Star Trek: Strange New Worlds III
{5/5} “When the bad memories rear up, I check to see if they have any relevance to my present circumstances. If they do, I learn whatever lesson they have to teach me. If they don’t, I summon happy thoughts and overwhelm the sadness, drowning my sorrows in joy.” (from “Dorian’s Diary”)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds III edited by Dean Wesley Smith, published in 2000
In “If I Lose Thee…” Uhura goes through the Guardian of Forever to rescue a historian and while in Elizabethan England she meets William Shakespeare. In “Family Matters” Spock’s cousin Elizabeth is in a coma, and only he might be able to save her — with a dangerous mind meld. In “Out of the Box, Thinking” Reg Barclay asks the holo-Moriarty for his help when virtually the whole crew has been knocked out.
The stories are often sequels to episodes or events that fit within episodes or movies. Many of them are absolutely stunning.
How does TOS fit in with the life of William Shakespeare? In a way that will astonish you.
We find out how Guinan felt after leaving the Nexus, how Richard Castillo of the Enterprise-C felt after the battle with the Romulans, how Riker’s ancestor Thaddius met Quinn of the Q Continuum in 1864, how Ezri’s first days joined with the Dax symbiont went, and how Nog fared on the Kobayashi Maru test as a Starfleet cadet.
Dayton Ward, after writing stories in the 1st 3 volumes of this anthology series, went on to be one of the regular Star Trek authors of the last 20 years.
I’ve read 7 novels by Smith plus 4 anthologies he edited. I previously reviewed the novel he wrote with his wife Star Trek: Voyager — The Escape.
The previous anthology in this series is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds II.