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Trek writers original works

A quick rundown of my publications last year:

Fiction

“Bigfoot Gorge,” The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny: Tales of a Very Weird West, edited by Jonathan Maberry. Outland Entertainment LLC.

“Guardian of the Sapphire Sword,” Weird Tales magazine #366, edited by Jonathan Maberry.

“Night of the Living Brain,” Double Trouble: An Anthology of Two-Fisted Team-Ups, edited by Jonathan Maberry & Keith R. A. DeCandido. Published by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.

“Scramble,” Star Trek Explorer magazine #7, edited by John Freeman. Titan Magazines.

“A Slayer in the Sanctuary,” Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2022, edited by Robert Greenberger. Crazy 8 Press.

“The Trouble with Jones,” Star Trek Explorer magazine #9, edited by John Freeman. Titan Magazines.


Non-Fiction

“’I Was Descending into the World of Yesterday’: The Night Strangler, Fifty Years Later,” edited by James Aquilone. Monstrousbooks.com.

“Scare Trek,” Galloping Around the Cosmos: Memories of TV’s Wagon Train to the Stars from Today’s Grown-Up Kids, edited by Jim Beard. Becky Books
 
For those who would like to sample my non-Trek original fiction, I had a couple of short stories published in 2023 by small presses:

“Rough Magic,” short story in Double Trouble: An Anthology of Two-Fisted Team-ups, edited by Jonathan Maberry & Keith R.A. DeCandido, published July 7, 2023, by The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.

“The Apocalypse Will Be Televised,” a short story of the four Hollywood development executives of the apocalypse, in The Four ???? of the Apocalypse, an anthology edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido and Wrenn Simms, published October 20, 2023, by Whysper Wude, LLC.

For those still hankering for more Trekky goodness from yours truly, I had two new licensed Star Trek short stories published in 2023 by Star Trek Explorer magazine: in issue #8, “Lost and Founder,” and, in the digital supplement of issue 9, “Sundering.”

Last, but not least, I expect to have at least six pieces of short fiction published in 2024, four commissioned by Star Trek Explorer magazine starting in issue #11, and two others commissioned for themed anthologies. So keep hailing frequencies open for more news about those and other exciting developments coming your way from the Desk of Mack™.
 
If we're doing overviews of our 2023 work, I'll repost from my blog:

My published output this year has been relatively light. My only licensed publications have been three Star Trek Adventures contributions: the Mission Briefs: Ancient Civilizations pack of ten brief adventure summaries (which GMs can use as seeds for more fleshed-out campaigns), the Lower Decks-style standalone campaign Lurkers, and the pre-Picard Season 1 standalone campaign Children of the Wolf. However, I had two stories published in major science fiction magazines just weeks apart: my first flash-fiction sale, “Though Worlds Divide Us,” available for free on Amazing Stories online, and “Aleyara’s Descent” in the May/June 2023 Analog, which is my longest ever Analog story and my first to get a cover painting, and which I’m very happy to have finally gotten into print after 25 years. Ironic that my shortest and longest original short-fiction sales came out in the same month (with STA: Lurkers debuting in between them). I believe they also represent, respectively, my shortest and longest intervals between writing and publication. And Lurkers was the first Lower Decks standalone campaign published, so April 2023 was a string of firsts and records for me.

All my other publications this year were self-published on my Patreon page, and they consist exclusively of Troubleshooter tales: the novelette “Legacy Hero,” a sequel of sorts to my Analog story “Conventional Powers,” and the Guardian Angel serial. In 2023, my weekly Patreon review page has covered season 2 and season 3 of The Orville and the short-lived 1995 steampunk Western Legend starring Richard Dean Anderson and John DeLancie, and currently, biweekly on Tuesdays and Fridays, I’m doing a comprehensive revisit of the classic Alien Nation science fiction franchise, which will cover every movie, TV episode, novel, and comic. I’ve reduced the prices on my Patreon page considerably in hopes of attracting more readers, but so far I’ve had little success at doing so.

Looking ahead to 2024, I’m still awaiting publication of the Star Trek Adventures campaign I wrote this year, and I’m waiting for approval on a pitch for a small tie-in project. The manuscript for Arachne’s Legacy is with my publisher at eSpec Books, along with the contents for a second short fiction collection, including “Aleyara’s Descent” and a number of my Patreon-exclusive stories, as well as one unpublished story, probably. Anything beyond that remains to be seen.

As for the future of my Patreon, I’m starting to think that if I can’t attract more than the handful of subscribers I currently have, it may not be worth the effort to continue. The small amount of money I made from it was helpful when I was broke and every little bit counted, but now I don’t need the money as much and I have even fewer patrons now than I did when prices were higher. I’ve also pretty much run out of fiction content to post, and I’m not sure it’s worth the effort to write more Patreon-exclusive content — or even to serialize the other half of the Troubleshooter novel — if I only have a handful of readers. I’ll leave up the page, but unless I get a significant influx of new subscribers soon, I may stop updating it. Maybe I’ll keep doing reviews, but I haven’t decided yet. If I do stop updating, I’ll probably repost old reviews on my free blog, since at this point I just want them to be read.
 
Jumping on the bandwagon....

2023 is only the third calendar year since I started publishing novels in 1998 in which I did not have a novel released. (The other two were 2000 and 2018.) However, I did have my byline on the cover of two books, but they were anthologies that I co-edited: Double Trouble: An Anthology of Two-Fisted Team-Ups, which I co-edited with Jonathan Maberry, published by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers; and The Four ???? of the Apocalypse, which I co-edited (and also co-published) with Wrenn Simms through our very small press WhysperWude.

I also have stories in each: "Know Thyself Deathless" in Double Trouble, teaming up two immortal African women -- H. Rider Haggard's title character from She and the Yoruba goddess Egungun-oya -- in a story taking place in 2017 Philadelphia. "What Do You Want From Me, I'm Old" in The Four ??? of the Apocalypse, featuring the four septuagenarians of the apocalypse.

Other short stories include:

"Ticonderoga Beck and the Stalwart Squad" in Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2022, edited by Robert Greenberger and published by Crazy 8 Press, featuring a band of adventurers in 1938 America, who have a big secret.

"This Little Light of Mine" in Phenomenons: Season of Darkness, edited by Michael Jan Friedman and also published by Crazy 8, part of MJF's shared-world superhero milieu. My story has my character, Luminosity, teaming up with several other heroes to rescue Luminosity's best friend.

"The Thick Blue Line" in Sherlock Holmes: Cases by Candlelight Volume 2, published by Christopher D. Abbott, a story featuring Sherlock Holmes being unexpectedly hired by a gaggle of Scotland Yard detective inspectors to look into their chief superintendent.

"Prezzo" in Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, a celebration of the centennial of the Unique Magazine, edited by Maberry and published by the new Weird Tales Presents imprint of Blackstone Publishing. My story in this anthology that includes both new stories and classic reprints from the magazine's history, is about Italian immigrants in 1930s New York and monsters.

"Another Dead Body on the Corner" in Joe Ledger: Unbreakable, edited by Maberry & Bryan Thomas Schmidt and published by JournalStone, this is the second time that Maberry has allowed other writers to play in the sandbox of his Joe Ledger series of thrillers. My tale involves Ledger's time as a detective for the Baltimore City Police before he became part of the Department of Military Sciences covert ops group.

"The Legend of Long-Ears" in The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny: Tales of a Very Weird West, edited by Maberry (yes, him again) and published by Outland Entertainment. My story teams two Western legends, Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves and Calamity Jane, as they encounter the beast of Seminole myth, Hatko-tckapko.

In addition, I returned to writing Star Trek fiction this year, with three stories in Star Trek Explorer: "You Can't Buy Fate" in the digital supplement for issue #7 (a Nog/Ezri Dax DS9 story), "The Kellidian Kidnapping" in issue #8 (a Tuvok/Janeway/Neelix Voyager story), and "Work Worth Doing" in issue #9 (a President Laira Rillak Discovery story).

Three comic books I wrote came out last year: issues #2, 3, and 4, the middle trio of Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness -- The Beginning, the prequel to the Netflix animated series, in which fan favorite Leon deals with a terrorist attack in Pittsburgh. Art is by Carmelo Zagaria. Issue #5 will be out soon, and the graphic novel collection of the whole thing will be released shortly after the final issue comes out.

I wrote essays for four different anthologies: "A Critical Hit with a Yo-Yo and Other Stories" in D20 or Die!: Memories of Old-School Role Playing Games from Today's Grown-Up Kids, edited by Jim Beard, with Forrest C. Helvie, published by Becky Books. "Whatever Joker Wants, Joker Goetz" in The Man Who Laughs: Exploring the Clown Prince of Crime, edited by Lou Tambone & Rich Handley, published by Crazy 8. "This is What Happens When You Start Watching Star Trek from Birth" in Galloping Around the Cosmos: Memories of TV's Wagon Train to the Stars from Today's Grown-Up Kids, edited by Beard and published by Becky Books. "'The Curse of the Fatal Death' -- I Was Between the Covers with Steven Moffat" in Outside In Regenerates: 163 New New Perspectives on 163 Classic Doctor Who Stories by 163 Writers, edited by Stacey Smith? published by ATB Publishing.

I also wrote 94 articles for Tor.com, including the weekly Star Trek: Enterprise Rewatch, the periodic revival of "4-Color to 35-Millimeter: The Great Superhero Movie Rewatch," a review of the last seven episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, a think-piece on the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie, and reviews of each episode of Star Trek: Picard season 3, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, and Secret Invasion season 1.

And, finally, I wrote a mess of stuff for my Patreon, including a bunch of vignettes featuring my original characters and a ton of TV and movie reviews.
 
It’s been a while, but I’ve posted a new short story on my Patreon’s Original Fiction page—or rather, an old story I never sold, one containing elements I’ve gone on to reuse in several different published works, making it a glimpse into the evolution of my concepts over time. “High and Flighty” can be read by all subscribers at the $3/month level and above:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/fiction-high-and-97642197

As usual, the story’s annotations can be read on the $5/month Behind the Scenes tier:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/high-and-flighty-97646079

There’s also a free one-week trial subscription available, if you want to sample what my Patreon has to offer.

“High and Flighty” was written in 1998 and revised in 2000, as an attempt to introduce two of the main alien species in what’s now called the Arachne/Troubleshooter Universe: the Seekers of the Zenith from Arachne’s Crime/Arachne’s Exile and the Biauru from my 2023 Analog novelette “Aleyara’s Descent” (originally written in 1997). The story is set in an earlier, no longer canonical version of the universe’s past and future history, simpler than the galactic history I later worked out in the Arachne duology; but my concepts for the species were otherwise quite close to their modern versions, aside from some tweaks of nomenclature.

Meanwhile, the central technological danger in the story was repurposed several years later in my debut novel Star Trek: Ex Machina. If I recall correctly, I hadn’t entirely given up on the possibility of selling the story, but I figured I could use the same scientific concept in both Trek and original fiction because they would have largely distinct audiences.

Over the years, I’ve occasionally thought about attempting to rewrite the story, but I didn’t want to do so until I’d established the Biauru elsewhere. I’ve achieved that with “Aleyara”’s publication, but I don’t think the premise of “Flighty” would work in the ATU’s current canon, as both the historical and technological assumptions have changed quite a bit. So rather than rewriting it, I decided I’d just post it on Patreon as is.

I attempted in 2000 to create my own front-page illustration for the story, which I hoped to sell alongside it, though it turned out it was way too amateurish to publish professionally. Again, I’ve held off on sharing the image publicly until I’d established the Biauru. (I did previously excerpt a detail from it on my Seekers of the Zenith page linked above, though.)

zenith_scene.jpg

(Link is to my own WordPress site.)

I’ve been giving some thought to letting my Patreon fall idle because I have so few subscribers anymore, but I’ve decided to stick with it for now, at least where the Reviews section is concerned. Prospects for future fiction releases are slim unless I write more, and I don’t have much incentive to with so few patrons to read it. But at least I can offer this story, even if it’s non-canonical.
 
Both Christopher L. Bennett and I are part of a crowdfund being run by eSpec Books on Kickstarter, "Something for Everyone," which includes Feat of Clay, the second novel in my Adventures of Bram Gold series of urban fantasy novels taking place in the Bronx, and Aleyara's Descent and Other Stories, a collection of short stories by @Christopher. You can also get the first Bram book, A Furnace Sealed, as part of the crowdfund, as well as Christopher's other eSpec short fiction collection, Among the Wild Cybers.

Also funding as part of the campaign are the novels Aéros & Héroes by Ef Deal (steampunk set in Paris), Checkmate by Ty Drago (first of a new superhero duology), and A Curse of Time and Vengeance by Christine Norris (steampunk retelling of Sleeping Beauty), as well as two more short-story collections, one by Christopher J. Burke (A Bucket Full of Moonlight) and Lisanne Norman (The Pharaoh's Cat).

The Trek BBS doesn't allow linking to crowdfunds, so I just urge y'all to follow me on almost any of the social media links of mine at the bottom of this post, and you'll find ways to get there........

Thanks!
 
We’re into the final 36 hours of eSpec Books’s Kickstarter campaign, and as a taste of what we have to offer, eSpec has posted my author reading of the first scene of “Aleyara’s Descent” on their YouTube page:

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Unfortunately, something went wrong with the video/audio sync and Danielle had to make it audio-only, which is strange, because the original video works fine for me. It’s a shame, since this was my first recording on my new, higher-definition webcam, so you could’ve finally seen me clearly.

Anyway, I had a great deal of fun recording this one, and I hope it comes through in the audio.
 
Sorry to spam, but things are moving fast. As our Kickstarter enters its final hours, eSpec Books has posted an excerpt from Aleyara’s Descent and Other Stories, which is my complete flash-fiction piece “Though Worlds Divide Us,” originally published online in Amazing Stories.

especbooks.com

eSPEC EXCERPTS – CHRISTOPHER L. BENNETT – ALEYARA’S DESCENT

Today’s excerpt is from Christopher L. Bennett’s short story collection Aleyara’s Descent, which is currently funding on Kickstarter as a part of the Something For Everyone campaign, al…
especbooks.com especbooks.com
 
Christopher said:
“High and Flighty” was written in 1998 and revised in 2000, as an attempt to introduce two of the main alien species in what’s now called the Arachne/Troubleshooter Universe: the Seekers of the Zenith from Arachne’s Crime/Arachne’s Exile and the Biauru from my 2023 Analog novelette “Aleyara’s Descent” (originally written in 1997). The story is set in an earlier, no longer canonical version of the universe’s past and future history, simpler than the galactic history I later worked out in the Arachne duology; but my concepts for the species were otherwise quite close to their modern versions, aside from some tweaks of nomenclature.
Click to expand...
Crazy coincidence -- I just read that Analog. Great story and great issue!
 
My latest original novel is out: Feat of Clay, Book 2 of the Adventures of Bram Gold. This is an urban fantasy series set in New York City about a guy from the Bronx who hunts monsters for a living.

Ordering links can be found on my blog. Here's the back cover copy:

No One Wields Guilt like a Jewish Mother… Unless it’s a Jewish Aunt…

Bram Gold became a Courser–a supernatural hunter-for-hire–after his parents were killed twelve years ago by a golem run amuck. Now the person responsible wants to hire Bram.

It’s happening again. This time a golem has been sighted at the synagogue where Bram’s Aunt Esther serves as rabbi–and which has been targeted by thieves and vandals. And just like a dozen years ago, the powerful golem is out of control.

Can Bram corner the creature and put a stop to its spree before someone else’s family is torn asunder?
The next book in a new series of urban fantasy thrillers taking place in the Boogie-Down Bronx from best-selling, award-winning author Keith R.A. DeCandido.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

eSpec Books has also reissued the first book in the series with a fabulous new cover, A Furnace Sealed. Ordering links for that in the same blog entry.....
 
Christopher said:
my first flash-fiction sale, “Though Worlds Divide Us,” available for free on Amazing Stories online
Click to expand...
Just read it. :techman:

Back when I was taking a short story workshop class, I wrote a piece too short to be "sudden," too short to even be "flash." I characterized it as "hit-and-run fiction." (No, it wasn't as short as what Hammie wrote in the November 4-7 Baby Blues comic strips.)
 
For those who might be interested, I and fellow Trek scribe Kelli Fitzpatrick both have new original short stories in the just-released space-western anthology Last Train Outta Kepler-283c, edited by David Boop, published by Baen Books. Kelli's story is “The Rogue Tractor of Sunshine Gulch,” and mine is “Living by the Sword.” Here’s hoping y’all will pick up this anthology and give our stories a look.

Also, coming in February will be another new anthology featuring various monsters and other supernatural creatures transplanted into the real events of the second world war, Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II, edited by Henry L. Herz, published by Blackstone Publishing. My story in this anthology is called “Bockscar,” and it’s the final tale in the book. I really enjoyed writing this story, and I hope some of you will take the time to give it a look.
 
My goodness, you authors are definitely hard-working. Respect for that. I was down and out-for-the-count already, when I just wrote my Fanfic "Schweinehunde unter sich" and the following stories and had to work full-time - but when I felt creatively-inclined, I managed to write 30 pages a week (10 pages a day, three days per week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday ^^). But you have to remember all the plot-points for story one and start research for story 10, while re-reading and edit stories 2 to 8, plus start the marketing campaign for story 9... oof.
 
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