Second paragraph of third chapter:
The playhouse, like the rest of the place, had been built to Ben’s design. From spring onward (and it always seemed to be spring on Bajor), the doors folded back, so that you could play half inside, half outside. The cover of the trees was put to good use too, for when the sun was too hot. In the winter, the place became a snug little shelter, a cozy cabin, where hot chocolate could be drunk, and s’mores consumed. Right now, halfway through spring, the doors stood open, and Deborah’s game spilled out of the playroom onto the grass outside.
This is Una McCormack’s new book, to be published later this month; and in case you needed reminding, she is the Guest of Honour at Novacon this weekend. (I am afraid that this was the last unread book by Una McCormack on my shelves, so if you have just started reading in hopes of more Una-related content, you may have a long wait.)
The Peacemakers is a Deep Space Nine novel, which unfortunately means I’m not the target audience; I have read a spinoff novel by Robert Sheckley, and seen only the two episodes of Deep Space Nine where Sisko and colleagues are beamed back to 2024, but that’s it.
It doesn’t matter, because The Peacemakers is set some time after the end of the stories that we saw (well, that other people saw) on TV, and the central character is not Captain Benjamin Sisko, but his son Jason, an aspiring writer who is undertaking a visit to the conflict-riven world of Cardassia. There’s a lot of stuff in here that I loved. Jason’s experiences as a writer on the convention circuit must surely be partly inspired by the author’s real life observations. There is an intriguing plotline of him being spied on by his own side, and resisting the efforts of others to involve him in politics.
But in particular, the story really gets going with a cryptic archaeological site and an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, which also ties into the broader issues of cultural appropriation, commemorating the past and dealing with the legacy of conflict. It’s all tied up with the complex and tragic history of Cardassia, which is close enough to some real life situations that I know rather well. But the parallels are left for the reader to observe; there is no sledgehammer symbolism.
All in all I enjoyed this a lot, despite my general ignorance of Deep Space Nine. The Peacemakers is not out yet, but you can order it here.
Incidentally for fans of African history who don’t already know this, Julian Bashir, the doctor in the space station Deep Space Nine, is played by Alexander Siddig, who is a direct male-line descendant of the Mahdi, who defeated the British in Sudan in the 1880s. His first cousin Mariam al-Mahdi is a prominent opposition leader and former foreign minister.
