( * Two were selected.)
First off, download the whole book from Tranquility Press right here for free.
Rewind with me to August of '25. I was unemployed and the job search was going ... swell. Just swell. OK, it was not going swell. Whatever. I was ruminating on an idea or three for my next creative endeavors when I happened across a post by Tranquility Press on BSky. They were accepting submissions for a Dominion War writing project. The deadline was just a few days away.
The writing prompt was simple but thought-provoking. One day in the middle of the Dominion War. Not focusing on the major characters or anything ... just a day in the life. Of anyone.
I think I went for a walk in the neighborhood and pretty quickly had an idea for and worked out the basics of my first story, "Loading Torpedoes," by the time I got home.
(You can read "Loading Torpedoes" below.)
I banged it out quickly. Just a few hours for the first pass and then another pass or three in the following days. I think it turned out well.
As I wrote "Torpedoes," I had an idea for another story. An interrogation of a Vorta series of clones by a Romulan operative who was tired of the whole thing. Obviously, that became "Jolan Tru All Over Again." I incorporated some Romulan lore created for Picard and threw in references to several events in Deep Space Nine's history around that time ... it's a fun story of two professionals trying to get at truths the other doesn't want to reveal. Time is too short, of course, for progress to be made. Writing this one took a bit longer as I kept wanting to adjust the dialogue, make it funnier here, hint at something else there ... Reading it in its final form made me want another pass, but that's OK.
(I might have caught the mistake I made ... did you spot it?)
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| Art by Radinka Daynara |
At some point while writing "Jolan Tru," I had another idea. Something with Klingons. I looked at a map of the Galaxy used on the series and spotted a little spot inside the Empire but near Federation space, so I had the thought that a colony there could be blended ... humans and Klingons together. Far from the war in the Beta Quadrant but the war wasn't far from their minds. That, of course, became "naD tetlh."
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| Art by Mika Kurzmann-Abrams |
Like "Torpedoes," writing this one went very quickly. The characters were fully formed in my head for whatever reason. It was almost like I only had to transcribe what happened and what they said. When the first pass was done, it was just about done-done. Subsequent passes only tidied things up, made new word choices, and the like. When it was done, it was immediately my favorite.
While writing that, I had the thought that I should do something with the "bad guys." And I had a germ of an idea: a disgraced Jem'Hadar unit trying to regain their status, trying to regain their lives as only victory could. It took another day, but I wrote "To Be the First." A slight story, to be sure, intended as mostly an action piece with the Jem'Hadar we follow trying to survive a harsh planet and win the favor of the Founders.
With four stories now complete, I sent them off to Tranquility ... only to then see that they had extended the deadline. Oh well. A few months later, I got the good news that two had been selected. I think they made the right choices.
To this day, I don't know what creative alchemy was going on and how I was able to crank out four complete tales in so short a span of time. I wish I could bottle it and partake of it now and then.
Thanks to the editorial people and judges at Tranquility Press who chose my stories. Thanks also to the two artists who depicted my characters (as seen above). It's been fun.
So, what are we writing about next?
(To read "Loading Torpedoes" and "To Be the First," click the JUMP)
