Well, I guess “next” is something of a misnomer, as it’s actually the second of two Star Trek: The Next Generation novels I’ve got coming out in 2017. Given that we’ll be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the TNG television series, I think that’s pretty dang cool, if I do say so myself.

(Wait…what? Thirty damned years? How the hell did that happen? Seems like just last month that I was sitting around in a barracks TV room, watching the premiere of “Encounter at Farpoint.”)

Anyway….

After Headlong Flight comes along in January, my next at bat for Pocket Books will be Hearts and Minds, which now has an official publication date of May 30th. What’s it about? Hey, I’m glad you asked:

An all-new adventure from the shadows of future history!

2031: United States Air Force fighter jets shoot down an unidentified spacecraft and take its crew into custody. Soon, it’s learned that the ship is one of several dispatched across space by an alien species, the Eizand, to search for a new home before their own world becomes uninhabitable. Fearing extraterrestrial invasion, government and military agencies which for more than eighty years have operated in secret swing into action, charged with protecting humanity no matter the cost…

2386: Continuing their exploration of the Odyssean Pass, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise discover what they at first believe is a previously uncharted world, with a civilization still recovering from the effects of global nuclear war. An astonishing priority message from Starfleet Command warns that there’s more to this planet than meets the eye, and Picard soon realizes that the mysteries of this world may well weave through centuries of undisclosed human history…

As savvy readers may have already surmised, Hearts and Minds does indeed link to my earlier novels From History’s Shadow and Elusive Salvation. How thick are the tendrils connecting this story to those earlier tales? You’ll just have to wait and see.

Amazon, and Barnes and Noble are already showing pre-order links, or you could also pre-order it through your favorite local/independent bookseller. I’m rather fond of that latter option, myself.

So, have at it, yo! Meanwhile, I’ll be sitting here in the corner, muttering to myself and wondering how Star Trek: The Next Generation is already thirty years old.

Yeesh.