There is one genuinely exciting story in this book: the third prize winner, "Whatever You Do, Don't Read This story". Most of the other stories were either dull re-hashes of episodes (or briefly mentioned but unscreened incidents) from alternative view-points, or short and embarrassingly melodramatic vignettes. There were occasional points of interest: "Gift of the Mourners" contained an alien culture that was left without being rescued and enlightened by the Universal All American values of the USS Voyager. "Out of the Box, Thinking" was a plot-based story, which, after the gluey sentiment of several preceding stories, had a welcome vigour. "One of Forty-Seven" was an exciting display of imagery, but, as with many of the stories, petered out. Of course, this may be a flaw inherent to the rules of the competition, in which no major changes may be made to the Star Trek status quo. I know the talent is out there. I read fan fic. So why is this collection so unimpressive? Then again, the choice of the asinine "If I Lose Thee..." as the first prize winner makes me less than trusting of the editors' judgement. Of the two stars, one is for "Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Story".

This is the third installment of the on going series that the fans of TREK submit stories for publication. Strange New Worlds III is a good look into the talent of some of the fans and what their preception of the STAR TREK universe to be.

This volume contains 20 short stories and one is written in Klingon. The stories vary as to genre and are well written. As with other short stories, these help fill in some of the gaps to the story lines in films and televison series. And I must say that some are very inventive to say the least.

All in all, this collection of short stories is well worth your time in reading, as they are engaging, entertaining, and insightful. The fans know what they like to read and some talented fans know what to write. It is heart-warming to see new talent continue the dream of Gene Roddenberry. As long as there is fan involvement the dream will continue to grow and flurish.

Read this anthology and see the future writers of TREK evolve as they direct the course of TREK to new paths and fill in the gaps along the way. What an interesting future evolving on these pages, not only the storylines, but the grow to the authors themselves.

They say you should never judge a book by its cover and, boy is that the truth with this book. I had bought this book so I could learn the rules of the writing contest but for six months I never bothered to read it. It looked, on the outside, very campy and silly. I didn't want to admit to anyone that I would read such a book. Recently, however, I was home alone and bored. I had nothing new to read, so I took a look.

This book was great! A lot of credit must be given the editors who went through, they say, 10,000 submissions to come up with this book, the best of the lot. Star Trek III, Strange New Worlds, is broken into four parts to reflect the four different shows. From Star Trek to Voyager, we are treated to stories featuring all of our favorite characters.

I was most surprised by how consistently good the stories were. While there were one or two flops, most of the tales here are very interesting. About half of them were insights into stories we have already seen. So, for example, in the movie "First Contact" Lt. Hawk died after becoming a Borg. What really happened to him? Now we know. The other stories were totally originally.

My favorite stories were found in the Generations and Deep Space Nine Section. I especially liked the return of Mr. Barclay and Mr. Moriarty. My only real complaint, a small one, was my strong disagreement with the stories awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. The second place winner was great. The other two were not as good or original as many of the great finds in this book. Still, since most of the stories were so good, I can see how the editors could have made this mistake. "Strange New Worlds," misnamed since it is really about returning old familiar ones, is a fun read.

John (Now-That-I'm-An-Author) Dean's second book, which might be subtitled "More Cashing-In On My Notoriety, Quick While People Still Remember My Name!," presents a substantially greater volume of introspective navel-contemplation than does his first warp of reality, "Blind Ambition." Readers are treated to intriguing background about the Earl Butz joke, some marijuana use, and the personal creative eruption of a lifetime that yielded "Everything is different now," the final sentence in "Blind Ambition."

Before you buy any material from Mr. Dean, please read "Silent Coup" and ascertain, using the materials assembled by a couple of genuine hard-nosed investigative reporters, his true role in the Watergate episode. You will find that your first impression of Mr. Dean -- your initial gut reaction when you heard he was ratting on Richard Nixon -- was not as inaccurate as you later thought (though, as it turns out, for different reasons).

"Now that I'm an author, I'll wear my sweater draped around my neck and see if I can find a ghost writer (like Taylor Branch again) who can help me write down additional minutia about my life..."

John Dean's follow-on to Blind Ambition is an interesting self-examination punctuated with commentary on Dean's suspicions regarding the true identity of Bob Woodward's source Deep Throat. The latter is the reason the book sold (if it did) while the former obviously was Dean's motivation for writing the book.

I listened to rather than read the book. The recording was well done, and the topic lends itself to the book on tape approach. Dean's tone is conversational, although the material may be a bit impenetrable unless one has a basic working knowledge of Watergate and its players.

Dean's self-examination is illuminating not only of his own feelings but also of our media culture, which presumably has only gotten worse since this book was published 20 years ago. Dean's predictions about presidential scandals of the future and the media's handling of it were prescient. I would like to see a book by Dean on Monicagate.

Dean's analysis of the Deep Throat question is incisive. He starts with the obvious, but he also examines the obscure, behind the scenes players who may have had the information necessary to be Deep Throat. His commentary on the shoddiness of the Washington Post's reporting is a bit self-serving; he prefers to see himself as the one who broke the story. That said, it is a thoughtful and seemingly fair rebuttal of the conventional wisdom that "Woodstein" brought down the president.

All in all, a satisfying trip to an earlier time.

It has been several years since I read this book, however it was a very good follow up to John Dean's book on the Watergate affair and his role in it.

I have found that many times over the years after I read a book, and become intrigued with the main character's life, hoping for a sequel. This book filled that need for me.

John Dean is a very intersting, multi faceted, much misunderstood individual. Reading the second book, helps to understand him and his motivations in the Watergate affair.