Star Trek Explorer Presents: ‘A Year to the Day that I Saw Myself Die’ And Other Stories
Publisher: Titan
Format: Hardcover
The impending demise of Star Trek Explorer Magazine is sad for a number of reasons, one of which is the closing of a forum for regular publication of Star Trek short stories. Fortunately, Titan Magazines has been dutiful in collecting these short stories and presenting them in an attractive, lavishly-illustrated format for Trek fans to enjoy. “A Year to the Day that I Saw Myself Die” and Other Stories is the latest collection, and is available now for purchase.
Featuring short stories starring characters from Star Trek: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Discovery, and Picard, this collection spans almost the entirety of Trek history, from the 23rd Century to the 33rd. It also showcases the writing talents of Trek luminaries, including Star Trek original Chekov, Walter Koenig. Other popular Trek authors included in the new collection include Greg Cox, Una McCormack, and David Mack, among many others.
The short story format lends itself to punchy little tales with a twist, and many of these stories flourish in that format. The story that gives this collection its title is written and illustrated by Michael Collins, and is one of the book’s best, following up on the DS9 episode, “Visionary,” in which Miles O’Brien is replaced by an alternate version of himself from a few hours in the future. The story explores questions of legacy and motivation, and remembers that Miles played the cello in The Next Generation, to good effect. “Sundering,” one of the short stories by David Mack, brings us to the days of the split between the Vulcans who followed Surak’s teachings and those who rejected them, and shows us a family torn apart by widely divergent political and social beliefs. It’s hard to imagine a more timely story.
Una McCormack tells a quick tale of Jack Crusher, set just a short time before the events of Star Trek: Picard, Season 3. As always, McCormack perfectly captures the voices of the characters, and shows us the resourcefulness and wit of this fascinating character. There’s a biting and difficult story about a conflict between Captain Liam Shaw and First Officer Annika Hansen/Seven of Nine, centered around the question of respecting a person’s new identity and letting go of the past. In another story, we see that even the mention of Tribbles is enough to prod a Klingon warrior to fear. And a far-future story shows us an Odo who has outlived every person he’s ever known, and struggles to hold on to hope, and to love (see TrekMovie excerpt).
It’s fun and novel to have a story written by Trek royalty, like Walter “Chekov” Koenig, who gives us a tale set just before the events of Star Trek: IV. On the plus side, it gives us some good insight into the mind of the Enterprise’s navigator-turned-security chief. On the minus side, it contains a few glaring Trek inconsistencies, and the character comes across as a bit of a Mary Sue. This story is graced by a powerful illustration by Neil Edwards and John Paul-Bowe, which also serves as the cover for the entire collection.
All of these stories take us to places and show us situations that might never work in a live-action television program, but live and breathe in the short story format. Each short story is introduced with a stunning, full-color illustration done by a top-notch visual artist, and a few photo illustrations as well. A story that centers around Arex, the Enterprise’s Edosian navigator during the Animated Series days, also features a gorgeous alien planetscape drawn by artist Aaron Harvey (also a TrekMovie designer and contributor).
With 14 pieces of fiction, accompanied by over 50 illustrations, and spanning ten centuries and more of Trek history, written by some of the finest Trek-prose authors, this collection has a little bit of something for everyone. And because no story lasts longer than eight pages, if you don’t like one story, there’s another one soon to take its place. If reading about a brainwashed Cyrano Jones doesn’t suit your fancy, then maybe some backstory on Federation President Rillak will!
The whole collection is hardbound inside a brilliant, shiny cover, and measures just over 8” x 11”. The frontispieces feature the planetscape illustration by Aaron Harvey, while the back cover shows off a gorgeous Shaw/Seven piece by Pete Wallbank.
Cover for Star Trek Explorer short story collection (Titan)
Available now
Star Trek Explorer Presents: “A Year to the Day That I saw Myself Die” and Other Stories was released yesterday, Tuesday, December 10. You can pick it up now in hardcover at Amazon for $24.99.
There are three previous short story collections from Titan: Star Trek: The Short Story Collection, “Q and False” and Other Stories, and “The Mission” and Other Stories. After reading this new collection, I’ve added them all to my Amazon.com wishlist. I hope Santa thinks I’ve been good this year!
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- Cover for The Mission and Other Stories (Titan)
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source: trekmovie.com