Strange New Worlds cover vote

After a nearly a decade break, the Strange New Worlds writing contest was relaunched last year, with a new anthology of winning fan written short stories due out as an ebook next month. To add the finishing touch to the release, Simon and Schuster have prepared two possible cover designs, and are allowing the final one to be picked in an online poll.

You can choose from either a TOS shuttlecraft, or the USS Enterprise. So far the Enterprise is leading by a wide margin, but not that many votes have been cast. The poll closes very soon; you've got until the end of today to add your vote, here.

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.

2016 Strange New World winners announced

Cover of the first Strange New Worlds

For ten years, starting in 1998, Simon and Schuster ran an annual Star Trek writing competition, giving an opportunity for fans to get their Star Trek stories published in an anthology book. After nearly a decade without such a book, the publisher revived the Strange New Worlds competition last year, ready to publish a new collection of stories this fiftieth anniversary year. Now the winning stories have been announced. They are:

• Dilithium Is a Girl's Best Friend, by Neil Bryant
• A Christmas Qarol, by Gary Piserchio and Frank Tagader
• The Sunwalkers, by Kelli Fitzpatrick
• The Seen and Unseen, by Chris Chaplin
• The Façade of Fate, by Michael Turner
• The Manhunt Pool, by Nancy Debretsion
• The Dreamer and the Dream, by Derek Tyler Attico
• The Last Refuge, by Roger McCoy
• Life Among the Post-Industrial Barbarians, by John Coffren
• Upon the Brink of Remembrance, by Kristen McQuinn

These ten "Grand Prize winners" will have their stories published in the digital-first 2016 Strange New Worlds anthology later this year, and each get a $1000 advance too. Bizarrely the two "First Prize winners" also announced, Kerry F. Booth and James Corrigan, do not seem to be listed for the book, instead winning a publishing package with Archway Publishing (worth $5000), to publish a book on another subject...

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: More details of 50th anniversary trilogy, and New Frontier cover

Following David Mack's recent reveal that he will be working on one book in a TOS trilogy for the 50th anniversary next year, further details have been quick to surface. Mack will be writing the second book in the trilogy, which is now listed on his website as Star Trek Legacies, Book II: Best Defense, with a September release date.

Dayton Ward has posted on his blog with more information, he and Kevin Dilmore will be writing the final book in the trilogy, with Greg Cox set to kick it off. Ward also suggested the trilogy would include a September release, with the trilogy hoping to span the summer. He gave this summary:

As story outlines have not yet been finalized and approved, there’s really not much we can offer just yet, except to say that all three books will “star” Kirk and the Enterprise crew in their prime, and each book ties into a larger storyline that we hope pays proper tribute to the legacy of the original series, which all of us love rather more than most normal people would consider healthy.

In other books news, Cross Cult have revealed a new New Frontier cover, for the short story anthology New Limits, which will be known as Grenzenlos, in this German language edition, due out next March. This one is packed full of characters,which makes it look like a New Frontier move poster to me:

Finally, another author podcast to listen to, for your Star Trek books DVD commentary! The latest is Tony Daniel, who talked to TrekFM's Literary Treks about his new TOS book, Savage Trade.

Blish's novelizations in Israel

I just posted my latest 8of5 Archive article, looking at Star Trek novels and comics published in Hebrew! Several publishers have put out TOS and TNG books over the years - Most reused American cover art, but a few new covers were also made, including Zmora Bitan Modan's bizarre art for the first Star Trek books published in Hebrew; James Blish's novelizations. They published four books, oddly books one, two, three and five. I love the futuristic space-glasses lady!:

 

 

 

You can read about all the other Hebrew Star Trek books over at the 8of5 Archive.

Authors on Vanguard: Declassified

StarTrek.com has posted an interview with all four authors of the new Vanguard antholgoy Declassified. The interview discusses the development of the project, and also givs us the following summary of the stories within:

David Mack:

“The Stars Look Down” is an action-driven tale of espionage in the Taurus Reach. It centers on the recovering alcoholic Cervantes Quinn and his partner (in more ways than one), Bridget McLellan, also known as Bridy Mac. They get sent into Gorn territory to steal some vital intel that Starfleet needs, and the op quickly goes south. After they pull their butts out of the frying pan, they plunge straight into the fire. In other words, exactly what readers have come to expect of a Vanguard story. Its ending serves as a springboard for the next two full-length novels, the first of which is coming this fall, and the second is coming next summer, in 2012.

Kevin Dilmore:

“Hard News,” is my shot at doing something within the saga that would not have fit elsewhere: a hardboiled investigative reporter story in a first-person narrative. Having worked as a newspaper reporter for 15 years, myself, Tim Pennington speaks to me in ways that other Star Trek characters cannot. I really wanted to get inside his thoughts and portray not only his professional motivations but also his passion for “telling the story.” In regard to its place in the big picture, my hope is that it contains some additional insight into Pennington’s personal journey at a time that I regard as a turning point in his life. I intended to offer some of that insight in the Vanguard novel Open Secrets, as I originally was committed to write that with Dayton. Personal matters I found overwhelming at the time pushed me into stepping—more like jumping—out of the project. That choice and the resulting pressure it placed on my dear friend is something I’ll always regret personally and professionally. Dayton never once let that affect our partnership or our friendship, and for that I’ll always be grateful. Writing “Hard News” and revisiting Pennington in that part of the saga (between Reap the Whirlwind and Open Secrets) is something I have wanted to do for my own sake ever since.

Marco Pamieri:

“The Ruins of Noble Men” is a braided narrative: two thematically linked stories told in alternating chapters. The primary story is set in the immediate aftermath of the most recent Vanguard novel, Dave Mack’s Precipice, and it focuses on Dr. Ezekiel Fisher and JAG officer Rana Desai on mission to a mysterious Federation colony. It’s interspersed with flashbacks set nine years earlier aboard the U.S.S. Dauntless, when the ship was commanded by Diego Reyes. “Ruins” is a very character-driven story, and my hope is that it’ll give readers a new appreciation for some of Vanguard’s protagonists as well as members of its supporting cast. It also makes use of characters not seen or mentioned since the earliest novels in the series. I think readers will find that, because these are novellas, the stories in Declassified are more focused and more intimate, illuminating the Vanguard characters in ways we haven’t seen before.

Dayton Ward:

“Almost Tomorrow” is set before the events of the first Vanguard novel. When developing the story, I borrowed an idea from the television series The Shield, of which I’m a big fan. They ran an episode during their second season called “Co-Pilot,” which takes place during a period of time that leads up to the events of the show’s first episode. It’s not a big story that works on its own; you have to be familiar with the characters and storylines that have evolved by this point in the series in order to get the most out of it. I loved the idea of doing something similar with my Declassified story, taking some of the Vanguard characters and plot points and rewinding the clock a bit in order to add some heretofore unseen context and backstory. I got to show certain characters’ motivations and the circumstances that put them where they are when readers first meet them in Harbinger. I also got to plant a few seeds which will be picked up when the series returns with the next two novels.

Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore also revealed their next Trek project (after Vanguard: What Judgments Come) will be a TOS five-year-mission novel titled, That Which Divides, out next summer.

Cross Cult update

Cross Cult have released their latest new New Frontier cover, this one is for Fire on High:

They have also released the German version of the cover for John Byrne's Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, retitled simply to McCoy. According to my German correspondent, UnrealitySF's Jens Deffner, this comic release will be a something of a tester for future releases; unlike Cross Cult's previous comics this one will only be available in paperback, and its success will determine the future of Cross Cult's Trek-comics line. Jens also points out a cunning bit of marketing, with this release coming alongside the Cross Cult edition of the McCoy book in the Crucible trilogy.

Jens also reports that the Cross Cult translation of Vanguard: Declassified is being targeted for simultaneous release with the English edition!

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.

Prose updates

Bunch of (exciting) book updates from the last couple of weeks:

Christopher L. Bennett has confirmed the DTI: Watching the Clock cover is in fact the final design. There had originally been consideration for including illustrations of the characters on it as well, but it was ultimately decided not to overcomplicate things. There is also this new blurb for the book on the Simon and Schuster website:

There's likely no more of a thankless job in the Federation than temporal investigation. While starship explorers get to live the human adventure of traveling to other times and realities, it's up to the dedicated agents of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations to deal with the consequences to the timestream that the rest of the Galaxy has to live with day by day. But when history as we know it could be wiped out at any moment by time warriors from the future, misused relics of ancient races, or accident-prone starships, only the most disciplined, obsessive, and unimaginative government employees have what it takes to face the existential uncertainty of it all on a daily basis . . . and still stay sane enough to complete their assignments.

That's where Agents Lucsly and Dulmur come in—stalwart and unflappable, these men are the Federation's unsung anchors in a chaotic universe. Together with their colleagues in the DTI—and with the help and sometimes hindrance of Starfleet's finest—they do what they can to keep the timestream, or at least the paperwork, as neat and orderly as they are. But when a series of escalating temporal incursions threatens to open a new front of the history-spanning Temporal Cold War in the twenty-fourth century, Agents Lucsly and Dulmur will need all their investigative skill and unbending determination to stop those who wish to rewrite the past for their own advantage, and to keep the present and the future from devolving into the kind of chaos they really, really hate.

The Simon and Schuster website also now has an excerpt from the recently released Starfleet Academy book, The Edge. You can read it, here.

The Simon and Schuster online catalogue has a cover and blurb up for the next New Frontier book, Blind Man's Bluff:

Captain MacKenzie Calhoun has faced incredible odds before, but nothing he has ever experienced could prepare him for the simultaneous threats from two of the most destructive forces he’s ever encountered. The first is the D’myurj—a mysterious and powerful alien race bent on either the complete domination of humanity or its destruction... a potentially massive risk to the very foundations of Starfleet, one that goes so deep it’s impossible to determine whom to trust. The second is even more alarming: Morgan Primus, once a living creature with a soul and a conscience, now an incredibly sophisticated computer simulation taking up residence within the very core of the U.S.S. Excalibur... and quickly becoming a growing menace for the Federation. MacKenzie Calhoun is playing a dangerous game as he attempts to outwit and outmaneuver these new enemies, with the fate of the Excalibur crew members and potentially the lives of billions at stake...

Dayton Ward and David Mack have both posted details for the Vanguard anthology Declassified. The following will be the contents:

• “Almost Tomorrow”, by Dayton Ward - Set before the first Vanguard novel, Harbinger, and the Corps of Engineers novella Distant Early Warning.
• “Hard News”, by Kevin Dilmore - Set just after the third novel, Reap the Whirlwind.
• “The Ruins of Noble Men”, by Marco Palmieri - Set after the fifth novel, Precipice, but telling a dual story through the use of flashbacks.
• “The Stars Look Down”, by David Mack - Set after Precipice.

And this is Doug Drexler's glorious cover:

Dayton Ward has also revealed the title for the next Vanguard novel will be titled What Judgments Come. (Disappointingly not The Taurus Key: A Crystalline Fairy Tale, Founded Upon The Mysteries of the Shedai and the Oppression of Their Servants. It Was Written for Kollotuul, But Others Should Read It.) And has been brought forward from December to the end of September (which probably makes it the October book).

And finally Cross Cult have been busy again, with new covers for their editions of New Frontier: The Quiet Place, and Enterprise: Kobayashi Maru:

 

Mega update #5: Simon and Schuster

Lots has been going on in the past few months from the various Simon and Schuster imprints that now deliver us new Trek prose:

All four books of the Typhon Pact series are now available. Since my last updates there are now excerpts up for the last three books in the series on Simon and Schuster's website: Seize the Fire, Rough Beasts of Empire, and Paths of Disharmony. You can also find and excerpt from the latest Myriad Universes book, Infinity's Prism, which was released at the end of last year.

Also already out is the second book in the new Starfleet Academy series, The Edge. The cover was released on startrek.com before publication, and looks like this:

The next book in the series, out in April, now has a title: The Gemini Agent, and has apparently been pushed back from April to June release date, if the listing on Simon and Schuster's website is accurate. Correspondingly the listing on Simon and Schuster's online catalogue for the as yet untitled fourth book in the series notes a September publication date, moved from the initial May listing.

The Simon and Schuster catalogue has also been updated with new (preliminary) covers and blurbs for several forthcoming books:

DTI: Watching the Clock is on its second stand-in cover, but according to Christopher L. Bennett on his blog not the final. This version is apparently an element of the final cover though, and is a rendition of the clock at the Royal Greenwich Observatory:

Bennett also talks a bit about his work on the novel on his blog; have a read.

The next Voyager relaunch book, Children of the Storm, has a new cover and blurb:

In the aftermath of Destiny, the third novel in the Voyager series that takes original characters—and all new ones—into the Star Trek universe.

Three Federation starships—the Quirinal, Planck and Demeter —have mysteriously vanished, and a contingency plan is developed for the crew to search for the missing ships. An unknown alien race who call themselves the Children of the Storm is at fault, announcing to the Federation that they do not negotiate with destroyers of worlds—and it is not the Borg being referenced, but the Federation itself!

So does the next Vanguard book, the anthology, Declassified:

In this fifth Vanguard novel, the stakes are raised for all those embroiled in the mystery of the Taurus Reach.

Four great Alpha Quadrant superpowers—the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Tholian Assembly, and the Romulan Star Empire—have all taken tremendous risks in their race to learn and control the ancient technologies of the interstellar hegemons known as the Shedai. Go back into prehistory and see the reign of the Shedai as it really was; follow journalist Tim Pennington as he investigates the most bizarre story of his career; see how the Cold War of the original Star Trek era plays out between two groups of colonists; and get a glimpse of the lighter side of life aboard Starbase 47….

This cover has been confirmed as not final, owing to being too similar to previous covers in the series according to the author Dayton Ward. You can see a larger version of the unused cover art on the artist, Doug Drexler's, blog.

The TOS novel A Choice of Catastrophes too has a new cover and blurb:

An all-new novel based on Star Trek: The Original Series—one of the most popular television series of all time!

It is mid-2268. The Enterprise, under the command of Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, is returning from a mission to deliver medical supplies to one of Starfleet’s most distant installations. All is routine until the Enterprise comes within a light-year of the planet Mu Arigulon; the ship is suddenly thrown from warp and suffers a momentary power cut. There’s only one injury—a minor one, and the Enterprise is again underway. Before the ship can reach full speed, it hits another distortion, this one much worse. There are a few more physical injuries, but what’s more worrying is an officer that’s entered into a coma…for no apparent reason.

The ever impressive Unreality SF also recently posted an interview with the authors, Steve Mollmann and Michael Schuster, who describe the books plot as follows:

While McCoy has to find a way to save the lives of a handful of people that have inexplicably fallen into a coma as well as the lives of everybody aboard the Enterprise when the ship is threatened by a destructive space phenomenon, Kirk et al. are exploring a mysterious planet that seems abandoned by the civilisation it was once inhabited by. What they discover is a terrible crime in progress, and they will need all their skills to put a stop to it and capture the perpetrators before they escape.

Mollmann and Schuster also revealed the book was initially pitched as a potential new movie timeline novel, with the idea in mind it could be tailored to either timeline, as is the case with it eventually falling into the prime timeline. They also offered a summary of a story that is from another timeline, Tears of Eridanus, their story in the recently released new Myriad Universes anthology. The point of divergence in this story is:

...the death of an obscure young computer scientist called Surak who died in a surprise terrorist attack. Consequently, his place in history is empty, but it is soon occupied by somebody else who will be familiar to readers of certain Vulcan-related novels. The result is that the planet is embroiled in a millennia-long period of clan warfare, preventing its people from shaping and affecting interstellar affairs as they did in the ‘original’ universe.

The lack of Vulcans to vie with the Andorians causes a lot of changes in ‘Federation’ history, and the lack of Romulans to vie with the Klingons certainly has some major repercussions too!

The authors talk extensively about these two stories and their previous Trek offerings in the Unreality SF interview.

Finally the online catalogue also gives us a new cover and blurb for the post-The Undiscovered Country novel, Cast No shadows. Which the author James Swallow has also posted on his blog, albeit with this longer version of the blurb:

The year is 2300, and seven years have passed since the events of the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. A space station orbiting the Klingon colony Da'Kel is being used as a staging area to undo the disastrous fallout from the destruction of Praxis. With the help of aid supplies from the United Federation of Planets, reconstruction is in progress–but the peace process begun by the Khitomer Accords is still fragile.

Unknown to either the Federation or Klingon representatives warily watching one another over Da'Kel's skies, a third group is plotting. Unnoticed by security, a civilian transport ship with a skeleton crew docks at the station. The ship transmits an ancient Klingon proverb–"Traitors cast no shadow"–before destroying itself in a massive blast of subspace energy that obliterates the space station.

Meanwhile, light years away in a Starfleet penal complex, former officer Valeris is in counselling with her Betazoid therapist. But the process is proving difficult, as Valeris refuses to let down her defenses. She has little hope of ever regaining her freedom or returning to her native Vulcan; guilty of murder and treason against the Federation, she believes she will never be able to go home again. An observer has also been watching - none other than Spock himself, recently retired from Starfleet service and now a representative of the Federation Diplomatic Corps. Spock has come to Jaros II to see Valeris because he believes he is to blame for failing to prevent her attack. He is as marked by that incident as Valeris, carrying the guilt of what he was forced to do...

 The novel has also been moved forward, from October to August.

Shattered Light blurb

The Simon and Schuster online catalogue has been updated again, this time with the first blurb for the next Myriad Universes anthology, Shattered Light. It goes like this:

It’s been said that for any event, there are an infinite number of possible out­comes. Our choices determine which outcome will follow, and therefore all possibilities that could happen do happen across alternate realities. In these divergent realms, known history is bent, like white light through a shattered prism—broken into a boundless spectrum of what-might-have-beens. But in those myriad universes, what might have been . . . is what actually occurred.

THE EMBRACE OF COLD ARCHITECTS. “Mister Worf—fire.” With thosewords, William T. Riker defeated the Borg—and destroyed Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Now, a heartsore Captain Riker must carry on the legacy of thecommanding officer and friend whose death he ordered. But crises face himat every turn, from Cardassian aggression to the return of Data’s creator,Noonien Soong. But it is Data’s creation of a daughter, Lal, that may prove to beeveryone’s undoing. . . .

THE TEARS OF ERIDANUS. Commander Hikaru Sulu of the Kumari—finest ship of the Interstellar Guard, the military arm of the Interstellar Union that includes Andor, Earth, and Tellar—is sent to rescue an observation team on a primitive desert planet. The world has many names—40 Eridani A-II, Minshara, T’Khasi, Vulcan—and its savage natives have taken the team hostage, including Sulu’s daughter, Demora. Even as Captain Sulu negotiates with the fierce T’Pau, Demora meets the elderly S’oval, and with him the only hope for the planet’s future. . . .

HONOR IN THE NIGHT. Former Federation president Nilz Baris has died. After losing Sherman’s Planet to the Klingons thanks to poisoned quadrotriticale, the agriculture undersecretary parlayed that defeat into years of political battles with the Klingon Empire, and eventually the Federation’s highest office. Now, the Federation News Service wants the story of his life, a quest that digs up many secrets—including the mystery of why his final words were “Arne Darvin.”

Prose publishing schedule updates

According to TrekBBS user JD the latest Star Trek Magazine has a nice chunky report on Trek books; giving us several new titles, a schedule, descriptions, author comments and a cover for Seize the Fire. I won’t be able to get info first hand yet due to that lovely delay in the UK release of the magazine, but here’s the schedule as reported (all mass market paperbacks apparently) from March 2011:

-March: The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor’s Wing (Enterprise, reprint), by Micheal A. Martin
-April: Indistinguishable From Magic (TNG/crossover), by David McIntee
-May: DTI: Watching the Clock (crossover?), by Christopher L. Bennett
-June: Children Of The Storm (Voyager), by Kirsten Beyer
-July: Vanguard: Declassified (Vanguard anthology), by Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore, David Mack, & Marco Palmieri
-August: A Choice Of Catastrophes (TOS), by Steve Mollmann & Michael Schuster
-September. Blind Man’s Bluff (NF, reprint), by Peter David
-October: Cast No Shadow (TOSish), by James Swallow
-November: The Romulan War: In Shariel's Jaws (Enterprise), by Michael A. Martin
-December: 6th Vanguard novel, by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore
-January: Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions, by David Mack

Sounds like an amazing year! James Swallow made a brief note about his new novel on his blog: it is set around The Undiscovered Country and features Valeris and Elias Vaughn (very exciting combination of author, era and characters!).

UPDATE: TrekMovie's report on this schedule has copied over a few more details:
-DTI is set primarily between Destiny and Typhon Pact.
-A Choice of Catastrophes is described as "An original Star Trek era novel focusing on Dr. McCoy who finds "the past catching up with him", while Kirk and Spock explore a planet "not as abandoned as it seemed."
-Cast No Shodows is expanded upon as "dealing with terrorists trying to destroy the Khitomer accords, where a Starfleet Intelligence operative must join forces with the disgraced Valeris."
-In Shariel's Jaws will continue The Romulan War multiple point-of-view approach, and also "delves into ancient Vulcan mythology". TrekMovie also contradict JD's report and list this as a trade paperback (which would be consistent with the previous book).
-Rise Like Lions "deals with the final stages Emperor Spock’s bold plan for the Empire".

Vanguard, declassified in June (2011)

Little update: According to Dayton Ward, the novella anthology and next entry in the Vanguard series, Declassified, has now been scheduled for release in June of 2011.

Latest Star Trek prose

Simon and Schuster have updated their online catalogues with loads of new Trek blurbs:

Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game
A spy for the Typhon Pact—a new political rival of the Federation—steals the plans for Starfleet’s newest technological advance: the slipstream drive. To stop the Typhon Pact from unlocking its secrets, Starfleet Intelligence recruits a pair of genetically enhanced agents: Dr. Julian Bashir and Sarina Douglas­—for whom Bashir has long harbored passionate feelings. The two must infiltrate a world controlled by the mysterious species known as the Breen, find the hidden slipstream project, and destroy it. Meanwhile, light-years away, Captain Ezri Dax and her crew on the U.S.S. Aventine play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with a Typhon Pact fleet that stands between them and the safe retrieval of Bashir and Douglas from hostile territory.

Typhon Pact: Seize the Fire
Shortly after making the stunning revelation that it has joined with Federation’s newest adversary—a coalition of galactic powers known as the Typhon Pact—the Gorn Hegemony suffers an ecological disaster. Fortunately, the Gorn had already been investigating traces of an ancient but powerful “quick terraforming” technology left behind by a long-vanished race — a dead civilization that may be responsible for habitability of many of the worlds on the Gorn frontier and beyond. When the U.S.S. Titan begins pursuing this potent technology as well, in the hopes of using it to heal the many grievous wounds sustained by the Federation, it is unclear how dangerous such planet-altering technology can be, even when used with the best of intentions….

Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire
The Romulans have a divided empire, with the original Romulan Star Empire joining the Typhon Pact and the nascent Imperial Romulan State establishing relations with the Federation. Numerous factions within the two Romulan governments vie for power and undivided leadership, and Machiavellian plots unfold as forces within and without the empires play political games. Spock, still on Romulus in pursuit of his goal of reunifying the Vulcans and Romulans, finds himself in the middle of these political battles.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Sisko returns to life in Starfleet, a lonely, fractured man now divided from his family, a set of circumstances brought about by his fears of what the Bajoran Prophets forecast for him and their recent abandonment of him. Kira Nerys has left Deep Space 9 and the Bajoran Militia to follow a religious path on her homeworld. Elias Vaughn suffers a debilitating injury during the Borg attack that leaves him comatose, with no prospects for a return to health. Finally, the Tzenkethi are introduced as an anti-democratic species, who genuinely believe it foolhardy to trust to the will of the masses when individuals clearly have strengths that suggest where they would best serve the people. Given those beliefs, the Tzenkethi also involve themselves surreptitiously in the struggle for power amongst the Romulans.

Myriad Universes: Shattered Light
What began as the exploration of one Star Trek parallel universe explodes with the introduction of six new alternate realities.

Set across history, touching upon every series, and written by a variety of Star Trek authors, each story in Myriad Universes: Shattered Light presents a unique alternate vision of the Star Trek universe, taking pivotal moments from its history and extrapolating the shocking changes that follow those deviations.

In these divergent realms, known history is bent, like white light through a prism—broken into a boundless spectrum of what-might-have-beens. But in those myriad universes, what might have been…is actually what happened.

New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff
The next exciting Star Trek: New Frontier novel from New York Times bestselling author Peter David!

Following the dramatic events seen in the previous novels, After the Fall, Missing in Action, and Treason, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur now face an uncertain future, as their lives and the very fate of Sector 221-G are thrown into utter chaos. With a storyline concurrent with The Next Generation, and picking up at a point where there have been significant changes, new and old readers alike will be captivated by this series.

And there is also this revised cover for Nightshade (can't quite make out who the author is...):
Finally, David Mack has announced on the TrekBBS that he has just signed the contract to write his next Mirror Universe novel: Rise Like Lions.

Novel new novels

2011 seems to be shaping up as a interesting year for Star Trek novels with two more creative takes on Trek prose join Star Trek: DTI on the forthcoming list.

As annouced by David A McIntee on his blog, coming in the spring will be Indistinguishable From Magic; under the general title of Star Trek the book will feature Geordi, Scotty, Nog and Guinan up to something in 2382, set after The Typhon Pact. The book was apparently originally pitched as a duology, so McIntee expects it to be quite long.

Then, from Dayton Ward's blog; coming mid to late 2011 will be the sixth Vanguard book, with a new twist on the series, giving us four novellas in a single mass market paperback book. The four stories, set throughout the Vanguard timeline will be by Ward himself, Kevin Dilmore, David Mack, and *fanfare* Marco Palmieri!

UPDATE: Also, Kirsten Beyer is working on a third Voyager relaunch novel, which she announced on the TrekBBS (Thanks to Unreality SF's Defcon for finding the source of that for me!)

Prose update

A few updates on Simon and Schuster's Trek output:

Unreality SF recently posted an interview with S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison, which included this description for Dennison's mirror universe novella in Seven Deadly Sins, the latest anthology which should be appearing right about now: "It surrounds the marriage of Ben and Jennifer Sisko, and the impact of Ben’s association with the Intendant of Terok Nor, among others. I wanted to give this story a really dark feel, almost noir-ish, and I feel like that ultimately came through very well." The interview also discusses the writing duo's other works, and sheds some light on how they collaborate, well worth a read.

Simon and Schuster's website has also been updated recently. The new Starfleet Academy series now has listing for simultaneous releases in tradepaperback, ebook and hardcover for the series. They now list the title of the next New Frontier book as Blind Man's Bluff. And the random Death in Winter reprint coming at the end of the year has now become a trade paperback!

TrekMovie has posted an excerpt from the Star Trek Online novel, The Needs of the Many. A chapter, which itself it comprised of three reports building on the Undine.

And finally, Star Trek's German publisher, Cross Cult, has posted a new cover for thier release of the DS9 Section 31 novel Abyss:

Updated book schedule, plus new covers and info.

In the wake of the new movie novel cancellations Pocket Books found themselves with a big hole in their schedule for this year, they have now announced, via TrekMovie, what this year's schedule looks like now they've found some books to plug the hole (I've modified TrekMovie's estimated release street dates to the normal offical months):

February:
-TOS: Inception, by S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison
March:
-NF: Treason, by Peter David (mass market paperback reprint)
-Seven Deadly Sins, edited by Margaret Clark (new trade paperback)
April:
-TOS: Unspoken Truth, by Margaret Wander Bonanno
-STO: The Needs of the Many, by Michael A. Martin
May:
-TOS: The Children of Kings, by David Stern
July:
-COE: Out of the Cocoon, edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido (trade paperback omnibus)
August:
-COE: What's Past, edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido (trade paperback omnibus)
September:
-Star Trek, by Alan Dean Foster (mass market paperback reprint)
October:
-TNG: Nightshade, by Laurell K. Hamilton (mass market reprint)
November:
-Titan: Typhon Pact #1: Seize the Fire, by Michael A. Martin
-Aventine: Typhon Pact #2: Zero Sum Game, by David Mack
December:
-Myriad Universes: Shattered Light (new trade paperback)
January
-DS9: Typhon Pact #3: The Rough Beasts of Empire, by Michael A. Martin*
February:
-TNG: Typhon Pact #4: Paths of Disharmony, by Dayton Ward

I think the authorship for The Rough Beasts of Empire must be a typo, as David R. George III, who was previously announced as writing it, has already talked about it a fair bit. I also think the dates for Typhon Pact must be a bit jumbled; it was originally announced as October to January, so it has apparently been pushed back a month, which oddly makes the hole in the monthly mass market schedule worse! This schedule also lists two books in November and no mass market in December, so I think Typhon Pact #2 will probably actually come out in December not November. But the whole thing seems a mess, by pushing Typhon Pact back a month the two new mass market books announced only fill one month in the gap, meaning we don’t get any mass markets from June-August, and indeed no book of any sort in June. I find this especially odd when using the two new mass market reprints two months could have been filled, bring Typhon Pact forward a month couple have filled in a third slot, and delaying one of the two mass markets in April gives you four; hey presto no gap in the mass market schedule! But unless this schedule is going to change that's not what they've done at all...

The other thing of note here is the random 90s TNG book reprint. But not so random it turns out, Laurell K. Hamilton is apparently a popular fantasy writer now, so it seems Pocket are banking on her name to sell this.

Also confirmed is that we wont get a new New Frontier novel this year as previously indicated.

In addition to the basic schedule we also have some new covers and info:

Star Trek Online: The Needs of the Many, will apparently "be told as a series of personal narratives of tales leading up to the setting for the Star Trek Online game, all tied together by Jake Sisko", and it's cover looks like this:And a colour cover for Unspoken Truth:

The Wrath of DeCandido

Unreality SF has posted one of its typically excellent author interviews, this time with Keith R.A. DeCandido. Amongst the discussion on DeCandido's work in Star Trek and beyond we get a neat summary of his Klingon story in the forthcoming Seven Deadly Sins anthology:

"In the 23rd century, the workers in a mine engage in civil unrest after two murders,” says Keith, giving us a short teaser for the story. “A QuchHa' (no forehead ridges) is murdered, but it's ruled an accident with little investigation; in retaliation, the HemQuch (with forehead ridges) who likely killed the QuchHa' is also murdered, but his killer is condemned to death. This leads to riots and violence beyond the capaibility of the mine supervisor and his security chief to handle, so the Klingon Defense Force sends in three QuchHa' captains to deal with it: Kor, Kang, and Koloth."

The article also makes a brief mention that DeCandido has something new coming from IDW that has yet to be announced, and desires to do more. (Could this finally be the TNG: Redshirts series announced a little early in the end matter of Echoes and Refractions? UPDATE: As pointed out in the comment below, DeCandido lists a one-shot for June on his website, so maybe an issue of Captain's Log?)

Covers and blurbs for forthcoming prose

Between Amazon and Simon and Schuster there are a number of new and/or now-in-colour covers (including the supurb Seven Deadly Sins cover) for books coming up in the next few months, plus a new blurb or two:

Seven Deadly Sins
PRIDE. GREED. ENVY. WRATH.LUST. GLUTTONY. SLOTH.

The Seven Deadly Sins delineate the path to a person’s downfall, the surest way to achieve eternal damnation.

But there is a way out, a way to reclaim salvation: blame it on the demons—taunting you, daring you to embrace these sins—and you shall be free. The painful truth is that these impulses live inside all of us, inside all sentient beings.

But alas, one person’s sin may be another being’s virtue.

The pride of the Romulan Empire is laid bare in “The First Peer,” by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore. A Ferengi is measured by his acquisition of profit. “Reservoir Ferengi,” by David A.McIntee, depicts the greed that drives that need. The Cardassians live in a resource-poor system, surrounded by neighbors who have much more. The envy at the heart of Cardassian drive is “The Slow Knife,” by James Swallow. The Klingons have tried since the time of Kahless to harness their wrath with an honor code, but they haven’t done so, as evidenced in “The Unhappy Ones,”by Keith R.A. DeCandido. Humans’ darkest impulses run free in the Mirror Universe. “Freedom Angst,” by Britta Burdett Dennison, illustrates the lust that drives many there. The Borg’s desire to add to their perfection is gluttonous and deadly in “Revenant,”by Marc D. Giller. To be a Pakled is to live to up to the ideal of sloth in “Work Is Hard,” by Greg Cox.
Inception
As man expands beyond explored space, the need to find a way to make inhospitable planets hospitable grows greater. One young biologist, Carol Marcus, has a project that she is convinced can reshape planets. She puts together a team of young, committed scientists who dare to dream as she does: of a Federation remade so hunger is eradicated, where every world can be reshaped into a paradise. The belief that all things are possible, that man can strive to conquer space not with force but with science, is shared by James Kirk, a young Starfleet officer and her lover.

Leila Kalomi, a renowned botanist, is looking for a new direction. After hearing about Marcus's project, she applies for a position. She finds Carol's passion contagious, and a chance encounter with the Enterprise's science officer, Spock, convinces her to join Project: Inception.

Four people just trying to find the balance between their careers and their personal lives, trying to make the right choice not just for themselves but for the betterment of all mankind. The choices they make will rewrite the history of the Federation and change forever how man explores space.
The Children of Kings
(Back to it's initial title after briefly being called To Thine Own Self a couple of catalogues ago)