Nov 17 | Originally hired as co-executive producer to help with the second half of the show's first season, Kevin Murphy has now taken the reins of Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel on Syfy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He now serves as an executive producer along with Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson and oversees the day-to-day functions of the show.
Nov 12 | Star Trek star Zachary Quinto is loosely attached to star in the romantic dramedy Whirligig, reports Risky Business.Quinto would play the lead role in the independent Canadian film, which is aiming to shoot early next year. The movie centers on a man who, in a misguided attempt to woo an older woman, befriends the woman's adopted son.Chaz Thorne is directing the pic, based on a screenplay by Michael Amo, creator of the Canadian supernatural series "The Listener."
Nov 11 | The CNS Foundation, is hosting an on-line charity auction at www.charitybuzz.com. One of the items they are auctioning is a signed movie poster of the new Star Trek movie which has all the cast members and writers. The president of our organization is Carol Abrams, JJ's mother, and she arranged for the donation from Bad Robot Production Company. J.J. Abrams is also a major donor to their organization. The funds raised will go to help find a cure to neurological disorders in children. The auction link is here.
Nov 10 | Candice Bergen, Charles Lisanby, Don Pardo, Gene Roddenberry, Tom and Dick Smothers and Bob Stewart have been selected as the next inductees into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame. They will be honored at a Jan. 20 ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel. "This year's inductees have challenged and shaped popular culture, changed television for the better and entertained us royally while doing so," TV Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner said. More info at the Hollywood Reporter
Nov 08 | Unreality-SF.net has interviewed Star Trerk author James Swallow about some of his upcoming projects. He talks about Titan: Synthesis and Seven Deadly Sins: The Slow Knife, as well as some forthcoming Doctor Who and Stargate stories.
The sheer size and scope of the STAR TREK universe as seen on DEEP SPACE NINE provided the largest and richest tapestry for its characters and the worlds represented throughout the series’ seven-year run. With Pocket Books’ successful re-launch of the series in an original series of novels, that tapestry unfolded yet again through AVATAR, the MISSION: GAMMA saga, RISING SON, the highly successful LEFT HAND OF DESTINY, and the epic events of UNITY. Now, Pocket Books continues with THE WORLDS OF DEEP SPACE NINE, a three-book series that both expands on the events from the re-launch and provides further glimpses into six of the key worlds seen in the series.
Cardassia, one of the seldom-explored worlds in the series, is spotlighted first in “The Lotus Flower”, written by Una McCormack. As Cardassia continues to rebuild itself from the ashes of destruction as a result of the Dominion War, Chief O’Brien and his family have begun to settle into a new life in the last place they ever expected to live. While Chief O’Brien works with Elim Garak and a group of Cardassian engineers in rebuilding their technical infrastructure, Keiko O’Brien works in developing Cardassia’s agricultural and botanical rebirth with the help of a Bajoran vedek. But such plans go awry in post-war society, as both groups face threats from a suicide bomber threatening to disrupt all of the proceedings and demands Cardassia go back to its former lifestyle.
This tale could have been easily ripped from today’s headlines: a war-torn society with no military, technical, or political structure; outside governments coming in and suggesting a myriad of political reforms; suicide bombers threatening to kill innocent people in the name of religious persecution. Sound familiar? It should. If the Cardassians as seen during the series could be viewed in either Nazi German or militant Iraqi eyes, then Cardassia in the post-DS9 re-launch is the weary post-Iraq war society looking for direction but continuing to face persistent threats. Una McCormack taps into our world’s current political system and brings to life this cautionary tale set on one of the more interesting planets in the STAR TREK universe. She skillfully melds strong characters with equally strong narrative descriptions, and while there’s a wealth of information left untapped, it’s good to see a return visit to Cardassia.
But let’s not leave out one of our most familiar Cardassians from the series, Elim Garak. McCormack has in her hands one of the richest and most intriguing characters in the entire STAR TREK universe pulling the strings with Chief O’Brien and the Cardassian engineers. A dangerous chess game he plays, but what a game it is! Like Lionel Luthor in SMALLVILLE, Garak is adept at maneuvering and manipulating people around the board, whether Starfleet, Bajoran, or Cardassian, to fit his personal agenda, and it’s nice to see in “The Lotus Flower” that this is one thing that hasn’t changed at all about Garak. Still, there’s the promise of the eponymous flower itself: from the ashes does the lotus flower grow, and so with it does the promise of rebirth even on a war-torn planet like Cardassia.
The other planet highlighted in this first volume is Andor, in the tale “Paradigm”, written by Heather Jarman. Even with their first appearance on the Original Series, in the STARFLEET ACADEMY video game, and on ENTERPRISE, the Andorian home world remains to this day an enigma in an official capacity. But Jarman’s tale fills in some of the details with interesting information.
The focus of “Paradigm” is on DS9’s Andorian officer, Ensign Thirishar ch’Thane. A celebrity in the eyes of the Andorians, Shar is a virtual outcast in his own family. He’s been banned from attending a family funeral, and his zhavey, or mother, is facing threats on the political field. Her progressive attempts to move Andorian society forward into a new political system have come under attack from the Visionist Party, a political group devoted to returning Andor to the old ways while secretly attempting to undermine their very lifestyle.
Very little information has been officially offered thus far on Andorian culture and background; all we know is that their society has four distinct sexes, mutual trust is sacred and antagonism is the general rule of its societal norm. Beyond that we know nothing. Jarman has taken it upon herself to create a background and history for the Andorians, taking a page from the previous DS9 re-launch novels and extrapolating what Andor’s culture is like. She spends a great deal of time explaining various Andorian customs, foods, clothing, funeral rituals, and political systems, among others. As I read “Paradigm”, I saw many obvious Middle Eastern influences seep into the Andorian society. Their culture would have very little difficulty fitting in with modern-day Indian, Hindu, Pakistani, or Israeli culture.
But don’t let the culture just be the only selling point of “Paradigm”. Jarman ably shifts between depictions of Andorian society and the main mysteries at hand: what causes Shar such discomfort in his own family, and what would cause a radical political group to undermine both progressive efforts on Andor and the very nature of Andorian sexuality. Like Una McCormack’s “The Lotus Flower”, Jarman taps into modern-day post-Iraqi society with its threats from radical groups to return their society to the old ways. Her characterization of Shar and the many members of the Andorian culture are rich with detail and worth investigating further in an official capacity, and it’s nice to see that even outsiders such as Ensign Prynn Tenmei have no difficulty fitting in to Andorian society.
In one distinct way, both “The Lotus Flower” and “Paradigm” share a common theme: that life in post-Dominion War society is uneasy, that radical groups abound to return their home worlds to their former lifestyles, that the Federation definitely has its hands full when it comes to overseeing social, engineering, and political reforms.
The good thing about THE WORLDS OF DEEP SPACE NINE is that each volume does not require recapping events from one book to another; each book is designed as a stand-alone volume. But in order to understand events in the post-series re-launch era, it does require more than a passing familiarity with events in the re-launch. While the series will continue in November with the second volume, this is a fine start. Highly recommended and enjoyable!
I've come to be rather disapointed by the lack of coments on the book reviews here on Trekweb. It leaves me to wonder if Trekkies simply don't read books, if they do but simply don't go on this site often, or if they are simply the reserved types who don't post. It'd be nice to discuss some of the novels I've read with a few fellow readers, though. Well, if you're here, post a little more often; make me feel a little less alone in reading Trek.
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"Peace or…UTTER DESTRUCTION…it's up to you." — Kirk, A Taste Of Armageddon
"Alright you mutinous, disloyal, computerized half-breed, we'll see about you desserting my ship." — Kirk, This Side Of Paradise
Quote: I've come to be rather disapointed by the lack of coments on the book reviews here on Trekweb. It leaves me to wonder if Trekkies simply don't read books,
Three years ago I read Diane Duane's The Romulan Way, and was thoroughly impressed; it catered directly to my interests in history, culture, politics and mythology. The history of the Romulans was described in the even numbered chapters, and the story of doctor McCoy in current romulan society, interacting with the sociologist that 'wrote' the aforementioned history was discussed in the odd ones. It remains to be one of my favorite Star Trek novels, up with the New Frontier saga and The Eugenics Wars (a craftily weaved tale of actual history with Star Trek history, showing how Khan came ot power withotu our ever having known).
This novel soudns simmilar to the Romulan way in that it looks at these types of elemtns on each planet. The inclusion of two stories is an extra bonus, and the prospect of a look at Andor, an all but undiscribed planet in Trek lore, is provocative. Cardassians are my second favorite race (after Romulans and followed by Xindi and Borg), and a look at the reconstruction of their once-fascist society after the war soudns equally interesting. However, I haven't been reading any of the DS9 relaunch books (though I've seen every episode of the serries). I've picked up a few morsels here and there, about who left and stayed, Elias Vaughn, and a few other things, but I still known virtually nothing.
Do you think I'd be able to follow the story (if not gain the maximum appreciation of it) despite this, BWilliams?
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"Peace or…UTTER DESTRUCTION…it's up to you." — Kirk, A Taste Of Armageddon
"Alright you mutinous, disloyal, computerized half-breed, we'll see about you desserting my ship." — Kirk, This Side Of Paradise
Since these are separate stories, you'd definitely enjoy them. It doesn't matter how you choose to read them, whether chronologically according to event dates ("Paradigm" in November 2376, "The Lotus Flower" in December 2376) or by appearance in the book ("Lotus Flower", "Paradigm"). Each one has its artistic merit to it.
One thing to get a better perspective is to pick up a copy of "Unity" and go through the timeline summary at the start of the book to get a feel for what's happening thus far, particularly with any of the events pertaining to Cardassia and Andor and their respective characters in the DS9 re-launch.
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