“The past is written, but the future is left for us to write.”
—Jean-Luc Picard, 2399
“Dude. It’s so much worse than you think.”
—Dayton Ward, July 2019
The genesis of what ultimately became the Coda trilogy, of which you’ve just read the first book, came about in the spring of 2018. That’s when Kirsten Beyer—longtime friend and fellow Star Trek novelist, who at the time was working as a writer on Star Trek: Discovery—contacted me. She was calling with a bit of news I was obligated to keep to myself for the foreseeable future: Sir Patrick Stewart would soon return to our television screens as Jean-Luc Picard in an all-new series for CBS All Access (now Paramount+).
After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I started asking Kirsten questions in rapid-fire fashion. When would the show be set? What would it be about? Would the rest of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast be returning as well? Details were very, very scarce at this early juncture, but Kirsten was able to tell me the new series would be set many years after Picard’s last appearance in the 2002 feature film Star Trek Nemesis.
Uh-oh, I thought.
From that moment, I was sure of one thing: the Star Trek novels published by Simon & Schuster—specifically, the post-series stories featuring the casts of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager—would be impacted in some fashion. Dating back to 2001, these novels had been telling tales of the characters set after the events of their respective television series. With the television shows and feature films concluded—for the foreseeable future, at least—the editors and authors enjoyed a tremendous degree of freedom to explore the characters in ways that could never be done while the series were in active production. Events unfolded that permitted characters from one series to work with those from another, telling stories with repercussions carrying forward into future novels. The continuity between the novels became much more intertwined, evolving and deepening with each new story. Characters from any of the series could appear anywhere, either as “guest stars” or even semipermanent reassignments depending on the needs of a particular story. Some even “starred” in series of their own.
In addition to allowing for the development of core characters from TNG, DS9, and VGR beyond what would have been possible while each of those television series was still in active production, the Star Trek novels introduced characters to fill gaps left by those who had been given new assignments or simply opted for some other life path, or had died, or who were presumed dead. This is Star Trek, after all. Further, the developing novel continuity eventually grew to include tales told under the banner of several spin-off novel series. In addition to Star Trek: Titan, there also was Star Trek: New Frontier, Star Trek: Corps of Engineers, Star Trek: Klingon Empire, and Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations.
While these series tended to unfold alongside and eventually after events shown in the latter Star Trek feature films and television series set in the twenty-fourth century, this interwoven future history didn’t forget other eras. Novels set in and around the original Star Trek series and after the events of Star Trek: Enterprise—though largely containing their adventures to, respectively, the twenty-second and twenty-third centuries—still found links to the “expanded universe” continuity. It had almost become a living, breathing thing, enticing readers to dig ever deeper into the mythos being augmented with each new book while demanding the editors and authors keep track of an ever-increasing amount of information. With no new television series or films on the horizon, those of us privileged to write and publish the novels enjoyed a freedom rarely offered within the realm of media tie-in publishing. Within reason, and so far as we did our best to remain true to the same principles that had guided those TV series and movies, there were no limits to what we could do. At the same time, each of us was motivated by a sincere desire and, dare I say it, responsibility to do right by Star Trek, and therefore justify the trust placed in us by its guardians. It was daunting and yet exhilarating all at the same time. Looking back at what we were allowed to do thanks to the good graces of the licensing offices at CBS, I’m honestly floored, even after more years than I care to count out loud.
Then, as often happens these days when we’re talking about any entertainment property with any sort of legacy, Star Trek “woke up” again. Except for the three feature films released between 2009 and 2016, the franchise had been dormant on screen since 2005 and the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. 2017 brought us Star Trek: Discovery, a prequel to the Original Series, which carried with it the potential to lay claim to an area of storytelling that had largely been left to novels, comics, games, and other expanded media. Next came that call from Kirsten Beyer in early 2018, alerting me on the down low that Star Trek: Picard was in the earliest of planning stages.
As months passed, Kirsten would keep me updated, and as bits of information came my way, I started to see at least some of the potential impacts to the ongoing storylines being told in the novels. I jotted down a few preliminary notes, but Kirsten and her fellow writers were still figuring out the important things. Where to set the series relative to the other shows and films? How to explain what happened between Picard’s last on-screen appearance in Star Trek Nemesis and the new storyline? What other familiar characters might appear?
In April 2019, Kirsten sent me a document she’d written as something of a primer for writers new to the series and indeed Star Trek as a whole. It laid out the relevant high points of Star Trek “history” in chronological order; not just those facts established by previous series and films, but also pieces of internal backstory that would inform Picard’s first season. It was exactly the boost I needed to kick-start my own thinking, because now I knew exactly how and to what degree the new series would affect what had been laid down in Star Trek novels and their shared continuity dating back nearly twenty years.
By this point, there already was preliminary discussion about how the books might adapt to what soon would become the new status quo of canon Star Trek. As writers and most readers of such works know, tie-in novels exist to support the parent property. The books we’d been writing these past several years would have to alter course in order to better complement what was once again a very active Star Trek production cycle. Each new show would be adding to the franchise’s already vast mythology and attracting new fans, compelling tie-ins like ours to be accessible to new readers. Given the lengthy history of Star Trek novels and their ongoing continuity, this presented a huge challenge, as we also wanted to honor the readers who had taken this journey with us.
Many of you reading this right now likely are aware of what happened after Disney purchased Lucasfilm and the rights to the Star Wars franchise and began production on what would become the seventh Star Wars film, The Force Awakens. After hearing for decades that novels, comics, games, and other narratives were a form of Star Wars canon held to strict consistency not only with one another but also the films and television series, it was announced in 2014 that everything contributing to the Star Wars Expanded Universe now were considered “Legends.” Generally speaking, these tales would not inform new films, TV series, or even books, comics, and games going forward. Fans of this material felt betrayed, as though all the time (and money!) they’d invested in these products over the years had somehow been wasted. Though the challenge we were facing with the Star Trek novels was not on that scale, my feeling at the time was that I very much wanted them to avoid a repeat of the Star Wars situation.
It was a sentiment shared by my editors, Ed Schlesinger and Margaret Clark, and also John Van Citters at CBS Licensing. All three were on board with the idea of us doing something within the novels to acknowledge this latest evolution in the Star Trek brand without simply scrapping everything that had come before. Skip ahead to July 2019, when I sat down with friend and fellow Star Trek novelist David Mack at the annual Shore Leave convention we both attend every year. It came as no surprise for me to learn he’d heard some things about the new Picard series and was also considering what to do about the impact to the novels. Like me, he also was concerned about respecting the loyal readership who had stuck with us all these years. He’d recently met with our colleague James Swallow and discussed ideas with the intention of pulling me into their conversation. They had a rough plan in mind, which in some ways mirrored much of my own thinking… right down to Dave and me more or less coming up with the same ending. However, unlike me, he and Jim had not been privy to information from Kirsten Beyer and the still developing Picard series. Once Dave laid out his and Jim’s basic idea and the challenge that came with reconciling the novel continuity with the show’s and indeed the entire franchise’s new paradigm, that’s when I had to drop the bomb.
“Dude,” I said. “It’s so much worse than you think.”
I said it mostly as a joke, but the truth was we had a big job ahead of us; so Dave, Jim, and I got to work. Starting over. Brainstorming. Idea tossing. Emails. Skype calls. Notes passed back and forth. Over the course of several months during late 2019 and early 2020, we figured out a storyline to unfold across three books: the plotlines that would run through this trilogy but also the beats that would inform each novel while supporting its companions. We tossed ideas between us like poker chips. Things that at first sounded good for one book found a better home in another, and so on. All the while, we tried to remain conscious of our primary mission: honoring what had come before while helping transition to what lay ahead. It was a spirited collaboration from start to finish, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Which brings us to you, Welcome Reader. You hold in your hands just the first piece of what we hope comes across as a work of sheer love, not just for Star Trek, but also the Star Trek novels and the fans who’ve read and supported them. Whether you’ve been with us on this journey for years or are just coming aboard to see what the fuss is about, we’re glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll stay with us as we turn yet another page…