Joel Shepherd

In the bestselling tradition of Best Destiny, Sarek, Q-Squared, and Federation, Pocket Books presents the latest in a series of epic Star Trek hardcovers -- Crossover -- written by Michael Jan Friedman, the author of the smash-hit hardcovers Reunion and Shadows on the Sun. Once a violent, primitive race, Vulcans renounced brutality and their warlike nature for logic. But a small faction established the Romulan Empire, where the old Vulcan way flourished. Now, deep in Romulan territory, an underground movement to reunite two worlds of common ancestry but conflicting ideologies is underway -- a reunion some have waited a lifetime to see and others would give their lives to stop. Continuing the mission he began in "Unification," Starfleet Ambassador Spock endeavors to impart the logic of the Vulcan way to a small band of Romulans eager to unite the Romulan Empire and the planet Vulcan. But unbeknownst to them, a Romulan spy has joined the ranks disguised as a Unification sympathizer. Deceived by this traitor, Spock and his students are taken hostage. Fearful that Spock's knowledge of Federation security will fall into enemy hands, Starfleet dispatches its best ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-D, and most respected captain, Jean-Luc Picard, to secure the hostages' release. Spock's former shipmate from the original Starship Enterprise, Ambassador McCoy -- over one hundred forty years old, but still as feisty as ever -- is brought in to consult on the negotiations. Their situation is further complicated when Captain Montgomery Scott confiscates an out-of-service starship and effects his own daring rescue of Spock. Picard must now find a way to preserve the Federation's security and prevent a war while treading a mindfield of danger and deadly Romulan politics that threaten his ship, his crew, and the Federation he serves.

Darrell Miller was running from the ugliness his existence had become, from the men who knew what he’d seen. He found refuge from his terror in the last place he expected—a church. With the kind of people he’d never known before, people whose lives would intertwine with his in a special and most unexpected way. . . . Jenny, who'd see to it that her precious baby was welcomed into this world with love and joy, even if its father turned away from them both. Dorothy, who counted desperately on faith to reshape her identity now that years of striving to be the perfect friend, wife and mother had been made meaningless by four little words: “I want a divorce.” Joe, a friend to anyone in need, always ready to reach out a helping hand. If only he could find a way to share his belief that love and a faith in God could get anyone through the dark hours, that the Lord’s house was one place every soul could lay down the world’s troubles and look up with shining hope to find a safe and glorious . . . HAVEN

"The adventures of Cassandra "Sandy" Kresnov, the ultimate synthetic soldier who was made by the League, but defected to her former enemy, the Federation. Explosive action sequences and a focus on character make the Cassandra Kresnov novels unique in SF"-- Cassandra Kresnov is a highly advanced hunter-killer android. When she discovers that the technology that created her has been misused in her former home and now threatens all humanity with catastrophe, she returns home to Callay, and finds that other Federation member worlds, exhausted by the previous thirty-year-war against the League, are unwilling to risk the confrontation that a solution may require.

"A quarter of a million people die in the destruction of the moon Cresta. The League civil war is accelerating out of control, but projections indicate that as their technologically induced sociological dysfunction continues, all of humanity may face a similar fate. In the aftermath of Cresta's destruction, Sandy Kresnov discovers the alien Talee operative Cai in Tanusha, there to learn just how far the technologically-induced insanity has gone. The Talee have seen this before, and they are terrified of anything threatening a recurrence. Meanwhile, Sandy's old nemesis Renaldo Takewashi, the self-proclaimed "father" of synthetic intelligence, comes to the Federation seeking asylum. Talewashi may even have a cure--previously unknown Talee technology implanted into a human child subject--Sandy's little boy, Kiril. But it is exactly this technology that the Talee fear, and they will exterminate anyone caught using it. Now, Sandy must fight to save her family from a terrible new threat, but doing so may plunge humanity into another destructive war between humans, or worse, against the massively-advanced Talee. And what final secret are the Talee protecting about the origins of synthetic humans like Sandy that could either liberate Sandy's fellow synthetics from bondage or spell disaster for all humanity? "-- "The adventures of the ultimate synthetic soldier who was made by the League, but defected to her former enemy, the Federation. Explosive action sequences and a focus on character make the Cassandra Kresnov novels unique in SF"--