''The 34th Rule'' (), published January 1, 1999, is a ''

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (abbreviated as ''DS9'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. The fourth series in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise, it originally aired in syndication from ...

'' novel written by

Armin Shimerman Armin Shimerman (born November 5, 1949) is an American actor and author. Early life Shimerman was born into a Jewish family in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, Lakewood, New Jersey, on November 5, 1949, the son of accountant Susan and house painte ...

and

David R. George III David R. George III is an American science fiction writer. His earliest ''Star Trek'' work was the '' Star Trek: Voyager'' episode "Prime Factors", and he has since written several novels set in the franchise, including ''The 34th Rule'', three bo ...

. The story in the novel was an allegory for the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War, and was inspired by George Takei's experiences during that period. It had originally been pitched as an episode to ''Deep Space Nine'', but was subsequently turned into a novel.

Plot

Quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...

is about to make an extraordinary deal, when he finds himself in the middle of a diplomatic crisis.

Grand Nagus Zek This is a list of secondary characters from the science fiction television series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Characters are ordered alphabetically by family name, and only characters who played a significant major role in the series are li ...

is refusing to sell one of the lost Orbs of the Prophets back to Bajor. In response, the Bajoran government cuts off all diplomatic ties with the Ferengi and outlaws all Ferengi businesses within its borders. Quark first loses his bar, and then is subsequently imprisoned. But he finds himself to be the only one who can prevent a war between his people and Bajor.

Development history

After

Eric A. Stillwell Eric A. Stillwell (born 1962, United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, USCAR) is a producer and writer who has worked on a number of television series, made-for-television movies, and motion pictures, including numerous ''Star Tr ...

and

successfully pitched to '' Star Trek: Voyager'' for the episode "

Prime Factors A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

", Stillwell and actor

pitched ideas to ''

''. Although they were unsuccessful, when Stillwell and George were asked for stories for ''Star Trek'' comic books they went through a series of pitches they had previous proposed for ''

'' and found a premise that Stillwell had based on George Takei's experiences of

Japanese American internment Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

during the Second World War. Shimerman suggested that a novel could be made of the idea but Stillwell was not interested and so Shimerman and George approached

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 ...

with the idea. The majority of the book was written by George, who said that Shimerman simply agreed with most of what he wrote. The two worked together on plotting out the story, which was intended to be a deliberate allegory for the Japanese Americans internment. The title was a reference to the

Ferengi The Ferengi () are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. They were devised in 1987 for the series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', played a prominent role in the following series '' St ...

Rules of Acquisition In the fictional '' Star Trek'' universe, the Rules of Acquisition are a collection of sacred business proverbs of the ultra-capitalist race known as the Ferengi. The first mention of rules in the ''Star Trek'' universe was in " The Nagus", a ...

, with the 34th rule stating "War is good for business". After work was completed on ''The 34th Rule'', George talked with another ''DS9'' actor, Andrew Robinson, about a potential book project. This went on to become '' A Stitch in Time''.

References

External links

The 34th Rule
a
Memory Beta
{{DEFAULTSORT:34th Rule, The 1999 American novels 1999 science fiction novels Novels based on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Pocket Books books