This is a writer-to-writer meme that’s been making the rounds lately. It’s basically a chain of book and author promotions. One author tags five others, who then each tag five others. The idea is that we all help people out there learn about all the good stuff that’s just out or coming soon.  Whether it actually works, who knows?

Anyway, I was tagged with this opportunity by fellow author Jeff Mariotte (who long ago was also my editor on the Star Trek: Divided We Fall comic-book miniseries I cowrote with John J. Ordover), so here goes.

The “Next Big Thing” self-interview consists of 10 questions:

1. What is the working title of your next book?
My next book to hit shelves is Star Trek: The Next Generation – Cold Equations, Book III: The Body Electric. It arrives in bookstores both brick and virtual next Wednesday, December 26, 2012.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
I wanted to craft an epic, “big idea” sci-fi story for the Enterprise-E crew to face. As a kid, I loved the novels and short stories of Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clark, and Isaac Asimov, and I wanted something that captured the same sense of scope and grandeur one finds in those writers’ classic works.

3. What genre does your book fall under?
The Body Electric is a space-opera-style science-fiction thriller.

4. What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Most of the roles are already spoken-for, since it’s a media tie-in novel. But there are some new faces among the Enterprise-E crew. I think Kristin Kreuk would be a great choice to play Lieutenant T’ryssa Chen; science officer Lieutenant Dina Elfiki could be played by Minka Kelly; and new security chief Lieutenant Aneta Šmrhová should be played by the Czech actress after whom she was named.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A planet-sized Machine is hurling entire star systems into a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, and unless the Enterprise crew stops it, it will unleash a cataclysm that will destroy all life and civilizations in the Milky Way.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
The book was represented by my agent, Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency, and it is being published by Simon & Schuster, the official licensed publisher of Star Trek fiction.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Approximately two months.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
As presumptuous as this might sound, I would dare to compare it to Clarke’s seminal Rendezvous With Rama.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I was asked by my publisher to concoct a new epic-scale trilogy of Star Trek novels, and this apocalyptic-style fever dream was what I came up with.

10. What else about the book might pique the readers’ interest?
Let’s just say that more than one long-lost fan-favorite character is returned to the Star Trek literary universe by this novel.

I’m not going to “tag” anyone to do this next, since I’m not always sure who’s in need of promotional time.  But any authors who’d like to jump on this bandwagon as it rolls on by are welcome to leave comments with links to their respective blogs’ posts on this topic. So go on, writer-folk: Tell us about your “next big thing,” and feel free to post a link to your self-interview in the comments section.