Interest Star Trek The Next Generation - 'Hotel Royale' Novel

[DB537]

Interest thread for a possible limited run of the novel 'Hotel Royale' by Todd Matthews, from the season 2 episode 'The Royale': "A badly written book, filled with endless cliché and shallow characters." In the episode's script Data reviewed it: "The writing is elementary, the plotting predictable, the characters one-dimensional."

This is the best screencap of the book in the episode. The cover image is a 1988 photo of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and I have found the same actual photo that was used for the cover.



There was a copy of the Hotel Royale prop book auctioned by Heritage, but it's not the correct version. It was a later copy used for set dressing and isn't accurate.

Currently no info on possible pricing. It would depend upon the cost of obtaining the cover art in addition to the printing/binding costs.

There will be 2 different versions available.

I won't be keeping track of the options on the list here, and you don't have to choose/request the version that you want now, because I'll have them posted for sale separately on Etsy as they become available.

Option 1: Inside of book contains fully relevant content and a complete story which matches the description in the episode. Approx. $40
I'm working to make this one more realistic, but since I'm no professional writer, I make no guarantee that it will be coherent, logical, or entertaining.

Option 2: Prop version only, with relevant content only on the first and last few pages and page 244. The rest will be a single chapter of plot-relevant filler that repeats over and over again. Approx. $25.

MARCH 2020 UPDATE: CURRENT ESTIMATE FOR THE FILLER VERSION IS LATE SUMMER 2020. NO DATE YET FOR THE OTHER VERSION.

INTEREST LIST:

1. RobI
2. Mpops89
3. Anakin Starkiller
4. Aldo The Apache
5. phasersonthrill
6. Jintosh
7. trekker670
8. E Williams
9. norbauer (x5)
10. ProfKSergeev
11. peter1701
12. Eric Ardros
13. MGC
14. Kokanee
15. riker12
16. MattMunson
17. eaviii
18. Rajman1138
19. vitacura
20. JamesHook
21. Dakota
22. mrwax
23. JoeG (x2)
24. jcroscigno
25. raif79
26.
27.
28.

 

[Mpops89]

I would be interested, pending the usual

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

I would be interested, pending the usual

 

[Aldo The Apache]

I would be interested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[phasersonthrill]

I would be interested,

Always found this episode fascinating and imagined the slow horror it would be to be trapped in that neverending novel.


Looks like a dog or horse publishing mark on spine, perhaps can narrow down the book title they might have used as a template if the publishing company is known.

 

[DB537]

I would be interested,

Always found this episode fascinating and imagined the slow horror it would be to be trapped in that neverending novel.


Looks like a dog or horse publishing mark on spine, perhaps can narrow down the book title they might have used as a template if the publishing company is known.

I know that TNG used Earl Hays Press for the very few printed paper props they actually used on the show,
so it's most likely a generic logo that Hays created to use on prop books only.

EDIT: It's confirmed to be an Earl Hays Press prop. Look at the spine of item # BK-06 on their site here: http://theearlhayspress.com/book-covers.html

 

[DB537]

So since this is a Hays prop, it's very likely that the cover photo is extremely rare or non-existent in an online search.

If anyone knows a REALLY good painter who can recreate the hotel image very accurately based on what's available in
the screencaps, post here or message me and I'll start working on finding someone to recreate the artwork for the cover.

 

[DB537]

Bump :cool

 

[Jintosh]

Interested pending price and pictures.

I tried finding some basic structures to recreate the front, and I fear most of it would have to be done by scratch.

 

[DB537]

Rotated the photo and did some contrast adjustment. The location has been identified.

 

[DB537]

Edit: Cover building has been identified as Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, c.1979-1989. No luck finding the exact photo yet

 

[ecl]

Very interested in seeing how this turns out!

 

[Jintosh]

Edit: Cover building has been identified as Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, c.1979-1989. No luck finding the exact photo yet

That explains all the columns. Nice job. I wasn't looking for vintage buildings since the novel was written in the future.

 

[DB537]

Still trying to find the original photo as used on the prop. There are lots of photos of this building, but many are from the wrong era and all are taken from incorrect angles so far.

 

[DB537]

Bump :cool

 

[Jintosh]

...

Proof of concept. Blue lit buildings, Roman columns, and the fountain all appear in the book cover. Wrong angle.

The Red dome also appears on the cover.​

 

[DB537]

Mike J. found the actual photo used on a vintage program brochure for the Circus Maximus Showroom, but it's cropped on the right side.

I knew that it had to be a real photo.

I have contacted Caesar's Palace requesting further information on the original photo or contact info for the original photographer.

There's a good enough reference image available now to ensure that this run will actually happen.

If we can't get the full photo, there's enough information in the existing reference image that a good painter would be able to recreate the full image with no problems.

 

[Jintosh]

Amazing. I hope you can get the whole photo.

 

[Jintosh]

Yep, that's the picture.

 

[DB537]

Just something I put together quickly to test the text and font