The Lives of Dax

I love Dax but had two things with the book that annoyed me, neither being the autbors fault. I have for yrs now been searching for a story about Curzon and tiki torches and was disappointed that it wasnt in this book. Starting to think I imagined it. Also, this was the highest priced book on this order set and arrived with the cover all bent to hell, i feel there shouldve been a note on the site here about the cover damage arrived promptly tho

Ezri - "Second star to the right..." by Judith & Garfield Reeves-StevensThis is a wonderful short story about Ezri running into Vic Fontaine in the holodeck, when she was expecting Julian; unfortunately he's called away for emergency surgery. She breaks down somewhat and tells Vic about the circumstances surrounding her becoming the current Dax host. She then begins to impart the stories of all the previous Dax hosts.......Lela - "First Steps" by Kristine Kathryn RuschThis fantastic short story is, of course, about Lela, the first Dax host. This is an excellent story, which recounts Lela's experience as a junior member of the council. It covers her meeting T'Pau of Vulcan. The story beautifully covers how Trill finds that it must overcome their desire for isolationism and embrace the knowledge that the Vulcan's are more than willing to impart upon them about their neighbors in the galactic neighborhood. This is a wonderfully well written story.Tobin - "Dead Man's Hand" by Jeffrey LangTobin, Dax's second host is kind of unsure of himself and a little nervous. He's is on a human ship, the Heisenberg. The ship is mostly manned by humans, but has one Vulcan, Skon. He befriends Skon. This story takes places during the Romulan, Terran war. The Romulans seize control of the ship, Tobin and Skon set out to free the rest of the crew and save the ship. This is a great short story that adds some interesting lore to the Dax character. SPOILER - The author makes it such that Tobin/Dax were the first to be transported and also that Skon and Tobin are the ones that suggest to Starfleet the idea of being able to separate the engineering and primary hulls. Great story!Emony - "Old Souls" by Michael Jan Friedman"Old Souls" is another extremely well written story by one of Star Trek's top authors. Emony is a champion gymnast who is now a judge for interstellar competitions. She happens to be on Earth for one held at Ole Miss, where a certain young man by the name of Leonard McCoy happens to be attending college. A great story that sets the non canonical back story that Emony Dax and the circumstances of this story are what inspires Leonard McCoy to take up his father's profession as a Doctor. Great read!Audrid - "Sins of the Mother" by S.D. Perry"Sins of the Mother" is a heartfelt and somewhat frightening story that heralds S.D. Perry's debut in the world of Star Trek. This wonderful story is written in the form of a letter from Audrid Dax to her daughter, detailing the events of her father's death after several years of estrangement between the two of them. A truly well written story and I'm certainly looking forward to S.D. Perry's future endeavors in the world of Star Trek and the Deep Space Nine relaunch series!Torias - "Infinity" by Susan WrightSusan Wright as usual, does a wonderful job of giving depth and feeling to what we already knew of Torias having been killed in a shuttle accident. She skillfully entwined a lot of emotion and d

Even a devoted Trekkie as I am finds some parts of Star Trek books that seem to drag. Taking too long to set up plot lines and leaving too little action to excite the reader. The Lives of Dax avoids that problem wonderfully. Each life is covered in it's own short story that flows swiftly and cleanly through some major contribution of that Dax's lifetime intersecting with our well known historical Star Trek figures from T'Pau as a young Vulcan up to 'current' times. The chapters (lives) flew by.

As Trek fan that also loves to read, I've been frustrated that Pocket's offerings rarely reflect the progressive, dynamic Trek vision I fell in love with. No longer! "Lives of Dax" is a bold step toward more character-oriented, risk-taking Trek fiction. Instead of conforming to the stretch-an-episode template, "Dax" gleans guest stars, scenarios and events from canon and then takes those elements where episodes can't go. Each multi-faceted host is written in the unique style and voice of a different author. Consequently, "Dax" becomes a rich, tapestry of interwoven stories that never succumbs to homogenity. The authors have imbued their stories with affection for the characters and for the Trek universe.My three favorite stories were Kristine Rusch's "Lela," the Reeves-Stevens' "Ezri" and Jeffrey Lang's "Tobin." While Rusch's vision of Dax's first host has an idealistic, almost regal tone, Lang's "Tobin" is smart, wry and clever. "Ezri" convincingly picks up where DS9 ended last year and provides much need backstory for Dax's ninth host.Though the "Curzon" story had a few clumsy moments (pre-Academy grads are *never* called ensign), the sci-fi elements were intriguing. I wasn't as enamoured of S.D. Perry's "Audrid" as I was of her collaborative effort, "Joran," with Robert Simpson. Suprisingly, I thought L.A. Graff's "Jadzia" was the anthology's weakest offering. Unlike many Trek books, "Dax" continues to yield treasures after multiple readings. The reader can selectively sample stories or enjoy the subtly crafted, cohesive narrative that the stories create when combined. The anthology works as both in indivdual parts or as a novel utilizing different voices."Dax" is a book for fans to get behind. It's fun, intelligent and thoughtful; it deserves to be read by fans of all Trek series. If the future of Trek fiction can be as luminous as this anthology, we can only hope the franchise continues to "live long and prosper."

This was excellent! My congratulations go to Marco and all of the authors on jobs well done. My favorite story was "Sins of the Mother", the Audrid Dax story by S.D. Perry, and I really enjoyed seeing both the changing role of Trill-Federation relations over time, the different effects caused by joining with Dax, based on the increasing number of lifetimes from which to draw strength and experiences.It's too bad there aren't many more Star Trek pro-anthologies scheduled for the near future (only "Enterprise Logs" and "Split Infinities", to my knowledge), because this book really shows the strengths of the format.Along with "Vulcan's Heart" and "The 34th Rule", this is one of the top Star Trek books of 1999.

Lives of Dax had me hooked from the moment that I saw it's cover. The book is an excellent anthology telling stories from each of the different hosts of the symbiont Dax from Star Trek Deep Space. Using the few continuity clues provided from the show the numerous authors weave powerful tales for each of the Dax symbionts. We see many familiar faces in the stories from Vic Fontaine to T'Pau, Dr. McCoy, Christopher Pike and others. These familiar characters help to blend the stories seamlessly into the Trek mythos. The stories were all first rate. I could not pick a favorite story from the bunch. Each of them could easily have made an excellent DS9 episode. Fans of DS9 and Star Trek will find this a must read. Kudos to the authors and editor.