All-new Star Trek(R) adventures -- by fans, for fans! Strange New Worlds 9 celebrates the 40th anniversary of Star Trek by featuring stories that span the entire universe! Each of these unique stories is based on original Star Trek(R), Star Trek: The Next Generation(R), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine(R), Star Trek: Voyager(R), and Star Trek: Enterprise(TM), and a few fit into more than one category. And all are written by Star Trek fans, for Star Trek fans! The stories in this edition let us participate in covert operations and become a part of history. They paralyze us and help us choose our course in life. And they allow us to get to know our favorite Trek characters in new and adventurous situations. This collection's winners are stepping into the spotlight with Strange New Worlds 9. Newcomers and veterans to this anthology include John Coffren, David DeLee, Steven Costa, Jeremy Yoder, Paul C. Tseng, Jim Johnson, Scott Pearson, Jeff D. Jacques, Emily P. Bloch, Gerri Leen, Mike McDevitt, Ryan M. Williams, Susan S. McCrackin, Russ Crossley, Catherine E. Pike, Allison Cain, A. Rhea King, Ben Guilfoy, Randy Tatano, Kenneth E. Carper, Kevin Lauderdale, Marc Carson, and R.S. Belcher.
Dean Wesley Smith is the bestselling author of over ninety novels under many names and well over 100 published short stories. He has over eight million copies of his books in print and has books published in nine different countries. He has written many original novels in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and romance as well as books for television, movies, games, and comics. He is also known for writing quality work very quickly and has written a large number of novels as a ghost writer or under house names.
With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. The following is a list of novels under the Dean Wesley Smith name, plus a number of pen names that are open knowledge. Many ghost and pen name books are not on this list because he is under contractual obligations not to disclose that he wrote them. Many of Dean’s original novels are also under hidden pen names for marketing reasons.
Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made.
Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books.
Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery novels under another name.
The 1 before last book from the series. Judging is of course a personal matter and ik have already stated before that my taste and the one from Dean Wesley Smith clearly don't correspond. Nonetheless is has become again a varied book, als usual with the stories orderd according the big cycles in the Star Trek tv-series. No idea whether inspiration is fading or that Smith made these choices out of an abundance of material but to my taste almost all - but not really all - stories from the well-known series are less interesing. Either because they are so far-fetched or a umptietht elaboration of a minor detail that thay can hardly keep the readers' attention focused. The non-existing chapter called Speculations that was created by Smith to group more generic stories from the Star Trek universe but not withing the categories as specified by the contest rule offer much better quality and entertainment - but not all. The series is a valuable contribution to the ST universe and fodder for Trekkies to discuss or dream about. Read en remember what goes best for you and discard the others. The books certainly deserve their own place within the hundreds of other ST-novels that exist in the wild out there...
I've borrowed Strange New Worlds anthologies in previous years, but this is the first time I've read it from beginning to end.
Overall, the majority of the stories are good.
Of course, there are some entries that I question how they made it into the book. For example:
"Book of Fulfillment" lists events with no beginning, middle, end, or conflict. This entry came up as notes still needing formulation for a story idea.
"Shadowed Allies" was similar, albeit this was a cryptic course of events with Kira Nerys involving her first meeting with Odo. I needed clarification on what the point of the story was. And, for me, there needed to be a clear beginning, middle, or end.
Too, this was a story that overstayed its welcome. That said, this one had potential, unlike the previous story entry.
I can't entirely agree with the grand prize entry "Orphans." There were a few other stories that could have held that title. Also, "Orphans" didn't register as one of my top stories.
There are other stories of varying qualities, but as aforementioned many were good reads.
Another interesting set of short stories. The biggest section in this volume is speculative future, though the stories were decent, I thought it as a shame that the other series didnt have more stories. I do always enjoy these books as I like the short story format. A good read.
"Living on the Edge of Existence" gotta love Curzon. I now firmly believe Curzon sprung Ben from the celestial temple. I won't be convinced otherwise. And "Rounding a Corner Already Turned" was fucking hysterical.
There are some really great stories in here. I love the fact that there's this Strange New Worlds contest in which fans can submit short stories to possibly get published and perhaps get featured in later stuff. Love the perspective in "Book of Fulfillment," in which a culture knows Kirk, Spock, Bones, Chekov, Sulu, Uhura, and Scotty as Liberator, Sage, Healer, Wayfinder, Armsman, Proclaimer, and Machinist. I also like the storytelling perspective in the fable "The Last Tree of Ferenginar." "Staying the Course" is a sad tale that can also be heartwarming when it explores the father-son relationship between Worf and Alexander and the sacrifices that are made. "Remembering the Future" is also an intriguing speculation of what awaits Kirk after his death, positing that one's destiny is set but that they have the free will to make choices on their way to it. Anthologies such as this are a great way to explore a fictional universe.
A fine collection of Star Trek tales from the penultimate year of the original Strange New Worlds competition (which also marked Trek's fortieth anniversary). Covering all five Trek TV incarnations and assorted other tales, the volume includes a pair of tribble tales, the Original Series crew featuring in an alien religious text and a couple of stories focusing on Seven of Nine from Voyager. By far though my favorite section of the book was the Speculations section and its tales set outside the normal continuity of the series (which often led to contradictory but immensely readable tales). A solid volume overall though enjoyment of stories might depend on much of a fan you are of a particular series.
This book collects 23 short stories written by Star Trek fans themselves. It is the ninth in the series. The book has stories based on each of the major Star Trek TV shows. I found all to be good stories with a few that were really good. This series is no longer in print and I find that is unfortunate, some really good material came out of the run. Not to mention all of the Star Trek fans whose dream came true…to be a published Star Trek author!!!