Somewhere to Belong

Interview with author Dayton Ward

May 30, 2023

Welcome to Star Trekking — random intersections in the final frontier.

Dayton Ward is no stranger to Star Trek fans. He’s the author of numerous Trek novels and associated works - I love love love his Kirk-Fu Manual.

And his travel guides.

He also wrote the second original Discovery novel, Drastic Measures, a look at prime universe Georgiou and Lorca about ten years before the Battle at the Binary Stars.

Dayton returns to Discovery today with the release of his brand new novel, Somewhere to Belong.

I asked Dayton to tell us about this new adventure.

First off, tell us a little about the general plot and when it takes place - within the timeline of season four or after?

It actually takes place between Seasons 3 and 4. After Discovery’s arrival in the 32^nd century and being plunged into everything the future throws at them, Captain Burnham and her crew finally get a chance to acclimate to their new reality. Of course we need a story beyond all of that, so Admiral Vance gives them what starts as a low-key mission which naturally doesn’t stay low-key for very long. Instead, it provides them with an unexpected opportunity to reunite with an interesting aspect of their lives back in the 23^rd century.

And then things go off the rails as they tend to do.

This is your second Discovery novel, but the first was more of a prologue to the series proper. How is it different playing in the full Discovery toybox? What new (to you) characters were the most fun to explore?

This was my first time being able to take advantage of the entire Discovery cast, as well as having the story set during the events of the TV series. Making sure I got the characters “right” presented a challenge, because you’re always aiming for them to sound and act as they do on screen and while embodied by their respective actors. I want you to hear Sonequa Martin-Green or Anthony Rapp or even Oded Fehr along with everyone else. The story’s premise allowed for a lot of introspection from various characters, which let me get into their heads a bit, so to speak. It’s ultimately up to the readers to decide if I got everyone right, but I really enjoyed the chance to write dialogue for Hugh Culber, Sylvia Tilly, and especially Jett Reno. We really don’t deserve Tig Notaro.

Maybe this is part of that last question, but the time jump - 900 years into the "future" - opens up what I think could be a whole new set of challenges. How did you deal with coming up with more futuristic tech than our "regular" Trek future?

Well, lucky for me the Discovery show writers already did the heavy lifting in that department. My job was to make sure I correctly evoked the new tech introduced in Season 3. In a few cases it meant taking the time to explain how some of it worked. Example, the programmable matter phasers that assemble themselves with a flick of the wrist, or the holographic tricorder projected from a communicator badge. I have to be honest and confess that I sometimes caught myself giving a character an old-school communicator they had to flip open, or reaching for a phaser on their hip, that sort of thing. Then there are the personal transporters built into the combadges which are certainly cool but then you realize you don’t need a scene with two characters talking on their way to a transporter room. In that regard, it’s the same sort of nuance I’d have to remember when shifting gears between an original series story and a Next Generation tale.

This is an exciting time to be a Trek fan, with so many new shows and characters. What other current show would you love to get a chance to write a novel for?

I’d write for any or all of them if opportunity presented itself. Strange New Worlds is a no-brainer, as I love the 23^rd century era of Star Trek. Elsewhere, Kevin and I have kicked around a couple of Lower Decks ideas, though I confess I don’t see that show translating very well to a 100,000-word novel. Prodigy is aimed at a younger audience and I think the young reader novels they’re currently developing are the right approach for the moment. Even Picard left things on the table I’d love to pick up and run with, and I’m not even talking about the obvious door they left open at the end of that series. As I’ve told my editors at Simon & Schuster: “I have thoughts!” I guess we’ll see what we see.

MEANWHILE

Our friend Lee Sargent launched a sweet new project - making skateboard decks. I mean come on, I don’t skateboard but I sure want one of these.

“I designed a couple as birthday presents and really enjoyed doing them and the end results were fantastic,” Lee said about the skateboards on his Patreon, “so this is a new phase for me.”

The first one is TOS, but he teases a TNG design coming next week. Keep an eye on this space.