Marco gave us all a pleasant surprise with these announcements:
1. The mass-market edition of THE LIVES OF DAX (originally published as a trade paperback in 1999), which will be reprinted under the new DS9 logo, identifying it as part of the relaunch.
To everyone who hasn’t read The Lives of Dax yet, buy it in mass-market in January! Great anthology, with some killer stories (literally!).
In thinking about The Lives of Dax, I’ve noticed there’s a sort-of Doctor Who connection. Tobin reminds me greatly of the second Doctor, and Joran is reminiscent of the sixth Doctor. (Interestingly, Tobin is the second Dax, and Joran is the sixth Dax.) I’ve thought about writing an essay on this, but the analysis doesn’t hold up–Jadzia, the eighth Dax, isn’t the gently naive fool the eighth Doctor is, and there’s no ninth Doctor (except for Rowan Atkinson, who really doesn’t count) to measure Ezri against. Quickly, these are the personality parallels I’ve noted:
Lela is the rebel against her society, like the first Doctor.
Tobin is the clown, like the second Doctor.
Emony is the physical one, like the third Doctor.
Audrid is the gothic one, like the fourth Doctor.
Torias is the self-sacrificing one, like the fifth Doctor.
Joran is the bombastic, unstable one, like the sixth Doctor.
Curzon is the manipulator and the diplomat, like the seventh Doctor.
And there it all falls apart. It’s not the best analysis, and it really does misread some of the hosts, but I thought it made for an interesting parallel between the two characters.
Heck, in The Lives of Dax, Ezri even got a regeneration story, like the Doctor would. 🙂
2. RISING SON by S.D. Perry. This mass-market book is “The Jake Novel,” a story that runs parallel to everything that’s occured in the DS9 relaunch since Avatar, and explains exactly what happened to him.
I can’t wait for this.
3. UNITY by S.D. Perry. This is the celebratory DS9 tenth anniversary hardcover novel. This is a landmark story featuring a few things a lot of people have been waiting for, plus some other things they may not be expecting. 🙂
Unity suggests a couple of things, based solely upon the title:
- Bajor joins the Federation.
- The relationship between Bajor and Cardassia, hinted at in Avatar, is explained.
- Ezri solves her mental stability problems, becoming a more unified personality.
Or it could be none of these. But just going from the title, any of these might be possible.
In any case, I’m looking forward to this.
In addition, there’ll be a celebratory all-DS9 anthology published later in the year, featuring stories set throughout the run of the TV series, by a variety of new and familiar authors. More information on this project to follow.
Excellent.