The Autobiography of Mr. Spock by... Una McCormack?

[JonnyQuest037]

I just looked at the listing for the long-delayed The Autobiography of Mr. Spock on my Amazon Wish List, and I noticed that the author is now listed as Una McCormack instead of David A. Goodman. The cover art has been changed to feature McCormack's name, too.

Anyone have any idea what happened? Was Mr. Goodman unable to complete his planned trilogy with the Kirk and Picard autobiographies for some reason, so Ms. McCormack was recruited to take over the project?

This does make me a little less excited about the book, as I enjoyed what Goodman did with the Kirk and Picard books. McCormack is still an unknown quantity to me at this point, although I know she wrote the soon-to-be-released Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway for Titan Books.

 

[KRAD]

Una McCormack is quite possibly the most talented writer ever to create Trek fiction, and I do not say that lightly. This is -- with all due deference to David Goodman -- trading up. As it would be with Una replacing anyone, because she's just that fucking amazing.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Una McCormack is quite possibly the most talented writer ever to create Trek fiction, and I do not say that lightly. This is -- with all due deference to David Goodman -- trading up. As it would be with Una replacing anyone, because she's just that fucking amazing.

Wow, quite a testimonial! Any recommendations as to which Trek books of hers I should check out to become familiar with her work?

 

[BillJ]

Wow, quite a testimonial! Any recommendations as to which Trek books of hers I should check out to become familiar with her work?

If you like Picard, she wrote the prequel novel "The Last Best Hope". She also wrote the DS9 novel "Hollow Men" which is a sorta sequel to "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost".

 

[USS Firefly]

Wow, quite a testimonial! Any recommendations as to which Trek books of hers I should check out to become familiar with her work?

Yes you should read Enigma Tales, a great novel!
A shame she doesn't wrote more Garak or DS9 novels set after that book

 

[Defcon]

Wow, quite a testimonial! Any recommendations as to which Trek books of hers I should check out to become familiar with her work?

Read DS9: The Never-Ending Sacrifice

From my 2009 review of the novel:

The Never-Ending Sacrifice is not only a very strong Star Trek novel, but simply an outstanding coming-of-age novel, since even if you stripped it of everything Star Trek-related, it would work just as well.

 

[David Mack]

Una McCormack is quite possibly the most talented writer ever to create Trek fiction, and I do not say that lightly. This is -- with all due deference to David Goodman -- trading up. As it would be with Una replacing anyone, because she's just that fucking amazing.

I'll second Keith's praise of Una's work. She is, far and away, the best of us Star Trek scribblers.

She also has a new original SF novella out from tor.com publishing, The Undefeated.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Una McCormack is quite possibly the most talented writer ever to create Trek fiction, and I do not say that lightly. This is -- with all due deference to David Goodman -- trading up. As it would be with Una replacing anyone, because she's just that fucking amazing.

Picard and Tilly's novel may have moved her in front of Keith RA Decandido for my favorite.

Err...sorry, KRAD.

 

[JD]

Here's her Star Trek bibliography from Memory Alpha

• Pocket DS9: Prophecy and Change, "Face Value"
• Pocket DS9: Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Volume One, "Cardassia: The Lotus Flower"
• Pocket DS9: Hollow Men
• Pocket DS9: The Never-Ending Sacrifice
• Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Brinkmanship
• Star Trek: The Fall: The Crimson Shadow
• Pocket DS9: The Missing
• Pocket DS9: Enigma Tales
• Pocket DIS: The Way to the Stars
• Pocket PIC: The Last Best Hope
• The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway

And just in case you're a Doctor Who fan, here's her DW stuff too


Novels
BBC New Series Adventures

• The King's Dragon
• The Way Through the Woods
• The Glamour Chronicles - Royal Blood
• Molten Heart

Short Stories
Short Trips

• The Quality of Leadership - The Slave War

Brief Encounter

• A Time & a Place

The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who

• In Search of Lost Time

The Target Storybook

• Grounded

Audio
Big Finish Doctor Who monthly range

• Breaking Bubbles and Other Stories - An Eye For Murder
• Red Planets

The Ninth Doctor Chronicles

• The Window on the Moor

The Twelfth Doctor Chronicles

• Field Trip

Companion Chronicles

• The Bonfires of the Vanities

Short Trips

• This Sporting Life
• Peace in Our Time

Bernice Summerfield

• Good Night, Sweet Ladies
• The Tears Of Isis
• The Very Dark Thing
• The Angel of History
• Gallifrey
  Evolution

Partisans

 

[The Wormhole]

Anyone have any idea what happened? Was Mr. Goodman unable to complete his planned trilogy with the Kirk and Picard autobiographies for some reason,

Although an official explanation has never been provided, it's generally presumed Goodman was too damn busy between his job on the writing staffs of Family Guy and The Orville and writing tie-in comics for The Orville. This would seem to be supported by the fact the Spock Autobiography was originally due out in 2018 and is constantly postponed.

 

[KRAD]

Picard and Tilly's novel may have moved her in front of Keith RA Decandido for my favorite.

Err...sorry, KRAD.

Nothing to apologize for! As I said above, Una is amazing. There is no shame in being supplanted by her on a favorites list.

 

[David cgc]

Read DS9: The Never-Ending Sacrifice.

Seconded. There are a handful of TrekLit lines that really sunk in with me. Calhoun quoting Jim Kirk's autobiography musing on how disturbing it was for him whenever he encountered a rogue officer in Once Burned. Tuvok's last line in Destiny. And Garak's little epitaph for Ziyal at the end of The Never-Ending Sacrifice.

It's part of a miniseries, so I'm not sure I'd recommend it to just get a taste of her work, but when I was thinking of memorable McCormack moments, something else that came to mind was Garak's little intersitial letters to Bashier (building on A Stitch in Time) in The Crimson Shadow, especially one in particular when he's been pushed past his limits by the novel's events.

 

[Reanok]

I've read her ds9 books they're really good so are her Doctor Who books I borrowed them from the library and Galifrey is a fantastic book.She's also got a Captain Janeway autobiography book coming out in a few weeks

 

[JD]

Seconded. There are a handful of TrekLit lines that really sunk in with me. Calhoun quoting Jim Kirk's autobiography musing on how disturbing it was for him whenever he encountered a rogue officer in Once Burned. Tuvok's last line in Destiny. And Garak's little epitaph for Ziyal at the end of The Never-Ending Sacrifice.

It's part of a miniseries, so I'm not sure I'd recommend it to just get a taste of her work, but when I was thinking of memorable McCormack moments, something else that came to mind was Garak's little intersitial letters to Bashier (building on A Stitch in Time) in The Crimson Shadow, especially one in particular when he's been pushed past his limits by the novel's events.

Her take on Garak, and Cardassia in general, are some of the best things to come out of Trek Lit.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

To those ringing testimonials (I acknowledge Ms. McCormack's chops, and her ST experience, even if there are other ST writers whose works I prefer), I can only say that (1) The late Dorothy Fontana would have been good, given that she invented a good chunk of Vulcan culture, (2) Diane Duane (having written Spock's World) would also be good, but she hasn't written any ST since The Empty Chair, and (3) I never particularly cared for Goodman's "autobiographies," for reasons I've given before.

 

[Relayer1]

Wow, quite a testimonial! Any recommendations as to which Trek books of hers I should check out to become familiar with her work?

I purchased The Never Ending Sacrifice out of habit and it sat in my pile for a while while I experienced no appreciable desire to read it - lacklustre premise, uninspiring character choice, meh.

Eventually I did read it.

It's my favourite Treklit novel, even surpassing Articles Of The Federation by...oh, I forget.

It's an upgrade.

 

[DS9forever]

Write the Sisko autobiography too please Una!

 

[Smiley]

There is a sale that just started on her Enigma Tales book, so that could be an easy way to sample her style.

 

[JD]

Write the Sisko autobiography too please Una!

Since we already have Picard, Kirk, and we're getting Janeway, I'm thinking Sisko is inevitable at this point. Hopefully Una will write it when we do.

 

[Tosk]

This will be one of those times where I'm really hoping for discontinuity between books.

In the Kirk autobio, Goodman wrote Star Trek 5 off completely as never actually having happened, which I personally found to be a very poor decision.

I'm hoping Una rectifies that by delving into the Spock/Sybok dynamic.