Book bits: DTI and Prey covers, and details of future books

Books news! Continue below for bumper update on the latest novels and novellas, including new covers, and details of new books.

First up, the latest cover to enter the wild is snazzy spacey cover for the latest book in Chrisopher L. Bennett's Department of Temporal Investigations series. The ebook novella Time Lock, is due next month.

New blurbs for John Jackson Miller's Prey trilogy, and Christopher L. Bennett books

Lots of new prose blurbs today, for all the books in John Jackson Miller's TNG-era Prey trilogy, and Christopher L. Bennett's forthcoming TOS novel and Department of Temporal Investigations novella. Continue below to check them all out.

Due out in the final months of this year, John Jackson Miller's Prey trilogy is to feature the crews of the Enterprise-E, and Titan, in a story setting the Federation and Klingon Empire at odds. There will also be elements from TOS, as the new blurbs describe. Amazon have revealed these new details in listings for the books, with the titles also being posted for the first time. Those are: Hell's Heart, The Jackal's Trick, and The Hall of Heroes. If you're especially spoiler-averse, the three blurbs give plenty of detail, so proceed with caution:

Hell's Heart begins the trilogy, and will be the October book:

Continuing the milestone 50th anniversary celebration of Star Trek—an epic new trilogy that stretches from the events of The Original Series movie The Search for Spock to The Next Generation!

When Klingon commander Kruge died in combat against James T. Kirk on the Genesis planet back in 2285, he left behind a powerful house in disarray—and a series of ticking time bombs: the Phantom Wing, a secret squadron of advanced Birds-of-Prey; a cabal of loyal officers intent on securing his heritage; and young Korgh, his thwarted would-be heir, willing to wait a Klingon lifetime to enact his vengeance.

Now, one hundred years later, while on a diplomatic mission for the United Federation of Planets, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise are snared in the aged Korgh’s trap—and thrust directly in the middle of an ancient conflict. But as Commander Worf soon learns, Korgh may be after far bigger game than anyone imagines, confronting the Federation-Klingon alliance with a crisis unlike any it has ever seen!

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr.

Book bits: New covers, new ebooks, Legacies blurbs, and more

Lots of updates from the world of Star Trek prose today, including several dazzling new covers, news of a whole bunch of new ebooks, new blurbs from the 50th anniversary Legacies trilogy, and more! Continue below for everything, starting with new covers!

First up, StarTrek.com have premiered the covers for two novels. Due out in May is Elusive Salvation, Dayton Ward's sequel to the brilliant TOS/20th century book, From History's Shadow. This new cover, by Alan Dingman (as credited by the author), seems to feel both very modern and superbly retro, and quite atypical for Star Trek. I love it:

Book bits - Fiction edition: New covers, new blurbs, new ebook, and more!

Lots of books news lately, continue below for all the latest on prose fiction titles, including new details of next year's anniversary trilogy, new blurbs, a new ebooks, the return of Strange New Worlds, and more! First up, pretty new covers to look at.

Two new novel covers have been released lately, the first one here is for A Pocket Full of Lies, Kirsten Beyer's next Voyager novel, due in February:

The Full Circle Fleet has resumed its unprecedented explorations of the Delta Quadrant and former Borg space. Commander Liam O'Donnell of the U.S.S. Demeter makes a promising first contact with the Nihydron—humanoid aliens that are collectors of history. They rarely interact with the species they study but have created a massive database of numerous races, inhabited planets, and the current geopolitical landscape of a large swath of the quadrant. When an exchange of data is proposed via a formal meeting, the Nihydron representatives are visibly shaken when Admiral Kathryn Janeway greets them. For almost a century, two local species—the Rilnar and the Zahl—have fought for control of the nearby planet Sormana, with both sides claiming it as their ancestral homeworld. The shocking part is that for the last several years, the Rilnar have been steadily gaining ground, thanks to the tactics of their current commanding officer: a human woman, who appears to be none other than Kathryn Janeway herself...

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp. 

Speaking to TrekFM's Literary Treks podcast about he most recent book, Atonement, Beyer also revealed she is already at work on the next two Voyager novels following A Pocket Full of Lies. While this next book isn't the start of another multi-book arc, she does already have ideas on where the series is and could be going:

Books bits: 2016 novel schedule fills out

Last weekend the annual Shore Leave convention occurred in Maryland. As has become the tradition, Star Trek book writers flocked there and revealed details of many forthcoming titles, including several new book announcements, and details of some of the ones we already knew about. In fact the entire 2016 novel schedule has now been filled out, plus a few titles known for 2017 already!

From Christopher L. Bennett, as detailed on his blog, the TOS novel he has previously mentioned is now scheduled to be the January book in 2017, which means it should find it's way to the shops just in time for the end of the 50th anniversary year. This will be a five-year-mission story, and the title is The Face of the Unknown. That title had an air of familiarity about it to me, and a quick search reveals it is a line from The Corbomite Maneuver; I wonder if we'll be visiting the First Federation?

Bennett has also announced he will be continuing his Department of Temporal Investigations series, with a second ebook novella, Time Lock. There is no scheduling information for this one yet.

Dayton Ward also had plenty of news, which he has blogged about too. The big TOS books event of 2016 will be the Legacies trilogy, set for release from July to September. All three titles have now been revealed:

• Legacies Book I: Captain to Captain, by Greg Cox.
• Legacies Book II: Best Defense, by David Mack.
• Legacies Book III: Purgatory's Key, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore.

Ward also revealed the title for his next TNG novel will be Headlong Flight, which is due out in 2017. In doing so he also noted it will take place after both his recent novel Armageddon's Arrow, and the recently announced 2016 TNG trilogy Prey, by John Jackson Miller.

The other new title reveal comes from Jeffrey Lang, whose DS9 novel featuring Miles O'Brien and Nog now has a title, Force and Motion; it fills the last slot in the 2016 schedule, due out in June. Posting on the TrekBBS, Lang has revealed some details about the book:

Book bits: Voyager covers, new releases, and annotations

A few bits of books news today, starting with some new cover art from German publisher Cross Cult. Posting on the German Star Trek books Facebook page, they revealed the artwork for Kirsten Beyer's third Voyager relaunch book, Children of the Storm, aka Kinder des Sturms. The ship staring on this cover is the USS Curie, as designed by Mark Rademaker:

Kinder des Sturms is due out in August. Cross Cult also released an updated version of another of their covers. Continue after the jump to check that out, plus a few other Star trek book updates:

The Collectors cover

Just a few weeks away is the latest Star Trek ebook, The Collectors, the third entry in Christopher L. Bennett's Department of Temporal Investigations series, and first novella length story for Dulmur, Lucsly, and co. StarTrek.com have now released the cover for the new book, which follows the same swirly clock motif as the rest of the series:

I posted the blurb a few days ago, but in case you missed it:

The dedicated agents of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations have their work cut out for them protecting the course of history from the dangers of time travel. But the galaxy is littered with artifacts that, in the wrong hands, could threaten reality. One of the DTI's most crucial jobs is to track down these objects and lock them safely away in the Federation’s most secret and secure facility. When Agents Lucsly and Dulmur bring home an alien obelisk of incredible power, they are challenged by a 31st-century temporal agent who insists they surrender the mysterious artifact to her. But before they know it, the three agents are pulled into a corrupted future torn apart by a violent temporal war. While their DTI colleagues attempt to track them down, Lucsly and Dulmur must restore temporal peace by setting off on an epic journey through the ages, with the future of the galaxy hanging in the balance...

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes.

The Collectors blurb

Out next month is the third story in Christopher L. Bennett's Department of Temporal Investigations series, the first ebook novella, following the previous two novels. The blurb for The Collectors has now been released, and it seems like Dulmur and Lucsly are set for a grand adventure after an encounter with 31st century temporal agent, Jena Noi:

An all-new Star Trek e-novella featuring the Department of Temporal Investigations!

The dedicated agents of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations have their work cut out for them protecting the course of history from the dangers of time travel. But the galaxy is littered with artifacts that, in the wrong hands, could threaten reality. One of the DTI's most crucial jobs is to track down these objects and lock them safely away in the Federation’s most secret and secure facility. When Agents Lucsly and Dulmur bring home an alien obelisk of incredible power, they are challenged by a 31st-century temporal agent who insists they surrender the mysterious artifact to her. But before they know it, the three agents are pulled into a corrupted future torn apart by a violent temporal war. While their DTI colleagues attempt to track them down, Lucsly and Dulmur must restore temporal peace by setting off on an epic journey through the ages, with the future of the galaxy hanging in the balance...

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes.

There's no cover out for this one yet, it should turn up soon, as there's less than a month until the book is out, but generally the ebook covers are released much closer to publication date than the print releases.

Seekers covers revealed, and more books bits

Been looking forward to seeing the retro glory of Rob Caswell's covers for the new Vanguard spin-off series, Seekers? Me too, and here they are, revealed by USA Today!

UPDATE: Dayton Ward has now posted them at higher resolution, yay!

You might recall the Seekers series was in fact inspired by Rob Caswell's cover designs for a series of novelization covers for an imagined Star Trek spin off series, The Seekers. You can see the whole series, with a commentary from Rob, in a feature I did a while ago.

The real Seekers series will be starting in August with David Mack's Second Nature, followed the next month by Point of Divergence by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore. The series will alternate focus between Mack's adventures on the USS Sagittarius, and Wardilmore's tales of the USS Endeavour, with the first two books telling a two-part story. USA Today also posted a short extract from the first book:

Theriault raised her phaser.

"Heavy stun! Aim for center mass!" Behind her, Dastin aimed his weapon half a second faster than Tan Bao and Hesh.

As Nimur let the misshapen husk of Ysan's body fall in a heap, the wounded Wardens struggled to get up. A few of them started to aim their lances once more at Nimur.

All the Wardens' heads twisted one-hundred-eighty degrees in a fraction of a second. The breaking of their necks sounded like old-fashioned firecrackers.

Then there was nothing between Theriault and the demonic force once known as Nimur.

"Fire!"

Four blue phaser beams screamed through the darkness and slammed into Nimur. Their combined force launched her backward several meters and knocked her onto her back. For a moment, the crackling electricity on Nimur's hands ceased, and the fire in her eyes dimmed. Then her eyes flared white and a brutal, invisible blunt force struck Theriault.

She and the rest of the landing party landed in a tangle of limbs, all of them stunned and groaning in pain. She blinked to clear the spots from her purpled vision and staggered to her feet. With her phaser clutched in her outstretched, unsteady arm, she looked for any sign of Nimur.

The fugitive was gone.

Behind her, Dastin rubbed the back of his head. "Is it over?"

Theriault holstered her phaser. "I've got a bad feeling this is just getting started."

Continue after the jump for more books news, including a new Cross Cult cover, and the latest from Christopher L. Bennett and Keith R.A. DeCandido.

Doing the ebook shuffle

UPDATE: We interrupt this ebook news article with breaking novel news: Dayton Ward has just announced on Twitter that his post-The Fall TNG novel, due mid-2015, will be titled Armageddon's Arrow. He gave this short summary in a follow-up tweet:

I've been wanting to do a TNG story that's sort of TOS in flavor, with Picard & the gang encountering some weird alien stuff :)

Now, back to novellas: Just a few days ago a listing appeared for The Collectors, Christopher L. Bennett's latest ebook novella, and his third Department of Temporal Investigations story. Initially listed for an October release, if you look now you might notice it's been pushed back to December.

Fear not though ebook readers, for that has just made room for another of this year's new ebooks to find a publication slot. There are now listings up for Q are Cordially Uninvited..., a TNG novella set to show us the wedding of Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher, with a certain, undoubtedly uninvited, guest. This ebook now sits in the October slot. The listings also reveal the author, Rudy Josephs; a name that might seem familiar, as he has two previous stories under his belt, the most recent of which was the second nuTrek Starfleet Academy young adult novel, The Edge, which was published in 2010.

It also appears that  Scott Pearson's TOS novella, The More Things Change, has been brought forward a month, now due in June instead of July.

Less far off, this month sees the second Star Trek ebook of the year, Michael A. Martin's Seasons of Light and Darkness. Unless you've read it already, this one remains a bit of a mystery, as Simon and Schuster seem to have decided not to bother with a blurb this time. It has been previously established it will feature Doctor McCoy, early in the events of The Wrath of Khan. Simon and Schuster have now released an excerpt, which takes us back a little earlier in McCoy's timeline. You can read that, on their website.

Continue after the jump for reminder of all the ebooks on this way in the coming year:

Book bits: DTI, Klingons, New Frontier, and Serpents

Some Star Trek books news. Starting with a little update on Christopher L. Bennett's third Department of Temporal Investigations story, the forthcoming ebook novella, The Collectors. Listings for this are now online, which gives it a release date on October this year. Bennett has previously spoken about the novella, which will feature the DTI's time travel technology storage facility, the Eridian Vault, and the 31st century temporal agent, Jena Noi.

Coming a little sooner is Keith R.A DeCandido's new Klingon "non-fiction" book, The Klingon Art of War. The G and T Show recently talked to DeCandido about the book, who summarised what the book will entail:

It's been written in the same vein as Sun Tzu's Art of War.. It's more like a philosophy book than anything; it's a guide on how to live your life as a proper warrior. I joked that it's my first self help book.

The way the book is structured is: The original book, The Klingon Art of War, was written and published not to long after Khaless's disappearance/ascension/whatever. And it was also after the the Hurq invasion.

We've got the original text, that was from a couple of thousand years ago, and that is followed by modern commentary by a modern Klingon author named Karatak, who was mentioned in passing in a Next gen episode in the second season, who provides this modern commentary; more anecdotes and such, on how the different precepts apply to more modern Klingons. This way I can use examples from the tv show, from the novels, as well as other stuff I made up.

Also due in May, and starting to show up right about now, is Jeff Mariotte's TOS movie-era return to A Private Little War's planet Neural, Serpents in the Garden. Simon and Schuster have now released an excerpt from this one, you can find all of chapter one, on their site.

Finally a little rumouring for New Frontier. Andorian fanatic and all-round Trek-fan, Therin of Andor, has posted on the TrekBBS, reporting news from a friend of his who apparently met Peter David at a recent comic convention in Salt Lake city, and informed Therin that Peter David mentioned there are plans afoot for a new New Frontier novel. If so it will be the first since Blind Man's Bluff in 2011.

Christopher L. Bennett announces three new titles on the way

There's no end to books news in the last few days! The latest comes from Christopher L. Bennett, who has just announced on his blog that he is now signed up to bring us a Department of Temporal Investigations ebook, and two more Rise of the Federation novels!

The ebook, to be titled, The Collectors, will be coming first, expected late in 2014. This will be the third instalment in Bennett's DTI series, but the first in this shorter format. While the previous novels did a lot of joining up the dots of Star Trek time travel, this novella will be focused more on telling an original story using what Bennett has established in his books, as he described:

...it’s a story I had a great deal of fun writing, delving deeper into two elements from Watching the Clock that I’ve been eager to explore in more depth: The Eridian Vault, where the DTI stores dangerous temporal artifacts (sort of a Warehouse 13 for time travel), and the mysterious Agent Jena Noi of the 31st-century Federation Temporal Agency.

Bennett expects his next Enterprise novel, the third in his Rise of the Federation series, to see publication in early 2015. This book, tentatively titled Uncertain Logic, will be linked to the next, which Bennett expects to follow in early 2016. He gave some details of these too:

The two books will each stand on their own but have a common story arc connecting them, with the latter story arising from the consequences of the former. (That’s why I got contracted for the two books together. I thought I’d have to talk my editor into that, but she was just, “Sure, I’ll start the paperwork.”) And both books will continue to flesh out ideas from Enterprise, reveal the origins of elements from The Original Series and beyond, and feature original worldbuilding and exploration as well.

Margaret Clark spills the beans on Trek-lit in 2014 and beyond

For a little over a year now, Trek FM's Literary Treks podcast has been bringing us regular interviews with Star Trek authors, giving us something like DVD extra features, in their discussions of how each book came to be, and analysis of the subject they explore. This week's episode has an extra special interview, not with an author, but with Margaret Clark, the Star Trek books editor at Simon and Schuster. Clark talked extensively about her work on Trek, back to working on DC Comics, and her first jobs with Simon and Schuster, through to master-minding the current run of books, including big events like Destiny and The Fall. Clark also revealed the details of several new novels and ebooks coming in the future.

Those include the first news of new TOS movie era novel by Greg Cox, coming late 2014, and the reveal John Jackson Miller will be continuing in Trek, after his ebook debut next month, with a full novel in 2015, featuring the USS Aventine.

UPDATE: John Jackson Miller has blogged about his new novel, noting that in addition to the crew of the Aventine it will feature TNG characters, and will also fit into the overall exploration theme Margaret Clark is going for in the next wave of novels.

Clark also shed some light on some of the books we already know about. Confirming Una McCormack's Home Again will feature Beverly Crusher as DS9's temporary chief medical officer, she also mentioned another familiar doctor will play a key role.

She also noted she is scheduling Kirsten Beyer's trilogy of Voyager stories close together. February's Protectors starts it off, only having to wait until October for the continuation in Acts of Contrition. While Clark didn't state it, if we were to get a similar gap between books then we can expect part three in the middle of 2015.

Talking about Jeffrey Lang's Light Fantastic, she mentioned most holographic characters in Trekdom will feature, and also noted it will be the only Data story we get for some time:

Jeff's book is fantastic; it's a sequel to Cold Equations, it's the only book that Data will be in through the next nineteen months - I'm looking at the 2015 schedule, and he's not in any of those books either. Data to me is like saffron, he should be used very sparingly. I told Jeff, you have the only Data story this year, he's like "you're kidding me?". I said "Nope, no one else has, you have to write a heeeell of a book". That's not what Data is any-more, Data's not a Starfleet person. This is a sequel to Immortal Coil, it's also a sequel to Cold Equations. It's a TNG book, it's Geordi, it's Data, it's evil holograms, it's got good holograms, it's unexpected people suddenly. It's a great read, it really is.

Clark also mentioned David R. George III checked over DS9 portions of the story to keep them in line with the new station design.

Here's the now complete 2014 schedule for Star Trek novels:

• February - Voyager: Protectors, by Kirsten Beyer.
• March - TOS: No Time Like the Past, by Greg Cox.
• April - Enterprise: Rise of the Federation: Tower of Babel, by Christopher L. Bennett.
• May - TOS: Serpents in the Garden, by Jeff Mariotte.
• June - The Lost Era: One Constant Star, by David R. George III.
• July - TNG: Light Fantastic, by Jeffrey Lang.
• August - Seekers 1: Second Nature, by David Mack.
• September - Seekers 2: Point of Divergence, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore.
• October - Voyager: Acts of Contrition, by Kirsten Beyer.
• November - Section 31: Disavowed, by David Mack.
• December - TOS movie era book, by Greg Cox.
• January - DS9: Home Again, by Una McCormack.

As well as the novels, Clark spoke about the ebook line, including announcing two new ones, a Department of Temporal Investigations novella coming from Christopher L. Bennett, and a TNG book featuring Q at Picard and Crusher's wedding, called Q Are Cordially Uninvited.

UPDATE: Christopher L. Bennett has revealed the title of his ebook as The Collectors, as well as announcing he will be writing two more novels. See separate report for full details.

Clark also mentioned a DS9 novella, called Lust, Latinum, Lost and Found. She didn't give the author, but presumably this is the DS9 ebook Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann are writing. Clark gave a brief summary:

This is a Quark story, where he's trying desperately, because there are so many more distractions on this new station, he's not the only game in town, and he's trying to buy the latest version of Vulcan love slave.

Here's the schedule for ebook novellas:

• February - Titan: Absent Enemies, by John Jackson Miller.
• April - TOS: Seasons of Light and Darkness, by Michael A. Martin.
• July - TOS: The More Things Change, by Scott Pearson. 
• October - TOS: Shadow of the Machine, by Scott Harrison.
• Unknown - DS9: Lust, Latinum, Lost and Found, by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann. 
• Unknown - Department of Temporal Investigations: The Collectors, by Christopher L. Bennett.
• Unknown - TNG: Q Are Cordially Uninvited, by unknown.

Also discussed was the possibility of new Star Trek audiobooks. Apparently it is something the publishers are talking about right now, and have asked for suggestions as to which books could get the audio-treatment. Clark is keen on getting Andrew Robinson to read his Garak novel, A Stitch in Time.

For the full interview with Margaret Clark, make sure to go and listen to Literary Treks. And for full coverage of all the Star Trek books, including links to all my previous article with covers, blurbs and more, hit the prose button on my 2014 schedule page. Or to get really prepared, I've recently added a 2015 schedule page too, to keep track of these first few publications we know are coming.

Books updates

Lots of book bits to share: Starting with the first look at the cover for Tony Daniel's first Star Trek novel, Devil's Bargain, which is set to feature the Horta in a TOS adventure. Sadly there are no Horta on the cover, just a lot of Spock - But not bad for a head cover (via StarTrek.com):

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.

Another of next year's TOS books, William Leisner's The Shock of Adversity, has a new blurb, added to its listing on Simon and Schuster's online catalogue:

Located far beyond the boundaries of explored space, the Goeg Domain is a political union of dozens of planets and races. When the U.S.S. Enterprise arrives in its territory to investigate an interstellar phenomenon, Commander Laspas of the Domain Defense Corps is at first guarded, then fascinated to discover the existence of an alliance of worlds much like his own, and finds a kindred spirit in Captain James T. Kirk. And when the Enterprise is attacked by the Domain’s enemies, crippling the starship’s warp capability and leaving its crew facing the prospect of a slow, months-long journey home, the Goeg leader volunteers the help of his own ship, offering to combine the resources of both vessels to bring the Enterprise to a nearby Domain facility to make the necessary repairs.

But what at first seems to be an act of peace and friendship soon turns out to be a devil’s bargain, as Kirk and the Enterprise crew learn that there are perhaps more differences than similarities between the Federation and the Domain. When the Goeg’s adversaries strike again, the Enterprise is drawn deeper and inexorably into the conflict, and Kirk begins to realize that they may have allied themselves with the wrong side…

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.

Later in 2013, the TOS block gives way to the five-part TNG-era crossover series, The Fall. So far we know David R George III is starting the series with a DS9 novel, Revelations and Dust, and that both Dayton Ward and David Mack are also contributing books to the series. Now James Swallow has also announced his involvement, with a Titan book on the way -Which pleases me no end, as his previous Titan novel, Synthesis, was one of the best in the series.

A bit less far away, listings have popped up lately for three new ebook omnibuses, all coming in January:

• Typhon Pact: The Khitomer Accords Saga - Comprised of the three most recent Typhon Pact branded books; David R George III's Plagues of Night and Raise the Dawn, and Una McCormack's Brinkmanship.
• The Original Series: The Continuing Missions, Volume I - Collects together this year's TOS novels: The Rings of Time, by Greg Cox, That Which Divides, by Dayton Ward, and Christopher L Bennett's second DTI novel, Forgotten History.
• Destiny: The Complete Saga - Which unsurprisingly is all three books of David Mack's Destiny trilogy. It's not clear whether this is a straight repackage of the three original novels, or a ebook release of this year's omnibus edition, which had a few tweaks from the originals.

Finally the second episode of TrekFM's new Literary Treks podcast is available for listening now. This time they talked to Kirsten Beyer about her Voyager relaunch books. She talked extensively about how she has developed the series, so if you're a fan it's well worth a listen (and if you're not a fan, what's wrong with you?). She also reconfirmed that her next book wont be getting to us until early 2014.

Forgotten History, annotated

One of my favourite features of many a Trek book comes not in the books themselves, but are sprinkled across the web by a handful of authors. That is author annotations; where authors post notes of references, in-jokes, explanations and expansions of ideas, and give a general behind-the-scenes look at their creations.

One of the most prolific producers of annotations for their Trek books (maybe even the only author to have done annotations for every one of their stories?) is Christopher L. Bennett, who has now posted the annotations for his most recent Trek book, Department of Temporal Investigations: Forgotten History. Naturally I recommend you read the actual book first; partly because you'll spoil it a bit if you don't, but mainly because it's so darned good! But once you have read it, go forth and find out more by reading the annotations too.

If you're curious about annotations for other Trek books, Memory beta has a handy page listing other examples. I wonder how long it will be before Pocket Books find a way to make these official extra features on ebook releases? It would be a great way for them to promote referenced books, and would make for an interesting interactive feature.

CLB on new TOS DTI novel

StarTrek.com have posted an interview with Christopher L. Bennett, regarding his new DTI novel, Forgotten History. I recommend reading the full interview, as it's a rather witty piece by Bennett in which present him talks to his past self, complete with cameos from Dulmur and Lucsly when the interview threatens temporal integrity. But if you only want the highlights: Bennett talked a bit about how the new novel came into being:

We knew from Deep Space Nine: “Trials and Tribble-ations” that James T. Kirk had seventeen separate temporal violations listed in the DTI’s files, so surely there must be an unchronicled one worth writing about.

The suggestion sparked a bigger idea in me, though. Watching the Clock and earlier stories had established the DTI’s founding date as 2270, right around the end of the famous five-year mission. So why not tell the origin story of the DTI itself? I could have Lucsly and Dulmur—the DTI agents featured in “Trials and Tribble-ations” and the lead characters of Watching the Clock—encounter a temporal mystery tying into the origins of their own department, a mystery suggesting that Kirk and the Enterprise played an even more integral role in the DTI’s formative years than history recorded, and use their investigation as a framing sequence for that story. Not only could I do for the original series’ time travel episodes what I did for various twenty-fourth-century ones in Watching the Clock—tell the stories behind the stories and explore their background, connections, and consequences—but I could extend the tale forward into the DTI’s early years and finally get to write that follow-up to Star Trek: Ex Machina that I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

As well as noting some of inspiration and opportunities he took in doing a TOS-era DTI novel:

I’m getting to address a lot of things I’ve often wondered about Kirk’s time travel adventures: how did Starfleet react upon learning time travel was possible? How to explain the coincidence that the same starship made two accidental time journeys and discovered the Guardian of Forever within a single year? What led Starfleet to risk sending the Enterprise back to 1968 for historical research in “Assignment: Earth,” or using the Guardian for research in “Yesteryear”?

But that’s just part of it. The timeframe of the book lets me fulfill some long-standing wishes: telling a story employing characters and concepts from Star Trek: The Animated Series (and not the characters one would expect); exploring the internal layout of the Enterprise based on what was revealed in Star Trek: Enterprise’s “In a Mirror, Darkly” as well as the original and animated series; elaborating on the end of the five-year mission and the process of the Enterprise refit; and most of all, carrying forward the post-TMP adventures of the Enterprise and advancing some of the major character arcs that Ex Machina set in motion. All of this is secondary to the saga of the DTI’s formative years, of course, but it’s all in there, and then some.

Bennett also noted how the book was initially planned as a TOS branded title, and how he has written it to be accessible to TOS fans:

Although its frame sequence does feature the DTI characters from Watching the Clock and takes place after it, I’ve tried to treat them the same way I’d handle brand-new characters, so that TOS fans picking up this book can learn all they need to know about the DTI team without needing to read anything else. I’ve even tried to make the 2383 portions understandable for TOS fans unfamiliar with the later shows, for instance pointing out that relations with the Klingons are better in Lucsly’s time than in Kirk’s. Although Forgotten History is the second DTI book, it’s my hope that it can work equally well if you read it first—appropriately, for it is the origin story of the department.

You can read the whole interview, here. Forgotten History is available now in paperback and ebook.

Forgotten History excerpt

Chritopher L. Bennett's second Department of Temporal Investigations novel, Forgotten History is out soon (paper copies should be showing up any day now, and the ebook is out next week), and Simon and Schuster have posted an excerpt online to tempt you. Here is the teaser page:

"Is there any sign of activity from this timeship?" The Director went on.
   "No, ma'am," Dulmer said. "It's adrift. The subspace confluence seems stable."
   "Then we have time to examine the records. I'm granting you full clearance to whatever classified DTI and Federation Science Council records from the period you believe may be relevant to your investigation. I'll request the equivalent clearance from Starfleet Command. And I'll tell you what I can remember about those early days."
   "If it wasn't Grey," Lucsly said, "we should track down who in Starfleet would've headed up the investigation of the Enterprise's temporal incidents. We know Starfleet undertook some reckless experiments with time in those early days. This must have been one of them."
   "Then how did the ship end up with civilian markings?" Dulmur asked. "Department markings?"
   "Don't get ahead of the process, Dulmur," Andos said. "To reconstruct the truth, we need to follow the chain of events from their beginning."
   "And their beginning, as always," Lucsly said, "was James Tiberius Kirk."

You can read all the way up to the start of chapter four, here.

DTI: Forgotten History blurb

The Simon and Schuster website has been updated with a blurb for Christopher L. Bennett's second Department of Temporal Investigations novel, Forgotten History:

The agents of the Department of Temporal Investigations are assigned to look into an anomaly that has appeared deep in Federation territory. It’s difficult to get clear readings, but a mysterious inactive vessel lies at the heart of the anomaly, one outfitted with some sort of temporal drive disrupting space-time and subspace. To the agents’ shock, the ship bears a striking resemblance to a Constitution-class starship, and its warp signature matches that of the original Federation starship Enterprise NCC-1701—the ship of James T. Kirk, that infamous bogeyman of temporal investigators, whose record of violations is held up by DTI agents as a cautionary tale for Starfleet recklessness toward history. But the vessel’s hull markings identify it as Timeship Two, belonging to none other than the DTI itself. At first, Agents Lucsly and Dulmur assume the ship is from some other timeline . . . but its quantum signature confirms that it came from their own past, despite the fact that the DTI never possessed such a timeship. While the anomaly is closely monitored, Lucsly and Dulmur must search for answers in the history of Kirk’s Enterprise and its many encounters with time travel—a series of events with direct ties to the origins of the DTI itself. . . .

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp.