49: Deconstructing Kathy

Kirsten Beyer: Protectors. Since leaving television, Star Trek: Voyager has grown into the rich story that it always had the potential to deliver. Through the deft pen of author Kirsten Beyer, the characters have evolved, the stakes have been raised, and the overall depth of Voyager's world has grown. Her latest novel, Protectors, picks up after the destruction of four fleet vessels at the hands of the Omega Continuum. In the story, the U.S.S. Voyager and the U.S.S. Demeter set course for a region of the Delta Quadrant far beyond anything previously explored. But it isn't just space that is explored. Upon her return from the dead, Janeway must face the consequences of her past actions. In this episode of Literary Treks hosts Matthew Rushing and Christopher Jones are joined by Kirsten to discuss the writing of Protectors, the process of tearing down Janeway and building her back up, the evolution of Chakotay and Paris, and what it is like to write Star Trek stories that are displaced in time from the rest of the 24th-century literature. Plus, in our news segment, we learn about a new Department of Temporal Investigations story and two new Enterprise novels—all coming to us from Christopher L. Bennett—and we review Star Trek Ongoing #29, Parallel Lives, Part I.