Prose update: covers from a catalogue, blurbs and excerpts, and farewell Clark

*Gasp* So, mere months after Simon and Schuster ejected Marco Palmieri in cost cutting layoffs, Margaret Clark, who took on Palmieri's workload on top of the portion of Trek-lit. she was already responsible for has now been laid off as well in another round Pocket Books penny pinching! Which leaves Star Trek prose floating without an editor at the moment! According to TrekMovie everything so far announced will still be going ahead under different editors, who are as yet unannounced. Authors speculating on the TrekBSS have suggested Ed Schlesinger and Jennifer Heddle, from Pocket’s tie-in division, who have previously worked on Trek projects, might be candidates to take over.

Whoever takes over, experienced with Trek or not, I find this concerning, several ongoing series (DS9-relaunch, Vanguard, Titan, Project Full Circle Voyager books and indeed the whole post-Destiny era) surely need the guiding hand of an editor specifically familiar with those series, indeed editors who have crafted those series. They've already undoubtedly stumbled somewhat by the loss of Marco, and now face more hurdles with the loss of Margaret. Likewise Marco’s loss forced books to be pushed back and/or cancelled, can we expect to see more delays? I hope who ever takes over will have the time to make sue nothing is lost in transition!

Anyway, in other novel news; the next Pocket catalogue has been released; with some new blurbs and cover art for some of next years books:

Seven Deadly Sins
An all-new collection of engaging novellas showcasing the seven archetypal adversaries of the Star Trek universe.

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

Now, this edgy collection of original novellas explores these empires from the inside, delving into the qualities that shape their cultures and their worldviews, through characters as compelling
as they are provocative. These surprising and engaging tales feature all of Star Trek’s most prominent adversaries, including the Borg (gluttony), the Klingons (wrath), the Romulans (pride), the Cardassians (envy), the Ferengi (greed), the Pakleds (sloth), and the Mirror Universe (lust), and their adventures on the dark side of the Star Trek universe.

Inception
Blending the best of both the Star Trek television show and the movie, the story of a younger less experienced Kirk and Spock—and the two great loves of their lives, Carol Marcus and Leila Kalomi.

As man expands beyond explored space, the need to find a way to make inhospitable planets habitable grows greater. One young biologist, Carol Marcus, has a project that she believes can reshape planets. A young committed scientist, she dares to dream of a Federation where there is never any hunger and every world is a paradise. Her dream is shared by James Kirk, a young Starfleet officer and her lover. One of Carol’s more enthusiastic team members is botanist Leila Kalomi. Leila finds Carol’s passion contagious, and sparks the interest of the Enterprise’s science officer, Spock, who convinces her to join Project: Inception.

To Thine Own Self (previously annouced as The Children of Kings)
When the Orion syndicate holds the Enterprise’s doctor for ransom, Captain Pike must discover why the Orions no longer fear Starfleet in this new novel set in the classic Star Trek era.

A thorn in the side of civilized space travel for more than a hundred years, the Orion syndicate has gotten bolder. They are harassing more ships and daring to even tangle with smaller Starfleet vessels. When one of the leading members begs Captain Christopher Pike to let his doctor treat one of their own, Pike agrees. But it’s a trap, and the Orions take the doctor hostage. Captain Pike is left to wonder why, since the Orions know that Starfleet does not negotiate. Spock thinks perhaps they no longer fear the consequences, and if so, they must discover what has changed the Orions’ instinctual nature.

Unspoken Truth
Lieutenant Saavik—the compelling female Starfleet officer who is half-Vulcan, half-Romulan—struggles to discover where her loyalties lie.

A wild child, Saavik was left to die in a world so horrifying that it was dubbed Hellguard by those who dared to cling to life there. She was rescued by Spock who took the half-Vulcan half-Romulan child home to his parents, knowing only they could care for the troubled child. As an adult, Saavik followed Spock into Starfleet, but recent events have shaken her. When she comes home to Vulcan to find that other Hellguard survivors are being killed, she wonders if she can dare to call Vulcan home. And when forced to choose, can she embrace the pacifism of Vulcan or is the violence of Romulus her true nature?


In other cover news, the Drex Files has recently been updated with an entry on the cover for Vanguard: Precipice, with the final cover-art without titles, and several early concepts for the cover. Check it out, here.

And finally on the books front, TrekMovie have released an excerpt from the impressively long titled: Star Trek: Enterprise – The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor’s Wings, which you can read, here.