New covers and blurbs in the latest Pocket catalogue

Pocket Books has released their latest promotional/solicitations catalogue sort of thing, which includes some new blurbs and covers, some of which are not the finals:

Seven Deadly Sins
Lust. Gluttony. Greed. Sloth. Wrath. Envy. Pride. These are the seven deadly sins of humanity...but humans are not the only creatures in the universe to surrender to their baser instincts. In the world of Star Trek, entire civilizations are driven by avarice, or anger, or insatiable hunger, or one of the other fundamental urges that have come to define these fascinating species.

Now, this edgy collection of original novellas explores these empires from the inside, delving into the qualities that shape their cultures and their worldviews, through characters as compelling as they are provocative. These surprising and engaging tales feature all of Star Trek’s most prominent adversaries, including The Borg, The Klingons, The Romulans, the Cardassians, the Ferengi, the Pakleds, and the Mirror Universe.

Troublesome Minds
While exploring the unmapped frontier, the Starship Enterprise responds to a distress call from an unknown ship. Captain James T. Kirk turns first contact into a threat of interstellar war—by saving the life of a man his own people abandoned. Berlis, colony leader of a telepathic race calling themselves the Isitri, claims not to know why those from his homeworld want him dead. Now Kirk must either find a way to wrench billions from the grip of one man, or be responsible for the destruction of two planets.

Losing the Peace
The Borg invasion has left the Federation reeling. Countless people have been killed or displaced by the wonton destruction, and now seek solace on planets that struggle just to feed their own. The ideals wrought in the paradise that was the United Federation of Planets now seem to be a distant dream. Starfleet is shattered, giving old enemies a chance to gain the upper hand. The question now is, what can one ship, and one captain do to prevent humanity from losing the peace?

The Soul Key
Captain Kira’s lookalike, Iliana Ghemor, dreams of fulfilling a prophecy that will mark her as the one true Emissary of the mirror universe—a messianic figure who will lead her followers into a war that could trigger the cleansing of countless alternate Kiras in countless parallel realities. But the stakes are higher than anyone imagines, for the pull of destiny tugs at other souls who are swept into the vortex of the Prophets, remote and timeless beings who have set these events in motion. Yet the outcome of this struggle for the fate of one universe will ripple across many others, giving shape to a future that will prove to be greatest trial yet for the heroes of station Deep Space 9.

The Never-Ending Sacrifice
Rugal is an orphaned Cardassian who has been raised by the people his race once conquered, the Bajorans. Reluctantly repatriated to Cardassia as a teenager, Rugal becomes the living witness to the downfall of the proud people to whom he was born, first by the invading Klingons, then during the Cardassians’ unholy pact with the Dominion—a partnership that culminated in a near-genocide. Through it all, Rugal’s singular perspective illuminates the choices that brought the Cardassians to their ruin...even as he learns that the Cardassian soul is not as easy to understand as he imagined.

Star Trek Online: 2383

Cyrptic Studios have updated the Star Trek Online website with the next year of their timeline leading up to the setting of the game.

2383 see the state of Romulan space continue to crumble as the Star Empire and Imperial State persist in fighting among themselves. Next door relations between the Federation and Klingon Empire also suffer as both sides react badly to the consequences of the Klingons tacking control of Khitomer.

Meanwhile in the Cardassian Union the unearthing of new Hebitian findings spurs the Oralians into more public displays of their faith. Back in the Federation, members of the Soong Foundation begin work on producing new mobile holographic emitters while the Federation's lawyers continue to debate the rights of The Doctor to retain the use of his own.

Read the full history, here.

Full Circle with Kirsten Beyer

German site Trekzone.de has recently conducted an interview with Kirsten Beyer, and were good enough to post an english translation at the TrekBBS.

As a general summary for her relaunch of the Voyager relaunch she described Full Circle thusly: "Full Circle is by far the most ambitious tie-in project I've tackled to date. Bear in mind that after the Spirit Walk duology ended in mid 2378, Voyager characters made appearances in several other novels – TNG, Titan, Articles of the Federation, and we had a Janeway cameo in Nemesis. Then came Destiny which is set in the first two months of 2381. So I was looking at a gap of almost three years that needed filling and that still had to line up with what had already been published and what David Mack was working on in Destiny. There were a number of unresolved story threads left by Christie Golden, but most important of all, we needed to figure out how to most effectively weave Voyager into the wider Trek universe. They needed to have their own special purpose, a creative direction that makes their stories unique, and that would set the stage for the future in a really compelling way."

Talking about some of the dark times the Voyager crew will face in the later time period of the novel, with the death of Janeway and fallout of Destiny she talked about Trek's history of relating to contemporary challenges: "But it's the right setting, not just for Voyager but for all of Trek in that I think it resonates with some of our larger challenges as a planet right now. As long as I've been alive, it feels like we've been careening from one disaster to another, constantly on the brink of our own annihilation. Yes, I know that the decades right before I was born, the 50's and 60's had their challenges, but I look at some of the accomplishments of those decades, the prosperity and sense of optimism, the civil rights movement, and landing a man on the moon, and I wonder if our more recent accomplishments, like the technological advances we've seen in my lifetime, have done as much for our morale as a people and actually improved our quality of life as decisively as they were meant to.

Star Trek has always had allegorical undertones. It's not that we just shift our current problems a few hundred years in the future and watch them play out, but at its best, Trek has a way of shedding light on our struggles, though in a vastly different context. The darkness of the Borg invasion, the despair, the devastation, and ultimately the power of hope in the face of fear is something I think is worth meditating upon, particularly right now.

What's wonderful about Trek is that it has always presented us with one vision of what is possible. It's not a perfect future. Humans are still human and a lot of the alien races they encounter share our collective baggage, but there is hope. There is a willingness to stretch ourselves beyond parochial and outdated views and to embrace the universe's mysteries. There is a desire, always, to try and do the right thing, and to push ourselves beyond our comfort zones. I believe we all share those desires right now but that we are faced with such daunting challenges that it may be hard to imagine how we're going to get from here to where we really want to be. I'm not saying that Trek is any kind of blueprint for our future, but by placing our heroes in really difficult and dark situations from time to time, and by watching their struggles, we can more easily relate to them, and hopefully, find inspiration in their solutions."

The interview also discussed Beyer's larger career and life, and talked more about Full Circle. Read it, here.

Countdown to Data

On his blog, David Messina has released the cover for the second issue of Countdown, featuring Data:

The blog also has a pre-coloured, and non-monochromatic version, the latter of the two curiously features Data in a command-red uniform, rather than his usual operations gold. Hmm...

Dukat in a two-pack

Toy News International has announced a new action figure two-pack from DST (and for once it doesn’t have a Kirk in it!). This set features young Commander Sisko and Gul Dukat:

See the original release for a little blurb describing the pair.

First TOS Marvel series comics omnibus on the way

On his blog Chris Ryall has announced IDW will be publishing an omnibus of the entire first series of Marvel Star Trek comics, minus the first three issues which were an adaptation of The Motion Picture which are being saved for an adaptations omnibus along side IDW's new Wrath of Khan adaptation. Zach Howard will be producing the cover for this book, which looks like this (see the pencilled version in the original post):

Howard will also be making the cover for the Early Voyages omnibus which Ryall confirmed in his posting.

Ryall also revealed in the comments of this posting, that the Wrath of Khan adaptation will be released biweekly, in June and July. With the omnibus due in the winter.

Khaaaaaaaaaaaan

A recent TrekMovie article has alerted me to my not paying enough attention to my inbox; The latest DST email newsletter thingy revealed their first Toys'r'us exclusive figure. Yet another Kirk variant, but a good one: the Wrath of Kahn "Khaaan!" version, tee hee.

IDW to do Wrath of Khan adaptation

In an interview with Comics Bulletin the new IDW Star Trek editor has revealed IDW will be producing a three-issue adaptation of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the only TOS movie not to have been adapted to the comics medium. The series will be adapted by Schmidt himself, with Chris Ryall taking on editorial duties, and will be illustrated by an artist named Chee.

On other Trek projects Schmidt described Mission's End thusly "THE STATUS QUO CHANGES. That's right, you'll see friendships suffer and crumble as well as really great action. This book is going to lead up to some really big changes for the Original Series franchise."

He also gave the vaguest of hints of a new TNG project in the works "After all that [the WoK adaptation], we then get into the Next Generation stuff, but oh my, lord, if I told you want we have planned, it would blow your mind. But I'll say this—no one is safe. Seriously."

The interview also discussed Schmidt's career, Countdown, and Crew. Go forth and check it out. Thanks to Allyn Gibson on the TrekBBS for pointing this out.

New Manga covers

Looksie what I found on Amazon, best Trek-manga cover so far?:

Looks like Tokyopop's first TNG Manga book will be titled, Boukenshin. UPDATE: Missed it first time, there's a little blurb too:
Helps to discover how Wesley learns to have compassion for others, how the Enterprise deals with a mysterious disease that wipes out half an archeological expedition, and if Picard will survive an internal coup.

Also to be found on Tokyopop's site, it the cover for the TOS Manga omnibus book.

Which seems to have dropped its title Kanzenban. Tokyopop describe thusly:
Embark on the Ultimate Adventure with the original crew of the Starship Enterprise... Selected by the fans themselves, this collection features only the very best stories from the first three volumes of the Star Trek manga anthology series. Among them, tales written by such Star Trek luminaries as David Gerrold, writer of the classic episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" and Wil Wheaton, (aka Wesley Crusher) from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series. Plus, a 28 page sneak preview of the story "Sensation" from the upcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation manga! Also included in this volume--16 previously black-and-white pages now in brilliant full color, as well as a pull-out poster featuring the amazing cover art of Michael Kelleher!

Countdown #1 cover

On his blog, David Messina has released the cover-art for the first issue in the Countdown miniseries, which features the younger and hairier Nero.

The post also shows off a pre-coloured version of the colour, and a coloured version without the monochrome effect. Check it out.