life is excellent.
Both books make for nice light reading on the subway. And I recommend both books to anyone looking for good escapist popcorn fiction.
Will NEW FRONTIERS be a new section in next year’s STRANGE NEW WORLDS?
It is kinda like the David Hasselhoff version of Calhoun.
What I mean is – It is almost too much of a pretty boy to be the rugged calhoun we all know. Don’t get me wrong, the painting is great, but, what is that, spritz in his hair? wait, I mustn’t fight with this (wonderful looking) sword – I might mess up my hair – stunt double!
oh and thanks to Mr. Keith R.A. DeCandido for the descriptions of the back of the book and the detailed past works of each of the authors!
Xyon
a) Actually, Carmen Carter worked on the TNG novel, not the ST one.
b) No, NF won’t be a SNW category, since it’s still limited to focusing series-only characters (as it really should be). Now, if you were inventive enough, you could write one with Shelby, Selar, and Lefler….
With the addition of “Speculations” in SNW VI, I thought there might be departure from the “series only” strictures.
I hope we get back to Calhoun looking more like he did in the early books… this cover just doesn’t give off the Calhoun Vibe… i mean it’s a nice cover… just it’s not Calhoun… can we say its someone else maybe? 🙂
Ra!
Nice cover (and it seems like Calhoun found the real Excalibur!).
Nah. That’s the Marto Charles V model, or a knockoff of it.
I don’t like it.
The CGI painting is awful.
The scar is wrong.
The insignia communicator looks just POORLY rendered, when Keith Birdsong could’ve done a better job with traditional painting.
The model’s pose and expression have the personality of a dial tone, as do the composition between him and the background.
The sword not only looks too much like the way Excalibur has traditionally been rendered, including on the cover to Knight Life, when it should look like a (IIRC) Danteri sword, but even dumber, someone put a Starfleet Insignia on it, as if no one bothered to apprise him of the fact that it ISN’T of Earth origin.
Duh.
Please bring back Keith Birdsong’s beautiful paintings. They were not only visually pleasing, they were competent in their rendering, and had the requisite modicum of intelligence to them.
My favourite Calhoun is definitely the beautiful painting on “Restoration”. I love it and if it would be available as a poster, I would buy it immediately! But I also like the Calhoun on the books of the pilot story and of course the Calhoun of the NF comic!
What you said, Xyon, really made me laugh but you are completely right. David Hasselhoff look describes the Calhoun on “No Limits” well, I think. He looks much too polished and bland.
At first I didn`t even notice that the scar is wrong because it is so faint. First, it should be on the right place and second, it should be clearly visible. The same applies to his purple eyes. I can`t even say if this guy has the correct eye colour.
At least I like the idea with the Excalibur sword with the Starfleet insignia. Of course it is a symbolic meaning and Calhoun as a kind of Starfleet knight, it fits somehow 🙂
Okay, can someone please explain to me why New Frontiers wasn’t the basis for the new trek series? Anyone? Please?
–Michael
Because it’s a novel series. The whole point of NF was to do a series of Star Trek novels that weren’t tethered to an ongoing series. Using NF as the basis for a TV series would’ve ruined its entire purpose for being. (It also would’ve taken the series totally out of Our Web Host’s control.)
—KRAD
True, but it is sad, isn’t it? The Reeves-Stevenses and Peter David would do such wonderful things with Star Trek, but their efforts are in novels while inept fools with no storytelling ability whatsoever maintain a deathgrip on the television series, professing to be eager to take Trek into the new century, while freely and cheerfully admitting that they have no idea why ENTERPRISE and NEMESIS çráppëd out so hard. They plunge ahead with their retooling, while proudly stating that they don’t even know what the problems are that they attempt to remedy.
NEW FRONTIER’s strengths are ENTERPRISE’s weaknesses. NF boasts a strong, charismatic, kick-ášš Captain, a crew with varied and mysterious backstories and histories, troubled and funny and sweet and charming and conflicted relationships between all the characters, excellent plots that aren’t dependent on technobabble nonsense and aren’t told by People Standing Around Talking, ripping good action sequences, oh, and witty dialogue.
ENTERPRISE was to be more down to earth, have a less polished Captain, boast more action, amp up the sex quotient, have characters more rooted in human problems. NF does all that with a maturity, thoughtfulness, skill, and a sense of humour that ENTERPRISE is likely to never, ever grasp.
I wish NF was the new TV show. I wish THE RETURN, SPECTRE, DARK VICTORY, and PRESERVER were the new Star Trek movies. (I’d like CAPTAIN’s PERIL to be a movie too, but it has flashbacks to an untold adventure of the classic series.)
I’d also like world peace.
The background imagery is striking, and I appreciate the decision to portray Calhoun alone. I wish the artist who did this cover had made the character look more natural and comfortable with the sword (which I think should be shorter, regardless of what they say about the size of a Xenexian’s sword in relation to …. *wink and a nudge*) I think revisiting the cover on NF#2 for the face would have been the way to go.
KRAD notes: Because it’s a novel series. The whole point of NF was to do a series of Star Trek novels that weren’t tethered to an ongoing series. Using NF as the basis for a TV series would’ve ruined its entire purpose for being. (It also would’ve taken the series totally out of Our Web Host’s control.)
It also would have deprived certain people in Hollywood of lots of money for creating the shows they put on instead.
I want to add a bit to what KRAD said: You can be much more open and have much more freedom in book form. The most obvious one is of course, you don`t have to worry about the costs of special effects in books. But also, people who want to see NF on TV should ask themselves: Would PAD be allowed to tell NF the same way as in books, including a VERY tight continuity, strong sexual contents in places, a very honest and open description of violence and a main character with attitudes that are certainly not mainstream and that make even some Trek fans uncomfortable? I don`t think so.
What would happen is a NF that is a shadow of what you can read in book form, a watered down version. Even if PAD would not have to work in a committee, being forced to make compromises all the time and would get the assurance that he can create the series he wants, I wonder how long that promise would last. What I read about JMS and his experiences says a lot, I think.
No, I want NF to stay in book form because I love the series. But I would like it to see a SF series, Trek or otherwise, that uses a similar scenario.
Mike Smith: Okay, can someone please explain to me why New Frontiers wasn’t the basis for the new trek series? Anyone? Please?
Luigi Novi: In addition to the aforementioned reasons given by others before me, there is one reason why it will NEVER happen: The characters wouldn’t be original characters if adapted into TV. Because Calhoun, Burgoyne, Kebron, McHenry, Si Cwan and so many other supporting characters were created by Peter, Peter would have to be paid a royalty for each episode in which they were used, and as he pointed out to me at a signing at Midtown Comics in Times Square, NY, the royalties from one episode could put all three of his daughters (at the time) through college. Then you’d have to pay royalties to the writers of the episodes in which Shelby, Selar and Lefler appeared in. The costs of royalties alone would make it IMPOSSIBLE to adapt it into a TV series. By contrast, the cost of the FX needed to adapt someone like Kebron or Arex would probably be the smaller problem.
Besides, it would only work if Peter were at the helm as an executive or consulting producer, or someone who understood his vision, perhaps a colleague like Harlan Ellison or J. Michael Stracynski, or some of the staff from DS9 like Ronald D. Moore, Ira Steven Behr, etc. Given how the importance of good writing has been totally devalued by the current regime of Berman and Braga, this would likely never happen, and if they tried to adapt it themselves, it would probably suck.
I’d just like to point out that I had the “Waiting for G’Doh!” joke in mind years ago — okay, it was Gul D’Oh as a Cardassian, but same idea. 🙂
Not that this bears the slightest resemblance to anything on the topic, of course — just wanted to take five seconds to preen.
Looks to be an interesting anthology.
TWL
As I just learned when looking into the Austrian ST newsgroup, this is how Amazon.de (and Amazon.co.uk as well) are desribing No Limits:
***
From rescuing refugees from the Thallonian Empire to battling the unstoppable Black Mass, the adventures of Captain Calhoun and his crew will have both collectors and first-time fans on the edge of their seats, reading this omnibus volume of the first eight “New Frontier” novels.
***
Unfortunately contacting them as a customer in order to point out errors is, in my experience, pointless. But maybe you can get this changed, PAD?
Would the characters that PAD came up with count as “originals” if he were the show’s creator (or one of them)?
Really, I’d think that it’d be the royalties for the other characters’ creators that’d be the problem.
Definitely looks too much a pretty boy to be the m’k’n’z’y of calhoun that we all know. Is this a real guy that posed for the picture or an artist given poetic licece to make the guy up to how he/she thinks it should be made. The guy gets through more hair styles than
Mrs Donald Trump and his scar looks a bit iffy as well.
On another note, i think paramount should drop Enterprise and start filming New Frontier. It would bring the old viewers back in force.
ok.ok. i have just thoroughly read through other comments and understand why NF would be a pain in the proverbial to make it into the next tv series (as amazing as i think it would be) 2 questions for you if i may PAD … (question 1) Noting on a previous comment how the studios would have to pay you royalties on the characters you created for every time they were mentioned, does this mean that you have to pay royalties when you use tv created characters like picard, riker, selar, and even shelby and lefler (even though they only appeared in a episode each) or does the written royalty work different to the screen royalty? (question 2) – what does the ‘a’ stand for in PAD ?
OK, a primer on how this works.
Thanks to the efforts of the Writers Guild, screenwriters who create a character on a TV show get a small token fee every time that character is subsequently used. For example, Diane Duane and Peter Morwood created the Traveller for the first-season TNG episode “Where No One Has Gone Before.” The subsequent uses of the character in “Remember Me” and “Journey’s End” resulted in Diane and Peter getting small royalty checks. Sally Caves, who wrote “Hollow Pursuits,” has made some nice extra money off the multiple uses of Reg Barclay.
This only affects screenwriting. It has no bearing whatsoever on any ancillary work like fiction. To give another example, if the character of Matt Decker (from “The Doomsday Machine”) shows up in an episode of Enterprise or a Star Trek movie somehow, Norman Spinrad would be entitled to that small royalty. However, my use of the character in The Brave and the Bold Book 1 doesn’t entitle Norman to anything. This royalty only applies to onscreen usage of characters and has nothing to do with prose applications of same.
And the writer never has to pay anything. That’s not how it works.
On a completely different note, the model used for the cover of No Limits is the same person that has been used as the model for every rendition of Calhoun, from Keith Birdsong and Dru Blair’s book covers to Brian Stelfreeze’s comic book cover to Mike Collins’s rendering in the comic book to the Calhoun action figure. It’s all the same person.
—KRAD
That is very interesting, KRAD, I wouldn`t have thought that :).
Maybe this Calhoun looks so different to me and many others because this time it is a photo, not a painting. It would probably also make a difference if his scar would be at the right place and clearly visible and the same applies to the purple eyes. It would give the face on the “No Limits” cover more character.
Now and again they show some new painting of the Queen or another member of the royal family in Britain on TV and I can see how flattering or un-flattering they can be compared with the looks of the real person. I certainly look very different on photos, my passport photo is certainly not flattering at all.
KRAD – thanks for the info on royalties – Baerbel – Unflattering passport photos is a universal constant and living in the UK myself i fully understand the remark about the queens pictures. Everytime they publish a new one (normally for her birthday) they all look a little different) ..BUT ……… KRAD . you didn’t answer question 2!! .ps question 2 and a half … have there been (or is anything in the pipeline) to bring another NF comic style story out. Double time was a great short story told well in that format and i would like to see some more of the same.
Well, I figured the man himself should answer questions regarding his name. *chuckles*
Right now, nobody has the comic book rights to Star Trek. WildStorm did not renew their contract, and nobody else has picked it up. The problem is that the comics industry is in such awful shape right now that a Trek comic wouldn’t sell well enough to justify the cost of getting the license. WildStorm’s comics sold at about the same level, relative to the rest of the industry, that Trek comics generally have — the problem is, that raw number is much lower because sales on comics are so far down, that it isn’t cost-effective right now to do it.
—KRAD
KRAD . On the subject of royalties and using characters seen in episodes, it reminded me last night of your TNG novel ‘Diplomatic Implausibility’.
I have just started re-reading it through again as i had not picked it up in awhile (with the shows finishing on TV, the books are now so few and far between that i have to re-read them)
That book must have more ‘seen before’ people in it than any other ST book and i thought it great to see what these characters could have gone onto. It’s one of the reasons i like New Frontier. Sometimes i wonder if the actors who play these parts on the screen (including the stars themselves like frakes and stewart etc) read these books and think how they would play the role on screen.
I’ll have to email pete i suppose to satisfy me on the name curiosity. so ……… question 2 and three quarters, whats the R.A stand for? ………….. question 2 and nine tenths … Are you still playing with DQYDJP ?
Well, I gave Brian “Klag” Thompson copies of Diplomatic Implausibility and The Brave and the Bold Book 2 when I met him at a Slanted Fedora show in New Jersey earlier this year. *grin*
My middle initials stand for my father’s first name and my mother’s maiden name.
And the Don’t Quit Your Day Job Players broke up in 2000, though I still occasionally back up ex-bandmates Steve Rosenhaus and David Honigsberg on solo gigs they do. In fact, Steve and I are rehearsing this very afternoon for a gig at the C-Note in NYC next Monday. *smile*
—KRAD