Some random comments from reading several pages at once (sorry, Shore Leave was
very busy for me this year):
Yes, the
U.S.S. Aventine, commanded by Ezri Dax, is a
Vesta-class ship. The Aventine is one of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built. The other ships in the class would include
U.S.S. Caelian, U.S.S. Capitoline, U.S.S. Esquiline, U.S.S. Palatine, U.S.S. Quirinal, and
U.S.S. Viminal.
There is no deep, dark reason why the cover to
Destiny Book 3 hasn't been revealed: it's simply that the artist hasn't finished it yet. Each cover is by a different artist, Cliff Nielsen for Book 1, Stephane Martiniere for Book 2, and Rick Berry for Book 3, and Rick's wasn't done in time for Shore Leave. Marco and Margaret assured folks at Shore Leave that it will be posted online as soon as it's done and approved.
The reasons for the release of a
Crucible hardcover in May 2009 should be fairly obvious to anyone who recalls what else
Star Trek-related is happening in May 2009.
The
Aventine will also feature in
A Singular Destiny.
The novelization of the forthcoming movie will not have an effect on the schedule here, no.
The city on the cover of
ASD is not the one from "Shockwave," though I wouldn't be surprised if Alan Dingman used it for reference.
Oh, and there will be new material in
Out of the Cocoon, and in general the plan is to do two trade paperbacks per year that reprint eBooks. For 2009, it's
Mere Anarchy and
Out of the Cocoon. Over the course of 2010-2011 we'll likely get out
What's Past, Turn the Page, Remembrance of Things Past, and
Slings and Arrows, though that's not set in stone or anything.
Just in general: Shore Leave was a big success, with
all the panels about
Trek books getting good-sized audiences. I also got a good crowd for my one-hour solo shot (I read the first chapter of
A Gutted World, then took questions for half an hour). There was a lot of excitement about what's been published and what's coming, which was very edifying.