Deep Space Nine Archives

Posts Tagged ‘Deep Space Nine’

WIRED: Binge on DS9, then try Vanguard

The good folks over at WIRED publish a series of binge-watching guides for those interested in trying out classic TV series via streaming media. Today they unveiled the Wired Binge-Watching Guide to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

First let me say that I agree unreservedly with all their editorial recommendations with regard to the small handful of DS9 episodes that one might be able to skip and still enjoy the majesty of the series’ long-form story arcs. I also think they selected some excellent episodes to serve as “must-see” moments from the series.

I’m particularly chuffed to see that one of their “can’t miss” episodes was “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” for which I co-wrote the story with John J. Ordover, and which was scripted by Ronald D. Moore.

The icing on the cake? At the end of the article, its author, Graeme McMillan, wraps up the concluding section, “If you Liked Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, You’ll Love…,” with this choice paragraph:

“The best suggestion, however, isn’t another TV show at all; for those who fall for the mix of politics, science fiction, and derring-do that Deep Space Nine serves up, the ideal follow-up is actually the Star Trek Vanguard series of novels, which pretty much takes the DS9 approach and applies it to the original series’ era with just a little bit more of a bloodthirsty edge. Highly recommended.”

That’s one of the best plugs Vanguard has ever received. So if you haven’t read it yet, don’t take my word for how good it is — listen to Wired.

That is all.

Literary Treks talks Disavowed

Last week, I chatted with Christopher Jones and Matthew Rushing of Trek.fm podcast Literary Treks about my latest Star Trek novel, Disavowed. Today that podcast went live, and is available to subscribers via iTunes or to anyone who wants to listen online here.

Here is their concise rundown of the show’s contents, for those who might want to skip to a particular segment:

News

Judge a Book By Its Cover: The Collectors (00:02:53)

Blurb revealed for Kirsten Beyer’s Atonement (00:07:07)

John Byrne bringing the Borg to TOS in New Visions (00:10:09)

Review: The Q Gambit, Part 4 (00:16:11)

Feature: Section 31: Disavowed

Designing the Cover (00:32:01)

Crafting Disavowed and the Life of Bashir (00:40:03)

Researching and Remembering the Past (00:50:17)

Working in the Mirror Universe (00:57:16)

Charting Bashir’s Future (01:09:28)

Influencing the Spy Game (01:20:12)

Section 31 Didn’t Know WHAT?! (01:23:34)

Principles Betrayed and a More Interesting Conflict (01:29:59)

What’s Next for David? (01:36:59)

Closing (01:43:32)

As always, there’s fun behind-the-scenes bits to be gleaned from this candid chat, so check it out.

Read my Q&A with KULT Magazine

A writer named Dominik Hug just interviewed me for the Swiss F/SF publication KULT Magazine. We discussed a wide range of topics, including how I work, how I got started, my past projects and my upcoming work.

A brief sample of our erudite exchange:

KULT: What does a normal David Mack working day look like?

David Mack: Something of a train wreck, honestly. I usually sleep until early afternoon, then slouch into my day. My first priority is usually a shower, followed by coffee and something to eat. Next, I deal with errands and other personal business, such as bills, cleaning up after the cats, taking out the trash. I waste a fair amount of time reading news on the Internet, poring over Facebook and Twitter, and trying to think of something amusing to post on social media.

I’ve usually done nothing useful by the time my wife gets home from work. We make dinner, eat, and clean up. Afterward, I pour a stiff drink and settle down to try to write. This usually results in more procrastination. I tend to get working for real around 9pm or 10pm, and I work in a panicked frenzy until around 1am. Then I watch TV until around 3am, when I go to bed.

Frankly, it’s a miracle I get anything done at all.

For the benefit of my fans who are fluent in English but not in German, Dominik has posted the original English version of the interview on his blog. A German-translated version will be posted online soon, and I will also put up links to that for my German-speaking friends and fans.

Give it a read!

The Remainders of the Day

Over the last two days, I have received two letters from my publisher (via my agents) informing me that two of my backlist Star Trek titles are scheduled to be remaindered. Although they will not technically go out of print (thanks to eBooks and the overpriced Limbo that is print-on-demand), they are about to become much more difficult to acquire in mass-market paperback format.

The earlier of the two titles scheduled for the pulp machine is my 2007 Deep Space Nine novel Warpath. This book helped set the stage for some of my subsequent work in the Mirror Universe setting, and it was a story I wrote during a tumultuous time in my life. Although this novel is steeped in serialized continuity (and therefore not a good jumping-on point for new readers), there is still much in it of which I’m proud.

The second tome slated for a one-way trip to Pulptown is my tale of the Mirror Universe revolution, Rise Like Lions. This is the novel that earned the UnrealitySF “Best Story of the Year” award in 2011 and spent two months on the Locus Bestsellers list in early 2012. It represents the culmination of multiple story arcs I had set into motion in the Mirror Universe, and it will serve as the setup for my upcoming Section 31 novel, Disavowed, coming in November 2014.

One of the perks of being an author is that when one’s books are scheduled to be remaindered, one is often given the opportunity to purchase the remaining copies of the work at a significant discount. And in this case I am sorely tempted.

The catch is that remaindered titles are sold only in cartons of 48 copies each. This makes it a slightly costly proposition even with the major savings Simon & Schuster has offered me. Another concern is that I really have nowhere to store that many surplus copies of books that, historically, have seen little demand through my online store. I hate to let them fade away into that good night without a struggle, but I’m not sure I can justify the cost of stockpiling them, either.

Decisions, decisions.

TrekCore Asked; I Answered

I recently granted an e-mail interview to Dan Gunther of the TrekCore blog. Last Friday, while I was away from home, that interview went live.

It’s a substantial Q&A that spans my early years as a writer, my acclaimed Star Trek Destiny trilogy and my New York Times bestselling trilogy Cold Equations, my soon-to-be-released novel Star Trek: The Fall — A Ceremony of Losses (and the entirety of the The Fall miniseries), the new Star Trek: Seekers series, and my upcoming projects.

Here’s a small excerpt from the interview:

TrekCore: You have always brought a certain gravitas to Star Trek. Many of your stories are huge in scope, such as the Destiny trilogy or your Mirror Universe stories. At the same time, you are very good at handing the smaller character moments that lend a verisimilitude to the stories you write. How do you go about finding the right balance between the sometimes huge, epic plots and the needs of the characters?

David Mack: It’s just something I do by instinct, to tell the truth. Much as I love the drama of tales in which people are swept up in the tide of grand events, I never forget that what makes those epic moments resonate for a reader is seeing them through the point of view of a character in whom they have an emotional investment. The horror of being on a blood-soaked battlefield will not carry as much impact filtered though the perspective of a character we don’t know as it would if depicted through the eyes of a character one has come to care about.

What it really comes down to for me is that I see war, disaster, and other epic calamities as catalysts for the exploration of character. Unlike movies, which can dole out spectacle for its own sake in a visual medium, I use action and tragedy to push characters to their limits, so that we can discover who they really are, what they really care about, and see how far they are willing to go to persevere or triumph when the odds are against them.

Go read the rest of my interview with TrekCore here.

“Conan! What is best in Trek?”

Over at Slate, regular site correspondent Matthew Yglesias summarizes what is great (and not so great) in Star Trek.

As a bonus for me, his write-up of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine even includes a complimentary hat-tip to “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” one of the episodes I co-wrote (with John Ordover and Ronald D. Moore). Sweet!

Head on over to Slate and give this article a read. In my opinion, Yglesias seems fairly spot-on in his evaluations of the various incarnations of Star Trek on television.

A Literary Trek into “Divided We Fall”

Matthew Rushing and Christopher Jones of the Literary Treks podcast on Trek.fm delve into one of my earliest contributions to the Star Trek universe — Divided We Fall, the four-issue Deep Space Nine / The Next Generation crossover comic-book miniseries I co-wrote in 2001 with John J. Ordover.

Overall, their comments regarding the writing are very positive, and it’s fun to hear such an in-depth discussion of something I wrote more than a decade ago.

Their conversation about the miniseries starts 31 minutes into the episode. Give it a listen.

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