Christopher L. Bennett on The Struggle Within and Forgotten History

StarTrek.com has posted an interview with Christopher L. Bennett. The impetus for the interview was this week's release of his latest Star Trek book, The Struggle Within. Here's what he had to say about said ebook:

The Struggle Within is a Next Generation story set shortly after Paths of Disharmony, the fourth Typhon Pact novel. Picard and Worf are handling final negotiations for bringing the Talarian Republic into the expanded Khitomer Accords, but they run afoul of an internal rebellion against the patriarchal government, one that ends up putting Beverly Crusher in harm's way. Meanwhile, two of the characters created for the TNG novels, security chief Jasminder Choudhury and contact specialist T'Ryssa Chen, go on an undercover mission among the Kinshaya, the one Typhon Pact member that didn't get a novel about them, and get involved with a nonviolent resistance movement standing up against a brutal regime. I was inspired to do this story by the nonviolent protests in Egypt, and I wanted to pay tribute to the power and courage of such movements.

It's mostly a standalone story like the previous Typhon Pact volumes, but I did try to treat it as sort of a capper on the whole thing by following up on elements from several of the others at least a little. Naturally it follows most directly on Paths of Disharmony, at least from a character standpoint. It doesn't specifically set up anything to come, since I wasn't privy to future plans. It's up to other authors to decide how to follow up on it. But I've talked briefly with David R. George III, who's continuing the Typhon Pact story, and we seem to have compatible ideas about where it's heading from here.

The interview also discussed his next Star Trek project, Forgotten History:

Forgotten History begins with Lucsly, Dulmur, and other characters from Watching the Clock confronting a temporal mystery that requires digging into the origins of the Department of Temporal Investigations and the integral role that James T. Kirk and the Enterprise played therein. It plays on the way the DTI has mythologized Kirk as their personal demon, and as they study the actual record, it challenges their preconceptions. The story is told largely through flashbacks that span the five-year mission and beyond, extending into the post-Motion Picture era. So it's both a sequel and a prequel to Ex Machina as well as a sequel and a prequel to Watching the Clock.

Speaking later on the TrekBBS, Bennett expanded on this:

Forgotten History (or rather, its second half) tells a separate story but continues some of the character threads from ExM, those pertaining to the Enterprise crew. After I wrote ExM, I had some thoughts about what I'd want to do next with the TMP-era characters if I got the chance, and this was that chance, so a lot of what I had in mind is in there.

You can read more about Bennett's work on Star Trek and other projects in the rest of the StarTrek.com interview. Meanwhile UnrealitySF has also recently posted an interview, with James Swallow; which covers, amongst his other projects, his most recent Star Trek novel, Cast No Shadow - Discussing it in UnrealitySF's customary depth; as ever well worth a read.