MARCH 16, 2022 - Gene Roddenberry’s concept for Star Trek was that it would explore the human condition. To this end, many of the alien races showcased a particular human idiosyncracy, each one becoming a sort of monoculture, with one particular trait laid bare. The Klingons, being emblematic of the Soviet Union, were angry warriors, just as the Ferengi, those “Yankee traders” of space, were obsessed with accumulating wealth. And who in the galaxy is lazier than the Pakleds, who steal other races’ technology instead of developing their own? This was the premise of the anthology Star Trek: Seven Deadly Sins, which was released on this date in 2010.

In 2009, Simon & Schuster, who had been the license-holders for Star Trek books, games, and audio dramas for decades, decided it was high time to reorganize the business. Part of the cleanup plan was to consolidate the editorial staffs for two of their divisions, Pocket Books and Simon Spotlight Entertainment, into a single subsidiary publishing company. The result was Gallery Books.

Established in 1924, Pocket Books had published the first mass-market-sized books, convenient to carry in one’s pocket. The Gallery Books imprint was created to oversee all the hardcover and trade paperback business that Pocket Books and Simon Spotlight Entertainment had been publishing, allowing Pocket to return to its original mission statement of focusing on mass-market paperbacks and facilitating the phassing out of Simon Spotlight Entertainment altogether. (Although Simon & Schuster does still have a subsidiary called Simon Spotlight.)

The anthology Seven Deadly Sins had been scheduled for release by Pocket Books in 2009, but because of the merger of the two divisions, was delayed into the next year, making it one of Gallery Books’ first publications. The Seven Deadly Sins, as you may recall, is the Christian classification of vices, and the publishers found a Star Trek race to symbolize each one. According to the book’s blurb:

The pride of the Romulan Empire is laid bare in "The First Peer," by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore.

A Ferengi is measured by his acquisition of profit. "Reservoir Ferengi," by David A. McIntee, depicts the greed that drives that need.

The Cardassians live in a resource-poor system, surrounded by neighbors who have much more. The envy at the heart of Cardassian drive is "The Slow Knife," by James Swallow.

The Klingons have tried since the time of Kahless to harness their wrath with an honor code, but they haven't done so, as evidenced in "The Unhappy Ones," by Keith R.A. DeCandido.

Humans' darkest impulses run free in the Mirror Universe. "Freedom Angst," by Britta Burdett Dennison, illustrates the lust that drives many there.

The Borg's desire to add to their perfection is gluttonous and deadly in "Revenant," by Marc D. Giller.

To be a Pakled is to live to up to the ideal of sloth in "Work Is Hard," by Greg Cox.

The cover depicted a stained glass window, each pane of which showed one of the races written about within the volume. There were a number of familiar Trek authors featured, including Dayton Ward and Greg Cox, and a couple of fresh faces, including Marc D. Giller, who had never previously had any of his work published in the franchise.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of Star Trek: Seven Deadly Sins, either in trade paperback or Kindle form, follow the Amazon link, and enjoy!

Further Reading

Wikipedia: Gallery Books; Simon & Schuster

Memory Alpha: Star Trek: Seven Deadly Sins

Publisher’s Weekly: S&S Unites Pocket, SSE