Fans of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are eagerly awaiting the release of the third season, as well as the announced but not yet filmed fourth.
But for the ones who just can’t wait, they can actually take a trip in time — way, way back to season 2 — with James Swallow’s new novel Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward The Night (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook).
In the following email interview, Swallow discusses what inspired and influenced this sci-fi space opera story.
To start, what is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward The Night about, and when and where does it take place in relation to the show and the previous Strange New Worlds novels The High Country by John Jackson Miller and Una McCormack’s Asylum?
In this novel, I’ve written an adventure story that touches on some elements of Star Trek‘s “untold” era. The storyline puts Captain Christopher Pike at the heart of a moral dilemma, it places first officer Una Chin-Riley in a head-to-head war of nerves with the ruthless commander of a Klingon warship who is out for blood, and it brings the Enterprise‘s ace helmswoman Erica Ortegas up against a face from her past and some testing questions about who she is and who she wants to be.
Where did you get the idea for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward The Night?
It’s a combination of a couple of things. Michael Clarke, a good friend of mine and a life-long Star Trek fan, was having one of those “what if” discussions about a particular episode of the original series, and he brought up an interesting problem that inspired one of the root causes of the drama in this novel — so thanks Mike for that idea!
I’ve also really enjoyed the character of Erica Ortegas on Strange New Worlds, so I wanted to write a story that digs into her background a bit.
You’ve written more than a dozen Star Trek novels. And while Toward The Night is the first connected to Strange New Worlds, it’s not the first you’ve written while the show in question was still in production. You previously wrote the Star Trek: Discovery novel Fear Itself and the Star Trek: Picard novel The Dark Veil. How does that change things from when you’re writing a novel based on a show that’s not on the air anymore like Star Trek: The Original Series: The Latter Fire or Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Stuff Of Dreams?
Writing tie-in fiction, Star Trek or otherwise, always means there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen when you’re working, a lot of people you have to keep happy. That’s doubly so on a project running in tandem with an ongoing show. Fortunately, those other books you mention mean I have a lot of experience working that way, so I knew what to expect going in.
The only real issue we ran into was the chronological placing of the story. Originally, it would have been set in the third season, but some timing concerns meant I had to move it back to earlier in Strange New Worlds‘ second year.
Also, is there any difference between writing a Star Trek novel based on Strange New Worlds versus Discovery or Picard? Because the show itself is a little different, not just in how it doesn’t tell a single story over a season, but it also has a somewhat lighter tone.
Absolutely. There’s certainly a general kind of “Trekkian” tone that all the shows have, but every series iteration has its own unique character and that has to be reflected in the tone of the tie-in fiction as well. Strange New Worlds definitely feels like it is harking back to the “Classic” era of the original series, so there’s some of that flavor, but it’s also its own thing. I really had a great time getting into it.
As I mentioned, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward The Night is not the first novel based on Strange New Worlds. But it’s also not the last. David Mack’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Ring Of Fire — which I’m going to assume has the Enterprise crew infected by that singing virus again, but this time a country music variant — will be out August 26th. In writing Towards The Night, did you ever get in touch with David to make sure you didn’t do anything that would contradict what he’s doing in his book, and vice versa?
No, we’ve all worked pretty much on our own with the Strange New Worlds novels. Before I got to work on Toward The Night, I did read John Jackson Miller’s The High Country, just to see how he had handled things, and I saw an early outline of Una McCormack’s Asylum. I’ve only read the blurb for Ring Of Fire, but I have no doubt it’ll be ace. One great thing about working with colleagues like John, Una, David and the rest, I know I’m in good company alongside strong storytellers.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a science fiction space opera show, though like all Star Trek shows, it also encompasses other genres. How do you describe Toward The Night, genre-wise?
It’s me writing what I like best: a pacey Star Trek action / adventure story with some heart and fun character stuff.
As I mentioned, you’ve written more than a dozen Star Trek novels prior to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward The Night. But you’ve also written novels based on video games [Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Dragonfire] as well as original novels like Nomad. Are there any other authors, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Toward The Night but not on anything else you’ve written?
The writers of the TV show set the tone the tie-in folks like me have to follow, so I’d say they have the biggest influence — people like Henry Alonso Myers, Kirsten Beyer, Robin Wasserman, Akiva Goldsmith, and all the rest of the Strange New Worlds writer’s room.
How about such non-literary influences as movies, TV shows, or games? Was Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward The Night influenced by any of those things? Aside from the show, of course.
There’s a little nod to Run Silent, Run Deep in some of the space battle scenes.
And then, to flip things around, do you think Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward The Night could work as an episode of the show?
I think it certainly could work as an episode, maybe with a few trims for budgetary reasons. With these sort of books, it’s always my intention to craft something that feels like an episode of the show.
So, is there anything else you think potential readers need to know about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward The Night?
If you’re a fan of Pike and Ortegas, this is a book for you; if you want to see Una single-handedly out-think a Klingon battle commander, if you like dangerous alien worlds, missing bits of Star Trek history and unexpected cameos, read on.
Finally, if someone reads Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward The Night, and it’s the first Star Trek novel of yours they’ve read, which of your previous ones would you suggest they check out next?
The Latter Fire is my original series novel with a similar kind of tone to Toward The Night. Or, if you want something with more of a Next Generation flavor, check out my Titan novels Synthesis and Sight Unseen.
