Star Trek: The Lost Era

Production

The Lost Era series was conceived to offer readers flexibility, as editor Marco Palmieri noted. Unlike a continuous narrative, each novel would be a self-contained story, linked by theme rather than plot, allowing people to read as many or as few as they wished. Palmieri’s goal was to guide Star Trek fiction through a largely uncharted stretch of history. This period is bookended by two pivotal events: the death of James T. Kirk aboard the Enterprise-B, depicted in Star Trek Generations, and the first voyage of the Enterprise-D, seen in "Encounter at Farpoint." Palmieri observed that very little was known about the discoveries, first contacts, and scientific advances of this era. He had already planned two military-focused stories—the Tomed Incident and the Betreka Nebula Incident—but wanted a broader range of tales.

For The Sundered, Michael A. Martin pitched the idea of a companion race to humanity, similar to the Romulan-Vulcan dynamic, during a phone call with Palmieri. While developing the novel with co-writer Andy Mangels, they found that continuity Easter eggs naturally emerged. The human-derived Neyel species from that book later appeared in Martin and Mangels’ 2005 novel The Red King.

While working on Twilight, the first volume of the Deep Space Nine miniseries Mission Gamma, David R. George III was asked by Palmieri to write a novel about the Tomed Incident. This event, first referenced in the Next Generation episode "The Neutral Zone," led to the 2311 Treaty of Algeron between the Federation and the Romulan Empire, which banned military use of cloaking technology. The book aimed to rehabilitate the reputation of John Harriman, captain of the Enterprise-B, and incorporated elements from Peter David’s 1995 novel The Captain’s Daughter. George noted that scenes he added to Twilight later caused him trouble while finishing Serpents.

Reception

Palmieri said in Voyages of Imagination that if he had any regrets about the Lost Era, it was that there was less thematic variety among the stories than he had hoped for. In putting together notes about the period to help the authors get started, he realized that most of the things that had been established about those years were military in nature—wars, battles, etc. Jacqueline Bundy of TrekToday complimented the writers of The Sundered (2003) for cleverly explaining previous inconsistencies while at the same time adhering to established continuity. Darren Mooney noted that the Lost Era is a collection of Star Trek novels designed to plug various holes in continuity. In his review of Serpents Among the Ruins (2003), Mooney said that one might imagine the novel is a mess of references and allusions, a bunch of Star Trek in-jokes fashioned into a novel, but it is to the credit of writer David George III that it actually does an excellent job of standing on its own two feet. Jason Garza of SFReader.com noted that the action is intense and the character building is superb, showcasing George's outstanding craft. In her review of The Art of the Impossible, Jacqueline Bundy said the book does more than just fill in a bit more of the history of the Star Trek universe (although it does that in spades): it illustrates the 'whys' behind that history with flair, style and more than a few surprises. Lynn Nicole Louis of SFReader.com said that although based in the Star Trek world, The Art of the Impossible would pretty much appeal to any fan of science fiction. Keith DeCandido said the novel was among his most ambitious, and one he is still very proud of. Reception of Deny Thy Father was not as enthusiastic as the previous novels. Darren Mooney said the novel does not make the father-son relationship glimpsed in 'The Icarus Factor' seem any more exciting. Lynn Nicole Louis of SFReader.com agreed, saying the novel is trivial, containing fabricated events designed to illustrate some portion of Will Riker's personality. Jason Garza of SFReader.com said Catalyst of Sorrows is not an easy read by any means, but that should not be a deterrent; if anything, it requires the reader to think, and it shows that the author knows how to tell an intelligent, compelling, riveting story.