2013 calendar back covers

Amazon have posted back cover images up for the 2013 Ships of the Line and TOS calendars. While neither show every image in the calendar, all those seen on the Ships of the Line are, disappointingly, reuses of previously published images:

Hopefully this isn't the final version however, as a best-of-reprint-edition is exactly what Doug Drexler said this would not be when he announced the change of publishers.

Now, frankly, when you’re making a transition like that it’s really important how you look when you come out the other side. You can’t look like a retread. So I talked to my buddies who work on the calendar and I said, “Look, they want to do a rerun thing. Personally, I’m not going to do that; I’m going to create new art for the rerun price, and you guys are free to do that as well if you want. I hope you will.” And everyone just jumped in. We actually got the calendar together in about three weeks. I think it’s one of the best-looking calendars yet. So, sometimes extra-cool stuff comes out of adversity. I’m real excited about it.

UPDATE: At the very least, Mark Rademaker has confirmed, on twitter, that he contributed a new image.

UPDATE 2: The calendar's editor has confirmed with me that these are not the final versions.

Here's the TOS one, which obviously always contains familiar images:

Star Trek books bits and bobs

The Simon and Schuster website has been updated with a listing for a new book called Star Trek Classic Quotes, by Carlo DeVito, due out in November. There is a brief description:

Hardcover, leatherette with foil embossing, and a ribbon marker make this book attractive and appealing to many audiences. Full color pictures imbedded throughout. Quotes derived from all episodes.

Cover mock-up

Simon and Schuster and online retailers also now have listings up for David Make's TNG trilogy, Cold Equations. So if you want keep really ahead of the game, that can now be pre-ordered:

• #1: The Persistence of Memory
  Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.
• #2: Silent Weapons
  Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.
• #3: The Body Electric
  Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.

New Star Trek art from Bye Bye Robot

Bye Bye Robot have launched a new range of Star Trek fine art prints. Their initial offering includes two views of the original Enterprise, a Gorn, and trio of tribbles:

These look pretty nice to me, I look forward to seeing where they go next.

Undiscovered Country expanded soundtrack

Continuing the expanded Star Trek soundtrack project, Intrada have released the expanded soundtrack from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Like previous releases in the series the two disc set includes the originally released soundtrack, plus the complete score, alternate cues and in this instance, trailer music! Here's how they describe it:

Blast for Star Trek music fans! World premiere 2-CD release of complete soundtrack for sixth feature film in wildly popular Paramount Pictures franchise, directed by Nicholas Meyer, starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and Oscar-winner Christopher Plummer. Cliff Eidelman scores for first time in series not with customary fanfare-march approach but with incredibly dark, powerful material, mirroring serious tone of film. Ideas often play in cellos, basses, low brass. Eidelman also displays gift for powerhouse percussion writing. In spotlight as well are aggressive, tour-de-force action cues requiring high degree of player technique, especially from horns, trumpets. Arguably the most challenging Trek score to perform! Emphasis on darker sonorities notwithstanding, score does allow for bright, energetic theme where appropriate, especially in dynamite finish with cast "Sign Off" and "End Credits" music. Intrada release, courtesy Universal Music & Paramount Pictures and part of Paramount restoration series of each Trek score, also offers alternates plus both dynamic trailer scores, to date the only original trailer scores recorded for a Star Trek film. Take 10 version with arresting high trumpet triplets is particularly memorable! CD 2 presents original 1991 album with composer's unique musical assembly. Complete score mastered from Mitsubishi digital 2-track stereo session masters recorded at 20th Century Fox, trailers mixed from 2" 24-track analog masters recorded at Sony Pictures. Lukas Kendall produces, supervises entire project with composer, Neil Bulk edits, Mike Matessino mixes, masters, Jeff Bond scribes authoritative notes. Cliff Eidelman conducts.

Star Trek ongoing cover and preview

Tim Bradstreet has released his cover artwork (sans titles) for the ninth issue of the Star Trek ongoing comic series (part one of Return of the Archons). It looks like this:

Meanwhile last week saw the release of issue six, the concluding half of Operation: Annihilate. If you didn't get it yet you can read a five page preview after the jump (via's Comic Continuum's previews for all last week's IDW comics). Or you can now pre-order the second omnibus of the series (due in July) which will contain Operation: Annihilate, and the first original story in the series, the soon to start, Vendetta Conspiracy.

Indecision on Bajor

Cross Cult can't seem to make their mind's up about Bajor, in their six book release of the Worlds of Deep Space Nine series. They already put up a cover with Sisko, but have now floated both Kira and Ro as alternatives.

 

Any preference? I just want to see what they do with Andor!

The latest from STO

The STO team have reimagined the Yellowstone class runabout (introduced in Voyager's Non Sequitur), as a new 25th century runabout class design. Which looks like this:

Smaller than a starship but larger than a shuttlecraft, the Yellowstone is the newest Runabout in the Federation line.

The Yellowstone comes with an advanced Tetryon-Plasma Engine. This engine grants a +32 bonus to your Starship Warp Core Potential. The Tetryon-Plasma can also be ejected behind the Runabout. Any enemy ship that passes through the Tetryon-Plasma cloud will be slowed and may have its engines knocked offline. The Tetryon-Plasma Engine may be used on any small craft or fighter.

Like other Runabouts, the Yellowstone is often used as a tow vehicle. It comes equipped with a Tractor Beam to handle these utilitarian missions.

There are also a couple more in-universe preludes to new features episodes from the game, which you can find here, and here. Plus new wallpapers featuring the new Starfleet and Klingon flagships.

McCoy joins the Masterpiece Collection

Titan Merchandise have announced the latest addition to their Star Trek Masterpiece Collection bust series; Doctor Leonard McCoy, joining his TV era clad crewmates Kirk and Spock. Things From Another World suggests an August release.

Pre-order: Things From Another World, Forbidden Planet.

Star Trek Who Wants To Be A Millionaire trailer

The Star Trek Who Wants To Be A Millionaire game is out now (around the world, except for America) as a downloadable game for PS3 and Xbox 360. Here's the trailer:

Review: The Struggle Within

So back in October the latest book in the Typhon Pact series came out, The Struggle Within, a TNG story, by perhaps my favourite Trek author no less, Christopher L. Bennett. Yet it wasn't until today that I finally got around to reading it. I don't have an e-reader or tablet of any variety, and the one and only other time I tried an ebook, I found the program I used on my laptop a complete pain. Thankfully (once I finally gave in to temptation) my chosen program this time around, the desktop version of Amazon's kindle, was much friendlier. Not quite as easy as holding a book, but nice and easy to read off my laptop screen in comfort. So ebook issues aside, how was the book:

This novella has two stories, which provide a pleasing symmetry as we see complementary tales from the Khitomer and Typhon sides of the political divide. One deals primarily with Picard, Crusher, and Worf, as the Enterprise is sent to visit the Talarians. The other features the newer TNG relaunch characters Jasminder Choudhury and T'Ryssa Chen, on a secret mission to deal with the Kinshaya. Also in the mix are Romulans, Breen, and Tzenkethi, leaving just the Gorn that don't make an appearance from the Typhon Pact species.

At novella length Bennett has tried to squeeze a lot of story in here, and so it sometimes feels a little fast - I imagine given the opportunity, this could have been expanded into a full novel. I am glad it wasn't though, as I really enjoyed the television episode pacing and structure; if TNG was suddenly renewed for TV, with the new novel characters added in, I could easily imagine this as an episode, working in the finest Star Trek tradition to explore very contemporary issues (the "Arab Spring", which both influenced, and is referenced to in this story) and the strength of the ideology of our Federation heroes, and the hope they give to those they touch.

I've been developing a new love for TNG since the recent post-Nemesis series really got going (Q and A onwards, I'm happy to forget Death in Winter and Resistance), and that continues here, with my two favourite new crew members, Choudhury and T'Ryssa, getting half the story to themselves. I particularly enjoy T'Ryssa's relationship with Picard, and was in stitches towards the end of story when the two share a scene. I found the humour that T'Ryssa in-particular brings to the new TNG crew especially valuable here, as a balance to the quite dark political struggles seen in this story.

I feel Bennett might be best known for his hard science take on Trek; there wasn't really a place for that in this story, but his usual humour, and skills in world building and character development shine as ever. I'm sure the science quota will more than be made up for with Forgotten History later this year.

So would I endure another ebook after that? Absolutely! I really enjoyed the snappy pace of this story, and would be very happy to see Simon and Schuster bring out more Trek e-novellas on a regular basis. I might even be tempted to invest in a kindle or some such thing if they did (and then I'd have something to read the now ebook-only (ish) Stargate novel series). Which begs the question, nearly half a year later, where is the next Trek ebook?