David Mack
WriterDavid Alan Mack (born12 May1969; age 56) served as co-writer for two episodes ofStar Trek: Deep Space Nine, and is a story consultant onStar Trek: Lower Decks andStar Trek: Prodigy.[1] Mack has also written manyStar Treknovels and comics.
Mack andJohn J. Ordover co-wrote the 1995Deep Space Nine episode "Starship Down" and the story treatment for the 1999 episode "It's Only a Paper Moon". They also collaborated on thecomic book mini-seriesStar Trek: Divided We Fall fromWildStorm Comics.
As of 2024, he has been nominated for elevenScribe Awards. Ten nominations have been in the "Best Novel – Speculative" category:The Sorrows of Empire in 2011,The Persistence of Memory in 2013,Disavowed in 2015,Long Shot in 2016,Desperate Hours in 2018,Collateral Damage in 2020 (which ultimately won the award),More Beautiful Than Death in 2021,Oblivion's Gate in 2022,Harm's Way in 2023, andFirewall in 2024 (which ultimately won the award). Additionally, in 2024 he was nominated and won the "Best Short Story" Scribe Award for the story "Lost and Founder", published inStar Trek Explorer issue 8.
He receivedDragon Award nominations in 2018 for his novelDesperate Hours and in 2022 for his novelOblivion's Gate, both in the category of "Best Media Tie-In Novel".
In 2014, David Mack,David R. George III, andKirsten Beyer approachedAlex Kurtzman andRoberto Orci's K/O Paper Products film production company, who by then had the license for televisionStar Trek, soon to developStar Trek: Discovery. Mack commented: "Back in December 2014, Kirsten Beyer, David R. George and I, we knew that K/O Paper Products had the license to produceStar Trek on television. We arranged to pitch to them our idea for aTrek TV series, not because we thought they'd buy our series, but because we wanted to prove to them that we were serious longform story thinkers and people who were very knowledgeable aboutStar Trek and could be of use to them. The meeting went extremely well, but, in the end, it turned out there was only one job to be had and three of us. Kirsten, because of her proximity being in L.A. and previous professional relationships she had with some folks who were involved in the show, was the most logical choice. She was the one they knew the best. They were most comfortable with her. She had the qualifications".[2]
Literature[]
Mack also wrote the dialogue for theDeep Space Ninevideo gamesThe Fallen andDominion Wars, and the character bios forStar Trek: Starship Creator.
His novels includeHarbinger andReap the Whirlwind, the first and third volumes of a newStar Trek novel series,Star Trek: Vanguard; theStar Trek: The Next Generation "Time to..." duologyA Time to Kill andA Time to Heal;Warpath, part of the popularDeep Space Nine relaunch series, and theStar Trek: Mirror Universe novella "The Sorrows of Empire". Mack also contributed the additional novella "Saturn's Children" under the pseudonymSarah Shaw.
Due to a mix-up in thePocket Books editorial department, Mack had been contracted to provide two stories in theStar Trek: Mirror Universe anthology collections. Since the offers could not be rescinded, the editors requested that Mack write one of the stories under a pseudonym, which he himself derived – Shaw. Mack noted that working under the pseudonym "freed me up, in a sense, to approachSaturn's Children with a different style. I wrote it much more quickly than I normally do, and by imagining I was a different author I ended up working from a differentmindset. It was an intriguing experience".[3]
He wrote the tongue-in-cheekreference workThe Starfleet Survival Guide in2002.
Mack has also worked withKeith R.A. DeCandido on theStar Trek: Starfleet Corps of EngineerseBook series, contributing the two-part novelsInvincible, Part One andPart Two andWildfire, Book 1 andBook 2, as well as the single volumesFailsafe andSmall World.
HisStar Trek short stories include theShinzon story "Twilight's Wrath" in theTales of the Dominion War anthology, and theZak Kebron story "Waiting for G'Doh, or, How I Learned to Stop Moving and Hate People", in theStar Trek: New Frontier anthologyNo Limits. Another short story – "For Want of a Nail" – appeared in the2009Mirror Universe anthologyShards and Shadows. He has also contributred short stories toStar Trek Explorer magazine, including "Lost and Founder" in its8th issue and "Sundering" in the digital subscriber edition of its9th issue.
Mack's most extensive project is the crossover trilogyStar Trek: Destiny, released in late2008, which featured characters from a number ofStar Trek series, and affected the story lines of most of the ongoing novel series.
2009 saw Mack pen the fifth novel in theVanguard series,Precipice, and theMirror Universe novelThe Sorrows of Empire (an expansion of his earlier novella, doubling the length of the original), as well as a tie-in novel toThe 4400.
Mack's later projects include the first novel in theStar Trek: Typhon Pact miniseries,Zero Sum Game, one of four novellas in theVanguard collectionDeclassified, and the culmination of the Memory Omega story line in theMirror Universe series,Rise Like Lions.
In early2010, his contribution to the series of books set afterStar Trek,More Beautiful Than Death, was placed "on hold" – along with the other planned releases in that series – following executive decisions at Pocket.[4]
On9 March2011, Mack revealed that he had signed contracts with Pocket Books for four moreTrek novels to be released in2012 – the eighth installment in theVanguard series,Storming Heaven, and theStar Trek: The Next Generation - Cold Equations trilogy.[5]
Mack wrote the firstStar Trek: Discoverytie-in novel,Desperate Hours. As part of the process of developing the novel, Mack wrote up profiles of theUSSShenzhou crew, which were shared with the actors playing those roles. The names ofKeyla Detmer,Troy Januzzi, andKamran Gant were also derived from those profiles.[6]
Bibliography[]
Writing credits[]
- DS9: "Starship Down" (writer, withJohn J. Ordover)
- DS9: "It's Only a Paper Moon" (story, withJohn J. Ordover)
Novels[]
Short stories/Novellas[]
- Tales of the Dominion War – "Twilight's Wrath"
- No Limits – "Waiting for G'Doh, or, How I Learned to Stop Moving and Hate People"
- Shards and Shadows – "For Want of a Nail"
- Declassified – "The Stars Look Down"
- Star Trek Explorer issue 8 – "Lost and Founder"
- Star Trek Explorer issue 9 (digital subscriber edition) – "Sundering"
Comics[]
Reference works[]
Video games[]
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen (dialog)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion Wars (dialog)
- Star Trek: Starship Creator (character biographies)
External links[]
- DavidMack.pro – official website
- David Mack atFacebook
- David Alan Mack atWikipedia
- David Mack atSF-Encyclopedia.com
- David Mack atMemory Beta, the wiki for licensedStar Trek works