Una McCormack: The Way to the Stars. Sylvia Tilly has turned into a breakout character on the newest Star Trek series, Discovery. Sometimes awkward, sometimes silly, but always brilliant, Tilly brought a lot of humanity to Discovery's first season. But what was she like before becoming a Starfleet cadet, and what choices led her to joining Starfleet?

In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Bruce Gibson and Dan Gunther welcome author Una McCormack back to the show to discuss her latest novel, The Way to the Stars. We talk about the process of writing this novel, Tilly's relationship with her mother, her experiences in school, Tilly as a runaway, her impressions of Starfleet, the poor communication she experiences, and wrap up the discussion with where you can find Una online and what she is working on now.

In the news section, we talk about the upcoming Discovery novel The Enterprise War by John Jackson Miller, and judge the covers of two upcoming novels: The Captain's Oath by Christopher L. Bennett and The Antares Maelstrom by Greg Cox. We also talk about an upcoming comic series from IDW: TOS: Year Five, review issue #4 of Star Trek vs. Transformers, and take a look at some Babel Conference feedback on Literary Treks 255: The Hammock Planet: They Don't Have Butts.

News Discovery: The Enterprise War (00:02:48) TOS: The Captain's Chair Cover (00:06:00) TOS: The Antares Maelstrom Cover (00:08:42) TOS: Year Five from IDW in April (00:10:18) Star Trek vs. Transformers #4 Review (00:12:49) Listener Feedback (00:19:36)

Feature: Una McCormack Getting Started (00:24:58) Mothers and Daughters (00:31:17) Keeping Friends (00:39:19) Being a High Achiever (00:43:26) A Runaway Tilly (00:50:28) Your Name Matters (00:55:06) A Starfleet Career Path (00:59:32) Captain Yindi Holden (01:04:54) Poor Communications (01:08:02) Una's Favorite Novels (01:14:05) Other Projects (01:16:16) Final Thoughts (01:18:46)

Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson

Guest Una McCormack

Production Bruce Gibson (Editor and Producer) Dan Gunther (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer)