Posts Tagged ‘The Next Generation’

My schedule for NYCC 2019

 

My preliminary schedule for New York Comic Con (NYCC) 2019 includes both panels and signings!

THURSDAY, OCT 3

12:15 – 1:15 PM
PANEL: Picard 2020: A Literary Retrospective
Veteran authors David Mack and John Jackson Miller look back on the life and career of Starfleet officer Captain Jean-Luc Picard, as depicted in the official Star Trek tie-in novels and comics over the past 15 years.
— Room 1A18

1:30 – 2:30 PM
SIGNING: Panelists of “Picard 2020: A Literary Retrospective”
— Hall 1A, Table AA01

Due to factors beyond my control, this panel and its signing have been canceled, to my great disappointment.

FRIDAY, OCT 4

1:30 – 2:30 PM
PANEL: From 1969 to the Future—Stories in Space!
Long before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, people have been inspired to travel among the stars. Half a century after that historic moment, authors Kass Morgan (The 100, Supernova), Peter F. Hamilton (Salvation Lost), Elizabeth Bear (Ancestral Night), and David Mack (Star Trek, Farscape) blast off to exciting destinations in the universe, accompanied by Maryelizabeth Yturralde (Mysterious Galaxy)!
— Room 1A18

2:45 – 3:45 PM
SIGNING: Panelists, “From 1969 to the Future—Stories in Space!”
— Hall 1A, Table AA01

4:00 – 4:45 PM
SIGNING: STAR TREK AUTHOR
David Mack, Star Trek: The Next Generation – Collateral Damage
— Booth 2128 (Simon & Schuster)

I will also be hanging around the S&S booth on Saturday, October 5, looking to persuade readers to shell out their cash on early-release copies of Collateral Damage. If you’re at the show, come say “hi!”

I Take Another Turn on Enterprising Individuals

It’s a new year, and that means it’s time for me to make my annual appearance on the Enterprising Individuals podcast, which invites a variety of guests to select and offer critical commentary about episodes of the various Star Trek television series.

For this installment, I opted to discuss “The Schizoid Man,” a decidedly problematic season-two episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. As the show’s host Kaliban sums up so pithily:

“[The episode] starts with a dirty grandpa and ends with targ underwear wrestling. From casual sexism, to marginalization, to troubling implications for the Soong family, this early bit of TNG fluff has it all.”

Why did I want to dissect this episode? Because it’s a vital piece of canon that provides part of the foundation for the saga of Dr. Noonian Soong, his android creation/son Data, and the interconnected history of artificial intelligence in the Star Trek universe, as so eloquently stitched together by author Jeffrey Lang in his 2002 novel Immortal Coil.

Go and listen to our discussion of “The Schizoid Man” on Enterprising Individuals now!

A Time to Look Back

timetokillTwelve years ago, in the summer of 2003, several months after my Star Trek: S.C.E. ebook novel Wildfire had been released to critical acclaim and strong sales, I was contacted by Star Trek novel editor John J. Ordover. He invited me to write a pair of back-to-back paperback novels that would constitute the penultimate story in a nine-book Star Trek: The Next Generation miniseries he was planning. I agreed.

A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal were published roughly one year later, in August and September of 2004. The latter title went on to become a USA Today bestseller, and the two books’ favorable critical reception and strong sales took my writing career to the next level.

Much has been said and written about the A Time to… miniseries, which chronicled the year of time in the lives of the Enterprise-E’s crew immediately preceding the events of Star Trek Nemesis. timetohealIn 2014, however, I and the other writers who contributed to this nine-book event—John Vornholt, Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, Robert Greenberger, and Keith R.A. DeCandido—were contacted by fan journalist Jens Defner of Unreality-SF.net, to look back on this unique project and consider the impact it has had on Star Trek‘s shared literary continuity in the decade since.

That in-depth think piece has now been published on Unreality-SF.net at long last, in three parts:

A Time to Reminisce, Part 1: How It Began

A Time to Reminisce, Part 2: The 9 Books

A Time to Reminisce, Part 3: The Legacy

It’s a very well-written look at a miniseries that changed the nature of 24th-century Star Trek fiction (TNG, DS9, Voyager, and literary-original series in that era) and continues to be enjoyed by readers of Star Trek fiction. Go give it a look!

#SFWApro

Podcast review of Silent Weapons

silentweapons_coverAnother month brings another terrific critical discussion of my work over at the trekmate.org.uk site’s Ten Forward Book Club. This month, regular book club host Sina is joined by Delta Quadrant Podcast host Melissa to review and talk about Silent Weapons, the second book in my recent Cold Equations trilogy.

Once again, it’s an in-depth and very astute analysis of what does and doesn’t work in the novel. As with their review of The Persistence of Memory, it’s interesting to see how Melissa reacts to many of the book’s elements, as she has not read much of recent Star Trek fiction. The contrast of her viewpoint with Sina’s is especially interesting.

Give it a listen, leave them some comments on their Forum, and tell them Mack sent ya.

 

New reviews of my work

destiny_omniThough it has been several months since the publication of my Star Trek: The Next Generation trilogy Cold Equations (September–December 2012) and will be months until my next novel hits shelves (Star Trek: The Fall, Book III — A Ceremony of Losses, in November 2013), a spate of new reviews of my work have hit the Internet this week.

Over at the United Federation of Charles on blogspot.com, reviewer Charles Phipps shares his in-depth reactions to all three volumes of the Star Trek Destiny trilogy. I’ve been pleased to see how thoroughly he enjoyed the trilogy, and that many of his favorite parts as a reader were my favorites as the author.

A couple of great excerpts. First, from his review of Gods of Night:

“David Mack does a wonderful job with twists in this plot. When there’s conflict with Erika Hernandez and her crew about the new aliens, I was sympathetic to both sides. However, I squarely came down on the side of those who wanted to escape the Caeliar’s planet at all costs–and against those who disagreed. Seeing how this situation turned out was one of the few times I was genuinely stunned as a reader.”

And this snippet is from his review of Mere Mortals:

“Erika Hernandez is a complicated character as she’s able to bond with the Caeliar in a way her crew can’t and this occasionally makes her an unsympathetic character. Erika Hernandez might have decided to stay with the Caeliar of her own free will but the others hate them for holding them indefinitely, despite there being no malice. Erika, herself, starts to comprehend this only after her crew begins dying off. Watching her rediscover her humanity at the end was genuinely heartwarming.”

Read Charles’ full reviews on his blog:

Star Trek Destiny, Book I: Gods of Night

Star Trek Destiny, Book II: Mere Mortals

Star Trek Destiny, Book III: Lost Souls

persistenceOn the audio podcast front, my friends Michael and Sina at The Ten Forward Book Club on trekmate.org.uk —ably abetted by fellow podcaster Melissa— dig into a detailed discussion of Star Trek: Cold Equations, Book I: The Persistence of Memory. It’s a spirited discussion, with Melissa coming to the book cold, not having read any of my previous work, nor any of the recent Star Trek fiction. It’s interesting to see how she reacts to a Star Trek universe and characters who are very different than what she remembers and expects, and noting which make sense to her and which don’t.

As always, Sina, Michael, and their guest Melissa are incisive and insightful commentators, and their discussion of the book’s story, themes, philosophies, and characters is lively and spot-on. They present some superb literary review and criticism, and I encourage everyone to settle in and listen to this podcast, because it is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT.

You can find The Ten Forward Book Club’s podcast review of The Persistence of Memory here.

#SFWApro

Cold Equations = A Kindle Daily Deal

I’ve just learned from my editors that the Kindle versions of all three books of my recent New York Times-bestselling Star Trek: The Next Generation trilogy Cold Equations are going to be offered this Friday for the special Kindle Daily Deal price of just $0.99 each!

coldequations

The offer is good for one day only — Friday, May 17, in celebration of the American premiere of the new blockbuster feature film Star Trek: Into Darkness.

So if you or someone you know has been wanting to pick up my Cold Equations trilogy in Kindle format, this is your chance to do so at an amazing savings. This would also be a great time to buy it as a gift for the Star Trek fan in your life.

That is all. You may now salivate in fervent anticipation.

 

 

The Body Electric keeps kicking ass

bodyelectric_largeLong story short: I am pleased to report that The Body Electric, the New York Times bestselling final book of my Star Trek: The Next Generation trilogy Cold Equations, has landed at #2 on Locus Magazine‘s April list of media-related bestsellers.

Not too shabby.

I’ll also soon have news about a number of upcoming book projects for Star Trek. I’ve signed the contracts, and now I just need to wait for the powers that be at Simon and Schuster to countersign them, and then get the nod from my editor and licensor to reveal some very cool stuff that’s been in the works for a while now….

Stay tuned, Trek fans!