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Tuesday, 18 November 2014

Book bits: New Voyager blurb, TOS excerpt, and more

Books news! First up there is a new blurb for Kirsten Beyer's next Voyager novel, Atonement, which comes via the Simon and Schuster digital catalogue. The book, due out next September, will be completing the trilogy begun in Protectors and Acts of Contrition, and this early-stage blurb unsurprisingly makes clear several plot points form those books will be resolved:
Admiral Kathryn Janeway faces a tribunal determined to execute her for supposed crimes committed during Voyager’s maiden trek through the Delta Quadrant. Captain Chakotay knows that the Kinara, several species now allied against the Full Circle fleet, are not all they appear to be. The Confederacy of the Worlds of the First Quadrant—a pact he cannot trust—is his only hope for unraveling the Kinara’s true agenda and rescuing Admiral Janeway. Meanwhile, Seven and Tom Paris are forced to betray the trust of their superiors in a desperate bid to reveal the lengths to which a fellow officer has gone in the name of protecting the Federation from the legendary Caeliar.

Meanwhile, the next book on the schedule should be starting to show up in the coming days. Amazon now has an excerpt up for Greg Cox's TOS book, Foul Deeds Will Rise. You can read all of chapter one, which starts like this:
Captain’s log. Stardate 8514.6

The Enterprise has embarked on a peacekeeping mission to the Savinia system, where two warring planets, Pavak and Oyolo, are attempting to end years of bitter hostility. Although neither planet is a member of the Federation, we have been invited by both parties to act as an impartial mediator. The Enterprise will serve as neutral territory for the upcoming peace negotiations, while also patrolling the space between the two worlds in order to deter any attacks. Given the atrocities and bloodshed on both sides of the conflict, there are bound to be hard feelings among the delegates. I don’t envy the Federation ambassador assigned to this mission.

Who just happens to have a familiar face . . .

“Well, they’re not shooting at each other yet,” Ambassador Kevin Riley said. “That’s a positive sign, I suppose.”

The Enterprise approached the rendezvous point. On the bridge’s main viewer, two small diplomatic courier crafts from Pavak and Oyolo faced off against each other in the demilitarized zone between the planets. The couriers were essentially streamlined shuttlecrafts, designed for interplanetary travel within the solar system. Kirk recalled that both races possessed rudimentary warp technology, but had scarcely ventured beyond their own system. He briefly considered raising the Enterprise’s shields, but he decided against it. The shuttles posed little threat to the starship, and arriving with shields up, as though expecting trouble, hardly sent the right message.

“I admire your optimism, Ambassador,” Kirk said from the captain’s chair. He was wearing his dress uniform in anticipation of the delegates’ imminent arrival. Medals adorned the front of his double-breasted maroon jacket. “From what I gather, you have your work cut out for you.”

“You can say that again.” Riley stood beside Kirk’s chair in the sunken command circle at the center of the bridge. His conservative gray suit was a good deal less colorful than the then-regulation gold tunic he’d worn when he’d first served aboard the original Enterprise, some two decades ago. Years in the diplomatic corps had added some seasoning to his face and a neatly trimmed brown beard made him look more mature as well. “I have to say I’ve enjoyed the trip here, though. It’s good to be back on the Enterprise again . . . well, an Enterprise at least.”

“I know what you mean,” Kirk said. This new vessel wasn’t quite the same as his old ship, which had gone down in flames above the Genesis Planet a few years back, but he was getting used to it. And certainly it had proven itself during some tight situations, beginning with that business on Nimbus III. “And it’s been a pleasure to have you back aboard, if only for this mission.”

“We’re being hailed by both delegations,” Uhura reported from the communications station. “They’re ready to be beamed aboard.”

Continue after the jump for a behind the scenes book-cover development tale, and the latest updates from the German Star Trek publisher.

Speaking on the TrekBBS recently, David Mack explained how the cover for his latest novel, Section 31: Disavowed, had to be changed due to image rights issues. Star Trek products often make use of images of actors that have appeared on Star Trek, and some have varying levels of control over the use of there image - Ranging from anything being usable through to every image having to be approved, and in some cases, no allowance at all. Plus any images used of an actor from outside of Star Trek needs permission from the owner of said image. Something which caused a hiccup when it came to Disavowed:
Tim Bradstreet used a photo reference of Alexander Siddig for which proper permissions hadn't been secured. (Everyone involved thought someone else had done it; no one had.)

When the error was realized, the team at S&S spent months trying to secure permission for the use of that particular likeness, but the copyright owner refused to grant a license, regardless of the terms offered. In the end, it became necessary to secure a different photo reference, one for which permissions were verified, and have Tim draft new key art from that.
Finally, German publisher Cross Cult have recently announced some alterations to their 2015 schedule of forthcoming Star Trek novel translations:

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