Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
{5/5} “This is the best life I could ever have possibly chosen, Captain. This is what I joined Starfleet for — to see the galaxy, to go where no one’s gone before. I’ve tasted the fruits of planets I couldn’t have even dreamed of, seen places and people no human may ever see again.” (from “Ambassador at Large”)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds edited by Dean Wesley Smith, published in 1998
In “A Private Anecdote” by Commodore Pike sits in his wheelchair at Starbase 11 and relives some of his past adventures. In “The Lights in the Sky” Shahna is now Triskelion’s ambassador, and she’s heading to Earth for an important meeting — but she always wants to see her old friend James T. Kirk. In “Reflections” at the moment of Kirk’s death on Veridian III the three Organians take him on an It’s a Wonderful Life-like tour of what might have been.
This anthology is the result of a contest in which fans could submit stories and the winners would be published — only authors who had published a maximum of 2 stories were eligible. This contest and anthology series continued for 10 years.
In this 1st year Smith received thousands of stories — thus he was able to publish the best of the best in this volume.
Many stories are sequels to episodes, or anecdotes featuring beloved characters. The stories are from the 1st 4 Star Trek series.
You get to see what Data is thinking during 1 important second, Barclay’s first command, Picard with a Prime Directive dilemma, Picard’s first meeting with Guinan, Q facing the destruction of humanity by the Borg, the Enterprise-D’s computer having an adventure of its own, Sisko meeting the Metrons (who made Kirk fight the Gorn), and Janeway meeting David Bailey who’s still hanging out with Balok.
One author, Dayton Ward, has gone on to publish a bunch of Star Trek books.
I’ve read 2 novels by Smith and 3 anthologies he edited.