William Shatner is the author of nine Star Trek ® novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Ashes of Eden and The Return. He is also the author of several nonfiction books, including Get a Life! and I'm Working on That. In addition to his role as Captain James T. Kirk, he stars as Denny Crane in the hit television series from David E. Kelley, Boston Legal -- a role for which he has won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. More information is available at williamshatner.com.

Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens are the authors of more than thirty books, including numerous New York Times bestselling Star Trek novels. Their newest novel of suspense, Freefall, is a follow-up to their Los Angeles Times bestseller, Icefire, and is set against the political intrigue and historical conspiracy surrounding the next race to the Moon.

In keeping with their interest in both the reality of space exploration and the science fiction that helps inspire it, in 2003 Judith and Garfield were invited to join a NASA Space Policy Workshop for the development of NASA's new goals as put forth in the agency's 2004 Vision for Space Exploration. Then, for the 2004 television season, the couple joined the writing staff of Star Trek: Enterprise as executive story editors. For more information, please visit www.reeves-stevens.com.

No one knows Captain James T. Kirk better than William Shatner, who portrayed him throughout Star Trek, the Original Series, and seven subsequent Star Trek feature films, making him in the process one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable science fiction characters on the planet. Since then, William Shatner has continued to explore and expand the career of Captain Kirk in no less than nine successful Star Trek novels. Now he turns his attention to the one part of Kirk's backstory that still remains a tantalising mystery, and one that his fans have always wanted to read - his formative years at Starfleet Academy.