Star Trek: Strange New Worlds III

I have to admit that prior to reading the first Strange New Worlds novel I was a little reticent about fan fiction. That being said, the Strange New Worlds I & II novels more than removed that reticence, they turned me into a huge fan of these fan fiction novels, leaving me very much looking forward to the third one. Strange New Worlds III is an even more impressive collection than its predecessors. I highly recommend this novel to any and all fans of Star Trek, for in each and every story lays the principles, ethics and overall atmosphere that Star Trek fans have come to love about Gene Roddenberry's universe. Star TrekIf I Lose Thee (First Prize) by Sarah A. Hoyt & Rebecca Lickiss - It is extremely easy to see why this particularly great story involving Uhura and the Guardian of Forever won first prize and these two fine authors are now professional writers!The Aliens Are Coming! By Dayton Ward - As with the two authors above, it is quite easy to see why Dayton Ward is now a professional author as well considering his fluid writing style and his talent for plot development. This particular story draws from the events in DS9's "Little Green Men" and TOS's "Tomorrow is Yesterday," weaving a wonderful tale as to what happened to Captain Christopher after the Enterprise left.Family Matters by Susan Ross Moore - Another well written and thoughtful story! This extraordinarily interesting tale is about a younger Spock meeting his Aunt on Earth and helping with his cousin.Star Trek The Next GenerationWhatever You Do, Don't Read This Story (Third Prize) by Robert T. Jeschonek - I must admit that at first, I was wondering why this story made third prize, needless to say though, the story plays out extraordinarily well and this author deserves high praise for such an inventive and original story.A Private Victory by Tonya D. Price - This is a very well done story about Lieutenant Hawk during the events depicted in Star Trek First Contact. I look forward to this author's future endeavors.The Fourth Toast by Kelly Cairo - Nods to this author for bringing this exceptional story to print that is one of those follow up stories that "needed" to be told. Following the events of STNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise," we're taken into Richard Castillo's world after the loss of the Enterprise NCC-1701-C. Great story! One of Forty-seven by E. Catherine Tobler - This story is an exceptionally well done and quite poignant short story!A Q to Swear By by Shane Zeranski - I look very much forward to any future stories written by this author as he has with this story written some exceptional Star Trek, tying in events from TNG and a certain, troubled character we saw in Star Trek Voyager.The Change of Seasons by Logan Page - This is another fine short story that quite poignantly tells one of the small, between the scenes, tales within the frame of Star Trek Generations. Quite touching!Out of the Box, Thinking by Jerry M. Wolfe - Nods to this author as we

This is the third installment of the on going series that the fans of TREK submit stories for publication. Strange New Worlds III is a good look into the talent of some of the fans and what their preception of the STAR TREK universe to be.This volume contains 20 short stories and one is written in Klingon. The stories vary as to genre and are well written. As with other short stories, these help fill in some of the gaps to the story lines in films and televison series. And I must say that some are very inventive to say the least.All in all, this collection of short stories is well worth your time in reading, as they are engaging, entertaining, and insightful. The fans know what they like to read and some talented fans know what to write. It is heart-warming to see new talent continue the dream of Gene Roddenberry. As long as there is fan involvement the dream will continue to grow and flurish.Read this anthology and see the future writers of TREK evolve as they direct the course of TREK to new paths and fill in the gaps along the way. What an interesting future evolving on these pages, not only the storylines, but the grow to the authors themselves.

They say you should never judge a book by its cover and, boy is that the truth with this book. I had bought this book so I could learn the rules of the writing contest but for six months I never bothered to read it. It looked, on the outside, very campy and silly. I didn't want to admit to anyone that I would read such a book. Recently, however, I was home alone and bored. I had nothing new to read, so I took a look.This book was great! A lot of credit must be given the editors who went through, they say, 10,000 submissions to come up with this book, the best of the lot. Star Trek III, Strange New Worlds, is broken into four parts to reflect the four different shows. From Star Trek to Voyager, we are treated to stories featuring all of our favorite characters.I was most surprised by how consistently good the stories were. While there were one or two flops, most of the tales here are very interesting. About half of them were insights into stories we have already seen. So, for example, in the movie "First Contact" Lt. Hawk died after becoming a Borg. What really happened to him? Now we know. The other stories were totally originally.My favorite stories were found in the Generations and Deep Space Nine Section. I especially liked the return of Mr. Barclay and Mr. Moriarty. My only real complaint, a small one, was my strong disagreement with the stories awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. The second place winner was great. The other two were not as good or original as many of the great finds in this book. Still, since most of the stories were so good, I can see how the editors could have made this mistake. "Strange New Worlds," misnamed since it is really about returning old familiar ones, is a fun read.

The Strange New Worlds anthologies just keep getting better. I enjoyed all the stories in this anthology. Usually, there are one or two I don't care for, but not this time! If I hadn't known the writers were amateurs, I'd never have guessed. Dean Wesley Smith picks a wide variety of stories covering lots of different aspects of the Star Trek universe. Time travel, adventures on the holodeck, visits from our favorite villians and friends, this book has it all! A couple of the stories even managed to sneak in a little romance for the characters. Any Star Trek fan will find something to enjoy in this book.

This book is on par with, if not better that the previous 2 volumes. I really thought some of the stories had a novel approach to writing Star Trek ficiton. The best example by far of this would be the story "Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Story". It's a truely novel approach. Two other truely impressive stories were "Out Of The Box, Thinking" whic deals w/ Professor Moriearty, and "The ONes Left Behind", a story about the family of a Voyager crewman's family. This is an excellent book. Don't hesitate to buy it.