This newest volume of Strange New Worlds features original Star Trek®, Star Trek: The Next Generation ®, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine®, Star Trek: Voyager®, and Star Trek: Enterprise™ stories written by Star Trek fans, for Star Trek fans! Each of these stories features our favorite Trek characters in new and adventurous situations. In this anthology, we get to experience a new version of the Kobayashi Maru, feel what it's like to be inside the Borg collective, delight in tasting new foods, and encourage Starfleet's future. This year's Strange New Worlds winners encompass newcomers and veterans alike, including Alan James Garbers, Kevin Lauderdale, Kevin Andrew Hosey, Paul C. Tseng, Kevin G. Summers, Sarah A. Seaborne, John Takis, Dan C. Duval, Amy Vincent, David DeLee, Muri McCage, Susan S. McCrackin, M.C. Demarco, Annie Reed, Amy Sisson, J.B. Stevens, Robert Burke Richardson, Lorraine Anderson, A. Rhea King, Derrek Tyler Attico, Geoffrey Thorne, and Paul J. Kaplan.

The tales featured in Strange New Worlds rocket readers across the length and breadth of Federation time and space, from Captain Jonathan Archer's first exploration of the galaxy on board the very first Starship Enterprise through to Captain Picard's tenure on the USS Enterprise 1701-D - and beyond. Here you can read a fresh and original take on Captain Benjamin Sisko's role on Deep Space Nine, Captain Kathryn Janeway's homeward journey with the crew of the Starship Voyager, Captain Archer's encounters with the Xindi - and many more ports of call along the way. Strange New Worlds VIII includes stories from all five Star Trek incarnations: Star Trek: The Original Series Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.

The picture on the front cover may need a word of explanation. Why should the author appear holding a copy of one of his books? I hope this is not an indication of vanity in my case. I plead that the issue at stake here is reflexivity. After a while authors may find themselves reading long forgotten passages they have written and thus become the critics of their own works. Inevitably they will fault with lapses of style and inept or colourless forms of expression. On the other hand they may find the occasional felicitous turn of phrase and even purple passages among long screeds of otherwise mediocre prose. Why did these passages go under and what can be done to bring them to the surface to the possible gratification and enrichment of the reading public?

Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology features twelve fat-positive horror tales of people who come into their own, celebrate their curves, and save the day. There are babysitters and bakers, thieves and roller derby stars. Young women unsure about their bodies meet demons and water spirits who offer assistance–in their own way, of course. Danger lurks in hospitals, in the mysterious occult shop in the local mall, and in a house filled with cats. Campers, trash collectors, and house flippers alike uncover nasty secrets underground. A myriad of horrors await you–none of which comes at the expense of fat bodies. It’s time to reclaim the "f" word.

The crossword companion with a contemporary edge: a hip, one-of-a-kind reference that offers up-to-date terms, names in the news, facts about pop culture, and other tidbits that comprise most puzzles today.

Original puzzles for both beginners and experts: chess word puzzles, design-onyms, rhymed double crostics, addle letter anagrams, silly syllables, quadruple triplets, double horizontals, alphagram puzzles, linkogram lapwords, lapword triplets, dual lapword sixes, more. Most solutions can be written directly in the book. Full solutions. 196 figures.