Star Trek: Strange New Worlds IX

by Dean Wesley Smith, Paula M. Block, Elisa J. Kassin

Overview

The tales featured in Strange New Worlds rocket readers across the length and breadth of Federation time and space, from Captain Jonathan Archer's first exploration of the galaxy on board the very first Starship Enterprise through to Captain Picard's tenure on the USS Enterprise 1701-D -- and beyond. Here you can read a fresh and original take on Captain Benjamin Sisko's role on Deep Space Nine, Captain Kathryn Janeway's homeward journey with the crew of the Starship Voyager, Captain Archer's encounters with the Xindi -- and many more ports of call along the way.

Strange New Worlds 9 includes stories from all five Star Trek incarnations:

Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416525387
Publisher:	Pocket Books/Star Trek
Publication date:	08/22/2006
Series:	Star Trek , #9
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	939,071
File size:	467 KB

About the Author

Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA TODAY bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith published far over a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres. He currently produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and the superhero series staring Poker Boy. During his career he also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds.

Paula M. Block (with Terry J. Erdmann) have jointly written two previous Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ebook novellas: Rules of Accusation and Lust’s Latinum Lost (and Found). Their most recent nonfiction work, Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History, was the recipient of the Independent Publisher Book Awards’ 2017 bronze medal for best coffee table book. They also are the co-authors of the nonfiction titles Star Trek Costumes: Five Decades of Fashion from the Final Frontier, Star Trek The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Star Trek The Next Generation 365, Star Trek The Original Series 365, Star Trek 101, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, The Secrets of Star Trek Insurrection, The Magic of Tribbles, and Star Trek: Action! Their additional titles include Monk: The Official Episode Guide and The 4400 Companion. While director of licensed publishing for Paramount Pictures, Paula was co-editor of Pocket Books’ short story series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. They live in Southern Oregon with their two collies, Shadow and Mandy.

Read an Excerpt

Strange New Worlds 9

---

By Dean Wesley Smith

Star Trek

Copyright © 2006 Dean Wesley Smith
All right reserved.
ISBN: 1416520481

---

Introduction

Dean Wesley Smith

After I turned in my selections of wonderful stories for Elisa and Paula to judge for this year's anthology, Elisa and I were discussing ideas for my introduction. She suggested that maybe I should talk about the fortieth anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series.

My initial reaction was: Forty years? Wow. That's fantastic!

Then a second thought came to mind. That's not possible. I'm not that old.

But I am. I can recall every Friday evening during my high school years. I would always be home to watch Star Trek. (Okay, that should give you a pretty good idea of what my social life was like when I was a teenager, but let's not go there.) Suffice it to say, Star Trek was an important element in my life during those years.

In hindsight, I realize that the reason I would insist on watching the show every week was clear: I didn't like being where I was during those high school years. What kid really does? Star Trek gave me an escape, in much the same fashion as the shelves and shelves of Andre Norton, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert Heinlein books in my basement bedroom. Star Trek and all of those other books took me out of thathouse -- out of that teenage life that everybody hates -- to strange new places, distant planets, and awesome adventures. Science fiction, with its wonderful worlds, futures, and messages of hope, was what I turned to for a few hours of not thinking about the world around me. More importantly, though, it let me believe that a better future was possible.

Remember the world in which Star Trek was born? The cities of this country were going up in flames, and bombs were going off so often that only the regional ones were reported. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy were shot. Nixon was elected to his first term. And the war just kept getting bigger and bigger. I believed from almost the moment I understood what Vietnam was about that I would be drafted, when I got out of high school. To me, it also meant that I would eventually be shot at and maybe killed.

That I would be drafted in the fall of 1969 seemed inevitable. It was a fact that all guys thought about a great deal in those days. We didn't talk about it much, though. It was just too scary to talk about.

I was one of those who didn't believe the war was right, but I also didn't believe in copping out by cutting and running. So there I was, stuck in a life I didn't much like, with a future of war and likely death facing me.

So, you can see why I made it home every Friday night to watch the original Star Trek. And I have a pretty good memory of writing a letter when they tried to cancel the show in 1968.

I can't imagine what I would have thought if some time traveler had walked up to me during those years and said, "In forty years, you will have managed to stay out of Vietnam. You will have written over twenty Star Trek novels, edited several Star Trek anthologies for new writers, and written a few Star Trek scripts." I'm sure I would have just laughed. Being a part, even a minor part, of such a unique show would never have crossed my mind in 1966.

About thirteen years ago, my wife and I got the chance to join in creating some of this wonderful universe, and we jumped at it. Writing under the name Sandy Schofield, we wrote Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Big Game. Suddenly, I was a Star Trek writer. And it's such a high for me that I get to give new writers out there the same chance.

In nine volumes, there have been almost two hundred new Star Trek stories. Over one hundred different writers have joined in inventing Star Trek, the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. I'm sure every one of them, since they are all fans, can talk about the influence Star Trek, in every incarnation, had in their lives, just as I can. The shows, now shown in syndication, continue to influence future generations as well.

With the world becoming a little rougher than it has been the last few decades, we now need the wonderful vision of the future that Star Trek brings us even more. We need the escape, the hope, and the belief that mankind goes forward.

At the moment, we only have the books and games that can bring Star Trek and its hope and vision to all of us. You hold it in your hand. You are the cutting edge of Star Trek -- written by the fans, people like you and me, who love this universe almost more than our real one.

For forty exceptional years, Star Trek has given us all a look ahead, a wonderful escape into a great universe. So sit back, turn off the news, and let a few of your fellow fans take you away on twenty-three wonderful trips into the future. You won't want to come home.

Continues...

---

Excerpted from Strange New Worlds 9 by Dean Wesley Smith Copyright © 2006 by Dean Wesley Smith. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction

Dean Wesley Smith

STAR TREK®

Whales Weep Not [Third Prize]

Juanita Nolte

One Last Adventure

Mark Allen and Charity Zegers

Marking Time

Pat Detmer

Ancient History

Robert J. Mendenhall

Bum Radish: Five Spins on a Turquoise Reindeer

TG Theodore

A Piece of the Pie

G. Wood

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION®

The Soft Room [Second Prize]

Geoffrey Thorne

Protecting Data's Friends

Scott William Carter

The Human Factor

Russ Crossley

Tribble in Paradise

Louisa M. Swann

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE®

Fabrications

Brett Hudgins

Urgent Matter

Robert J. LaBaff

Best Tools Available

Shawn Michael Scott

STAR TREK: VOYAGER®

Homemade

Elizabeth A. Dunham

Seven and Seven

Kevin Hosey

The End of Night

Paul J. Kaplan

Hidden 230

Jan Stevens

Widow's Walk

Mary Scott-Wiecek

ENTERPRISE™

Savior

Julie Hyzy

Preconceptions

Penny A. Proctor

Cabin E-14

Shane Zeranski

SPECULATIONS

Our Million-Year Mission [Grand Prize]

Robert T. Jeschonek

The Beginning

Annie Reed

Contest Rules

About the Contributors