The Next Assignment

As announced elsewhere yesterday by my editor, Keith DeCandido:In Star Trek: First Contact, Geordi La Forge said that the Enterprise-E had been in service for a year. As we mostly saw in the fourth and fifth seasons of Deep Space Nine, it was quite a year: the Federation-Klingon alliance was sundered, Cardassia’s government fell, the Maquis continued to operate with impunity, and paranoia over Changeling infiltration of the Alpha Quadrant was at an all-time high, to the point where a Starfleet admiral’s conspiracy to declare martial law on Earth was almost successful.Closer to home, Will Riker’s “twin” Tom Riker joined the Maquis and was captured by the Cardassians, Deanna Troi’s mother gave birth to a half-Tavnian son, Data grew accustomed to his emotion chip (and learned to turn it off), La Forge gave up his VISOR for a set of optical implants, and the ship saw some new arrivals, including Lieutenants Hawk (conn) and Daniels (tactical).However, the fiction has done little with that first year of the Enterprise-E‘s existence: only two novels take place in that time period (Ship of the Line and Section 31: Rogue).Until now, anyhow. As part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of STAR TREK: The Next Generation, Pocket Books presents Slings and Arrows, a six-eBook miniseries chronicling the year leading up to First Contact, which will begin in October 2007.Specific plot details will be released soon (though there are some hints in the opening two paragraphs of this post), but here’s the tentative title and author list:October 2007: Book 1: A Sea of Troubles by J. Steven York & Christina F. YorkNovember 2007: Book 2: The Oppressor’s Wrong by Phaedra M. WeldonDecember 2007: Book 3: The Insolence of Office by William LeisnerThe final three eBooks will be released in early 2008:Book 4: That Sleep of Death by Terri OsborneBook 5: A Weary Life by Robert GreenbergerBook 6: Enterprises of Great Pitch and Moment by Keith R.A. DeCandido(All titles derived from the “To be or not to be” soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.)I have to say, I’m very happy to be a part of the anniversary celebration. Working alongside these give fine writers should prove fun and interesting. We’ll be largely compartmentalized but since we’re sharing the same ship, crew and time period, no doubt we will have some coordination to work out – something I look forward to.Keith, the editor, tapped me because of my success with TNG and based on my work on A Time to Love andA Time to Hate so it was logical for me to get the Riker-focused story. I’m at work on the outline and should have some fun.