Book bits: New Voyager blurb, TOS excerpt, and more

Books news! First up there is a new blurb for Kirsten Beyer's next Voyager novel, Atonement, which comes via the Simon and Schuster digital catalogue. The book, due out next September, will be completing the trilogy begun in Protectors and Acts of Contrition, and this early-stage blurb unsurprisingly makes clear several plot points form those books will be resolved:

Admiral Kathryn Janeway faces a tribunal determined to execute her for supposed crimes committed during Voyager’s maiden trek through the Delta Quadrant. Captain Chakotay knows that the Kinara, several species now allied against the Full Circle fleet, are not all they appear to be. The Confederacy of the Worlds of the First Quadrant—a pact he cannot trust—is his only hope for unraveling the Kinara’s true agenda and rescuing Admiral Janeway. Meanwhile, Seven and Tom Paris are forced to betray the trust of their superiors in a desperate bid to reveal the lengths to which a fellow officer has gone in the name of protecting the Federation from the legendary Caeliar.

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

Meanwhile, the next book on the schedule should be starting to show up in the coming days. Amazon now has an excerpt up for Greg Cox's TOS book, Foul Deeds Will Rise. You can read all of chapter one, which starts like this:

Captain’s log. Stardate 8514.6

The Enterprise has embarked on a peacekeeping mission to the Savinia system, where two warring planets, Pavak and Oyolo, are attempting to end years of bitter hostility. Although neither planet is a member of the Federation, we have been invited by both parties to act as an impartial mediator. The Enterprise will serve as neutral territory for the upcoming peace negotiations, while also patrolling the space between the two worlds in order to deter any attacks. Given the atrocities and bloodshed on both sides of the conflict, there are bound to be hard feelings among the delegates. I don’t envy the Federation ambassador assigned to this mission.

Who just happens to have a familiar face . . .

“Well, they’re not shooting at each other yet,” Ambassador Kevin Riley said. “That’s a positive sign, I suppose.”

The Enterprise approached the rendezvous point. On the bridge’s main viewer, two small diplomatic courier crafts from Pavak and Oyolo faced off against each other in the demilitarized zone between the planets. The couriers were essentially streamlined shuttlecrafts, designed for interplanetary travel within the solar system. Kirk recalled that both races possessed rudimentary warp technology, but had scarcely ventured beyond their own system. He briefly considered raising the Enterprise’s shields, but he decided against it. The shuttles posed little threat to the starship, and arriving with shields up, as though expecting trouble, hardly sent the right message.

“I admire your optimism, Ambassador,” Kirk said from the captain’s chair. He was wearing his dress uniform in anticipation of the delegates’ imminent arrival. Medals adorned the front of his double-breasted maroon jacket. “From what I gather, you have your work cut out for you.”

“You can say that again.” Riley stood beside Kirk’s chair in the sunken command circle at the center of the bridge. His conservative gray suit was a good deal less colorful than the then-regulation gold tunic he’d worn when he’d first served aboard the original Enterprise, some two decades ago. Years in the diplomatic corps had added some seasoning to his face and a neatly trimmed brown beard made him look more mature as well. “I have to say I’ve enjoyed the trip here, though. It’s good to be back on the Enterprise again . . . well, an Enterprise at least.”

“I know what you mean,” Kirk said. This new vessel wasn’t quite the same as his old ship, which had gone down in flames above the Genesis Planet a few years back, but he was getting used to it. And certainly it had proven itself during some tight situations, beginning with that business on Nimbus III. “And it’s been a pleasure to have you back aboard, if only for this mission.”

“We’re being hailed by both delegations,” Uhura reported from the communications station. “They’re ready to be beamed aboard.”

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

Continue after the jump for a behind the scenes book-cover development tale, and the latest updates from the German Star Trek publisher.

Book bits: Serpents, Voyager, and German covers

The latest books news, starting with the first look at the cover for Jeff Mariotte's TOS movie-era return to A Private Little War's planet Neural, Serpents in the Garden. Amazon have added this cover to their listings:

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

Serpents in the Garden is due out in May. Meanwhile Kirsten Beyer has posted news of another 2014 book on the TrekBBS, revealing her next Voyager novel, Acts of Contrition, is to be the October book. Thanks to Unreality SF's Jens Defner for pointing me towards that news.

And further thanks to Jens for helping decipher some of the latest news from German publisher Cross Cult, who have released final versions of several of their covers for forthcoming books on their Star Trek books Facebook page. The big news is that they plan to release Michael A. Martin's Romulan War books as a trilogy, having opted to split Beneath the Raptor's Wing (Unter den Schwingen des Raubvogels) into two books. Here's the new cover art for the first part:

They have also released the finalised version of the second part, which uses the previously released artwork for the book when it was to be a single volume. They've yet to release the final version of To Brave the Storm, but they previously released artwork, so you can get an idea of what the final triptych will look like:


Books parts of Unter den Schwingen des Raubvogels are expected in August, while the German version of To Brave the Storm has to wait until early 2015.

Continue after the jump for a look at the finalised versions of several other Cross Cult books:

Books bits: Latest covers and author comments

Some books news, starting with new covers. UPDATE: New book news! TrekBBS user Kertrats47 spotted a new book listed on David Mack's website. Coming in December next year is Section 31: Disavowed. There's also a cover up on David Mack's site, though Mack has pointed out this is just a mock-up, not the real thing.

Now for some actual new covers: Cross Cult have released the first drafts of Martin Frei's new cover designs for both of the Romulan War novels. I was a little surprised to see these, as Cross Cult tend to keep the original art when it features nice ship scenes (which the second book, To Brave the Storm did), but I suppose they might be trying to keep a consistent style for their Enterprise series, and as you can see, the two books form a diptych:

Click to see new DS9 in high res

In other Enterprise cover news, Doug Dexler recently mentioned that the NX-refit design will be featuring on a future cover - Presumably for the next Rise of the Federation novel, Tower of Babel, after A Choice of Futures established the refit design, known as the Columbia class, in use as T'Pol's command, the USS Endeavour. The interview on the Trek Initiative Wiki covers a wide range of topics from Drexler's work on Star Trek, and also includes a super high-res version of the Revelation and Dust cover, sans titles, giving the best view yet of the new Deep Space 9; you can even see interior scenes through the windows.

Dayton Ward has also been interviewed lately, by both the G and T show, and Trek Mate. He talked to both about his most recent book, From History's Shadow (discussing it in spoiler-filled detail with Trek Mate), and also talked a little bit about future releases. Telling the G and T show about Seekers, he confirmed the first two novels will be telling a more directly linked story, before the alternating ship-series goes onto more independent tales:

The first story is going to be bridging two books, and the three of us are cracking the story for both books together. So even though Dave's book will have his name on the cover, and Kevin and I will have our name on the cover of book two, the story credit will be all three of us for both books. And then from there we'll go off and do our own thing. Then occasionally we might come back for a multi-part story-line if we decide we have a great idea.

He was much more coy about his entry to The Fall series, as his book, Peaceable Kingdoms, concludes the series, and thus is built upon the stories of the four books preceding. He did mention Corps of Engineers' Captain Sonya Gomez will be showing up in his book briefly, and reiterated the impact The Fall is going to have on the future shape of the 24th century story space:

I'm hoping that the stage will be set, by the time that we're done with these five books, that we're heading off in a different direction for 24th century novels, that hopefully people will like.

The G and T show also interviewed Larry Nemecek, who discussed his forthcoming book and maps set, Star Trek: Stellar Cartography, including a summary of the Romulan War map:

...one is the Romulan War, like highlights of the Romulan War done by Starfleet's information service, two years after the Federation's founding. So it's like it's still the 2160s, so it's very recent, and you still have the graphics of the Enterprise-era labelling and everything, but it's just a couple of years afterward.

He went on to reveal the details of the Romulan War in this map are based on the account of the conflict from Federation: The First 150 Years, rather than novelverse version of events.

Conversely, speaking about his forthcoming book, The Klingon Art of War, on the TrekBBS, Keith R.A DeCandido he will be making numerous connections to the novelverse:

There will be references to Morjod's coup, the Borg invasion, Klag being the head of the Fifth Fleet, Lukara forming the Order of the Bat'leth, Presidents Zife and Bacco, and some other stuff besides.

Amazon have also posted a new blurb for this book, revealing the ten precepts that will be covered:

Passed down from the time of Kahless, ten precepts have shaped Klingon culture andindoctrinated Klingons in the Way of the Warrior. With this new translation, people from all walks of life—and all worlds—can harness the ancient Klingon wisdom and learn to embody courage, discipline, and honor.

• Choose your enemies well.
• Strike quickly or strike not.
• Always face your enemy.
• Seek adversity.
• Reveal your true self in combat.
• Destroy weakness.
• Leave nothing until tomorrow.
• Choose death over chains.
• Die standing up.
• Guard honor above all.

For more details of all the forthcoming books, hit the books button on my 2013 and 2014 schedule pages.

Latest updates from Laser Books

Last summer I reported on Laser Books' return to publishing Czech translations of Star Trek novels. After a pause in their output for a couple of years they had prepared a packed line-up, catching up on many of the recent series. Alas after getting a couple of books out last year they had some complications.

Next book on their schedule was kicking off their run of Enterprise books with Kobayashi Maru. Laser had thought they would then continue with the Romulan War series, having reserved the rights to do a translation, but as their editor, Albert Balatka, has explained to me, that was when things got tricky - It turned out in the intervening time another publisher, Baronet, had secured the rights to the Romulan War duology. Baronet and Laser have since decided to work together on the Romulan War books. So now Kobayahi Maru (Kobayahi Maru) will be coming from Laser this month, and Romulanská Válka: Pod Krídlem Dravce (Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing) follows in February, with Romulanská Válka: Ti, Kteří Celí Bouři (Romulan War: To Brave the Storm) due to follow in May.

Laser Books have changed the cover design of Kobayshi Maru since I last posted their artwork. Here is the new version by James Schejbal:

Balatka told me they intended to have Trip disguised as his Romulan alter-ego Cunaehr on the cover. That doesn't seemed to have happened in the end, but they did do a very rough mock-up of that sort of thing for a promo image they posted on the Czech Star Trek books Facebook page:

The cover for Pod Krídlem Dravce (Beneath the Raptor's Wing) is much the same as the original US version, although they have altered the back cover, allowing them to add in a Romulan Bird-of-Prey:

Balatka also sent me over a full cover for the already released Černý král (The Red King). Aside from changing the red king to the black king in the title and art work, they have also made the back cover the same colour as the spine, and plan to continue this treatment with further books in the Titan series (the original US ones all have a blue coloured back covers, until Synthesis, which also adopted the spine and front cover colours):

Another book that was intended for last year but is currently held up is Smrt v Zimě (Death in Winter). Balatka is hoping to be able to include the Titan short story Improvisations on the Opal Sea: A Tale of Dubious Credibility, which was originally published in the Tales From the Captain's Table anthology. That desire has set back the release while Pocket Books work out if they're allowed to include the short story with Death in Winter.

Beyond that they intend to complete the release of the String Theory trilogy with book three, Evoluce (Evolution), and then plan to get the novelization of Star Trek Into Darkness out in time for the Czech release of the film in June.

After Into Darkness they will be continuing with the release of TNG, and Titan, working their way towards Destiny.

Return to Trek books in Czech!

Regular readers will know I like to keep an international flavour to things here, especially when it involves new cover art, so I regularly report on new editions of Star Trek stuff in other languages. Most commonly Cross Cult's German translations (as they have the most active publishing program at the moment), but I've also previously found new titles in French, Spanish and Portuguese. Over at the 8of5 Archives I've also explored some of past foreign language titles, so far looking at French comics and prose and comics published in Hebrew.

I have yet to do a piece on Star Trek published in the Czech Republic, and you might be surprised to know that over the years there have been quite a few published there! There had been a bit of a lull in recent years, but it seems now, under a new editor, Albert Balatka, that things are getting going again at Laser Books. Last year saw the publication of Fusion (Fúze), book two in the Voyager: String Theory trilogy - Book one, Cohesion (Koheze) was translated back in 2008. They seem to have a growing schedule for this year, with Alan Dean Fosters movie novelization already out, and the second Titan book The Red King (Černý král) out about now (following from Taking Wing (Mezi dvěma světy) back in 2007), which has had the cover subtly altered to reflect the slightly changed title to Black King:

 

There's a new cover on the way for what will be Laser's first Enterprise book, Kobayashi Maru, expected in August:

Also planned for this year (September) is the second book in the Crucible trilogy, Spock: The Fire and the Rose (Oheň i růže), which again follows from the first book, McCoy: Provenance of Shadows (Odkud přicházejí stíny), coming out back in 2008.

If a Czech forum I found is reliable, also currently in development are The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing (Romulanská válka: Pod křídlem dravce), in October; Death in Winter (Smrt v zimě) appropriately in December; String Theory: Evolution (Teorie strun: Evoluce), in January; and later in 2013, Articles of the Federation (Zákony Federace), Resistance (Odpor), Q and A (Q: otázky a odpovědi), Before Dishonor (Před zněuctěním), The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm (Romulanská válka: Odvážně vstříc bouři), and Orion's Hounds (Orionovi psi).

Perhaps the most interesting of all though is Star Trek: Kusy (Pieces), which appears to be a Strange New Worlds-like writing contest, which like several of series launched years back by Laser was begun in 2007. According to the competition website, three stories were to be chosen, each to also have an accompanying illustration. This book is finally expected some time this year.

Interesting Laser has previously published two original Star Trek novels in Czech; Q alternativa and Zrcadla, in 2002 and 2004 respectively. These don't seem to be licensed however, while one cover depicts the Enterprise-D neither of them actually have Star Trek in the title and some websites seem to to refer to them as being based on a "modified version of the series". Hopefully this new anthology is a bit more official and a bit more likely to get translated into other languages.

Alternate art for Kobayashi Maru

Doug Drexler has posted on his blog a variant of his artwork for the cover of the Enterprise novel Kobayashi Maru:

I think this might be the first time this art has been seen in colour; a black and white version was released in early solicitations for the book.

Drexler has also posted his cover art, without the titles, for the more recent/forthcoming books, To Brave the Storm, and Storming Heaven. Both of which were apparently inspired by Frank McCarthy movie posters. Go have a looksie.

Michael A. Martin on The Romulan War

StarTrek.com has posted an interview with Michael A. Martin on his latest Romulan War novel, To Brave the Storm. Here's how he summarised the book:

Things are looking pretty grim. Earth is in the worst shape it’s been in since the war began. Because of T’Pau’s commitment to Syrrannite pacifism, Vulcan is still sitting out the conflict. The rest of the Coalition has essentially crumbled because Vulcan’s pullout has spooked Andoria and Tellar. Starfleet has fallen back, making the Sol system’s defense its number-one priority. Jonathan Archer is forced to seek help elsewhere, hat in hand, and isn’t having much luck despite his concerted effort to rehabilitate Enterprise’s reputation, which the Kobayashi Maru disaster has tarnished pretty badly. Meanwhile, the Romulans are wrapping up a distracting conflict out on the Empire’s far Beta-quadrant frontier, and this allows them to mobilize more ships than ever before against a resource-starved Earth and her ever-dwindling list of friends, allies, and colonies. Did I mention that things are looking pretty grim?

And here's what he had to say about what he would have liked to have explored if he had more books to tell the story in:

I would have like to show more of the developing relationship between Hoshi Sato and MACO Major Takashi Kimura, since she’s destined to marry him and at some point with him retire to Tarsus IV, according to the biographical files Mike Sussman created for “In a Mirror Darkly.” As part of a deepening of the Trip-and-T’Pol relationship, I also would also have liked to take a closer look at the Vulcan take on religion, since it’s established canon that even modern-day Vulcans maintain a tradition of venerating certain ancient gods. It seems to me that to a people as committed to pure reason as the Vulcans, worship probably isn’t a subjective thing, or purely a matter of faith. I would have liked to reveal that Vulcan’s gods are at least as objectively “real” as Bajor’s Prophets. If I’d had a third Romulan War book—ideally a middle volume between BtRW and TBtS—I probably would have tried to work in a plot thread in which T’Pol suffered an injury that left her near death, forcing Trip and Koss to team up to storm Vulcan’s equivalent of the gates of hell in order to force Shariel, Vulcan’s god of death, to relinquish his gradually increasing hold over T’Pol’s katra. Imagine the classical Greek myth of Persephone with a dusting of Faust and Dante’s Inferno thrown in. Or Trip and Koss’s Bogus Journey. Or I might have settled for just blowing up thirty-three percent more planets and spaceships than I did in the other two books.

New Forgotten History cover

The Simon and Schuster online catalogue has been updated with a new version of the cover for Christopher L. Bennett's forthcoming DTI prequel, Forgotten History. The new cover features many of the same elements from the first solicitation cover, but in a much more polished arrangement, and in colour! They're still using the blurb for Watching the Clock though...

I didn't really like the first cover, but this I like a lot. Looking forward to the book.

But if you can't wait until May, there are plenty of Trek books before then, including the latest Enterprise: Romulan War book, To Brave the Storm, which has just come out. Simon and Schuster's listing for that book currently has a huge sixty-eight page excerpt available to read online!

To Brave the Storm blurb

The Simon and Schuster website listing for To Brave the Storm, the next Enterprise and Romulan War novel, has been updated with a new blurb:

EARTH STANDS ALONE

The Coalition of Planets has shattered, with Vulcan, Andor, and Tellar abrogating the treaty. Their pledge to come to the mutual defense of any power that is attacked has been shunted aside. Horrified by how easily the Romulans can seize control of their advanced starships, turning them into weapons, Andor and Tellar have joined Vulcan on the sidelines. Humanity is now the only thing that stands between the Romulan Star Empire and total domination of the galaxy.

To drive humans from the stars, the Romulans employ ruthless and murderous tactics . . . and even dare to strike on the Vulcan homeworld with the hopes of demoralizing their Vulcan brethren. Heartened by their victories, the Romulans carry their all-out war assault closer to the heart of humanity—Earth.

But the tattered remains of Starfleet stand unwavering, with the resolution that never again would any enemy strike ever reach Earth. On the front lines of the Earth- Romulan War is the United Earth flagship, the Starship Enterprise. Her captain, Jonathan Archer, has seen his vessel of exploration become a battleship. Once hailed for his work bringing the Coalition of Planets into existence, Archer is now a pariah. Undaunted, the captain keeps fighting, searching for allies and determined to do his duty: to save Earth and forge a new federation of planets.

The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm cover

Simon and Schuster has updated its listings for the next Enterprise novel, The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm, with this new cover (look at all those ships!): UPDATE: High resolution version, thanks to JWolf on the TrekBBS:

Prose updates

The Simon and Schuster online catalogues have been updated with some new (and mostly stand-in) covers and a blurb:

While still marked as not final, we have an updated version of the Vanguard: What Judgements Come cover:

A not final cover for The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm:

And both a cover (you guessed it, not final - thankfully) and blurb for Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions:

In this follow-up by bestselling author David Mack, the Terran rebellion erupts into a full-scale revolution, toppling the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance and ushering in a new era for the Mirror Universe.


In this alternate Star Trek universe, Miles O’Brien struggles to hold together his fragile band of rebels in the fight against the overwhelming forces of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. The standoff provokes increasingly frequent and violent clashes of wills between Regent Martok of the Klingon Empire and Legate Dukat, leader of the Cardassian Union. Meanwhile, Dukat plans a secret invasion of Terok Nor as a means of gaining the political upper hand within the Alliance.

Meanwhile Cross Cult have released a new cover for The Good That Men Do:

And Christopher L. Bennett has announced his Typhon Pact ebook has been retitled to The Struggle Within.

Prose updates

More news on the books front.

The second Romulan War book appears to have been renamed (the listing on Simon and Schuster's website has been updated); instead of In Shariel's Jaws it will now be titled To Brave the Storm. The Simon and Schuster online catalogue also briefly had a stand-in cover for it, though oddly had put it on the page for the reprint of the first book in the series.

The Simon and Schuster website has also updated the listing for the fourth Starfleet Academy book, which will be titled The Assassination Game, with the author changing from Rick Barba to Alan Gratz.

Looking further ahead in the Trek schedule, according to reports on the TrekBBS David Mack has posted on his facebook page that his next Vanguard novel will be titled Storming Heaven and that he has been contracted to write a TNG trilogy too! David R. George III has also announced on his facebook page that he is set to write two more Star Trek novels as well.

Finally Unreality SF has posted another in depth interview, with Jens Deffner talking to Dayton Ward this time. The article talks at length about the recent Typhon Pact novel Paths of Disharmony, and also previews some forthcoming titles from the author. On the Vanguard anthology Declassified he described his story Almost Tomorrow as an opportunity for him to:

...flesh out a few bits of backstory for some of the series’ characters, and show you the motivations and circumstances that put them where they are when we’re introduced to them in the first Vanguard novel. Savvy readers who’ve been following the stories Kevin and I have written for other Star Trek projects over the years also will recognise elements from one of our earliest works, which fate has now conspired to let us revisit as a very natural outgrowth of the Vanguard series.

He also gave a summary of the other stories in the anthology:

Hard News, is set just a week or so after the events of the third novel, Reap the Whirlwind. It’s a first-person story, told from Tim Pennington’s point of view, with our redeemed journalist on the hunt for a hot new story. Both Marco Palmieri’s and David Mack’s stories, The Ruins of Noble Men and The Stars Look Down, are set after Precipice. Marco’s story focuses on Diego Reyes, and Dave gives us another thrilling adventure with Cervantes Quinn.

And gave us a small glimpse of what to expect in the next Vanguard novel, What Judgements Come:

the “novel will pick up the action at a point after Marco and Dave’s Declassified novellas, which are both set after Precipice”, and that the “the story will unfold in parallel to the events as chronicled in the original Star Trek’s third season. One episode in particular, which just happens to feature as antagonists a certain crystalline alien race around which Vanguard has been revolving since the beginning, will play at least some role in the events of the book."

As ever the article explores all these subjects and much more is greater detail, so go check it out on Unreality SF.