STAR TREK® Fiction
by Christopher
L. Bennett
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S.C.E. #29: Aftermath
The U.S.S. da Vinci
is at last ready to resume its mission after the catastrophic
events of Wildfire--but before they can even leave Spacedock,
a terrible explosion rocks San Francisco, heralding the arrival
of a strange alien structure. With the aid of Captain Montgomery Scott
and former Starship Enterprise and Deep Space 9 engineer
Miles O'Brien, the S.C.E. must investigate the alien structure and
learn if this is an attack, a first contact--or something worse.
What they find may land the Federation in the midst
of an interdimensional war, as Commander Sonya Gomez works
with Starfleet legends from two generations to untie the secrets
of the alien structure before it's too late!
"As fascinating as the dilemma is in Aftermath,
it is the human drama unfolding between the characters... that
makes Aftermath so rewarding to read.... Bennett amply
illustrates that he really knows his Star Trek... while at the same
time demonstrating a writing style that is both droll and stimulating."
-- Jacqueline Bundy, Trek Nation
S.C.E. is an eBook series about the Starfleet Corps of Engineers,
featuring a mix of original characters and TNG/DS9 guest stars.
I came to the attention of S.C.E. editor Keith R.A. DeCandido
through my posts to the TrekBBS's Trek Literature page, and he
invited me to pitch. Getting to write Trek fiction is a lifelong
dream come true for me. Networking pays!
My first thought was that, since the SCE cast was fairly new to me, I'd
like to bring in guest characters I was more familiar with.
I thought of Chief O'Brien, which suggested a story set on Earth;
that in turn suggested taking a look at the aftermath, both physical
and psychological, of the Breen attack on San Francisco from "The
Changing Face of Evil." I turned in my original proposal in
the summer of 2001. Then September 11th happened, and that tragedy
and its aftermath had considerable resonances with the premise of
Aftermath, so I reworked my proposal to incorporate those
new insights.
As of November 2006, Aftermath is available as the first story in
the Corps of Engineers trade paperback collection of the same name.
The title of the series was changed for the sake of greater clarity
when the series was "relaunched" in November '06, and the TPB came out
at the same time to cross-promote with the relaunch.
Spoiler discussion and notes
Psi Phi's S.C.E.
page
Deep
Space Nine: Prophecy and Change: "...Loved I Not Honor More"
In the wake of "Ferengi
Love Songs," Quark is eager to exercise his renewed Ferengi business
license and become a financial force to be reckoned with once
again. But his priorities are tested when he's reunited with
his old Klingon flame, the Lady Grilka. Will true love exact
too high a price?
This time the invitation came from editor Marco Palmieri, another
TrekBBS regular. Marco is the editor of the acclaimed
DS9 Relaunch novels which advance the saga beyond the end of the
TV series. But the idea behind this anthology was to tell stories
set during the series' run, stories which would shed new light on
the growth and changes which the characters and their relationships
went through. The first idea I thought of was based on a question
I'd been wondering about for years: Whatever happened to Grilka?
In "Looking for Par'mach in All the Wrong Places," she and Quark
became lovers, but then we never saw her again. I've always wondered
what could've happened to their relationship. I'm thrilled to
have the chance to provide the answer to that question.
Spoiler discussion and notes
Star Trek: Ex Machina
THE HUMAN ADVENTURE CONTINUES.
In the aftermath of the astonishing events of Star
Trek: The Motion Picture, the captain and officers of the
U.S.S. Enterprise remain haunted by their encounter with
the vast artificial intelligence of V'ger . . . and by the sacrifice
and ascension of their friend and shipmate, Willard Decker.
As James T. Kirk, Spock and Leonard McCoy attempt
to cope with the personal fallout of that ordeal, a chapter
from their mutual past is reopened, raising troubling new questions
about the relationship among God, Man and AI. On the recently
settled world of Daran IV, the former refugees of the Fabrini worldship
Yonada are being divided by conflicting ideologies, as those clinging
to their theocratic past vie with visionaries of a future governed by
reason alone.
Now, echoes of the V'ger encounter reverberate among
the Enterprise officers who years ago overthrew the
Oracle, the machine-god that controlled Yonada. Confronting
the consequences of those actions, Kirk, Spock and McCoy also
face choices that will decide the fate of a civilization, and which
may change them forever.
"...written with a deft hand and deep skill....
[The] very intricate story... combines history, religion, science,
conflict, and terrorism and weaves it into a tight fabric that
engenders thought and contemplation beyond the usual scope of a
sci-fi media tie-in novel." -- Father Robert Lyons, SST, Stellarcross.org
"Ex Machina is a good, long, solid read, well
worth immersing yourself in for several hours. There's a lot packed in here,
from Trek trivia to philosophizing. It reads like the kind of book only a
fan who takes Star Trek seriously could possibly have written." --
Steve Roby
" Bennett has produced a glorious debut in full-length
novel form.... This promising new author clearly has a lot
of Trek knowledge, character- and world-building skill, and love
of the franchise; so "Ex Machina" comes highly recommended."
-- Daniel Berry, BookTrek
"Thought provoking stories are one of the hallmarks
of Star Trek and stories rarely get more thought provoking than
Ex Machina.... What Christopher L. Bennett has done
with Ex Machina is to meld together... a story cannot help
but resonate with anyone who has ever read a history book or a newspaper."
-- Jackie Bundy, Trek Nation
"Attention to scientific detail is at the forefront
of Bennett's tome, as he carefully integrates scientific reality
into the framework of the tale.... He's got a solid grasp on characterization
all the way throughout EX MACHINA, and no one escapes his watchful
eye or is considered insignificant. That's the mark of a great writer,
one who makes you care about all of the people in a story, and this
is one of Bennett's many strengths." -- Bill Williams, TrekWeb
"Easily one of the best TOS novels in print, Ex
Machina is the proverbial must-read.... Bennett has woven multiple and often
conflicting continuity threads in a tour de force that tells a fascinating
story with flair, imagination, and weight." -- Megan O'Neill, TV ZONE
Magazine
Years ago, I dreamed of becoming a Trek novelist, but I wasn't happy with
the continuity restrictions of that time, which forbade Trek
novels from making any real changes in the characters' lives so
as to avoid contradicting anything onscreen. In looking
for a way around those restrictions, I thought of exploring the
period between Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The
Wrath of Khan. This was a time of transition and growth
for all the characters. We knew where they started out and where
they ended up, but the process in between was largely uncharted.
It would be an opportunity to tell stories with arc and character development
while still staying within continuity.
I now realize that even allowing for that, I probably still couldn't have
sold this novel under that old regime. Fortunately, the
Trek novel line is now in a time of renaissance, freer than ever
before to explore new story directions. Given the various
projects edited by Marco Palmieri, including the post-finale Deep
Space Nine novels and the Lost Era miniseries, I had a
feeling my idea might go over well with him -- though I'm still thrilled
to have been right.
There have been novels set in the post-TMP period before, but hardly any
have been direct follow-ups to TMP, exploring its aftermath
on the characters. Most surprisingly to me, none ever really
sought to elaborate on Spock's life-changing epiphany about the
value of emotion -- something I'd always felt was rich with story
possibilities. But I'm glad to be the one who gets to tell
those stories at long last.
So why did I make ExM a sequel to "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched
the Sky and My Goodness, This is an Awfully Long Title, Isn't it Though?"
Well, in the ST:TMP novelization, Gene Roddenberry said that "McCoy had become
something of a recluse while he researched applications of Fabrini medicine
among surface dwellers." So I've always wondered if he met up with
Natira again, and what would've happened between them. It just seemed
natural that a novel exploring this period would address that issue.
Also, the presence of the Oracle computer-god provided resonances with the
V'ger encounter in TMP. And the story of a society struggling to rebuild
and redefine itself, torn between the traditional and the modern, the secular
and the spiritual, gave me a great opportunity to develop themes from my
history studies in college, particularly with regard to the Middle East.
Annotations page Explanations of Trek references, science/tech and in-jokes
(spoiler-heavy!)
Supporting cast images The faces of the novel's minor crewmembers
Startrek.com
Book Club chat transcript January 25, 2005
Click here for
help pronouncing the title (courtesy
of the American Heritage Dictionary at Bartleby.com)
This little tribute was put together by TMP-alien
buff Ian McLean, based on an old ST comic strip from the Los
Angeles Times:
Voyager:
Distant Shores: "Brief Candle"
In "Survival Instinct," Lt.
Marika Willkarah was liberated from the Borg Collective but left
with only a month to live. She chose to live out her final days
as a member of Voyager's crew. This is the story of
those final days and the impact she has on her crewmates, most
especially a certain Ensign Harry Kim.
"...a tender and poignant story
of the former Borg drone Lt. Marika Willkarah's last weeks. Bennett's
prose exhibits great sensitivity..." -- Jackie Bundy, Trek
Nation
The mandate for this anthology was to explore missed
opportunities from the series. I went through the show and
developed several proposals, but the one that most intrigued editor
Marco Palmieri was this one, exploring the final days of Lt. Marika
(Bertila Damas) from "Survival Instinct." Since the array of
alien makeups seen on the Markonian outpost in the episode included
some recycled Voth masks from "Distant Origin," a personal favorite episode,
I was able to work the Voth into the story and follow up on another missed
opportunity.
Spoiler discussion
and notes
Star
Trek: Titan: Orion's Hounds
As the U.S.S. Titan ventures
beyond the outermost reaches of known space, the telepaths in
her crew -- including Diplomatic Officer Deanna Troi -- are overwhelmed
by an alien cry of distress, leading the ship to the scene of a shocking
act of carnage: a civilization of interstellar "whalers" preying
upon and exploiting a familiar species of sentient spaceborne giants.
Appalled but reluctant to rush to judgment, Captain
William Riker and his crew investigate, discovering a cosmic spawning
ground in a region of active star formation -- the ecosystem for
a bewildering array of diverse but similarly vast life-forms. While
attempting to negotiate an end to the victimization of these creatures,
Riker's crew inadvertently grants them the means to defeat their
hunters' purpose . . . only to learn that things are not exactly as
they seem.
"Great science fiction opens your
mind to new possibilities, ideas and concepts.... Orion's Hounds
by Christopher L. Bennett is outstanding science fiction. Ingenious
and enthralling, Orion's Hounds balances scientific theory with
character driven adventure in a vibrant story that challenges the Star
Trek mythos." -- Jackie Bundy, Trek
Nation
"...brings Trek fiction up to par
with all but the hardest subgenres of hard science fiction... true
intellectual excitement surges alongside the high-stakes dramatic
developments of the novel's plot. Bennett staked out a claim to
superb writing with Ex Machina, and Orion's Hounds only
confirms his dazzling ability to combine the fanciful space opera that
is Star Trek's core with scientifically literate speculation and superior
characterization...." -- Killian Melloy, Wigglefish
"Christopher Bennett's sophomore
novel is another home-run winner, and any combination of strong
plotting, careful scientific discovery, interesting characters, and
unlimited potential always makes for an excellent tale, STAR TREK or
otherwise." -- Bill Williams, TrekWeb
"There's sense of wonder galore
here.... Orion's Hounds boldly takes Titan into exciting
new territory, and confirms that Christopher Bennett is another in
the succession of top-notch Trek novelists that Pocket has discovered
in recent years." -- Steve Roby, Starfleet
Library
"The amount of detail that went into
this is astonishing. One could sense a real passion for the science
behind the storytelling, and Bennett makes the small section of the
galaxy portrayed in Orion’s Hounds truly come alive.... Christopher
L. Bennett’s latest novel does the Titan series justice, serving
up a novel that deserves more recognition than being a “media tie-in”
novel." -- Julio Angel Ortiz, The Next Chamber
Editor Marco Palmieri's goal for the Titan
series was to tell SF-adventure stories revolving around exploration
and the sense of wonder, featuring the most diverse multispecies starship
crew in Starfleet history. My work with the diverse crew in
Ex Machina convinced him that we thought along
much the same lines, so he invited me to write the third Titan
novel. I decided I needed to find a story that was really about
exploration. A lot of Trek these days has gotten away from
that, and I fear there's a perception that pure exploration doesn't
work to drive a story anymore (at least, some people have blamed the
poor reception of Enterprise's first two seasons on its pure-exploration
focus). So I needed to tell a story of exploration that went
way beyond the formulaic "starship visits alien planet and gets embroiled
in local politics" kind of tale. I needed something epic and
striking.
Also, I wanted to do a couple of things here that
I wasn't able to do in ExM. In that novel, I tried to capture
the spirit of ST:TMP as much as possible, but the one thing I failed
to capture was its sense of wonder, its grand, epic vistas of the
cosmos. So I wanted to make up for that and go really cosmic
here. The other shortfall of ExM was that it was a very derivative
story, a sequel highly dependent on what had come before. I
wanted to tell a more original, self-contained story here.
To be sure, as the cover reveals, the novel features
the return of the space-jellyfish organisms from "Encounter at Farpoint."
But we learned very little about them in that episode, so
I was still able to tell an almost wholly original story. Well,
more or less; I did rip it off from myself. The plot to OH was
based on "Spirit of the Hunt," a failed VGR story written for the Strange
New Worlds anthology contest. The story didn't work because
it was too big for the short format; it was only half a story. To
make it work as OH, I had to go much farther beyond that point, as
well as going into much more depth on what came before.
So I decided to open it up well beyond a single spacegoing
species, and explore the whole ecosystem to which they must belong.
Basically I've tried to define the broader framework which
most or all of Trek's spacegoing critters occupy. That gave
me the epic scope I wanted, and let me work in a number of thoughts about
spacegoing life that I've developed for my original SF over the years.
I'd like to think this same basic story could stand as an effective
work of original science fiction even if it existed entirely independently
of Star Trek.
Annotations page Explanations of Trek references and science/tech (spoiler-heavy!)
Star Trek: Constellations: "As Others See Us"
The natives of Sigma Niobe II are
unaware that aliens walk among them, watching them but forbidden to
interfere by their Prime Directive. But who is really watching
whom?
"Don't make hasty judgments. Things are not always
as they seem. There will always be surprises. There's
a lesson to be learned here -- but who needs to learn it is the real
surprise." -- from the Introduction by David
Gerrold
"...a unique and extremely intriguing
look at how a first-contact situation can go awry if handled wrong."
-- Bill Williams, TrekWeb
When the call first went out for story pitches to Constellations,
it was a tough challenge to meet. We were asked to avoid the
usual episode sequels and gap-fillers and continuity-weaving ideas,
because that's been done so many times with TOS over the past 40 years.
The mandate was to come up with effective, original standalone
stories that still managed to reveal new things about the TOS characters
and universe. And being deprived of the usual shortcuts and fallbacks
made it hard. I was only able to come up with one or two really
decent ones, not the 3-4 that would be expected, so I never bothered to
send in a pitch. A few months later, Marco Palmieri wrote to me
specifically and asked me to come up with something for it; perhaps the
anthology was running short or something. What he asked for were sense-of-wonder
stories, big ideas and adventures. And he needed them quickly. I
slapped together a couple of promising but half-formed ideas and threw in
the best of the ideas I'd had before, a proposal I called "Hidden Truths."
Of course, that was the one Marco chose.
Writing the story went pretty quickly and smoothly, but
Marco and I had the hardest time settling on a title. We considered
all sorts of things involving veils and masks. Several times
I suggested "How Not to Be Seen," an homage to a classic Monty Python sketch,
but Marco never went for it. Finally, as we were coming down
to the wire, I suddenly thought, "How about a bit o' Robbie Burns:
'As Others See Us'?" And that was the only title Marco and I
could agree on. Although I still like to think of it as "How
Not to Be Seen." (Actually I almost talked Marco into it, but
I decided that since we were going for a TOS feel, it would be better
to use an authentically TOS-style title rather than an allusion to another
show. But that didn't stop Jeffrey Lang from writing a Constellations
story called "Where Everybody Knows Your Name." Shows what I know.)
Spoiler discussion
and notes
Star Trek: Mere
Anarchy Book 4: The Darkness Drops Again
Mere Anarchy: A new six-part
epic covering thirty years of Star Trek® history,
continuing with an adventure that takes place between The Motion
Picture and The Wrath of Khan!
Book 4: The Darkness Drops Again
The rebuilding of Mestiko is starting to make progress: the
atmosphere is partially restored and Federation scientists are introducing
new methods of replenishing the planet's biosphere. But their efforts
are being stymied by the growing power of the mar-Atyya, who shun all
offworlders.
The arrival of the Starship Enterprise under the command of
James T. Kirk proves less than fortuitous, as the ship becomes a flashpoint
for all of Mestiko's troubles. Now Raya elMora, the leader of the planetary
council, finds herself facing exile -- which could spell doom for Mestiko....
My first opportunity to follow up on the characters and situations
of Ex Machina came from an
unexpected direction, as eBook editor Keith DeCandido invited me to
participate in this 40th-anniversary project. The plan was to tell
six novella-length stories spanning the entire TOS era, and I was invited
to contribute the post-TMP installment on the basis of ExM. Dayton
Ward & Kevin Dilmore came up with the overall outline and premise for
the miniseries, but all the participating authors (Dayton & Kevin,
Mike W. Barr, Dave Galanter, me, Howard Weinstein, and Margaret Wander
Bonanno), along with Keith, participated in a lengthy and wacky e-mail
correspondence wherein we all contributed to hashing out the premise and
keeping everything consistent.
But this story isn't as direct an ExM followup as it could
be, since I wanted it to work primarily as a part of Mere Anarchy
and be accessible to people unfamiliar with ExM. So it's in the
same continuity and uses some of the same ideas (and includes some movie-era
elements I didn't get to work into ExM, such as Andrew Probert's modular-shuttlecraft
designs), but focuses mainly on the core TOS cast rather than the supporting
characters I developed for the novel. And although it takes the
characters well beyond the ExM timeframe, it leaves plenty of room for
further storytelling in the post-TMP era.
My story happened to fall into the largest gap in the series,
between the first two movies -- a timespan that, according to conventional
Trek chronology, corresponds to roughly 12 years (2273 to 2285). So
rather than limiting myself to one point within this timeframe, I took
on the task of telling a more sweeping tale that explored how the Enterprise
crew evolved between the two movies, while also taking the planet Mestiko
through years of political and social upheaval. This makes mine
a rather different story from the others, but then, each one is a distinct
kind of tale. Book 1 is a disaster movie, Book 2 a classic tale
of Kirk taking on Klingon meddlers, Book 3 a buddy movie, Book 4 a sweeping
historical epic, Book 5 an action-packed tale of interstellar brinksmanship,
and Book 6 a more introspective piece bringing it all closure. That's
part of what made this such a fascinating collaboration to be a part
of. The fun we had in our e-mail exchanges was also a major part
of that.
Spoiler discussion and notes
Star Trek:
The Next Generation: The Buried Age
A
Tale of The Lost Era
Jean-Luc Picard. His name has gone
down in legend as the captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer and two
starships Enterprise. But the nine years of his life leading
up to the inaugural mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise to Farpoint
Station have remained a mystery--until now, as Picard's lost era is finally
unearthed.
Following the loss of the Stargazer and the brutal court-martial
that resulted, Picard no longer sees a future for himself in Starfleet.
Turning to his other love, archaeology, he embarks on a quest to rediscover
a buried age of ancient galactic history . . . and awakens a living
survivor of that era: a striking, mysterious woman frozen in time since
before the rise of Earth¹s dinosaurs. But this powerful immortal
has a secret of cataclysmic proportions, and her plans will take Picard
-- aided along the way by a brilliant but naive android, an insightful
Betazoid, and an enigmatic El-Aurian -- to the heights of passion, the
depths of betrayal, and the farthest reaches of explored space.
"This is a large-scale tale that's occasionally
more akin to Arthur C. Clarke's universe than Gene Roddenberry's. Yet
just before the book strays too far from the Trek track, it gets
back on board with some first-class interactions between Picard and a
clutch of very welcome characters...." -- John Donnelly, SFX
Magazine
"Bennett's take is quite surprising, fitting
in with all the known facts, but adding a new layer to them." --
Owen Morris, Dreamwatch
SciFI
"Notable in Bennett’s work is his creation
of unique and lively civilizations… each of them are unique, interesting,
and provide further proof that world building is far easier in print than
on television." -- Robert Lyons, TrekMovie.com
"Bennett loves his hard science and it always informs
his tales, without overshadowing the story and characters at their heart.
This is an interesting tale, well told." -- Paul Simpson, StarTrek.com
Years ago, I imagined what stories I'd pitch if I ever became
a Trek novelist. One of my ideas was for an epic trilogy (since
trilogies were all the rage back then) filling in the nine years of
Picard's life between the Stargazer and the Enterprise.
It was never more than a very tentative notion, and I never got around
to pitching it. And when it was announced a while back that editor Marco
Palmieri intended to do a Lost Era novel covering this span, I assumed
the task would go to Michael Jan Friedman, who's carved out a niche as
the main chronicler of Picard's early career aboard the Stargazer.
So I sadly gave up on my ambition.
I was thus very surprised when, some months later, Marco asked
me out of the blue if I'd like to do the "Picard's missing years" novel.
Naturally I said yes, and dredged up my old plans. I soon
decided, though, that my original idea wasn't viable. It would've
had Picard found guilty in the Stargazer court-martial and demoted
for several years. This would've turned out to be the result of
a conspiracy to keep Picard from getting command of the Enterprise,
so that this key post would go to a conspirator instead. But the conspiracy
idea has been done too many times in Trek by now. So ironically, even
though I finally got to tell the story I'd wanted to tell for years, I had
to start completely from scratch.
Marco's suggestion was an epic quest, probably involving archaeology,
that would reawaken the disillusioned Picard's love of exploration.
I got the sense he wanted something in a similar vein to Orion's
Hounds in terms of its scope and conceptual breadth. So I thought
about doing for deep time what I did for deep space in OH -- exploring
and filling in the uncharted reaches of Trek prehistory. As with
OH, I built on a lot of ideas I'd been working on for my original SF. Which
is cool, because that required me to rethink the galactic history for my
original SF universe and come up with something new that I'm very happy
with.
In a way, though, this was as much a book about the distant
future as the distant past, because the hyperadvanced civilizations
of the past suggested paths for the future evolution of humanity. My
depiction of their advances and abilities was heavily influenced by transhumanist
science fiction, and by the possibilities suggested by existing trends
in genetics and cybernetics. Ironically, many of the "incredibly
advanced" technologies and bodily enhancements possessed by these ancients
are ones that humanity may well achieve long before the 24th century.
We've already surpassed Star Trek tech in a lot of ways,
and medical advances like Geordi's VISOR are the stuff of the next decade,
not three and a half centuries from now.
My original trilogy idea did have an impact on the structure
of this book, if not the plot. Since nine years is a long time,
I knew I couldn't just tell one story. So I structured it episodically,
essentially as four novellas. The last three parts in particular
have close ties and tell a larger story, but each part has its own focus,
its own beginning and end, its own distinct characters and settings.
And the only characters who are in all three, Picard and the mysterious
woman mentioned in the cover blurb, are in a distinct phase of their lives
and relationship in each part.
Of course, this wasn't just a quest story. I knew I had
to explore how Picard became the man we met in TNG. We knew he was
an aloof, professorial, even forbidding figure there, yet over the
years we learned he had a wealth of old friends and old flames. So
I knew something must have happened to change him, and that would be
the core of my story. But I also wanted to explore how he became
captain of the Enterprise, how and why he chose his command crew,
what shaped his values, choices and relationships, and so on.
And yet I had to balance this with the fact that these events
were never referenced in TNG -- the main problem faced by any prequel.
So I chose to tell a story that took Picard far afield from the
events and politics featured in TNG, both literally and figuratively.
I considered making the whole thing classified or having it erased
from Picard's memory, but that would've been the lazy way out; I tried
to find subtler reasons why Picard would not have discussed these events.
Also, as much as I could, I tried to work in references to events
and lines from TNG so that it would seem as though those events and
lines were references back to this book. The goal was to create
the illusion that the characters in TNG were talking and thinking about
the events of The Buried Age on many occasions, but that the viewer
just didn't realize it until now. The book foreshadows and influences
many later events. Why did Picard value consensus among his crew?
Why did he want a first officer not afraid to defy him? Why
did he trust Deanna Troi and Guinan so much? Why did he get invited
to speak at archaeological conferences? All because of things that
happened in TBA.
I felt a heavy Shakespeare focus was essential as well, to commemorate
Patrick Stewart's distinguished career as a Shakespearean actor and
to acknowledge the Shakespearean flavor that much of Star Trek
has always had. Also, a couple of those old SF ideas of mine that
dealt with ancient, reawakened civilizations used titles and names inspired
by passages from The Tempest (such as "O brave new world" or "When
I wak'd I cried to dream again"), so it was a natural fit.
I hit a major snag early in the writing process when I learned
my initial plans for the Stargazer court-martial wouldn't work.
It took a long time to research military and civilian law and figure
out a new approach. At the same time, I was distracted by the then-ongoing
news about the attempts to redefine the term "planet." I got caught
up in reading about all the exciting new discoveries made in planetary
sciences over the past few years, and it was keeping me from focusing
on the novel. So I took a cue from Riva ("Loud as a Whisper") and
tried to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Rather than trying
to shake my preoccupation with planetary sciences, I used it to help me
focus on the novel by incorporating a lot of this material into the novel
itself. Thus, the novel features a variety of exotic planetary
environments and star systems of types never seen before in Star Trek.
Hopefully that adds a sense of grandeur and adventure to the narrative.
But please, don't ask me to write another huge, sweeping Star
Trek epic anytime soon. After Orion's Hounds and The
Buried Age, I'm exhausted.
Annotations page Explanations of Trek references and science/tech (spoiler-heavy!)
The Next Generation:
The Sky's the Limit: "Friends With the Sparrows"
In the months following Star Trek: Generations,
Data's emotion chip enables him to take part in an experiment to achieve
fuller communication with the Tamarian people ("Darmok"). But Data's
struggles to master his new emotions may jeopardize the experiment, the
fragile peace with the Tamarians, and Data's very identity!
"[A] Data story that intelligently addresses the
issue of Data's emotions, with and without the emotion chip; it's a must-read
for Data fans." -- Steve Roby, Starfleet
Library
"It's a story that is unusual for Star Trek, but
well written and well worth a slice of your time. You could take out the
references to Trek and this would still be a good science fiction story."
-- Charles Packer, Sci-fi
Online
For a while now, I've been hoping I could get the grand slam: stories
in all the Trek anniversary anthologies. With "Friends With the Sparrows,"
I get my wish -- at least until the Enterprise anniversary antho
comes along in 2011. I'm also the only author who's been in all four
anthologies, though Keith R.A. DeCandido and Jeffrey Lang have been in
three each.
Anyway, as for the story idea, the genesis is kind of personal. When
the invitation came, I was dealing with some issues pertaining to my
own emotional control and personal interactions, and I realized that Data
might have been going through similar difficulties in the wake of gaining
his emotion chip in Generations. I wanted the chip itself
to be central to the story, and I approached it in terms of a device that
altered the way Data thought and perceived the world. It occurred
to me that might have applications for communication with aliens whose way
of thinking is hard to grasp.
And naturally, my favorite Trek story about communication problems
was Joe Menosky's brilliant "Darmok." I jumped at the opportunity
to follow up on the Children of Tama and explore their psychology and
culture in more depth, as well as trying to offer possible answers to
some of the credibility questions that have been raised about the Tamarian
language in the episode. I assembled a list of all the Tamarian
phrases from the script, tried to discern the grammar of the language,
and did some research in linguistics to help me fill in the gaps.
The story title, of course, is a line from "If I Only Had a Heart,"
the Tin Woodman's song in The Wizard of Oz: "I'd be friends with
the sparrows / And the boy who shoots the arrows / If I only had a heart."
It makes a nice fit with the story, and is one of the few cases where
Marco, my editor, liked my first suggestion for the title.
Tamarian Grammar This
is my analysis of the Tamarian language, which I wrote in the development
phase of this story. It contains some ideas and extrapolations that
didn't make it into the story itself.
Spoiler discussion and notes
Myriad Universes: Infinity's
Prism: Places of Exile
Midway through Voyager’s journey across the galaxy,
Captain Kathryn Janeway and Commander Chakotay must choose whether to brave
a deadly war zone or abandon their quest for home. But an attack by Species
8472 cripples the ship, and the stranded crew must make new choices that
will reshape their destinies . . . and that of the Delta Quadrant itself.
Voyager was... how shall I put it?... a show with abundant unrealized
potential. There were many possibilities in its characters and premise
that it rarely fulfilled, preferring to emphasize episodic adventure tales
over in-depth development of story and character arcs. "Scorpion," the
two-parter that bridged the third and fourth seasons, was a crucial example.
When Voyager's premise was first announced, many fans expressed
concern; Star Trek, they said, should be about boldly questing into
the unknown, not retreating from it. But the producers assured us that
the crew would soon enough get over its longing for home and get caught up
in the wonders of the Delta Quadrant. Unfortunately, it was two years
before they acted on this assurance. I first pitched to VGR in its third
season, and the producers' pitch letter for that season told prospective writers,
"It's time for our crew to stop moaning about how far from home they are
and begin to embrace their adventure." Indeed, that season saw a shift
away from search-for-home stories (aside from "False Profits" early in the
year).
But then came "Scorpion," in which Janeway made an insanely dangerous deal
with the devil merely to continue making progress along a journey she had
no realistic hope of completing in her lifetime. From that point on,
the Rubicon was crossed; the show could never again be about anything but
the quest for home. To me, that makes "Scorpion" the most pivotal moment
of decision in the series, the point where it decided once and for all what
the show would fundamentally be about. I was always intrigued by the
road they didn't take, by what might have happened if the characters had committed
to building a life in the Delta Quadrant.
Also, since I got to pitch for VGR twice, I came up with a lot of ideas
for it. Many of those ideas had to be scuttled when the show dropped
Kes and left behind the region of space it had occupied in the first three
seasons. And none of the others ever made it to the screen.
So naturally, when I learned that Marco Palmieri was developing an alternate-history
miniseries, I leaped at the chance to pitch the idea, "What if Voyager
had turned back?" It took over three years for the project to get off
the ground, and I was probably one of the first to sign onboard. Originally
I was hoping for a full-length novel, planning to work in as many of my unused
ideas as possible. I ended up having to trim it down considerably, making
for a tighter story. Ideally I would have liked another 10,000 words,
but it was good training in concise storytelling.
Annotations coming soon
The Next Generation:
Greater Than the Sum
The starship Rhea has discovered a cluster
of carbon planets that seems to be the source of the quantum energies rippling
through a region of space. A landing party finds unusual life forms inhabiting
one of the planets. Lieutenant T’Ryssa Chen, a half-Vulcan, makes
a tenuous connection with them. But before any progress can be made, the
Rhea comes under attack from the Einstein — a Starfleet vessel
now controlled by the Borg. The landing party can only listen in horror as
their comrades are assimilated. The Borg descend to the planet, and just
as Chen accepts that she will be assimilated, the lieutenant is whisked two
thousand light-years away.
A quantum slipstream — near-instantaneous transportation — is controlled
by the beings in the cluster, and in its heart there is now a Borg ship.
Cut off from the rest of the Borg collective, the Einstein cannot
be allowed to rejoin it. For the sake of humanity, the Borg cannot gain access
to quantum slipstream technology. Starfleet Command gives Captain Picard
carte blanche: do whatever he must to help the beings in the cluster, and
stop the Einstein no matter the cost.
I have to admit, a Borg novel would not have been my first choice. War
stories aren't my cup of tea. But when editor Margaret Clark invited
me to contribute to the post-Nemesis TNG novel series, I didn't want
to decline my first opportunity to work with her or my first shot at a "present-day"
TNG novel. And fortunately Margaret was looking for a change of pace
after the action-packed Borg battles of the preceding novels Resistance
by J. M. Dillard and Before Dishonor by Peter David. Although
I was tasked with wrapping up loose ends from PAD's novel, particularly the
assimilated Einstein, I was encouraged to develop a story about what
the Enterprise crew experiences or discovers while searching for the
Einstein, rather than a story whose central focus was fighting the
Borg. After all, Margaret knew that hiring me meant getting a book about
exploration of cosmos and characters rather than one about action and combat.
As a result, I ended up with a book that's more like Keith R.A. DeCandido's
Q & A (the book between RES and BD) in tone, a book whose main
focus is the crew of the Enterprise-E and their interactions. And
there's a lot going on with that crew in GTTS. I got to introduce new
characters and take established characters in new directions. Although
this is a lighter, change-of-pace book between the sturm und drang of Before
Dishonor and the galaxy-shaking epic of David Mack's Destiny trilogy
(for which this book serves as a loose prologue), it's a tale of major significance
for the crew of the ship, and it was a privilege to get to tell it.
But that's not to say the Borg don't play a significant role in the story.
Although the Borg have been featured in multiple novels of late, including
Christie Golden's Voyager duology Homecoming/The Farther Shore
as well as RES and BD, there are a number of aspects and ideas about the Borg
that have not been developed or followed up on. I tried to wrap up
a lot of those loose ends and offer answers to some lingering questions.
Mainly, though, I tried to make this a grand sense-of-wonder adventure in
the classic TNG vein. Big discoveries are made, and the Enterprise
travels to one of the most distant places it's ever reached by conventional
means. But that's nothing compared to the personal journeys some of
the characters make.
Annotations coming soon
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Voyager:
Distant Shores: "Brief Candle"
Star
Trek: Titan: Orion's Hounds 
Star Trek: Constellations: "As Others See Us"
Star Trek:
The Next Generation: The Buried Age
Myriad Universes: Infinity's
Prism: Places of Exile
The Next Generation:
Greater Than the Sum