Ward, coming out of the shadow

With the title of his latest book revealed (From History's Shadow), Dayton Ward has at last able to tell us what his next Trek book is all about. And that would be the latest TOS time travel adventure, with adventures in the twenty century following in the footsteps of Greg Cox's Khan books, and indeed one of Ward's own early Trek stories, The Aliens Are Coming! Here's how he describes it:

...it’s an original series novel, set during Kirk’s fabled five-year mission. In fact, it begins a week or so following the events of the second season’s last episode, “Assignment: Earth.” The Enterprise is on its way to its next mission when it’s discovered that two unknown life forms have transported aboard the ship not just through space but also time. While one of the aliens is from a familiar race (no, he’s not carrying a cat), the other is all but unknown to Kirk and the gang, and the mystery only gets weirder when it’s learned that the unlikely visitors have traveled through time from Earth and the year 1968. But, the real ice breaker comes when this alien from an unknown race tells Kirk that he’s spent the last twenty-odd years on Earth trying to bring about humanity’s destruction.

Elsewhere and when, an Air Force captain named James Wainwright (introduced in the Deep Space Nine episode “Little Green Men”) is transferred in September 1947 to a base in Ohio from his previous posting in Roswell, New Mexico. There, he learns he’s now one of the first members of a secret organization, Majestic 12, with a two-fold mission: Seek out any and all evidence of extraterrestrial activity on Earth, and develop a strategy to combat aliens if they’re proven to pose a threat. It’s a task that will consume Wainwright’s life for the next twenty years, driven by the knowledge that the danger is real, and not just because of those pesky Ferengi and their invasion fleet that never did show up.

What does this have to do with Kirk and his crew? Well, that’s a mighty fine question.

In other book news, listings for David R.Gerogre III's DS9 anniversary novel has been updated, with it switching from Time and Revelation, to, Revelations and Dust.

Pick the Enteprise bluray cover art

The official Star Trek Facebook page is taking a poll of likes on potential cover designs to be used on next year's bluray releases of Star Trek: Enterprise. There are three designs to choose from:

Personally I favour option two, with the focus on the Enterprise. Option one is just a horrible boring mess, and while I don't mind option 3, with the big logo, I think the Enterprise ones are just a bit sleeker (plus I'm generally biased towards starship imagery). Which did you pick?

Star Trek Online's new pop-up starships

A couple of the latest new starships added to Star Trek Online are exclusively for use by a thousand day veteran users of the game. As every there is one each for the Federation and Klingons, and this time each design features huge pop-up weapons ports.

The Klingon design is the Peghqu' class heavy destroyer:

 

Here's how they describe here:

An engineering team at the Empire Shipyards have designed a heavy ship with increased maneuverability that is nimble enough to outmaneuver a cruiser but strong enough to take a barrage from an escort. Only experienced ship commanders with the backing of the High Council will have the chance to fly this ship.

As a 1000-day Veteran, the Klingon Defense Force has granted you command of this unique new starship — the Prototype Heavy Destroyer: Peghqu' Class.

The Peghqu' Heavy Destroyer is similar to a Raptor, but it is much more versatile. While in its innate Regenerative Mode, excess power is transferred to the Auxiliary System and you gain a bonus to Starship Shield Systems. It comes equipped with a prototype Dynamic Tactical System console (or DTS). This console allows you to transform your ship between Regenerative Mode and Tactical Mode. In Regenerative Mode, your Tachyon Inversion Beam is enabled, which can siphon shields from multiple targets. Activating Tactical Mode transfers power to your Weapon Systems, and increases your ships Starship Targeting Systems skill, granting an Accuracy bonus. In Tactical Mode, the DTS console enables a powerful multi-targeting Lotus, which is capable of piercing multiple targets. However, while in Tactical Mode, your Starship Shield Systems bonus, Auxiliary Power bonus and Tachyon Inversion Beam are disabled.

And her she is with her pop up mega-disruptors blazing:

 

The Federation meanwhile get the Chimera class heavy destroyer:

 

Starfleet Corps of Engineers (SCE) has been working on a special new destroyer class starship, designed for high-level combat situations. The project was so secret that access to the Utopia Planitia shipyard was restricted for months while the project was completed. Now, Starfleet Command decided to offer the ships to its most experienced captains.

As a 1000-day Veteran, Starfleet has granted you command of this unique new starship — the Prototype Heavy Destroyer: Chimera Class.

The Chimera Heavy Destroyer is similar to an Escort, but has many qualities of Light Cruisers and Science Vessels. While in its innate Regenerative Mode, excess power is transferred to the Auxiliary System and you gain a bonus to Starship Shield Systems. It comes equipped with a prototype Dynamic Tactical System console (or DTS). This console allows you to transform your ship between Regenerative Mode and Tactical Mode. In Regenerative Mode, your Tachyon Inversion Beam is enabled, which can siphon shields from multiple targets. Activating Tactical Mode transfers power to your Weapon Systems, and increases your ships Starship Targeting Systems skill, granting an Accuracy bonus. In Tactical Mode, the DTS console enables a powerful multi-targeting Lotus, which is capable of piercing multiple targets. However, while in Tactical Mode, your Starship Shield Systems bonus, Auxiliary Power bonus and Tachyon Inversion Beam are disabled.

And she too has massive pop-up phasers:

 

The Chimera class was originally submitted to STO in the Design the Enterprise-F competition. Comments from the designer, Jason "Vektor" Lee after the jump:

More books news

Simon and Schuster and Amazon listings have appeared for more new Trek books in 2013.

August's book has been revaled as Dayton Ward's mysterious new Star Trek book, and if the listing is correct will be no less than the sixth TOS novel of 2013! Titled From History's Shadow.

September's book is David R. George's DS9 novel. It is currently listed as a TNG book on Simon and Schuster, titled The Fall, Book 1: Time and Revelation. George has posted on Facebook clarifying that despite the current series allocation this is indeed a DS9 novel, and will be the first in a series called The Fall. Time and Revelation was an early working title for it, and will not be the final name.

There is now a paperback listing for June's book; The Shocks of Adversity, by William Leisner. Which had until now only been available for pre-order as an ebook on Amazon.

Christopher L. Bennett's July Enterprise book, Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures, is also now available for pre-order.

Back in the present, UnrealitySF have recently posted an interview with Una McCormack, in which she discussed her recent Typhon Pact novel, Brinkmanship. She talked about the creative opportunities afforded by the cold war-like setting of the Typhon Pact era, and how the book allowed her to explore familiar ground with the Cardassians, as well as really developing the Tzenketh.Check out UnrealitySF for all she has to say about that novel, and more of her work.

In other prose news, Cross Cult have recently announced the addition of the Voyager relaunch to their schedule of German novel translations, starting in October 2013 with Homecoming, the first of Christie Golden's Alpha Quadrant Voyager books. UnrealitySF's Jens Defner also tells me Cross Cult are already looking into doing a translation of the new movie prequel comic, Countdown to Darkness.

New start to Enterprise from Christopher L. Bennett

Christopher L. Bennett has just announced on his blog that he is to author the next Enterprise novel, in what he hopes will be the first in a new series set after the Romulan War. This is how he summarises Star Trek: Enterprise — Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures, which is due out in July:

The Romulan War saga of the previous Enterprise novels concluded with the founding of the United Federation of Planets in 2161. I’ve been chosen to tell the next phase of the story. How did an alliance forged in wartime become the peaceful union we know? How did its founding members balance their differing views of what the Federation should become? What did they each contribute to the UFP government and Starfleet? How did that Starfleet end up being so similar to the United Earth Starfleet, and what familiar elements owe more to the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites than we might have realized? What challenges did this fledgling union face in dealing with neighboring powers unsure of its intentions or threatened by its unity? What new enemies arose in the wake of the Romulans?

This is a followup to the Star Trek Enterprise — The Romulan War duology, but it’s also a fresh beginning, picking up about a year after the Federation’s founding. The war is over, Enterprise herself is in mothballs, and Admiral Jonathan Archer, his former crew, and his allies including Shran and Soval have moved on to new phases in their lives, playing new roles in the Federation and its combined Starfleet. The novel will feature many familiar characters from the era, a few new crewmates for the familiar cast, and some unexpected names as well. It’s called Enterprise for branding/marketing reasons, but I see it more as a sequel to Enterprise — and a prequel to the original series.

Continue reading on Bennett's blog for more analysis of Enterprise and what he hopes to achieve with this novel. Or make your way to the TrekBBS to discuss it. Bennett has already revealed some interesting titbits of extra info there, including how this came about from a pitch for a pre-Enterprise series:

...my original pitch was Star Trek: Beginnings, which would've been a multibook series covering the span between 2063 and the start of ENT. But it was wisely decided that that would be far too narrow in its appeal, since it would be too lacking in familiar characters and elements. I was offered this project as an alternative, and after my initial hesitation, I saw how much potential there was in it.

And also a little hint at the direction of his proto-Starfleet uniform design:

I approached the uniform design as an intermediate step between the ENT and Kelvin uniforms, with elements foreshadowing later uniform designs as well.  

I for one am very excited! While we wait for this book, Bennett fans might also enjoy Only Superhuman, his first original novel, which has just come out. It's sitting right at the top of my own reading pile; just need to dash through The Persistence of Memory first. Plus of course there's the new Federation: The First 150 Years book out imminently; will be interesting to see how these compare.

Tough little ships

If you like little model starships then you're in for a good time next year!

Back in May, Eaglemoss did a trial launch for a new part work magazine in the UK, Star Trek: The Official Starship Collection. One of my readers, Darth Duranium, has now pointed me to the new Facebook page for that publication, which after having paused for several months will launch nationally in February next year.

There are initial plans for seventy issues/ships, all based on either original CGI files (where available) or newly created models 3D models from Star Trek veteran effects artist Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz (who's previous credits include a whole book for of starship imagery, the Starship Spotter). Eaglemoss were present at the recent Star Trek convention in London, and had a banner sporting twenty-six of the ships to feature in the magazine (including some insanely obscure ones), which they've subsequently posted on Facebook:

At the moment the magazine will be available only in the UK and Ireland, but Eaglemoss are aware of international demand and are looking to CBS to consider launching in other territories.

UPDATE: Darth Duranium has come back with even more information; a complete list of the initial ships planned. You can read that in the comments section of this post (or on the Facebook page). It includes ships from all series, including to my surprise and delight ones from the new movie timeline. Especially exciting are the many Enterprise designs which have never been modelled before.

My personal highlights include the Enterprise-J, USS Kelvin, various Xindi ships, Akira class, Valdore, Enterprise-era Klingon ships, The Scimitar (I wonder how the wings will be presented...), Scorpion fighter, and the USS Dauntless. Exciting stuff, and hopefully the initial 70 issue run will do well enough to fill in some notable gaps, like the Jellyfish, assorted shuttlecraft, the D'Kyr class, Andorian ships, and (in my dreams) the Titan, Aventine, and Enterprise-F.

There is hope for small ship fans elsewhere in the world. Darath Duranium has also pointed me towards news of a revival of the Hot Wheels starships range. Coinciding with the release of the new film next year will be a wave of ships. There are mixed reports on exactly what the new collection will include. Initial rumours indicated the USS Excelsior, and a Klingon battle-crusier form Star Trek Into Darkness. Big Bad Toy Store currently have a preorder for four ships: The Narada, Enterprise NX-01, USS Enterprise NCC-1701, and a none-specific Into Darkness ship. Entertainment Earth also note a ship from Star Trek Into Darkness will be included, and also suggest there will be battle-damaged variants. At any rate it looks like a mix of new and old - See my Hot Wheels starships list for the run-down of previous releases.

Finally Wizkids have announced their latest Star Trek Heroclix game, a second series of ships in their Star Trek Tactics game, due in January. This second series will include ships from an assortment of races, including the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans, Jem'Hadar, Cardassians and Ferengi.

It appears it will follow the model of the first Tactics series, with a four-ship starter kit, and individual ship releases. The starter set includes the USS Fearless, IKS Drovana, IRW N'Ventnar, and Jem'Hadar 4th Division Cruiser 1.

STO timeships

A little while ago Star Trek Online introduced a bunch of new timeships to the game via the new temporal lock box. Here's a video introduction:



And here's their in-universe explanation:

Since the first known encounters with them, xenobiologists have supported theories suggesting that Tholians are far more different from other forms of intelligent life than even their strange outer appearances suggest. One of the cornerstones of these theories is the notion that the Tholian Assembly actually spans multiple dimensions in spacetime. These claims are supported by their frequent involvement with the so-called “Mirror Universe,” as well as their apparent interest in the Temporal Cold War, and time displaced artifacts. It is said that the Tholian homeworld inhabits a region of space where the borders between dimensions are unnaturally thin, and that they have developed technology that allows them to cross those borders at will.

Up until now, these leading theories have been unsupported by much in the way of facts, as infiltrating the Tholian Assembly proved to be an impossible task. Recent evidence of Tholian activity within the Nukara System and the Azure Nebula has put nearly all remaining doubts to rest.

Within these areas, Tholian operatives have been utilizing multi-dimensional phasing technology to not only penetrate the borders between our spatial dimensions, but also the barriers of the space-time continuum itself. Their temporal incursions have resulted in the retrieval of technology, weapons, personnel and even entire starships, pulled from distant times and places.

Their temporal incursion technology is not perfect, however. Ripples from their activity have caused uncontrolled temporal anomalies to appear up to several hundred light years from their source. Daredevil profiteers from the Lobi Crystal Consortium have set up an intricate supply chain dedicated to seeking out these uncontrolled ripple anomalies, and exploiting them to retrieve goods that they can then sell to the highest bidders. Both Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force have an obvious interest in these valuable time-displaced artifacts, for it may be that the fate of time itself will be in the hands of the faction that controls them.

As ever a perfect balance of Federation and Klingon goodies ahve been introduced, including the Federation Wells class, and a sleek new Klingon equivilent, as well as mirror universe variants of both, shuttles, and other new mirror universe ships. Here's the lowdown:

Wells class

Among the ships that have been recovered were Wells Class Temporal Science Vessels. These appear to be the same class as the Federation Timeship encountered by Captain Kathryn Janeway in 2375 (so to speak). As Janeway described in a classified debriefing, "The U.S.S. Relativity's mission was to protect the timeline from temporal incursions." The Federation's interest in these vessels cannot be understated.

The Wells Class Temporal Science Vessel comes with a Tipler Cylinder Universal console module. The Tipler Cylinder can actually rewind time! The dense beryllium cylinder core of this module rotates at near light speed, allowing your ship to perform a Temporal Backstep and rewind time approximately 13 seconds. Your ship's position reverses, and some of your ship's hull and shield damage is restored. Additionally, the cooldown and recharge times on all your abilities are reset.

The Tipler Cylinder is part of a set, and can be used on any Timeship, including the Wells, Mobius, Korath, Krenn, Aeon or Rozhenko class vessels. If you also have a Manheim Device equipped, activating the Temporal Backstep will also cause all nearby foes to freeze in time until the sequence has ended.

Mobius class

Mobius Class Temporal Destroyers appear to be similar to the Federation Timeship encountered by Captain Kathryn Janeway. Unlike the Wells Class, however, these ships appear to be from the Mirror Universe, and as mirror universe ships, it is not surprising they seem to be built more for combat, than for protecting the timeline.

The Mobius Class Temporal Destroyer comes with a Manheim Device Universal console module. This console is based on Dr. Paul Manheim's time-gravity work in the early and mid-24th century. His experiments caused ripples in time, now called the Manheim Effect. The Manheim Device console can create quantum duplicates of yourself — one from your past and one from your future.

Aeon class

The Aeon Timeships appear to be the same class as the Federation Timeship encountered by Captain Kathryn Janeway in 2373. The U.S.S. Voyager's encounter with one of these small crafts left them stranded in 1996. That same craft crashed in the High Sierras in 1967, where it was discovered by Henry Starling, who used the technology on the ship to drive Earth’s advancement in computers all through the late 20th century. The Federation's interest in these vessels cannot be understated.

The Aeon Timeships come with a Subatomic Deflector Array. This Deflector provides a small improvement to Starship Flow Capacitors, Particle Generators, Shield Systems and Shield Emitters. The Deflector also enables you to fire a Subatomic Disruptor. This devastating weapon fires a single massive sustained beam capable of breaking apart a target's molecular structure. It can be equipped on any small craft.

Korath class

Similar to the Federation Wells Class, the Korath Class Temporal Science Vessel comes with a Tipler Cylinder Universal console module.

Krenn class

The Krenn Class Temporal Destroyers are not only from the future, but they also appear to be from the Mirror Universe. They are very similar to the Korath Temporal Science Vessels, however, as a mirror universe ship, it is built more for combat.

Rozhenko class

Presumably named after Alexander Rozhenko, Son of Worf, who has recently funded research into temporal mechanics, the Rozhenko Timeships is a small craft with fantastic power. The Rozhenko Timeships come with a Subatomic Deflector Array.

Mirror universe ships

Federation players will find either a Mirror Universe Deep Space Science Vessel or Mirror Universe Reconnaissance Science Vessel, while KDF players will find a unique Qin Raptor variant dressed in a Mirror Universe skin. As an additional feature coming along with this round of Mirror Universe vessels, we have also enabled the use of the I.S.S. registry prefix for these (or A.K.S. for Klingon equivalents) and all previously available Mirror Universe ships. These prefix unlocks will only be usable on Mirror Universe ships.

 

 

To go with all the ships there are also new timeship bridges:

 

And new uniforms:

There are also new logos for the DTI and Klingon equivilent.

You can see a larger version of the DTI one on Thomas Marrone's blog. And you can see more images of all those ships here, and here.

Lights and sounds on DST's new starships

Diamond Select Toys have posted lots of videos demonstrating the lights and sounds on the latest additions to their Star Trek starship model range, the USS Enterprise-B, and Klingon Bird of Prey. Here is a video of each demonstrating the light and sound effects:




And here is another video of the BoP showing how the wings click into place (this one was done with an unpainted prototype). I'm a little disappointed the wings don't somehow move in tandem, but at least the click and hold at the right angles.



They've posted several other videos showing more or less the same things; if you want to watch them all, head to the DST YouTube channel.

The BoP is expected this month (November). Pre-orders: Amazon.com, Things From Another World, Entertainment Earth, Forbidden Planet.

The Enterprise-B is due in January. Pre-orders: Things From Another World, Entertainment Earth, Forbidden Planet.

In a recent Q and A they confirmed there are plans for a USS Excelsior variant too. They also noted the release date for the Enterprise-E, which is meant to be the first ship in a series of re-releases of all the previous DST starships, has shifted once again; with it now expected late this year or maybe even early next.

Latest Ships of the Line previews

The 2013 Ships of the Line calendar has been available for a couple of months now, but if, like me, you don't tend to get a copy until the very end of the year, you might still enjoy a little peak at the images it holds. Fortunately the artists are often quite obliging in that regard.

Doug Drexler recently posted on his Facebook, a nice clear view of his DS9 image, which appears to reuse elements from his covers for both Plagues of Night and Raise the Dawn:

Tobias Richter has also updated his website with his two images for the calendar: A TOS-movie era Enterprise shot, and a TNG shot, which uses his new models of the Enteprise-D and the Stargazer made for the TNG remastering project:

 

You can see other views of those new TNG models on The Light Works' website. And you can get a closer look at some of the other images in next year's calendar with some of previous coverage: Here, and here.

Latest ThinkGeek Star Trek curiosities

ThinkGeek has added several new products to it's ever growing range of quirky Star Trek products in recent weeks: My favourite of the latest batch are the new TOS cookie cutters:

Here's a video of them in action:



For those of us facing a constant battle with junk-mail, there's the new mini Bat'leth letter opener:

As a member of the Klingon race, it can be hard to accept anything as 'too difficult'. A big issue a Klingon male faces is a test of his fine motor skills. We are killing machines, fighters; we are vastly more concerned with a warrior's life, tlhIngan maH! But, when left alone and the mail has arrived, opening a letter proves to be more difficult than ghang love. But, thanks to the Bat'leth Letter Opener, we can attack these letters with the ferocity of a true warrior.

The Star Trek Bat'leth Letter Opener is, first and foremost, sharp, sharper than the tongue that first spoke Hab SoSII' Quch! Made of stainless steel, the blood of conquered envelopes won't ruin this weapon, nor will it bend to a mighty foe. It's also super neat that they come with a resin cast display stand! Ehhem... nuqjatlh?

Here it is in action, and also a demonstration for its alternative use in pest control:



For living room commanders the inflatable captain's chair, previously released at child scale is now available as a proper full sized adult verion.

And finally, ready to fill the default Christmas present niche, are the new Star Trek socks; you get three pairs, one in each TOS division colour: