This week officially kicked off what promises to be the most epic literary trilogy in all the decades of Star Trek’s publishing history…
Let’s take that in for a moment. With an estimated 700 franchise novels, the next three months will give us a series crossover trilogy to rival fifty-plus years of printed Trek stories.
“Who cares?”
This simple question, asked in the last title card of Millennium’s opening credits, challenges its characters as much as it does us viewers. Since its premiere, Millennium (1996-1999), a series created by Chris Carter of The X-Files fame, made it clear that it would be wrestling with the theme of evil in a way never before seen on network television. Edmund Burke’s famous line, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” is just one of many responses to darkness illustrated by the series’ fascinating exploration of serial killers, eschatology, and millennialism of all stripes, writ large against a cosmically mysterious, often profoundly unsettling universe.
Between August 7th 2019 and Feb 24th 2021 I was privileged to talk about all of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch books (full list with linked reviews below) in this space.
It’s been an exhilarating ride, with some tremendous warp-speed intervals on state-of-the-art narratives and, let’s say, a few stretches of impulse power on second-tier vessels.
Given the scope of this review series, I thought it might be nice to (1) write a brief retrospective (2) offer up a core list of quality titles that I think can be enjoyed without much preamble and can act as gateway texts to jump into the series at various points.
Original Sin
David R. George III
Publication Date: September 2017
Timeline: February-March 2380, approximately one year prior to the 2381 section of Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire, and March 2386, following Ascendance and The Long Mirage
Progress: The bulk of this novel consists of chapters that alternate between 2380 and 2386. Here are the essential events of these two plotlines told sequentially:
2380: A Bajoran named Radovan, who’s been dealt some tough blows, falls in with the Ohalavaru, the religious followers of the texts of Ohalu (see Unity and more recently Sacraments of Fire).
I, The Constable
Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann
Publication Date: November 2017
Timeline: late January 2386, following The Long Mirage
Progress: Quark learns that his uncle Frin has died, and Frin owned a number of taverns on Ferenginar. Quark reasons that, as the nearest male relative of Frin’s, these establishments should go to him (“Wives serve, brothers inherit’—that’s the 139th Rule”), but under Grand Nagus Rom the Rule has been amended under the Bill of Opportunities: brothers still inherit, but after wives and children. That doesn’t stop Quark from heading back to the homeworld to look into Frin’s marital situation and try and claim some of the action. Then he goes MIA, however, and Captain Ro asks Odo, who’s been spending much of his downtime reading hard-boiled noir fiction, to locate Quark.
Enigma Tales
Una McCormack
Publication Date: June 2017
Timeline: Late 2386, one year after The Missing, which was set in November 2385 (though internal references may place it somewhat later)
Progress: Doctor Pulaski is invited to Cardassia Prime to receive the Distinguished Impact Medal from the University of the Union for her work on the Andorian reproductive crisis, and she invites Peter Alden to join her on the trip. Once there they are greeted by Metok Efheny, who shows them around.
Star Trek: Picard: The Dark Veil
James Swallow
Publication Date: January 2021
Timeline: 2386
This media tie-in is a superlative accomplishment.
Regardless of your level of enthusiasm for Star Trek: Picard, if you have any interest at all in the future of the Trek universe in the wake of Star Trek: Nemesis—specifically, the fates of William Riker, Deanna Troi, and yes, albeit tangentially, Jean-Luc Picard himself—you must read this book.
The Long Mirage
David R. George III
Publication Date: February 2017
Timeline: January 2386, following The Fall: Revelation and Dust, Sacraments of Fire, and Ascendance
Progress: In a brief prologue, the Bashir 62 holosuite program provides the environment for a waitress in a Las Vegas diner to witness a conversation between two characters we will later figure out are Morn and Vic Fontaine.
Rules of Accusation
Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann
Publication Date: July 2016
Timeline: 2371, December 2385 (after The Missing, before Sacraments of Fire)
Progress: In a Prelude set in 2371, a Kalpazan forger and art collector by the name of Bartleby creates a duplicate of what we will soon figure out is the original Sacred Scroll containing the legendary Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, created by Gint ten thousand years ago. The identity of Bartleby’s client is not revealed.
Ascendance
Jeffrey Lang
Publication Date: June 2016
Timeline: early January 2386; numerous flashbacks, going back almost four decades
Progress: With the 2381 Borg attack underway, Benjamin Maxwell, last referenced in this reread series in Gateways #4: Demons of Air and Darkness, is serving time at the Starfleet Penal Colony on Waiheke Island, New Zealand, Earth. He applies to serve in the effort to repel the Borg, but his application is turned down (a major concern is that the Cardassians fighting on the Federation side would react poorly to his presence).
Ascendance
David R. George III
Publication Date: December 2015
Timeline: December 2377-February 2378, December 2385-January 2386; a direct continuation of both of the timelines in Sacraments of Fire
Progress: After Odo’s attempt to link with the potential Changeling being held at Newton Outpost, the creature first breaches its containment area and then the station itself, escaping into space and using gravity to propel itself out of the Larrisint system. Two casualties and six injured scientists result from its flight to freedom, and Odo himself remains in his gelatinous state after the aborted link. Security Chef Selten receives a distinct telepathic impression from the creature that it is driven by a need or purpose, seeking something specific in outer space.
Sacraments of Fire
David R. George III
Publication Date: July 2015
Timeline: September-December 2385, immediately after The Fall: Revelation and Dust; and also 2377, on the heels of The Soul Key
Progress: Following the events of Warpath, Fearful Symmetry, and The Soul Key, Iliana Ghemor joins the Ascendants, taking on the role of The Fire for this group of confrontation-eager religious zealots. Still obsessed with Kira, Iliana has her sights on Bajor. After leading the Ascendants in an attack on an Eav’oq colony, Iliana ends up commandeering the Ascendant’s main weapon and heading toward Bajor.
The Missing
Una McCormack
Publication Date: December 2014
Timeline: November 2385; after the Fall miniseries
Progress: Dr. Katherine Pulaski, passionate in her pursuit of a multi-cultural scientific enterprise that will not only yield valuable insights but also achieve what diplomacy by itself cannot, is allocated the Olympic-class starship Athene Donald. Its delightfully multi-species crew sets out on an explicit mission of exploration. Joined Trill Maurita Tanj is the ship’s commanding officer, and other crew members include Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans, a Ferengi, and even a representative of the Tzenkethi Coalition named Metiger Ter Yai-A.
Lust’s Latinum Lost (and Found)
Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann
Publication Date: September 2014
Timeline: November 2385; following The Fall: A Ceremony of Losses
Progress: In the aftermath of the events of The Fall miniseries, Quark finds that business is down. An old Boslic freighter captain friend of Quark’s by the name of Rionoj (who appeared in “The Homecoming”, “The Abandoned”, and “Broken Link”) claims to have an advance copy of a new holonovel sure to be a sensation: the fourth interactive installment of the infamous Vulcan Love Slave series, titled Lust’s Latinum Lost.
The Fall: A Ceremony of Losses
David Mack
Publication Date: November 2013
Timeline: August-September 2385
Progress: “One failed pregnancy at a time…the Andorian people were dying.”
The Andorian reproductive crisis has been with us for some time. There were hints of it in the Avatar duology, our very first relaunch books in this review series, and when we reached Chapter 11 of Gateways #4: Demons of Air and Darkness it was made explicit. The discovery of the Yrythny Turn Key in Mission Gamma, Book Two: This Gray Spirit raised the possibility of a solution, and indeed that path still seemed viable, if admittedly risky and extreme, as recently as Andor: Paradigm.
