Posts Tagged ‘Declassified’

In case you care…

The fine folks at Unreality-SF.net are celebrating their fourth anniversary of reviewing SF/F on the Intertubes by accepting nominations for their latest annual awards extravaganza, the Media Tie-in SF/F Story of the Year trophy.

(It’s kind of like the Scribe Award, except it’s voted on by fans, making it the Tie-in Hugo to the IAMTW‘s Tie-in Nebula. Which is significant, since tie-ins are perennially snubbed by the voters of both those awards.)

The nominating period starts today, March 19, and continues through March 26, 2012. Here are the rules, in their own words:

Starting today, you can nominate three stories. At the end of the week, we’ll count up the suggestions to find the ten that are most popular.

Next Monday, we’ll post that final shortlist and give you seven days to pick one absolute favourite.

And then the authors of the first- and second-placed stories each get a block of glass with their name engraved in it.

Plus, one lucky participant in this process will win a free Amazon.com voucher. Hey, it beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, at least.

For a story to be eligible, it must: 1) be an officially licensed literary (prose or comic) tie-in to an existing SF/F property in another medium (TV, film, game, etc.); 2) have been published between March 1, 2011, and February 29, 2012; and, 3) be an individual story, not multiple related works (such as a trilogy or a multi-issue comic-book series).

Why am I telling you this? Could it be that I have published works that are eligible for your consideration? Mayyyyybe.

Seriously, if you want to throw my work into the mix, my two eligible stories are my novel Star Trek Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions and my novella in Star Trek Vanguard: Declassified, “The Stars Look Down”.

Do with that information what you will.

Vanguardian Discourse

This post’s title is a fancy way of saying you can listen to a recording of a panel discussion about Star Trek Vanguard.

The panel to which I refer took place this past July at the Shore Leave convention outside Baltimore, Md. The discussion, followed by an audience Q&A, featured me, Marco Palmieri, Dayton Ward, and Kevin Dilmore.

It was recorded by soldier and major Star Trek fan Nick Minecci, who posted it on the website for The G & T Show, which he co-hosts each Sunday morning with the velvet-voiced Terilynn Shull.

The recording runs a bit under an hour. If you’re a fan of Star Trek Vanguard, give it a listen!

And in case you’re one of those who needs a visual of who’s speaking in order to appreciate it, you can feast your eyes on this little Photoshop gem:

Enjoy!

This just in from Germany…

I picked up a parcel at the post office today. The delivery notice had said it was from the Deutsche Post, so I was hoping it was a copy of the German-language version of Star Trek Vanguard: Declassified, which was published at the same time as the English version. I opened the envelope to find my wish granted—and more:

Enclosed with my copy of Star Trek Vanguard: Enthüllungen was a copy of In Wassermelonen Zucker—a German translation of the Richard Brautigan novel In Watermelon Sugar.

This was a special surprise for me, because Brautigan is one of my all-time favorite authors, and this was the novel that introduced me to his work when I was only a teenager. I currently own copies of all of Brutigan’s published novels, and a few of his published volumes of poetry (which are extremely difficult to find).

During my trip to FedCon XX a couple of months ago, I had mentioned to Filipe, the Cross Cult intern, my affinity for Brautigan’s work, and he had tried to send a copy of this hard-to-find, out-of-print book with some Star Trek books he shipped to me last month, but that parcel had been damaged in transit and the copy of In Wassermelonen Zucker had been lost. But, as further proof of just how resourceful and diligent Filipé is, he found another one.

So, a tip of my hat to mein Bruder, Filipe!

Star Trek magazine: Vanguardian Goodness!

I don’t often shill for Star Trek magazine unless I have an article inside its gloried pages, but I’m going to make an exception for Issue No. 35, the “Starships and Space Stations Special” edition.

The reason: In addition to articles about the visionary work of folks like Franz Joseph and Matt Jefferies, it has an in-depth feature about designer Masao Okazaki‘s development of Starbase 47, aka Vanguard, for the Star Trek Vanguard book series.

The piece is chock full of early concept sketches by Masao and unused digital cover art by Doug Drexler, as well as looks at the exterior and interior schematics of the Archer-class scout ship U.S.S. Sagittarius (which was invented for the Vanguard saga) and a short primer for the series.

Even better, Issue No. 35 also has an excerpt from Marco Palmieri‘s novella “The Ruins of Noble Men,” which is part of the recently released anthology Star Trek Vanguard: Declassified, and the anthology is reviewed in the same issue.

This issue is a Vanguard fan’s dream come true. Get your copy of this issue soon, before they’re all gone!

 

Vanguardian Discourse

The fine folks over at StarTrek.com have just posted a new, lengthy “roundtable interview” with Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore, Marco Palmieri, and yours truly regarding the just-released anthology Star Trek Vanguard: Declassified.

So, if you’ve never had the pleasure of being trapped in the hotel bar with the four of us while we talked shop, now you can get a sense of just how truly excruciating that experience is, but without the mitigating effect of alcohol. Unless you’re drinking in front of your computer as you read it. Which I would probably recommend, actually.

Seriously, we talk about the origin of Declassified anthology project, how it developed, and what readers can expect from the stories therein. If you’re a Star Trek Vanguard fan, this one’s for you.

Vanguard: Declassified signed book giveaway!

Quick refresher for those just tuning in: Today is the bound-book date for Star Trek Vanguard: Declassified, an anthology that comprises four brand-new novellas spanning the entire time frame of the Vanguard saga to date:

“Almost Tomorrow” by Dayton Ward

“Hard News” by Kevin Dilmore

“The Ruins of Noble Men” by Marco Palmieri

“The Stars Look Down” by David Mack

To commemorate the book’s imminent release to bookstores everywhere, my friend, former editor, and Vanguard collaborator Marco Palmieri is hosting a contest on his blog at Otherworld Editorial. He’ll be giving away three copies of the new anthology, each one autographed by all four of its authors.

Check out his blog for all the details!

Then keep your eyes open for some kind of clever promotional effort on my part (not to mention Dayton’s) at some point in the very near future…

Vanguard anthology? We’ve got it covered.

Fresh from the inbox, it’s the final cover for Star Trek Vanguard: Declassified!

This anthology of brand-new stories will feature four novellas:

  • “Almost Tomorrow” – by Dayton Ward. Set before the events of the first Vanguard novel, Harbinger, and the Star Trek: Corps of Engineers novella Distant Early Warning.
  • “Hard News” – by Kevin Dilmore. Set just after the events of the third novel, Reap the Whirlwind.
  • “The Ruins of Noble Men” – by Marco Palmieri. Set after the events of the fifth novel, Precipice, but telling a dual story through the use of flashbacks.
  • “The Stars Look Down” – by David Mack. Also set after Precipice.

For those of you attending Shore Leave this July, be sure to get your copy and bring it to the show, as all four authors will be in attendance for the Friday night signing event!

Big props and thanks to digital artist extraordinaire Doug Drexler for creating this cool render.