The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, the foggy edition.

I has been tagged!

There’s a big ol’ Blog Hop thing going on these days, and as fate would have it, I have been pulled kicking and screaming into the middle of the whole sordid affair. Friend and fellow word-pusher extraordinaire Ilsa J. Bick saw fit to tap me on the shoulder as one of five writers to whom she’s directing readers of her own Blog Hop entry.

As you’ve no doubt surmised, the Blog Hop is intended as a self-promotion tool for us word-slingers and other creative types, affording us an opportunity to talk about a work in progress or something that might be on the verge of publication.

I did one of these a while back for my then work in progress, From History’s Shadow, back in November, and being tagged for this means writing up something new for my current project. Congrats, regular blog readers and first-time visitors! By coming here on this day, you’re the first to read anything with respect to hints or clues about the novel I’m currently writing.

1) What’s the title of your forthcoming book?

Peaceable Kingdoms, a Star Trek novel set in the era of The Next Generation, several years after the last film featuring those characters, Star Trek: Nemesis.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

I developed the plot of my particular book, but it’s also the fifth novel in a five-book series with the umbrella title Star Trek: The Fall. Therefore, some of the plot points evolve from events which take place in the preceeding four books.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

Science fiction. More specifically, the “Star Trek” flavor of science fiction.

4) Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie version?

Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard, Jonathan Frakes as Riker, etc.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Three sentences (yeah, I’m doing it): Picard and his crew are dispatched to uncover the truth behind a “prominent figure within the Federation” who’s emerged onto the interstellar stage. It’s discovered that said individual may well be perpetrating a hoax as to their true identity, and has been doing so for years. This kind of sucks, since this person is now in a position to wield enormous power within the Federation.

Enormous. Power. Yo.

Yes, I’m being very, very vague here, because to provide more specific information would be risking spoilers for the earlier Star Trek: The Fall books. In addition to resolving a few rather important plot points from those novels, I’ll also be addressing some things from books published over the past few years,

6) Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

It will be published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. Publication date currently is set for on or about Janurary 28th, 2014.

7) How long did it take to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Well, I started writing it last Friday (February 1st). The manuscript is not due to my editor until June 4th, so that’s how long it’s going to take to write it 🙂

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I guess other Star Trek books which have taken on various interstellar political issues during the past couple of years are the closest comparisons: the Typhon Pact books, Losing the Peace, etc. 

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My editor called me and asked me to write a NextGen novel that would tie off this five-book series and wrap up a few plot threads which had been running through several books for the past couple of years. Seemed like it might be a fun thing to do.

And, my editor wanted to pay me to do all of that, so I guess that was cool, too.

10) What else about your book might pique a reader’s interest?

I suppose one might say that–if all goes to plan–Peaceable Kingdoms will set the stage for what I suppose you could call the “next chapter” for Picard and his crew.

Next stops for you on the Blog Hop?

Elizabeth Donald

Brandon Easton

H.E. Ellis

Carol Hightshoe

William Leisner

Each of these fine folks represents a different corner of the writing biz, from comics and TV to horror to science fiction and fantasy; from traditional publishing to “do it yourself.” Elizabeth and H.E., I’ve befriended thanks to the modern wonder that is social media. I met Brandon thanks to my travels to various conventions, and we’ve stayed in touch over the years. Carol, who often looks so busy that she makes me feel like I’m standing still, saw fit to include me in one of her own anthologies (Zombiefied). Then there’s Bill Leisner, whom I’ve known for something close to two decades now thanks first to our shared prison sentence on AOL in the early 1990s, and later as we shared space in various Star Trek books as well as last summer’s ReDeus: Divine Tales.

Look for them to post about their own Next Big Things on Wednesday, February 13th.

For those of you who traveled here via Ilsa’s blog, thanks very much for “coming out of your way” to stop by!