Here be Dragons!

Some days you wake up and find out a neat thing has happened without you even knowing about it...

Case in point is today's announcement of the nominees for the Dragon Awards (held at the huge and awesome Dragon Con convention in Atlanta at the end of this month), where I was delighted to see that my new Star Trek Discovery novel Fear Itself is in the running in the "Best Media Tie-In" category!

I'm in some amazing company on a very strong list of nominees. Along with my fellow Discovery and Star Trek novelist David Mack and Warhammer alumni Matt Forbeck, a couple of terrific Star Wars books by Claudia Gray and Delilah S. Dawson, and a great Warcraft tale from Christie Golden are also up for the gong. 

I have to say, it is both very cool and very daunting to be on a list with such stiff competition, from a bunch of writers who are not only at the top of their game, but who I am a fan and reader of to boot. 

There's that old saying at times like these that goes "it's an honour just to be nominated" but in this case, I really mean it!

Here's the full list for the tie-in award: 

Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray
Before the Storm by Christie Golden
Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson
Fear Itself by James Swallow
Legacy of Onyx by Matt Forbeck
Desperate Hours by David Mack

If you'd like to take part and cast your vote for who you'd like to win this award - and bunch of others for novels, movies, TV shows, games and comics - you can do so for free by registering for the 2018 ballot.
  
Click on the Dragon Awards Nominee panel to the right and it'll take you straight to the Dragon Awards website. 

FEAR ITSELF is out now!

Another week, another new release! I'm pleased to announce that Fear Itself, the latest tie-in novel based on the TV series Star Trek: Discovery is out now in the USA in trade paperback, digital and audiobook editions (the rest of the world will get it in the next week or so!) 

This has been a unique book to work on, from signing on to the gig over a year ago and working alongside the writers and production team on Discovery to today's publication; Fear Itself is an original story set before the events of the series, centered on the character of Saru, and I've worked to create something that I hope will dovetail with the show and expand readers' understanding of the series - along with an exciting adventure in true Star Trek style...
 

Lieutenant Saru is a Kelpien, a member of a prey species born on a world overrun by monstrous predators…and a being who very intimately understands the nature of fear. 

Challenged on all sides, he is determined to surpass his origins and succeed as a Starfleet officer aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou. 

But when Saru breaks protocol in order to prove himself to his crewmates, what begins as a vital rescue mission to save a vessel in distress soon escalates out of control. 

Forced into a command role he may not be ready for, Saru is caught between his duty and the conflicting agendas of two antagonistic alien races. 

To survive, he will need to seek a path of peace against all odds, and risk compromising the very ideals he has sworn to uphold….

Earlier this week, the good folks over at TrekMovie.com posted an interview with me, where I talk in greater detail about the book, my experiences writing it, the challenges of working alongside an ongoing TV production and more. To read the interview, click Here.

And for more details on Star Trek: Discovery - Fear Itself, check out the official page for the novel at the Simon & Schuster website right Here.

 

Viper-Versary

A reader over on the Trek BBS site drew my attention to the fact that January 25th 2018 was the 10th anniversary of the release of my first full-length Star Trek novel - Day of the Vipers – so I thought I’d mark the occasion with a brief post.

When then-Pocket Books editor Marco Palmieri came to me with the idea of writing a novel that was a prequel to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and a taut political thriller, I said no. Twice. 

Up until then, I’d made my bones in long-form fiction writing action stories with stuff-blowing-up and the idea of crafting a work that would be carried by hushed conversations, conspiracies and like sent me backing away to my safe place. 

But Marco – an insightful chap and a great collaborator – insisted I mull it over. And I came around to it, I saw it as a way to test myself as a writer by doing something outside my comfort zone.

Day of the Vipers was the first in a series of novels that covered the turmoil during the Cardassian occupation of the planet Bajor, as hinted at in the early episodes of DS9; book one was written by me to help round out a trilogy with books two and three - Night of the Wolves and Dawn of the Eagles - written by S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison.

Before the Dominion War and the decimation of Cardassia... Before the coming of the Emissary and the discovery of the wormhole... Before space station Terok Nor became Deep Space Nine... There was the Occupation; the military takeover of an alien planet and the violent insurgency that fought against it. The Star Trek: Terok Nor trilogy chronicles this perilous period in the history of the planet Bajor.

All three books got a fantastic cover treatment by the amazing John Picacio, and I still have a big print of the Vipers art in my office...

The series was well received by fans, and set me off writing Trek novels – my latest, Fear Itself, which ties in to the new Star Trek Discovery series, will be out later this year. Vipers went on to win in the ‘Best Speculative Fiction Original’ category for the 2009 Scribe Awards for tie-ins, an endorsement that I was proud to have – and a sign that I’d made the right choice in taking on the gig.

You can hear me talking about the novel (and some of my other Trek fiction) in this interview I did for Trek FM’s Literary Treks podcast Matthew Rushing and Christopher Jones.

If you’d like to read them, dead-tree editions of the Terok Nor series are harder to come by these days, but eBooks are available from Amazon UK, Amazon US or via Simon & Schuster’s website.

What I Did In 2017

Another busy year....!

Going To The Disco

I sometimes post details about whatever music I'm listening to while I work up on my Twitter feed, using the #writersoundtrack hashtag. 

Last year, on December 3rd, I put up a picture of this album cover as both a cryptic secret clue and a way-point marker for my future self. 

In the year that passed, I think that maybe one or two people wondered if it was an oblique reference to something - well yeah, it was, because that was the day I got a ticket to the Disco.

My fellow writer and all-around lovely person Kirsten Beyer reached out along with my editor Margaret Clark and offered me the chance to write the third original novel to tie-in with the new Star Trek: Discovery series. As you might imagine, it wasn't a hard call to say yes; and so next summer Fear Itself will be hitting the bookshelves.

Lieutenant Saru is a Kelpien, a member of a prey species born on a world overrun by monstrous predators…and a being who very intimately understands the nature of fear. Challenged on all sides, he is determined to surpass his origins and succeed as a Starfleet officer aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou. 
But when Saru breaks protocol in order to prove himself to his crewmates, what begins as a vital rescue mission to save a vessel in distress soon escalates out of control. Forced into a command role he may not be ready for, Saru is caught between his duty and the conflicting agendas of two antagonistic alien races. 
To survive, he will need to seek a path of peace against all odds, and risk compromising the very ideals he has sworn to uphold…. 

 
Fear Itself follows on from Desperate Hours and Drastic Measures by m'colleagues David Mack and Dayton Ward and continues the theme of the Discovery novels by unfolding some more of the backstory of the show's main characters - in my case, I've written a story that centres around the Kelpien science officer Saru. The story is set after the events of Dayton's book but before Dave's (and also the events of the show itself), while Saru is a lieutenant serving with Michael Burnham under Captain Phillippa Georgiou aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou.

Over the past year, it's been fun (and truth be told, a little unusual) to be involved in the Discovery production, talking with the other writers and seeing the show evolve. One of the coolest things was getting to read all the scripts and receiving daily digests of set photos from the series, watching the episodes come together piece by piece. 

I got to spend a day at the Discovery writers office in Los Angeles a few months ago, seeing early cuts of the show before it aired and getting feedback from the team on the themes and concepts for my novel. I've never had this level of access or collaboration while working on a tie-in project before, and I hope it will show in the book. 

I've been keeping this under wraps for a year, but now I can finally talk about it, I want to say that it's great to able to help develop some backstory for one of Discovery's key characters and I'm excited to return to the Star Trek universe once again!

Star Trek: Discovery - Fear Itself will be released on June 5th 2018, and it'll be published in eBook and trade paperback formats. Check out StarTrek.com's news post on the book announcement Here.

Trek-On! convention announcement!

I'm appearing at a new Star Trek convention later this year - Trek-On!, the pilot event for the TrekMate team. Check out the full details on the poster below or the announcement video on YouTube.

STAR TREK signing event this Saturday!

What I Did In 2016

*phew*

I kept busy...

Destination Star Trek Europe!

It's a little short notice, but I will now be appearing at the Destination Star Trek Europe this coming weekend, at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham!

 

Right now, the plan is for me to be on the Voyager Stage on Saturday 8th October from 2.45pm to 3.20pm, along with Jon Van Citters of CBS Licensing and Chris Cooper of Star Trek Magazine to talk about "Star Trek in print and the world of the novels".

Straight after the panel, I'll be off to the retail area to sign books and I'm told there will be copies of Star Trek - The Latter Fire, Star Trek: Titan - Sight Unseen and Star Trek: The Fall - The Poisoned Chalice for purchase there - but I'm happy to sign any of my stuff if you bring it along! (And for those who asked, I *never* charge for autographs)

Other bits of the schedule are still in flux, but it looks like I will also be joinging Ben Robinson from the Eaglemoss team on the Voyager stage on Sunday morning, where we will be talking about Star Trek in comics.

You can check out the full event timetable here.

Star Trek 50

50 years ago today, Star Trek premiered on television, and it's really not an exaggeration to say that a phenomenon was created.

There's going to be a galaxy of think-pieces out there about this over the next few days, some of them thoughtful and some of them mocking, but I'm not likely to read the majority because I know exactly what Star Trek means to me. 

And I'm not going to get starry-eyed about this (well, maybe a little bit) because we are just talking about a TV show...but the fact is, Star Trek has exerted a huge influence on my life, both personally and professionally, and continues to do so to this day. And I love that.

I found this picture of me as kid a while ago; a photo taken on the morning of Christmas Day 1976, and I'm sitting on the sofa in front of some hideous flock wallpaper in my little Arthur Dent dressing gown, holding my new Dinky Toys U.S.S. Enterprise on the verge of some imagined adventure. I look that kid in the eyes and I think of how he has no idea where that ship is going to take him. I think about the exciting places he'll go to, the challenging ideas that will open up to him, the cool things he will get to see and do, the amazing people he will meet...all thanks to this one space show off the telly.

Ten years ago, I wrote about my thoughts on what was the 40th anniversary - here's what I said then and it still holds true:

Star Trek has been good to me. Through it's fandom I made at lot of friends, had good times and I met the most important woman in my life. It helped me earn my living over the years, helped me kick-start my professional scriptwriting career, kept my journalistic endeavours afloat during lean times, and - oh yeah - it gave me plenty of great stories that kept (and continue to keep) me entertained.

I've been watching bits of the original series in recent weeks and rediscovering some of what it was that made me love this saga. Yeah, it has dated all right, but there's still stuff at the core of that show that shines through, decades later. Let's be honest, if there wasn't something unique about Trek, we wouldn't still be talking about it. Some observers might think that in these troubled times it's naive to hold on to a mythology that talks about unity of purpose and a better tomorrow, but last night I watched a documentary about 9/11 and it made me realise that we need these kind of aspirational stories, now more than ever. Star Trek, like Star Wars and Superman et al, are the heroic myths of our era; reinvented, retold, but always with the same intention.

A decade after writing that, I don't have a lot to add. Star Trek is still here, with its original tales backed up by new books and comics, new movies and very soon a new TV series with a new crew on a new starship. I can't wait to see it. I've been lucky enough to tell a dozen stories in Star Trek's mythos, giving back to something that has - and continues to - mean a lot to me. I hope to carry on...maybe for another fifty years.

Once again, here's to all the continuing voyages...

You Are Hearing Me Talk...About Star Trek & Videogames

I've been busy on a bunch of writing projects over the past couple of weeks, so I've been slack on posting some new bits up here on the blog - to redress that balance, here are some linkys to a few interviews I did last month...

First, check out episode 142 ("Star Trek Vs. Godzilla") of Trek FM's Literary Treks books and comics show, where I talk with Dan Gunther and Matt Rushing about my new classic Star Trek novel The Latter Fire. Click here to stream the show.

You can also find me talking about Star Trek, games and a bunch of other stuff on episode 229 of the G & T Show live podcast from the start of the show to the 1:45 mark. Click here to listen.

And lastly, I'm here discussing videogames (specifically the recently released mmo-shooter-rpg hybrid The Division) on BBC Radio 5 Live's Game On show. Click here to listen.

Number #1 with a Photon Torpedo

 

My new Star Trek original series novel The Latter Fire earned an Amazon UK #1 Best Seller banner this week; thanks to everyone who has bought a copy!

Star Trek: The Latter Fire is out now!

Turn your eyes to the skies (or at least to your nearest bookstore) because my newest novel The Latter Fire is on sale this week; the official release date is the 23rd but it's already been sneaking out in the UK, USA and Australia, so you should be able to find it on sale very soon - and eBook editions will quickly follow.

The five-year mission of the Starship Enterprise has brought the vessel and her crew to the forefront of an important first contact operation.

Under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, the ship is heading to the planet Syhaar Prime in the Beta Quadrant—the homeworld of an alien civilization preparing to take its first steps onto the galactic stage.

One year earlier, the Enterprise came across a badly damaged Syhaari explorer vessel drifting in deep space. In collaboration with the explorer’s captain, Kirk and his crew were able to restore the ship to full function and send it on its way.

And now, as the Syhaari display rapid technological progress in the past year, hard questions must be asked. Is it possible that the Enterprise crew leaked advanced technology or information to the Syhaari during their first encounter, in violation of the Prime Directive?

Star Trek: The Latter Fire is my first novel set in the "classic" era of Star Trek: The Original Series and it's an era I've been wanting to write a tale for since I first started working on Trek stories; it's also the first novel release this year to feature the 50th Anniversary logo, as part of the celebration of the original show's half-century.

I had a great time writing The Latter Fire - it's a novel in the tradition of some of my favourite ST:TOS episodes (with some nods to the animated series too!), a big and brassy epic with a 60's SF tone - and I hope readers will enjoy it...

First Contact Day 2016 postponed

A quick update: the organizers of the First Contact Day 2016 convention in Telford I was scheduled to attend with fellow Star Trek writers Una McCormack and Larry Nemecek have announced that the event has been postponed - more details are here at the FCD website.

I'm sorry to hear this - Una and I had a great time at last year's First Contact Day - and I hope the FCD team can return for another event in the future.

New book day - Star Trek: The Latter Fire

New book day is always the best day.

 

STAR TREK: THE LATTER FIRE cover

It's only been a couple of weeks since my Star Trek: Titan novel Sight Unseen hit the stores, but now I can reveal Tony Mauro's amazing art for my next work of Star Trek fiction, a novel set during the original TV series called The Latter Fire...

The five-year mission of the Starship Enterprise has brought the vessel and her crew to the forefront of an important first contact operation. 

Under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, the ship is heading to the planet Syhaar Prime in the Beta Quadrant—the homeworld of an alien civilization preparing to take its first steps onto the galactic stage. 

One year earlier, the Enterprise came across a badly damaged Syhaari explorer vessel drifting in deep space. In collaboration with the explorer’s captain, Kirk and his crew were able to restore the ship to full function and send it on its way. 

And now, as the Syhaari display rapid technological progress in the past year, hard questions must be asked. Is it possible that the Enterprise crew leaked advanced technology or information to the Syhaari during their first encounter, in violation of the Prime Directive?

Star Trek - The Latter Fire will be on sale from March 23rd next year, and will be part of Pocket Books' celebration of 'classic' Star Trek's 50th Anniversary.

 

You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Literary Treks

Top chaps Dan Gunther and Matt Rushing, the genial hosts of Trek.FM's Literary Treks podcast, have put up their new show this week - and it features me talking about my newest Star Trek: Titan novel, Sight Unseen...

 

You can stream or download the podcast Here - and be warned, if you haven't read Sight Unseen yet, the conversation is very spoiler-y...

 

 

STAR TREK: TITAN - SIGHT UNSEEN is out this month!

I'm pleased to announce that in just over two weeks time on September 29th, my 4th full-length Star Trek novel Sight Unseen will be hitting all good bookstores from here to the Gamma Quadrant...

Sight Unseen is the newest adventure in the Star Trek: Titan series, which is set aboard the titular ship, Starfleet's most species-diverse vessel under the command of Star Trek: The Next Generation's William Riker. The crew also includes TNG's Deanna Troi and Star Trek: Voyager's Tuvok, as well as all-new characters from the world of Trek Lit. For those interested in continuity, Sight Unseen picks up after the events of John Jackson Miller's novel Takedown and pulls in narrative threads from The Fall miniseries.

This is my 3rd excursion with the crew of the USS Titan after 2009's Synthesis and 2013's New York Times bestseller The Poisoned Chalice, and it's great to be back with them. 

Readers are going to see a few changes in this novel - there will be new faces, old enemies, life and death, hard questions and fresh challenges...

Here's the back cover blurb:

In the wake of political upheaval across the United Federation of Planets, Admiral William Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan find themselves in uncertain waters as roles aboard the ship change to reflect a new mandate and a new mission.

On orders from Starfleet, Titan sets out toward the edge of Federation space to tackle its latest assignment: to work with an alien species known as the Dinac, who are taking their first steps into the galaxy at large as a newly warp-capable civilization.But when disaster befalls the Dinac, the Titan crew discovers they have unknowingly drawn the attention of a deadly, merciless enemy—a nightmare from Riker’s past lurking in the darkness.

Friendships will be tested to the limit as familiar faces and new allies must risk everything in a fight against an unstoppable invader—or a horrific threat will be unleashed on the galaxy!

Star Trek: Titan - Sight Unseen will be available in eBook and mass-market paperback editions from Simon & Schuster on September 29th.

For more information - and an excerpt from the novel! - click Here.

All These (Nine) Worlds Are Yours...

Just a quick reminder that the Nine Worlds Geekfest event is taking place this weekend from the 7th-9th August, at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel across from London's Heathrow airport, and I'll be along there on Saturday 8th to talk about Star Trek, tie-in fiction and more...

 

You can find out more about the event by visiting the website Here.

NINE WORLDS 2015

So the delightful folks over at the Nine Worlds Geekfest event have been kind enough to invite me along to their convention this year, which is being held over the weekend of the 7th-9th August, at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel across from London's Heathrow airport.

As they describe it, "It’s about gaming, film, cosplay, fandom, literature, science, geek culture, meeting people and having a really big party" and you can find out more about the event by visiting the website Here.

I'll be along to talk about stuff - currently I'm on the dedicated Star Trek track but there may be more of me depending on how things shake out - and joining me will be a whole bunch of other interesting people, including my fellow Trek novelist Una McCormack and top gaming chap James Wallis. The current guest line-up is listed Here.