I’ve tried this trick before — doesn’t Apple usually take away the premium versions of older iPhone models after announcing the new ones, in order to drive customers to the new products?

As usual, io9 fails to list a new Star Trek novel: Star Trek: The Next Generation – Collateral Damage (October 8)

You forgot to list THE IRON CODEX, Book Two of the Dark Arts series by New York Times bestselling author David Mack (i.e., moi) coming from Tor Books on January 15 in trade paperback, eBook, and digital audiobook:

We saw the TNG-era Mirror Universe in several episodes of Deep Space Nine. There also were several Star Trek Mirror Universe novels that continued the MU storyline after the end of DS9. (Full disclosure: I might have written a few of them…)

Syfy is a cable channel, not a broadcast channel. FCC content regulations do not apply to Syfy.

And while everyone is distracted by the Tony Stark rogues’ gallery, this guy flies off with the armor, reverse-engineers it, and re-sells cheap knock-offs on the black market.

One tiny correction: the correct spelling of the ship’s name is Shenzhou (note the H following the Z).

No, Kirsten isn’t an idiot. She is a New York Times bestselling Star Trek novelist, and one of the most talented writers I know.

If you want to find out why the crews of the Discovery and the Shenzhou aren’t wearing those snazzy blue and gold turtleneck uniforms, you’ll just have to buy a copy of the first Star Trek: Discovery novel, Desperate Hours, which has a bit that explains that detail.

It’s not ideal, no. But there is plenty of precedent for officers of the line (or, as I believe the U.S. navy currently refers to them, Fully Warfare Qualified Unrestricted Line (URL) Officers) of lesser rank having operational authority over higher-ranked personnel lacking that designation.

Lieutenant Commander is a rank; first officer is a billet (job function). The two are not necessarily linked. An officer can fill the XO billet without necessarily being the second-highest ranking officer on a ship. It is possible, for instance, for the XO of a ship to be a lieutenant, and its chief medical officer a…

I think they’re pretty good, but mine is a heavily biased opinion. ;-)

Thanks, amigo!

This shot from the original Independence Day.

I grew up loving both Star Trek and Star Wars. Thanks to syndicated reruns, Star Trek was the first to imprint itself upon my psyche, but that in no way diminished my wonder upon seeing the first Star Wars film in May 1977.

I think the really killer sentence in this whole mess is this one:

Let’s never forget 1989’s underwater monster/alien three-peat: Leviathan, DeepStar Six, and The Abyss.

A+B cross together with torch = 2 minutes

All interesting questions — many of which Greg Cox and I endeavored to answer in our two tie-in novels for The 4400, which we crafted to serve as an unofficial "series finale" tale.

I wish we lived in a world where Rachel McAdams had played Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight instead of Katie Holmes and Maggie Gyllenhaal, respectively.