New details on The Fall

It seems that "The Next Big Thing" meme is still bouncing around authors on the net, and has managed to find itself back to Dayton Ward (who previously talked about his next TOS novel, From History's Shadow, when it last found its way to him). This time Ward has looked forward to his novel in The Fall series, Peaceable Kingdoms, revealing some tantalising new details in his summary of the book:

Picard and his crew are dispatched to uncover the truth behind a “prominent figure within the Federation” who’s emerged onto the interstellar stage. It’s discovered that said individual may well be perpetrating a hoax as to their true identity, and has been doing so for years. This kind of sucks, since this person is now in a position to wield enormous power within the Federation.

As the final book in The Fall series Ward's instalment will be tying up the whole series, and also pulling together plot points from the ongoing novel continuity of the past few years. It sounds like The Fall might also be taking us in a new direction too, as Ward describes:

I suppose one might say that–if all goes to plan–Peaceable Kingdoms will set the stage for what I suppose you could call the “next chapter” for Picard and his crew.

The format of The Next Big Thing includes a segment for suggesting cast, where Ward put forward Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard, and Jonathan Frakes as Riker; so I guess the Titan crew might be part of the mish-mash of crossovers in this mainly TNG part of The Fall.

The Fall kicks off in September with David R. George III's Revelations and Dust, running through to January when Ward's Peaceable Kingdoms closes the series.