Pantheon

In this beautifully crafted trade paperback, Pocket Books and Michael Jan Friedman have combined two of his best stories to date; "Reunion" and "The Valiant." Both stories are grounded in Michael Jan Friedman's Stargazer series, but when they were originally released, they were released as Star Trek The Next Generation stories as the publisher had not yet decided upon a "spin off" of sorts.As an added bonus to this magnificent edition, Michael Jan Friedman has written a wonderful introduction and at the end of the book there is a particularly interesting interview with him done by Kevin Dilmore.As I've seen and read on various Star Trek websites, some have complained about the cover art for this "Signature Edition." This is something that I do not agree with; the cover art is perfect as this novel and these stories are here to give us the fans, the stories from Captain Picard's past, during his time as the Captain of the USS Stargazer. The title is tremendously intriguing and well chosen as well, "Pantheon," as is defined by Webster's College Dictionary and most applicable here is, "the realm of the heroes or idols of any group," It is also quite appropriate that Michael Jan Friedman and these two stories have been the first release of a "Signature Edition" trade paperback when taking into account that "Reunion" was the first Star Trek The Next Generation hardback as well.I really like the way in which they constructed this novel as well. As opposed to just slapping the two novels in, back to back, the author and editor have "somewhat" intertwined the two stories, between the prologue and epilogue.The premise:Reunion -Here is where the authors brilliance stands out as he not only created a murder/mystery story in the Star Trek genre but he did it while at the same time, created a crew for the USS Stargazer, which is the ship commanded by Captain Jen Luc Picard for twenty two years, long before there were any considerations of another ship by another name. Capitalizing on the very little information provided by the STNG episode "The Battle," he expounded upon that tidbit of information and came up with a first-rate supporting cast for Captain Picard in his formative years as a Starfleet Captain.Not only does he do an astonishing job of creating the crew for the Stargazer, he superbly brings together a plot involving the present day USS Enterprise and her characters and the characters from the Stargazer. Overall, this is an exceptional story that "shouldn't" be missed by Star Trek fiction readers.The Valiant -In the beginning of this exceptional story, we're taken some three hundred years into Starfleet history to when the SS Valiant is thrown beyond the galactic barrier and is trying to make her way back home through the galactic barrier. The SS Valiant is first mentioned in The Original Series episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Unfortunately for Captain Tarasco, who captain's the SS Valiant; their failed attempt to cross the barrier