I got an email about a month ago from my friend and novelist David Mack, informing me that (1) I was a character in his latest Star Trek novel and that (2) I died in a particularly gruesome fashion. Thus fulfilling a fond wish of mine to be a redshirt in Star Trek.
I rushed out and purchased Star Trek Vanguard: Reap the Whirlwind, but only today got around to finishing it. It’s a very entertaining read, even if you aren’t killed in it, I have to say. Vanguard is full of what makes Star Trek great: seemingly omnipotent beings, Klingon bravado, technobabble, and hot alien babes.
I like how Star Trek novels give you a wider view of the Star Trek universe than just the single ship perspective of the television series and movies. And you read things in the novels that you wouldn’t imagine in the series, like vicious combat scenes or steamy sex between characters.
My character was extremely short-lived, I have to say. A lifespan of barely four pages. But I’m proud that Rik Panganiban, Senior Aide to New Boulder Colony President Jean Vinueza on Gamma Tauri IV, served with distinction — until his bloody and calamitous demise only a couple of paragraphs later.
I wouldn’t have it any other way… Okay, maybe to get turned into a borg.
UPDATE 8/7/07: Here is an excellent statistical analysis of your odds of survival as a crewmember on the Enterprise. Excellent work, Matt Bailey!
Nah, you can be a borg any time you like in SL! A gruesome death in a novel is much more memorable.
He’s Dead Jim.
Wow… Getting redshirted is definitely something for the ol’ resume. Very cool.
I’m so jealous, I want to be redshirted!!