Star Trek: Strange New Worlds IV

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (anthologies) #4

by Dean Wesley Smith (Editor), Paula M. Block, John J. Ordover

In the fourth year of its ongoing mission, the Strange New Worlds writing competition has once again sought out exciting new voices and imaginations among Star Trek's vast galaxy of fans. After scanning countless submissions for signs of style and originality, the judges are proud to report that the universe of amazing Star Trek writers just keeps expanding.

Strange New Worlds IV features more than a dozen never-before-published stories spanning the twenty-third and twenty-fourth centuries, from the early days of James T. Kirk and his crew to the later generations of Captains Picard, Sisko, and Janeway. These memorable new tales explore and examine the past and future of Star Trek from many different perspectives.

Join Strange New Worlds in its thrilling quest to uncover the most compelling Star Trek Þction this side of the Galactic Barrier!

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fiction, Ebooks, Space

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2001

About the author

Pen Names
Edward Taft
Dee W. Schofield
Sandy Schofield
Kathryn Wesley

Dean Wesley Smith is the bestselling author of over ninety novels under many names and well over 100 published short stories. He has over eight million copies of his books in print and has books published in nine different countries. He has written many original novels in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and romance as well as books for television, movies, games, and comics. He is also known for writing quality work very quickly and has written a large number of novels as a ghost writer or under house names.

With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. The following is a list of novels under the Dean Wesley Smith name, plus a number of pen names that are open knowledge. Many ghost and pen name books are not on this list because he is under contractual obligations not to disclose that he wrote them. Many of Dean’s original novels are also under hidden pen names for marketing reasons.

Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made.

Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books.

Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery novels under another name.

Reviews

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable if unremarkable collection of stories...and very heavily influenced by the fanwank of year (2001) in which it was released. My main issues with this collection are (1) too many attempts to jump on "ooh cool" fanwank moments, (2) too much Captain Proton...especially when it commandeers a DS9 story, (3) speaking of DS9...only two entries? Tosh and piffle! The two best stories are the most unique: Flight 19 (a very "Close Encounters" take on Trek), and Countdown (the worst possible moment for the Enterprise might realize it might be sentient).

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fourth batch of stories in what has become a familiar concept. Since it are mostly new writers that are presented and the limitation of the Star Trek universe the review becomes quite predictable.
Dean Wesley Smith allows for a broad variety of storylines so that everyone will find something to his/her liking but individual appreciations will differ.
As before i feel that Smith allows too much for the psychological heavyweights and not enough for fun and action - but isn't that just like the entire franchise?
Some stories will highlight details that were missing from official ST books, others come with a new element of twist in existing plot.
After 4 volumes i feel that the concept is reaching its limits but i am nonetheless looking forward to volumes V till X.

[Bookreader1972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars I read a library copy
Like the the first 3 version of this short story fan fiction contest collection, I read many wonderful stories.
But this one had more stories then the previous 3 that I didn't even bother to read, include not on but two "Captain Proton" stories, because i always found the captain proton episodes of Voyager to be the weakest, in my opinion.
Not too influence anyone, but my favorite 4 of the 22 stories were:
Prodigal Father; Scotty's Song; The Name of the Cat(1st prize winner); & my favorite that didn't win any of the 3 prizes, Uninvited Admirals
Again, there were only 2 of the 22 I didn't read.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm being extremely generous giving this 4 stars but "Isolation Ward 4" was utterly fascinating. And Doctor Wykof ruminating on the Cardassians was perfect tongue in cheek. And his son reading Benny stories and wanting to be like Captain Sisko was *chefs kiss*.

[Mark Wilkerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a fun introduction to this series! There are truly some real keepers in this collection, and I am excited to read the others.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another collection of fun short stories. A lot of them this time are either direct sequels to episodes, or are mini stories that take place within episodes or films. There's an interesting one set in 'What you leave behind' that looks at a psychiatrist. Captain Proton makes 2 appearances. The Doctor has his own story, well the one that was left behind in a museum. A good read.

[E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Includes my short story, "Flashpoint."