Mack Prepares Best Defense

With his new book, the second in the Legacies series, out TODAY, Ian caught up with novelist David Mack!

"The story of Best Defense (Legacies 2) picks up several weeks after the cliffhanger ending of [Greg Cox's] Captain to Captain." explained David.

"It’s a very different kind of book from the trilogy’s first volume. Whereas book one was split between a story on Captain Kirk’s starship Enterprise during the five-year mission and a flashback story set on Captain Robert April’s spaceship Enterprise, Best Defense juxtaposes a fast-paced political thriller with a strange journey through a surreal alternate universe.

"My hope is that the action and revelations that drive Best Defense to a tense, exciting finish will prepare readers for the riveting conclusion of book three, Purgatory’s Key, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore."

As one of two trilogies out during the 50th anniversary (the other being Prey), I wondered if there was any added pressure seeing as this was such a key year in the history of the franchise. 

"A little bit." answered Mack, "The four of us writing these books were well aware that The Original Series’ fiftieth anniversary, combined with the release of the new feature film, would intensify the degree of public scrutiny on all aspects of the Star Trek universe and all its officially licensed products. With that in mind, however, it didn’t feel much different from writing any other Star Trek novel, if only because we all strive to write the best stories we can every time we sit down to work for Star Trek. (Our editors expect nothing less, after all.)"

As a trilogy being written by four different authors - Greg Cox, Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore and Mack himself, it wasn't going to be a straightforward project since everything has to run smoothly between the three books; "If there was one significant challenge on the Legacies project, it’s that any time one splits up the volumes of a trilogy with a single story line between multiple authors, it makes it more difficult to track small details of continuity. 

"It took a lot of e-mails and phone calls among the four of us to make sure that the descriptions of places, alien species, devices, etc., remained consistent across all three parts of the story."

Mack continued that the difficulties persisted "...even beyond the writing of the three manuscripts, well into the copy editing and revision phases. Every time one of us needed to change something for whatever reason, we had to coordinate with the others to make certain any references to those elements were fixed as needed in one another’s books. Fun stuff, let me tell you."

So what can readers expect from the latest piece of David Mack's work in the Star Trek universe? What will they be getting out of Best Defense?

"Hours of enjoyment. With minimal eye strain, I hope.|" joked David, "More seriously, I think that what readers can expect from the Legacies trilogy overall, and from each individual book within it, is an adventure that feels true to the spirit and style of the original Star Trek television series."

As noted, David Mack has previously collaborated with Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore on various projects, including the Seekers and Vanguard literary series. Greg Cox was a new addition to the formula but, as David explained, only when it came to Star Trek as they had worked together before.

"Our long history of collaboration [Ward and Dilmore] did make it easier to tackle this project as a team. At the very least, it made the whole effort feel more familiar and comfortable. After more than a decade of working together, we’ve all developed an easy rapport and a helpful literary shorthand that makes a project like this possible.

"It also helps that, in many ways, the Star Trek books program has, since roughly 2001, been run in a manner similar to that of a television series’ writers’ room, with the editors acting as showrunners, coordinating the efforts of the individual authors to make certain we’re all working from the same premises and proceeding toward the same narrative goals, while respecting one another’s continuity details.

"As far as the effect that Greg’s involvement had on the dynamic, the four of us meshed without any trouble. It helped that we four all had worked on the tie-in novels for The 4400. Greg wrote the first of those four novels; Dayton and Kevin wrote the second book; Greg wrote the third; and then I wrote the final volume. Greg had coordinated with Dayton and Kevin regarding details between the first two books, and then Greg and I crafted a two-part story for the last two books. So the four of us had already learned to coordinate our writing efforts across multiple volumes. In that respect, the Legacies trilogy was kind of like “getting the band back together.”

For those who have been following David Mack's input into the Star Trek literary universe you may well have stormed through The Fall, Book 3: A Ceremony of Losses; Star Trek Seekers #3 – Long Shot; and the Bashir-focused Section 31: Disavowed. While these cover more than a couple of generations of Star Trek shows, I wondered if there was a particular aspect that was easier to write for than any of the others?

"Writing for each of the many literary incarnations of Star Trek brings its own challenges and its own rewards. There are generally fewer restrictions on changes to the status quo of literary-original series, such as Vanguard or Seekers, and for someone like me—a person who loves wreaking havoc on poor unsuspecting characters and dropping narrative bombshells that leave my fellow authors picking up story debris in my wake for years afterward—that can be a lot of fun. However, there’s a lot to be said for the joy that I take in writing well-known, beloved characters and being able to contribute my own ideas to series that I love and respect."

Fans may - or may not realise that David Mack also has a link to televised Star Trek, co-writing two strong episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with Starship Down and It’s Only a Paper Moon, as well as the Star Trek comic-book miniseries Divided We Fall for Wildstorm. Is this something that the well-revered franchise novelist want to return to?

"I really couldn’t say; I’m a freelance writer, not a fortune-teller." continued David, "I certainly would love to get a shot at writing for television and feature films, or even just see some of my published work get adapted into those mediums.

"With regard to comic books, back in 2010 I scripted the eight-issue Farscape: Scorpius miniseries for BOOM! Studios, based on story outlines by Farscape creator Rockne S. O’Bannon. More recently, I’ve pitched some ideas to the folks behind the Star Trek comics at IDW Publishing. They seemed to dig a few of my ideas. So far nothing has come of those talks, but I remain hopeful that I might soon get another shot at writing a Star Trek comic-book story.

While these are certainly possibilities David Mack would love to explore, 2016 and 2017 are already looking like they're booked up (or as near to)! 

"I’ve just finished writing the manuscript for Star Trek: Section 31 – Control. That’s currently scheduled for publication at the end of April 2017.

"My current top priority is revising the manuscript for my original novel Dark Arts: The Midnight Front. It’s the first book of a new series I’m writing for Tor Books. It won’t get a publication date until after I finish the rewrite and get that approved by my editor. Consequently, I’m feeling motivated to work quickly and give it my full attention for the rest of the summer.

After that’s done, I’ll get to work on the manuscript for Fortune of War, a new Star Trek Titan novel that I think will likely hit bookstore shelves at the end of 2017 or in early 2018.

Beyond that, in 2017 I hope to complete a first draft of The Iron Codex (book two of the Dark Arts series), and perhaps get some more original short fiction out into the world.

As the saying goes, there’s no rest for the wicked!

Big thanks to David Mack for taking his time to talk to Ian and we wish him all the best for the future - can't wait to read some of those upcoming books!

All images from www.davidmack.pro

You can follow David by checking out his social media links -

Website: www.davidmack.pro

Twitter: @DavidAlanMack

https://facebook.com/TheDavidMack

FCD: Meeting James and Una

Following on from their excellent Q&A session at First Contact Day I was gifted the chance to talk to authors Una McCormack and James Swallow for 20 minutes. Just beware there might be a couple of unintentional SPOILERS in here...

We'd already discovered Una is a massive Deep Space Nine fan - especially anything Cardassian-related and that James is the reason David Mack's Section 31 novel, Disavowed turned out (to some degree since he broke Bashir out of prison!). From the question I asked we also know that they didn't make the novels end in such a way to "screw over" the one following - there was a much bigger plan...but what else could we find out?

Well, Garak's assension to Castellan wasn't spur of the moment for one thing; "I've long harboured ambitions to do that," explained Una, "It's something I've had in the back of my mind for a very long time. It always seemed like the natural endpoint for Garak's story nut to make him have to do it legitimately."

Una needed Garak to acheive that power - in fact he had always been pretty powerful - "but within the constraints of democracy and I thought that would be the real test for the character; to use power but in a moral way."

Turns out there were some good chats about this move and how it could affect writers in the future; "David R George and I had some debates about it.....It is the end of his story in a way but I think there's still some life in the old dog yet!"

James was keen to note that each of The Fall series is about taking the characters out of their comfort zones and it wasn't something that was evident during the writing but seems to have come about much further down the line. "It's a great idea where we have this character (Garak) who has been all these things and done all of this stuff is suddenly put into this position where he has to be the moral and upstanding citizen and it grinds with him. It's so cool when you put a character in that position."

Una actually finished The Crimson Shadow before any of the others in the series were complete; "Una's book pops in my inbox and I was like oh - I'd better write the book!" revealed James. He knew he was in for a good read; "Una's book exists within it's own bubble of Cardassian-ness," he noted, "but there are still a lot of threads that are dropped in and then pulled back out. There were no overt plot threads but there was a sense of massive political wheels turning and the sense of a world on the verge of a dynamic shift...Every book in The Fall has that feeling that big things are happening and you'd better not get crushed underneath it."

The tasks were handed out and Una snapped up the Garak and Picard two-hander while James looked at the section he had taken in a very different way; "I wanted to do an espinoage thriller but I also wanted to do something that's got some doors being kicked in and stuff blowing up."

In fact the author of The Poisoned Chalice had just finished reading No Easy Day which is about the SEALS who go after Bin Laden. "The idea of the Black Ops and the hunt for a terrorist dovetailed perfectly with the stuff that Una set up with who's to blame for the crisis."

James wanted to push the boundaries on what could be done with the "hawkish" Federation that is evident in the series. He wanted to ask awkward questions "and have some kick-ass stuff too."

While The Crimson Shadow plays with a small deck of characters, The Poisoned Chalice takes a very different approach taking names from The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager; "It was funny trying to put all those characters together," recalled James, "I found that I was writing some of the very first meetings between some of those characters and I didn't realise it. I did a scene where Deanna Troi meets Julian Bashir and I wrote it and thought 'have they actually met?'"

As it turns out they hadn't and James had to go back, tear the entire scene out and retool it. "I realised I couldn't do it as a throwaway it had to be a thing and it was the same when I did the scene when Tovok meets with Nog. That was a lot of fun because it almost became a comedy double act with the two of them playing off each other."

With Nog, James saw that he had been played for laughs on occasion but there was a darker side which came out through his experiences in the Dominion War and with Tuvok there was an experienced officer who had done the black ops work and seen a lot; "And I wanted to bring all that out in these seemingly polar opposites. and then seeing them almost bonding...It wasn't a conscious decision it just evolved out of the story."

Una's latest addition to the Star Trek literary universe came out very recently in the form of The Missing (which I haven't read yet) which carries the moniker of a Deep Space Nine novel even though there are a few characters from elsewhere in the universe who drop by. Good news is that there seems to be a renaissance on Deep Space Nine novels as David R George has just announced The Ascendence and we have Sacraments of Fire in July from the same author. Una would love to do some more which I can firmly say is a Good Thing.

Of course, The Fall in some way has to have influenced the thread of The Missing and the book does indeed acknowledge the series in its opening pages. James however managed to remain tight-lipped on just how much The Poisoned Chalice had influenced the yet-to-be-released The Sight Unseen which focuses on the good ship Titan.

I managed to get a "Yes" from James on the subject; "There have been a couple of books between The Fall and the Titan novel," he explained referring to The Next Generation's Takedown and Absolute Enemies from John Jackson Miller. "There's a lot of stuff going on," continued James Swallow, "and I've got to be careful of spoilers here; situations have changed, people are in different places and things have happened not just within the Federation but to the Titan and the people on board the Titan. There will be some new characters, someone will die and Titan will have a brand new mission. It's the fallout from all of that which will take it in a new direction."

James assured me that it will still be a traditional Titan story about the ship going off and exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new civilisations but maybe not in the same format as the original series of Titan."

For me as a reader, the end of The Fall seemed to mark a return to basics for the literary Star Trek universe as the Enterprise returned to its core mission of exploration and the universe seemed to have a minor reset. After all the arcs and series such as Destiny, Cold Equations and The Fall, it appears that the galaxy is settling back into a more singular way of telling stories. I asked the two authors if it was a good way to go forward with the franchise.

"I think it is," said Una, "We were telling a lot of very, very complex stories and it's nice to give your brain a rest. It can't always be about saving the Federation or saving the quadrant or saving the universe or saving reality as we know it. Think how beautiful an episode like The Inner Light is and that's just the drama of a man's life passing and that is as much Star Trek as kicking down doors and blowing things up."

Have to say I did then support James on that very point because we always need doors being kicked in and things blowing up. 

In terms of First Contact Day the two authors were really impressed with the event; "It's been a really friendly, warm convention," said Una who is from the north west, "It's nice to be back amongst my people!"

James was clearly enjoying being at the event too, "Star Trek has been very kind to me," he said, being the only UK writer to provide concepts for Voyager's One and Memorial. "To me that was like winning the lottery."

Getting that second shot at Voyager was all that James needed to know that this was the job he wanted to do for life, "...and the energy from that still propels me forward. Star Trek has given me so much love and enjoyment and it's great to be able to give back to that."

Thanks to Una McCormack and James Swallow for their time at First Contact Day.

Have you read either of these authors? What did you think of their work and are you looking forward to their next novels?

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First Contact Day: LIVE

Morning everyone!

Yes, the day is here and as a first for Some Kind of Star Trek we're going to live blog from First Contact Day at the National Space Centre in Leicester. Keep dropping by during the day to see who we meet, what's happening and what we get to see.

9:31 and we're parked up. Very quiet here at the moment so relaxing for a sec with a brew. English Breakfast not Earl Grey I'm afraid. Spotted a few redshirts not to be confused with the staff. 

10:11 all open and had a breather in the Captain's chair! 

10:36 Getting busier as the fans arrive for the 11am kickoff. Lots of uniforms and hopefully a ton of redshirts for the record attempt.

10:50 settled in ready for authors James Swallow and Una McCormack after the 11am kickoff. Great to see Continues' first episode Pilgrim of Eternity to get us all ready for the days events.

Room's filling up nicely ahead of the start...lots of red which is a good sign. Grabbed a seat behind the Visionary Trek team one of whom will be calling the shots with James and Una.

And just to prove they did turn up, here's the Risa gents at their stand. Definitely worth grabbing a chat with them if you're here or going tomorrow.

11:05 A slight delay to proceedings. Nothing to worry about but it does mean more Continues... crowd really looking forward to the talks and intro now.

Chad and Wil kick us off with Garrett: "Happy to be here. I had a lot of messages on Twitter when Leonard passed....The way you can pay tribute by watching your favourite episode or movie...Without Spock would not be what it is today."

And with that a superb Nimoy tribute including those great Audi commercials.

11:50 Welcome to James Swallow and Una McCormack with Michael Clark from Visionary Trek. We like Una because she's a big Deep Space Nine fan. James got into reading Star Trek through those James Blish novels. He's the only Brit to provide the concepts for two Star Trek episodes. 

"I devoured Deep Space Nine" reveals Una who got into the show through The Way of the Warrior and Garak. Most of her works do tend to follow Cardassians and seizes the chance to write about Garak - hence The Crimson Shadow."

James has just dropped The Sight Unseen - a Titan novel and he's just finished writing The Latter Fire based during The Original Series five year mission.

This year apparently is going to be a lot more standalone rather than The Fall-esque arcs according to the two authors. To be honest they like writing cool stories but there are challenges especially if they get things wrong!

"Big challenge is coming up with a new story" says James. "I want to do something interesting and compelling."

If you want to start reading Una McCormack, James Swallow recommends Hollow Men as your initiation.

Apparently though it turns out that James didn't know where David Mack was going to go with Bashir in his Section 31 novel and chose to break him out of prison - so there's a missing Section 31 novel out there! David also created a huge spreadsheet that detailed where everything lay within the framework of The Fall series - who wouldn't love to see that?! 

13:30 I'm lunched out. Big queue for the cafe (30 mins for a bottle of water???) which I'm not heading into at this late stage. Back into the main room for a bit of Phase II while we're waiting to kick off again and attempt the Redshirt Record Attempt! Will they beat the current 57? We'll find out soon enough! 

13:37 The sea of red is growing!

13:52 Still clocking those red shirts through! Looks like that 57 target is getting annihilated! 

14:02 and there's the record - smashing it with 107!!!

14:45 and Garrett Wang is on stage. Did you know he went to a British private school? 

He's pretty funny and is commanding the stage already - his impression of Sulu/George Takei is one of the best.

Only four actors from Trek are sci-fi fans, reveals Garrett - Wil Wheaton, Tim Russ, Garrett and Karl Urban! 

Garrett had six auditions for Voyager and he nearly ran over Harrison Ford in a parking lot when he was on the way to get his uniform fitted. Also turns out that Ensign Kim didn't know until this moment that Harrison crashed his plane. Priceless OMG face.

President of CBS isn't a fan of Star Trek explains Garrett - which might explain why it's not back on air yet. There will be some kind of Star Trek in the future he continues. Garrett loved the 2009 movie but not with Star Trek into Darkness. Loved the pacing, young Kirk and Spock... Never looked away from the screen. 

"What was unfortunate that apart from Nimoy he had no-one else from Star Trek on board... and didn't invite from the Star Trek world to the premiere."

Amazing to think Garrett saw the '09 movie 14 times in the cinema. He loves the newness of the reboot but felt JJ rushed the sequel...running to Star Wars perhaps? Garrett thinks Naveen Andrews from Lost would have been a better Khan. Not that Benedict is a bad actor. 

15:15 Garrett has a raft of great stories and you just gotta hear about the Power of DeLauncie. It's like He-Man but a lot better with more theatrics.

Favorite episode of Voyager? For Garrett it's the pilot that had the most fun and the chance to meet everyone for the first time. Took 30 days to film - fact! 

16:00 BRILLIANT chat with James Swallow and Una McCormack away from the stage. Great authors and you need to read their books. Even managed a quick snap and got The Crimson Shadow and The Poisoned Chalice signed. More detailed breakdown of our chat will be coming in the next few days! 

16:36 and the auction's over now we can have a last session chat with Larry Nemecek about Enterprise in Space! Lots of signed goodies, action figures and even a Star Trek Online uniform topping out the bidding. Lots of support for the First Contact Day charities.

End of the day also brings in the winners of the costume competition. A Borg comes in third, second goes to a Seven of Nine cosplayer and topping the bill is a Battlestar Galactica Colonial Warrior.

16:40 Missed a bit of the Larry talk but did manage five minutes aside with the more than accommodating Garrett Wang - this guy will literally do anything for fans and knows know to treat people! He even took part in the record attempt earlier.I'll be putting up the chat as a separate piece but here's one of Garrett as a redshirt to bide you over.

17:15 all done and homeward bound. Wonderful day at the venue and brilliant to touch base with Visionary Trek and the team from Risa. Same again next year?

Did you enjoy First Contact Day weekend? Were you there? How do you think it went? (second day on Sunday 5th but we couldn't attend)

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Fall-ing Over: Concluding Thoughts and Dayton Ward with Peaceable Kingdoms

It feels as though The Fall has been a big part of my Star Trek reading for a serious amount of time.

As series' go I've thoroughly enjoyed it although book two was a bit of a low however the later releases were brilliant, especially The Poisoned Chalice so thumbing open Peaceable Kingdoms was going to have a difficult act to follow. If we choose an old cliche, all the chess pieces were set in play ready for the final act. As cliffhangers go I literally closed one book and picked up the next to find out what was happening.

So raise your SPOILER alert to RED as we discuss the conclusion to The Fall.

While Riker and his activities on Earth are involved in this story, the main focus shifts away from the centre of Federation space to the voyages of the starship Enterprise under the command of one Jean-Luc Picard. Tasked with orders from friend and now superior Will Riker, the flagship commander is out to find the last piece in the puzzle and explain to the reader what the heck is going on.

Strangely though the adventure then takes a sharp left and you find that most of the action focuses not on the Enterprise but Doctor Crusher who, along with transport twin Tom Riker become the main protagonists of the piece. It's not something I expected and nor is the direction that the story goes. Beverley certainly holds her own here and turns out something of the hero discovering exactly what is at the core of the mystery although I did feel that her Cardassian doctor friend was a shoe-in for the last book. If he'd been around for a bit longer his impact on the story might have been more weighty than it was having him just in the narrative for book five - but then that's one of the issues of having five different writers turn their hand at a segment in the series.

Tom Riker held a significant role in the previous The Poisoned Chalice alongside non-returning (and conspicuous by absence) Nog and Tuvok. Much more likeable as a character than in his episodic appearances Tom becomes key here too, ensuring the survival of the Enterprise doctor and her plot-device Cardassian friend. This strand of the story is necessary as it fills in the backstory but it does seem to come at the cost of the main conspiracy story around Admiral Riker and the events at Starfleet Command which could have been expanded and made much greater in substance. In fact I never felt that Riker and his associates on Earth were in any depth of danger since the focus was strongly off-world.

There is space in the narrative for Picard and crew to fly off and do some investigating work but on the whole this is a lot more ground-based than the cover might lead you to believe. The crew of the Enterprise are placed in a difficult situation but it takes most of the book to get there and when it does, as I felt with the whole of the last section and the effective conclusion, it was over far too soon. From the Enterprise's intervention to the final moments it all swept by so quickly after five books of build up and a final novel in the series which had done so well to explain and detail precisely what it had all meant.

The interim presidency of Ishan Anjar following the assassination of Nanietta Bacco has run clean through this story since Revelation and Dust and while each novel has added a different twist to events occurring around that singular moment and thereafter, each has also provided morsels of evidence that something much darker is at work than is at first expected. We've had several possible assassins, involvement of Cardassian separatists, secretive Federation operatives with unknown agendas and even a split within the very membership of the galaxy-spanning organisation itself but Ishan has always maintained a presence.

Fortunately we get to see a bit more of the Bajoran pro tem president in the fifth book both in the present and the past which opens up his character but not in the ways that I was expecting. There's a lot more to Ishan than you might think and the part he plays is much less black and white. His approach is logical but the ends and means are perhaps crossed. Of the whole series The Poisoned Chalice was the strongest and provided a much more satisfactory journey towards the conclusion and hinted that the characters within its pages en masse would have more to do with the solution than the majority actually did. 

Revelation and Dust provided the perfect springboard to the series, placing us at the new Deep Space Nine but then the limelight on those players is swiftly shifted elsewhere and even their reappearances in A Ceremony of Losses doesn't give a lot to the final book. What you do come to appreciate is that while that Ishan story is the anchor that collects the series together this is perhaps looking more to further the cast and expand their horizons. By the end of Peaceable Kingdoms the literary universe is in a very different shape to how it started and not just because it has a shiny new deep space station. 

So what does this series mean for the future of the Star Trek universe in novel form? In terms of The Light Fantastic which was the next book to be published, very little, since that focused on Data, Lal and Geordi and avoided any references to the events of The Fall. However there are several loose ends which didn't get nailed down even as Peacable Kingdoms reached its conclusion. Going back to Book One, Revelations and Dust, what happened to Kira after the experiences she had within the wormhole? That never got answered and for all intents and purposes I guess she's still there. How will having Garak as the leader of the Cardassian people change their role within the Alpha Quadrant? How will he deal with the True Way who have been a constant throughout the series and appear to pose more of a threat to the Federation than the conspicuous Typhon Pact?

Then there's the whole issue with Ezri being released from prison with no charges following the events of A Ceremony of Losses and The Poisoned Chalice. Are those events going to affect her command on the Aventine and will they have any repercussions in the future? What too of the new Deep Space Nine? What's going to be different for Captain Ro and her crew?

Maybe the biggest question has to be over the future of one Julian Bashir who is still incarcerated following his involvement with curing the Andorian people which might have included delving into some top secret materials. Looking into future releases I believe that we'll have something of an answer to that in an upcoming Section 31 story - more on that as soon as we have a copy. The conclusion, as I noted, is somewhat rushed and not satisfying in the slightest given that I've spent a good few months reading away at the four previous installments, gathering information and building up expectations to a dramatic and jaw-dropping conclusion to be a little perturbed however the announcement that the Enterprise and her crew will be boldly going again on a deep space, long-term mission sounds highly promising and authors looking to dive into the exploits of Picard, Worf and the crew must be rubbing their hands with glee to know that the universe is their oyster and anything can happen. As with Voyager, the unknown will surely bring greater richness to literary Star Trek as we step further into the reaches of space.

Star Trek: The Fall: Peaceable Kingdoms is available right now from Simon and Schuster priced £6.99 ISBN 9781476718996. You can also check out our reviews of the other four novels in the series by following this link

The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice is a Cup of Excellence

Damn you James Swallow. Damn you all the way to the Archanis system.

It took a while for The Poisoned Chalice to arrive and after the ups and downs of the first three novels in The Fall quintology I was expecting something of a loss of power here, a hiccup, the stumble, the filler.

Well I'm sorry but that just ain't the case but be warned, we might have some SPOILERS ahead so just watch out.

So why am I all Damn You James Swallow? Because I couldn't put this book down. Now unless +Carl Thomson can say otherwise with Peaceable Kingdoms which I myself have yet to read, this is the jewel in the crown as far as I'm concerned. While we've been adding question upon question through the preceding novels it seems as though we're finally getting payoff here.

Split into three clear narratives around the continuing story concerning the assassination of the UFP President Naniette Bacco and the troubles of Andoria, it could be construed that this would put a strain on the novel as a whole. Instead it only enhances the story. Riker, now promoted for a whole bunch of secret hush hush reasons to Admiral tackles the conspiracies on Earth which harks back to The Next Generation's Conspiracy and perhaps moreso Deep Space Nine's Homefront and Paradise Lost. Then there's Commander Vale heading off on her own little adventure on the Nova Class USS Lionheart and a third strand that's taking Tuvok and Nog off on another tangent. Talk about packing out a story, this has it all.

Swallow has mastered all of the characters from the off. Riker is perfected and shows the resilience that we saw back in The Best of Both Worlds when realising it's down to him to sort out this god awful mess on Earth as well as start to unravel the mystery as to just who is pulling the strings and what all the fragments mean when they come together. Having Riker finally captaining his own ship was one thing but taking the step up to a desk job is another - and the question that hangs is whether or not it'll be as short as Kirk's stint. He does seem capable in this new role if not 100% at home to begin with and his interactions with Deanna, just as they were in that career conversation in The Best of Both Worlds are quite telling about his thoughts on the change in rank.

Swallow does well to maintain the interest in this line of the story and it could have become quite plodding but by dropping little asides and constantly questioning both Riker's and those around him in their actions there's always something to think about. Of the three strands this is probably the most important but not the most interesting as the stories off-world have much more of a punch. Riker in some ways is the chessmaster here. moving his pieces into play against a devious enemy. Of course a big difference in Riker now besides the rank is that he has both a wife and daughter (Deanna and Natasha) who make appearances. We see perhaps a little wisening in the admiral as it's not just about him anymore, the safety of his family is also at stake as he investigates the assassination.

Vale's story on the medical USS Lionheart has some brilliantly realised characters especially her first officer, Commander Atia and the chief medical officer who is less than human - or bipedal for that matter. While they are a good group of Guest Starrings it's the destination that proves the intrigue and when that's revealed we get to see a different aspect to the arc that's been driving this story forward. For a character I'm not very familiar with I understood her very quickly and there are certainly shades of Riker dripped into her personality as she investigates some less than reputable goings on. Anyone else who read this think they could get a few novels out of the crew of the Lionheart?

As we've discussed, so far in The Fall we've had beginnings and middles and here it seems the crew of the Titan are intergalactic caretakers sweeping up all the rubbish from across the quadrant. At times the story dives into secrecy, espionage and off-the-record meetings where those in question are in danger just from being in the same place through to all-action special operations territory that I would more imagine between the cover of a Tom Clancy novel. 

That Tuvok/Nog thread which also brings back the much underused Tom Riker (why no third episode huh?!) and is fairly key in understanding what has been happening while Admiral Riker is seeking the why aspect. The one directive they have grows and morphs as events unfold increasingly making you more unsettled as things turn out to be less than straightforward or legal. Placing such upstanding characters as Nog and Tuvok in this situation is a great move as both are men of very high standards and morals. As their story expands we can see how there are choices that have to be made and we can see to which side of the line they fall. Admittedly it's a fairly thick line  that could probably be seen from the International Space Station.

Associating with a group of mercenaries the scenes on board their suped-up transport ship are something akin to Aliens or Predator with lots of macho bonding and suggestions of ruthless, cutthroat individuals of a less than admirable past. It is a bit cliched but then in such instances these days it's very hard not to be.

Each of the threads is not what it appears at first hand and where this novel starts is a big jump from it's somewhat foreboding conclusion. Swallow has had a lot to work with here, bringing in pieces from all three of the previous novels so that those reading out of sequence can still dive in and enjoy.

I would question once again the logic of choosing to do that and have found reading the earlier books to be key in totally understanding the narrative arc. It can be done as a one-off but I wouldn't recommend it. Reading The Poisoned Chalice before reading A Ceremony of Losses would guarantee you would be handed the outcomes to a number of surprises from the book and make going back to it irrelevant. However, perhaps it's not about seeing the "answers" if you will if you don't truly understand the question and that might be the beauty of The Fall series. Throwaway references to the other titles do make you sit up and ask what have you missed especially in regards to The Crimson Shadow which I reviewed earlier this year. There's much more to the whole Cardassian/Andorian/Tzenkethi issues than we've been told before. Not bad to still be punching out some new shockers in the closing stages of a well-formulated saga.

At the time that seemed to be the weakest link but having pounded through The Poisoned Chalice that second novel looks like it is the cornerstone of the quintology, giving much more than you expected. The way in which James Swallow funnels the three stories together means that Dayton Ward has something of a big job ahead to ensure finality to The Fall. It's a well-realised novel which focuses heavily on the characters and their motivations. All are asked to work outside what would be their usual framework - their box - and come up with on-their-feet solutions on more than one occasions. Effectively their paths are marked out when they complete their own threads but this is a journey in each case that it is necessary to understand before they make their final, decisive moves in Peacable Kingdoms.

I'm sure there are bits from David R George III, Una McCormack and David Mack's efforts that I've forgotten and will play a part in the conclusion of this superb storyline. Now the threads are passed onto the fifth author and we'll be discussing the no doubt epic and explosive novel very soon.

The Poisoned Chalice is available now from Simon and Schuster priced £6.99 ISBN 9781476722221

The Fall: A Ceremony Of Losses - Mack is Back

I like to say I have a linear mind, I like to know the beginning before the middle, or even the end. I even went back to watching Deep Space Nine in anticipation of reading this.

I have read series books from the end, or even the middle, previously. You can always tell proficient writers from experienced writers by reading non-linear – truly experienced writers have the ability to draw you in from any point in their story, even half-way through a particular book. This is especially true when writing about characters you already know, or have grown up getting to know.

Such is the case with this book – A Ceremony of Losses. I had no idea what to expect, nor what to write about, it being my first review. So let me start, at the beginning, of the middle...and be warned I might drop some of those pesky SPOILERS in along the way.

Perseverance is the key to this story's start. For someone starting on this book, David Mack does a admirable job of filling in the blanks. Not so much to believe you know all the previous stories, but enough to make you want to explore the detail of them – a tricky balance to achieve, to be sure.

The negative here being that with so many Andorian names, references, titles and terms to grasp so early on, you actually have to be Andorian just to make it through the first chapter without a headache, or the literacy version of brain-freeze.

memory-beta.wikia.com

As a newcomer to the non-canon series of novels, I have to admit, a little catch up was necessary in order to put the novel into perspective. For example; the new Deep Space Nine space station, a new 'Frontier Class' station. Another addition is the USS Aventine; a rather impressive new Vesta class starship equipped with slipstream technology. I was however unaware of precisely how much I'd missed ...

Mack's use of characters – Dr Bashir, to name one of many old faces, is done well. Capturing Julian's childish demeanour whilst keeping his suppressed ego has been done remarkably well. This should come as no surprise to those who know the author though, as history recalls, he did have a writing hand in two interesting Deep Space Nine episodes - season four's Starship Down and season seven's It's Only a Paper Moon. 

I did have a puzzling moment with one Captain Ezri Dax, I first picked up on it from +Clive Burrell's review. I struggled to see how Dax has gone from a jittery councillor, to a commanding, confident captain, without a massive personality change. I do not wish to dwell on this though, as after catching up a little background reading (no spoilers), Ezri's character actually has gone through an extreme makeover.

Beyond the old faces, there are some very well defined characters alongside and supporting. With moderate access to certain characters' features and a background or two, it serves to understand them, but not emphasise them. One who I'm sure will catch your attention, and who has already been made known to us of the 'TV series only' bunch - Sarina Douglas (Deep Space Nine - Statistical Probabilities, Chrysalis). I'm sorry, a little spoiler alert here... Again, another person who has undergone a huge transformation. Here we had a reclusive, socio-phobic person - turned Section 31 super spy! It's the Trek version of 007 starting off in the loony bin, asking for his medication to be 'shaken, no stirred'...

Away from familiar faces, and for spoilers sake I won't dwell on this, but if you're looking for clues to forthcoming installments - pay close attention to Admiral Akaar, especially towards the end. I won't say much but I would say it is definitely David Mack's clear nod to the starting of book four.

The plot, without giving too much information away, centers around a major upheaval in the Federation, contemplating the extinction of the Andorians. The politics within this story can at times, make for tough reading. Again, perseverance is the key here. If you were after a book to 'settle in bed' with - this is not it. There is too much detail and too many (multi-layer) political plots to grasp. Try speed reading through this and I guarantee you'll spend twice as long having to reread the last paragraph, only to forget what happened previously. Or, as my colleague eloquently put; a "Thinking Man's Star Trek". After looking over book one's review, plus a few group discussions, it does seem that this is going to a common theme along the entire series. They all give you the impression you're in way over your head, that you don't have the attention span of a nuclear physicist and you're going to be brutally brow-beaten for not having so.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not condemning the detail throughout the whole book; most is quite relevant and informative. I especially like the build up near the end; everything balancing on a whim, an entire species hanging in the balance, a beautifully described orbital action scene. I was quite gratified at that moment to find I had, for the first time in the book, suspended all of my other senses, just temporarily until I was confident it had passed.

Only one terrible grievance remains from this whole experience - but it's as big as Bajor itself. As I mentioned before, the plot focuses around the Andorians and their cessation from the Federation. After this, the Federation interim President has declared an embargo of Andor. No food, medicine, commerce or communication to or from the Federation. 

To be quite frank - I just cannot see this. I understand that from a story perspective, it is a key plot line and there are the political aspects that give it cause, but the Federation is by nature a peacekeeping force. I just can't imagine the democratic processes allowing for such an action, even with a despotic President at the helm. There are too many allies and political elements within the Federation that would resist such a move. It is as if David Mack has thrown much politics into this, but failed to grasp the true nature of Federation politics.

That being said, if you can overlook this flaw (if it is indeed one at all for you), the rest of this book is very well thought out, structured and written. Yes, there are some moments that really test you, but you are rewarded for your persistence at the end. Pros and cons considered, here's my conclusion:

The story as a whole is actually quite riveting - a medical mystery, wrapped up in political turmoil, lightly sprinkled with well played espionage, finished with a good side helping of action.

I'll be having a ceremony of loss if I don't read them all, but I won't stand on ceremony over this – until I've read them all. Is it fundamentally flawed? Too political? Perhaps, but also perhaps that's just me, and I'd happily read it again. In fact, I intend to. Whilst I'm doing that - you decide!

Next up in The Fall we have The Poisoned Chalice. Time to head back aboard the USS Titan.

Image by Tobias Richter

A Ceremony of Losses is available now from Simon and Schuster priced £6.99; ISBN 9781476722245.

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