David Alan Mack is a

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

best known for his freelance ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' novels. Mack also has had a ''Star Trek'' script produced, and worked on a ''Star Trek''

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

Early career

Mack attended

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...

as an undergraduate from 1987 to 1991. There he majored in

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and

television production A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

and

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, devel ...

as well as writing for the student-run comedy magazine, '' The Plague''. After receiving several rejections on early spec-script submissions to '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', Mack teamed up with

John J. Ordover John J. Ordover Is a New York Area stand-up comic, and is the American founder and chief executive officer of JJO Marketing, a digital art gallery owner, and is best known for being an editor at Pocket Books from 1992 to 2003 overseeing the ''Star ...

, then an editor in

Pocket Books Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books. History Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing in ...

' ''Star Trek'' Department. Working together, the pair combined Ordover's ability to arrange pitch meetings with the shows' producers with Mack's training in screenwriting."TrekNation interview with David Mack"
by Jacqueline Bundy, July 12, 2004, accessed March 31, 2009. In 1995, the pair made their first story sale, to '' Star Trek: Voyager'', though the project was never produced. A few weeks later they made another sale, this time to ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', for the fourth-season episode " Starship Down". Another story pitched by the pair during that same meeting was bought three years later, as the basis for the seventh-season episode "

It's Only a Paper Moon "It's Only a Paper Moon" is a popular song published in 1933 with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose. Background It was originally titled "If You Believed in Me", but later went by the more popular title "It's On ...

", for which the pair received a "story by" credit. During the 1990s, Mack performed freelance editorial work for Pocket Books. That work led to Mack being invited to draft a 5,000-word supplement for

John Vornholt John Blair Vornholt (born February 14, 1951) is an American author, screenwriter and journalist. As an author, he has written numerous media tie-ins, including many ''Star Trek'' novels. As a screenwriter, he worked on several animated children ...

's novel ''The Genesis Wave, Book One'', which in turn earned Mack an invitation in 2000 to write his own first full-length ''Star Trek'' book. Mack and Ordover wrote the four-part ''Deep Space Nine''/''Next Generation''

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

''Divided We Fall'' for

WildStorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wilds ...

. With Keith R.A. DeCandido, Mack co-wrote the two-part '' Starfleet Corps of Engineers'' (SCE)

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

story ''Invincible''.

Solo work

Mack's first solo project was the two-part SCE e-book novel ''Wildfire''. His other SCE e-books are ''Failsafe'' and ''Small World''. He next wrote the

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

"Waiting for G'Doh, or, How I Learned to Stop Moving and Hate People" for the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

''Star Trek: New Frontier: No Limits''; and "Twilight's Wrath" for the anthology ''Star Trek: Tales of the Dominion War''. Mack's first direct-to-paperback novels were a ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' duology: ''A Time To Kill'' and ''A Time To Heal''. Mack also wrote ''

Harbinger A harbinger is a forerunner or forewarning, but may also refer to: Companies * Harbinger Corp., an Internet-oriented business * Harbinger Capital, a hedge fund * Harbinger Knowledge Products, an eLearning products and content services company ...

,'' the first volume of the '' Star Trek: Vanguard'' novel series, which he co-developed with editor Marco Palmieri. His first non-Star Trek novel was the

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...

spy-thriller ''Road of Bones'', published in October 2006 by Pocket Books. His first original novel, ''The Calling'', which he described as "a modern-day fantasy-thriller," was published in July 2009. Other work includes the ''Star Trek: New Frontier'' minipedia, the ''Starfleet Survival Guide'', the ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' post-finale novel ''

Warpath Warpath may refer to: *Great Indian Warpath, a network of trails in eastern North America used by Native Americans Games * ''Warpath'' (video game), a 2006 FPS video game by Digital Extremes for the PC and Xbox *'' Warpath: Jurassic Park'', a 199 ...

'', the Mirror Universe short novel ''The Sorrows of Empire'' (first published in 2007, with an expanded version scheduled for release in 2010), and the multi-series crossover trilogy '' Star Trek: Destiny''. Subsequent books by Mack include ''Collateral Damage''; ''More Beautiful Than Death'', one of four novels based on the film ''

''; and ''Zero Sum Game'', a part of the '' Star Trek: Typhon Pact'' series following ''Star Trek: Destiny''. In July 2019, Mack revealed that he had been hired by CBS to be a consultant on the ''Star Trek'' TV series '' Star Trek: Lower Decks'' and a second animated ''Trek'' series whose title he indicated was still "classified" at the time. TrekMovie.com noted that

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

was developing an animated ''Trek'' series. That series, '' Star Trek: Prodigy'', premiered on that network on October 28, 2021.

Bibliography

Print

* ''Star Trek: Divided We Fall'' (July–October 2001), four-issue comic-book miniseries, written with

. Published by

. Features characters from two television series, '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. *''Invincible, Book 1'' (September 2001). An

, co-written with Keith R. A. DeCandido. Part of the '' Starfleet Corps of Engineers'' series. *''Invincible, Book 2'' (October 2001). An e-book, co-written with Keith R. A. DeCandido. Part of the ''Starfleet Corps of Engineers'' series. * ''Star Trek: SCE, Book Two—Miracle Workers'' (February 2002), mass market paperback collection, contains the novella ''Invincible'', written with Keith R. A. DeCandido, which was originally published as an eBook in 2001. * ''Star Trek: The Starfleet Survival Guide'' (September 2002)(trade paperback). One of the

Star Trek reference books A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth mak ...

. *''Wildfire, Book 1 and Book 2'' (January 2003). An e-book in two parts, part of the '' Starfleet Corps of Engineers'' series. * '' Star Trek: New Frontier—No Limits'' (October 2003), trade paperback anthology. It contains the short story "Waiting for G'Doh, or, How I Learned to Stop Moving and Hate People", featuring Zak Kebron. *''Failsafe'' (May 2004). An e-book, part of the '' Starfleet Corps of Engineers'' series. * '' Star Trek: Tales of the Dominion War'' (August 2004), trade paperback anthology. Contains the short story "Twilight's Wrath", featuring Shinzon. * '' Star Trek: The Next Generation—A Time to Kill'' (July 2004) (mass market paperback). * '' Star Trek: The Next Generation—A Time to Heal'' (August 2004) (mass market paperback). * ''Star Trek: SCE, Book Six—Wildfire''(November 2004), mass market paperback collection. Contains the short novel ''Wildfire'' (originally published as an eBook, 2003). Part of the '' Starfleet Corps of Engineers'' series. * ''Star Trek: Vanguard—Harbinger'' (2005) (mass market paperback) * ''Wolverine—Road of Bones'' (2006) (mass market paperback) * ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—Warpath'' (2006) (mass market paperback) *''Star Trek: Corps of Engineers—Creative Couplings'' (2007), trade paperback collection, contains novella ''Small World'' (originally published as an eBook, 2005) *''Star Trek: Vanguard—Reap the Whirlwind'' (May 2007), (mass market paperback) *''Star Trek: Corps of Engineers—Grand Designs'' (2007), trade paperback collection, contains the novella ''Failsafe'' (originally published as an eBook, 2004) *''Star Trek: Mirror Universe—Glass Empires'' (2007), trade paperback anthology, contains the short novel ''The Sorrows of Empire'' * ''Star Trek Destiny'' *#''Gods of Night'' (October 2008) mass market paperback *#''Mere Mortals'' (November 2008) mass market paperback *#''Lost Souls'' (December 2008) mass market paperback * ''The 4400: Promises Broken'' (2009) (mass market paperback) * ''The Calling'' (2009) (trade paperback) * ''Star Trek: Vanguard—Precipice ''(November 2009) mass market paperback * ''Star Trek: Typhon Pact—Zero Sum Game'' (October 2010) mass market paperback * ''No Turning Back ''(November 2011) non-fiction, hardcover * ''Star Trek: Mirror Universe—Rise Like Lions ''(December 2011) mass market paperback * ''Star Trek: Vanguard—Storming Heaven ''(April 2012) mass market paperback * ''Star Trek: The Next Generation—Cold Equations'' *#''Persistence of Memory'' (October 2012) mass market paperback *#''Silent Weapons'' (November 2012) mass market paperback *#''The Body Electric ''(December 2012) mass market paperback * ''Star Trek: The Fall—Book Three: A Ceremony of Losses'' (November 2013) mass market paperback * ''24: Rogue'' (September 2015) trade paperback * ''Star Trek: Discovery—Desperate Hours'' (September 2017) mass market paperback * ''Star Trek: Titan—Fortune of War ''(December 2017) mass market paperback * Dark Arts series (original fiction) **''The Midnight Front'' (January 2018) hardcover **''The Iron Codex'' (January 2019) hardcover **''The Shadow Commission'' (August 2020) trade paperback * ''Collateral Damage (Star Trek: The Next Generation)'' (October 2019) paperback

Television

*''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''—"It's Only a Paper Moon" (1999), with John Ordover and Ronald D. Moore *''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''—"Starship Down" (1995), with John Ordover

Interactive media

*''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—Dominion Wars'' (2001), CD-ROM game (voice-over scripts) *''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—The Fallen'' (2000), CD-ROM game (interactive dialogue scripts, dialogue polishing) *''Star Trek—Starship Creator'' (1998), CD-ROM Simulator (character development)

References

External links

David Mack's Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mack, David Alan 21st-century American novelists American comics writers American male novelists American science fiction writers American male screenwriters Tisch School of the Arts alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American male writers