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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Young Adult #1
The Star Ghost
While living on Deep Space NineTM, Jake Sisko has seen a lot of strange things, since his father, commander of the station, opened it to every lifeform who passes through this sector of space. But when Jake's Ferengi friend Nog says he's seen a ghost, Jake doesn't believe him, until a shimmering figure with glowing red eyes appears in Jake's quarters. Soon enough the spectre has Jake on a dangerous mission into the depths of the station, with the fate of Deep Space Nine resting on his boyish shoulders.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 1994
10 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Brad Strickland
136 books108 followersWilliam Bradley Strickland (b. 1947) is the author (or co-author) of over 60 novels and over 60 pieces of short fiction and poetry.
Born in New Hollard, Strickland earned his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Georgia. He has taught English courses at the University of Georgia, Oglethorpe University, Truett-McConnell College, and, since 1987, at Gainesville State College.
His first novel was 1986's To Stand Beneath the Sun, followed quickly by the books in the Jeremy Moon trilogy.
Strickland has shared co-author credit on many of his books: with his wife, Barbara, on stories in the Star Trek and Are You Afraid of the Dark? properties; and with the late author Thomas Fuller, books in the Wishbone series, involving the popular Jack Russell Terrier from the Public Television series of the same name. Strickland and Fuller also collaborated on numerous original works, including the Pirate Hunter series, the Mars: Year One series, and the comedic mystery for adults, The Ghost Finds a Body.
After the death of John Bellairs, Strickland was approached by John’s son, Frank, to complete the two books his father had already started; these unfinished manuscripts became The Ghost in the Mirror and The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder. Strickland also wrote two books based on brief plot outlines left by Bellairs: The Drum, the Doll and the Zombie and The Doom of the Haunted Opera. Beginning in 1996, Strickland has kept Bellairs' legacy alive by writing the further adventures of Johnny Dixon and Lewis Barnavelt. Books in the corpus include The Hand of the Necromancer (1996); The Tower at the End of the World (2001); The House Where Nobody Lived (2006); and his most recent title, The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer (2008).
In 2001, Strickland won received the Georgia Author of the Year Award, Children's/Young Adult Division, for When Mack Came Back, set in WWII-era Georgia. Strickland says the story "is based on the farm owned by [his] grandfather, where [I] often visited when [I] was a child." Kong: King of Skull Island was released in 2005, an illustrated tale by Strickland, author John Michlig, and fantasy artist Joe DeVito that serves as both a prequel and sequel to the epic story of the legendary ape.
Strickland is an active member of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, where he writes and performs in numerous audio drama projects. He was awarded the ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He is married to the former Barabara Justus and has two grown children.
Born in New Hollard, Strickland earned his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Georgia. He has taught English courses at the University of Georgia, Oglethorpe University, Truett-McConnell College, and, since 1987, at Gainesville State College.
His first novel was 1986's To Stand Beneath the Sun, followed quickly by the books in the Jeremy Moon trilogy.
Strickland has shared co-author credit on many of his books: with his wife, Barbara, on stories in the Star Trek and Are You Afraid of the Dark? properties; and with the late author Thomas Fuller, books in the Wishbone series, involving the popular Jack Russell Terrier from the Public Television series of the same name. Strickland and Fuller also collaborated on numerous original works, including the Pirate Hunter series, the Mars: Year One series, and the comedic mystery for adults, The Ghost Finds a Body.
After the death of John Bellairs, Strickland was approached by John’s son, Frank, to complete the two books his father had already started; these unfinished manuscripts became The Ghost in the Mirror and The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder. Strickland also wrote two books based on brief plot outlines left by Bellairs: The Drum, the Doll and the Zombie and The Doom of the Haunted Opera. Beginning in 1996, Strickland has kept Bellairs' legacy alive by writing the further adventures of Johnny Dixon and Lewis Barnavelt. Books in the corpus include The Hand of the Necromancer (1996); The Tower at the End of the World (2001); The House Where Nobody Lived (2006); and his most recent title, The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer (2008).
In 2001, Strickland won received the Georgia Author of the Year Award, Children's/Young Adult Division, for When Mack Came Back, set in WWII-era Georgia. Strickland says the story "is based on the farm owned by [his] grandfather, where [I] often visited when [I] was a child." Kong: King of Skull Island was released in 2005, an illustrated tale by Strickland, author John Michlig, and fantasy artist Joe DeVito that serves as both a prequel and sequel to the epic story of the legendary ape.
Strickland is an active member of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, where he writes and performs in numerous audio drama projects. He was awarded the ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He is married to the former Barabara Justus and has two grown children.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 4, 2026
Dieses Buch lag lange Zeit auf meinem ebook-Sub, wo es vermutlich im Rahmen einer 99 Cent Aktion gelandet ist. Ich hatte mir, vor allem aufgrund des Covers, nicht viel versprochen und es eigentlich eher angelesen - da ich zwar etwas Star Trek, aber nicht Deep Space Nine kenne und mich in dem Universum kaum auskenne, hatte ich auch die Befürchtung, hier überfordert zu werden.
Aber ganz im Gegenteil! Man kommt gut klar ohne Vorwissen und erlebt zusammen mit zwei Kindern/Teenies auf Deep Space Nine ein Abenteuer mit einem "Star Ghost", das mich sehr gut unterhalten hat. Durch die Kürze bleibt es immer recht spannend und abenteuerlich, ohne zu tief zu gehen mit weiteren Infos. Mir hat es gut gefallen, 3,5 Sterne!
Aber ganz im Gegenteil! Man kommt gut klar ohne Vorwissen und erlebt zusammen mit zwei Kindern/Teenies auf Deep Space Nine ein Abenteuer mit einem "Star Ghost", das mich sehr gut unterhalten hat. Durch die Kürze bleibt es immer recht spannend und abenteuerlich, ohne zu tief zu gehen mit weiteren Infos. Mir hat es gut gefallen, 3,5 Sterne!
July 16, 2016
An interesting take on Star Trek.
July 20, 2024
Unlike the first two Starfleet Academy junior book series, which followed characters from the original 1960s Star Trek and Star Trek: the Next Generation when they were Starfleet cadets, The Star Ghost kicks off this Deep Space Nine junior book series with action contemporary to the 1990s television show. The main characters are fourteen-year-old Jake Sisko—son of Commander Benjamin Sisko—and Nog, a Ferengi youth whose uncle Quark runs the bar and eatery aboard Deep Space Nine, a Federation space station that not long ago belonged to the Cardassians as they forcibly ruled over the neighboring planet Bajor. The only kid aboard Deep Space Nine besides Jake and Nog is three-year-old Molly, daughter of Chief Engineer Miles O'Brien. Molly turns out to be the catalyst for this first book in the series.
Molly's mother Keiko is amused one day to see Molly talking to her invisible friend, whom she calls Dhraako. Nog is not so amused; he reacts with horror at the hooded ghostlike entity only he and Molly can see. It's a "Ferengest", Nog insists before fleeing. When he meets with Jake later that day, Nog claims he really saw a Ferengest with Molly, a phantom common to Ferengi lore. These spirits torment Ferengi who aren't sufficiently avaricious, and Nog is grieved that one has sought him out. But wait...Jake doesn't believe it for a second. Molly was only pretending to talk with her imaginary friend Dhraako; Jake suggests that Nog simply imagined seeing a Ferengest stalking him. Jake's assurances calm Nog...until the hooded, red-eyed figure materializes. Dhraako whisks Jake away into a dimension between the living and dead...but what is this creature and why does it seek Jake's attention?
"After all, nothing is more frightening to a person than his or her own imagination—or nightmares."
—The Star Ghost, P. 26
Dhraako's presence on Deep Space Nine is more complicated than Nog or Molly realize. Only the young can see Dhraako, and now he and Jake wander the space station like ghosts, with Dhraako trying to put into human communication the urgent warning he has for Jake. Gul Chok and his crew of Cardassians have been wheedling Commander Sisko for special privileges aboard Deep Space Nine, and the Bajorans have objected every step of the way. Major Kira Nerys, a Bajoran and Commander Sisko's number one officer, always suspects the Cardassians are up to no good, and this time she's right: Gul Chok's delegation has planted an explosive device that could destroy Deep Space Nine, and only Dhraako is aware. But now that he has translated Jake into the other dimension, getting back soon enough to warn Commander Sisko may be impossible. It will take a heroic effort from Deep Space Nine's's youngest occupants—Jake, Nog, and Molly—to spare the place from destruction.
Brad Strickland's writing can be clumsy, but the last couple of chapters frame the stakes nicely and provide more excitement than I expected. Mr. Strickland has his finger on the pulse of these characters from the television show; Chief O'Brien's dialogue is particularly spot-on. The Star Ghost is a good enough story that it could have been an episode of Deep Space Nine, worthy of a script by Ira Steven Behr or Ronald D. Moore. It isn't a masterpiece alongside episodes such as "The Visitor", "Life Support", "Duet", "Paradise Lost", or "Hard Time", but one couldn't have hoped for much better from a book of this limited scale.
Molly's mother Keiko is amused one day to see Molly talking to her invisible friend, whom she calls Dhraako. Nog is not so amused; he reacts with horror at the hooded ghostlike entity only he and Molly can see. It's a "Ferengest", Nog insists before fleeing. When he meets with Jake later that day, Nog claims he really saw a Ferengest with Molly, a phantom common to Ferengi lore. These spirits torment Ferengi who aren't sufficiently avaricious, and Nog is grieved that one has sought him out. But wait...Jake doesn't believe it for a second. Molly was only pretending to talk with her imaginary friend Dhraako; Jake suggests that Nog simply imagined seeing a Ferengest stalking him. Jake's assurances calm Nog...until the hooded, red-eyed figure materializes. Dhraako whisks Jake away into a dimension between the living and dead...but what is this creature and why does it seek Jake's attention?
"After all, nothing is more frightening to a person than his or her own imagination—or nightmares."
—The Star Ghost, P. 26
Dhraako's presence on Deep Space Nine is more complicated than Nog or Molly realize. Only the young can see Dhraako, and now he and Jake wander the space station like ghosts, with Dhraako trying to put into human communication the urgent warning he has for Jake. Gul Chok and his crew of Cardassians have been wheedling Commander Sisko for special privileges aboard Deep Space Nine, and the Bajorans have objected every step of the way. Major Kira Nerys, a Bajoran and Commander Sisko's number one officer, always suspects the Cardassians are up to no good, and this time she's right: Gul Chok's delegation has planted an explosive device that could destroy Deep Space Nine, and only Dhraako is aware. But now that he has translated Jake into the other dimension, getting back soon enough to warn Commander Sisko may be impossible. It will take a heroic effort from Deep Space Nine's's youngest occupants—Jake, Nog, and Molly—to spare the place from destruction.
Brad Strickland's writing can be clumsy, but the last couple of chapters frame the stakes nicely and provide more excitement than I expected. Mr. Strickland has his finger on the pulse of these characters from the television show; Chief O'Brien's dialogue is particularly spot-on. The Star Ghost is a good enough story that it could have been an episode of Deep Space Nine, worthy of a script by Ira Steven Behr or Ronald D. Moore. It isn't a masterpiece alongside episodes such as "The Visitor", "Life Support", "Duet", "Paradise Lost", or "Hard Time", but one couldn't have hoped for much better from a book of this limited scale.
March 29, 2025
This is quite improbable but a cool concept.
July 18, 2021
cute little story for Jake and Nog with hilariously terrible illustrations throughout. Sisko's characterization rubbed me the wrong way. a short okay read.
September 13, 2025
As an adult, I really liked this one. If I was the right age group, this would have been a 5-star for sure.
Friendship, ghosts, adventure, heroism, stupid adults who just won't listen - it's great stuff for a kid. In fact, I think this would have made for a very fun early DS9 episode with a few grown-up scenes thrown in here and there to flesh things out.
I thought the art was cute for kids' book. No one looked like themselves, but this might be more about avoid actors' features than a "bad" artist. I thought the general artistic look was childlike and fun, and the parts meant to be transparent were done with skill.
I do believe this is the first Star Trek YA book (reading in publication date order) that I'd be happy to read again. Heck, maybe even a third time!
Friendship, ghosts, adventure, heroism, stupid adults who just won't listen - it's great stuff for a kid. In fact, I think this would have made for a very fun early DS9 episode with a few grown-up scenes thrown in here and there to flesh things out.
I thought the art was cute for kids' book. No one looked like themselves, but this might be more about avoid actors' features than a "bad" artist. I thought the general artistic look was childlike and fun, and the parts meant to be transparent were done with skill.
I do believe this is the first Star Trek YA book (reading in publication date order) that I'd be happy to read again. Heck, maybe even a third time!
December 29, 2017
As my DS9 nostalgia rolls on, I decided to try this book series for younger readers. The premise of this one is a little hard to swallow (though, in retrospect, not completely unlike the Bajoran wormhole aliens), and the story gets off to a *slow* start, but once the plot kicks in it's nicely developed and has a few cute touches.
One thing I'll say: after Sisko has been described several times as someone who always makes time for his son, it was a little frustrating to see him repeatedly turn Jake away--and Nog also, for that matter--because he was too busy dealing with the pesky Cardassians.
One thing I'll say: after Sisko has been described several times as someone who always makes time for his son, it was a little frustrating to see him repeatedly turn Jake away--and Nog also, for that matter--because he was too busy dealing with the pesky Cardassians.
December 16, 2025
Brad Strickland ist eine schöne, kleine Erzählung gelungen, die zu Beginn der ersten Staffel von Deep Space Nine spielt und die Figuren und die Atmosphäre der Serie zu diesem frühen Zeitpunkt sehr gut trifft. Mit einfachen Mitteln gelingt dem Autor in diesem Jugendbuch auch stellenweise etwas Spannung aufzubauen. Es liest sich angenehm dahin, und als Fan der Serie kann man in DS9-Nostalgie baden. Für die kalten Wintertage fühlt sich diese Gutfühlgeschichte wie eine wärmende Decke an.
March 12, 2021
Reads like a pretty decent episode of the show, though I wouldn't recommend trying to analyze the plot or anything. Jake Sisko doesn't exactly make for a great main character, but since this is YA fiction, spotlighting him is the obvious choice. I used this book to take little breaks from the science articles I've been reading for work, and for that purpose, THE STAR GHOST fit the bill nicely.
May 28, 2017
A fun little book to read, which read a lot like the early DS9 books with regards to things like character development and the development of the in-story universe. Only took me an hour or two to read yet got me right back into the world of DS9.
October 21, 2017
Set in the early days of DS9. Nog sees a ghost that is said to cause financial ruin to any who see it. Jake is determined to prove him wrong. This is a fun story, and the characterisation is spot on. It even made me laugh a couple of times. It felt like it could have been a TV episode. A good read.
August 7, 2021
When Jake sees Molly O'Brien's imaginary friend, it starts an adventure which exposes a Cardassian plot to destroy Deep Space Nine.
A simple adventure story from Strickland which promotes friendship and open mindedness to younger readers.
A simple adventure story from Strickland which promotes friendship and open mindedness to younger readers.
April 13, 2022
Nice little story. When Nog thinks he sees a ghost no one believes him. Jake discovers that Nog did see something. Jake has to act to save the station with Nog's help. They struggle to get anyone to listen.
January 11, 2020
Great Read
This was a fun adventure with Jake and Nog. The book is quick easy read and a good choice for a DS9 Fan.
This was a fun adventure with Jake and Nog. The book is quick easy read and a good choice for a DS9 Fan.
October 28, 2024
Different from what I’m used to tone wise for Star Trek novels. Includes illustrations, though a couple of them look creepy.
September 1, 2025
this wasnt my favorite story, but it was well written!
July 10, 2012
Brad Strickland’s novella manages to transcend its infinitely ridiculous premise by a decent amount of sci-fi awe. It doesn't contain enough meat and potatoes to transcend mediocrity though.
June 9, 2013
Interesting premise, but the ending took the easy way out. Little too pat and convenient.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews