Prophecy and Change (2003)

Of the various Star Trek television series that have aired over the years, my favorite is Deep Space Nine. Unlike the rest, this series had an engaging backstory, intrigue, and a little mysticism thrown in for good measure. I was disappointed when the series ended, but evidently others feel the same way. A host of authors have continued the DS9 saga in print and this collection of short stories features their work. Read it.

Of particular interest are the stories by Andrew J. Robinson, the actor who plays Garak, Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels, and Jeffrey Lang.

This book, part of the tenth-anniversary DS9 celebration, was edited by Marco Palmieri and published in trade paperback by Pocket Books. ( )

This is an anthology of ten longish stories focusing on the characters of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine set from right after the pilot episode "Emissary" to well after the end of the series in the aftermath of the Dominion War. I find that Star Trek pro-fiction can be rather hit or miss--and at first I thought this would be a miss. Editors usually choose their strongest story to open an anthology, hoping those taking a look will be pulled in. I wasn't taken with Summer's "Ha'mara" and left it thinking that if this were a novel, I might have stopped here, but being an anthology, the other entries might prove stronger--and after all, going by series chronological order as this book was, this being the first didn't mean this was the best the anthology had to offer. I was in the middle of the Martin and Magels' "The Orb of Opportunity," centered on Nog, when I decided that rather than putting the book down, I could just skip to the next story. The next story "Broken Oaths" about Bashir and O'Brien and a crises in their friendship was in my estimation just okay.

It says a lot about how strong were almost all the following stories that I wound up rating the book so highly. I adored "...Loved I Honor More" a humorous story about Quark and his Klingon lady love. "Three Sides to Every Story" is a poignant tale about a friendship between Ziyal and Jake during the Dominion occupation of the station. I very much liked the thoughtful Jarman story, "The Devil You Know" centered on Jadzia--and the ending was both perfect for the story and ironically poignant given Jadzia's fate. Lang's "Foundlings" was another thoughtful story and deft character portrait--and as fitting concerning a story centered on Odo, a well-done mystery. Thorne's "Chiascuro" was not only a good Ezri story, but featured the strongest use of science fiction elements in the book. I thought McCormack's "Face Value" the standout story in the book, the one that provoked the greatest emotional reaction--the ending both gave me chills and made me choke up at the same time. I didn't feel Robinson's "The Calling" was a strong closer. Centered on Garak and written by the actor who played him, it was based on a post-Deep Space Nine novel by Robinson, and it may be that not having read that book blunted it's impact, that this just isn't a story that can stand on its own.

Overall I wouldn't say this is as strong as the other Deep Space Nine anthology edited by Palmieri I just read, The Lives of Dax--but ultimately, there were some fine stories here that raised it for me to a keeper. ( )