Star Trek will feature prominently at several upcoming science fiction conventions.

Shore Leave, which will take place outside Baltimore, Maryland this weekend, will feature Joanna Cassidy, who played T'Pol's mother T'Les on Enterprise; Malachi Throne, who appeared on both the original series as Commodore Mendez and The Next Generation as Senator Pardek; Chase Masterson, Deep Space Nine's Leeta; and William Windom, the original series' Commodore Matt Decker from "The Doomsday Machine."

In addition, Shore Leave will host numerous Star Trek book events including more than a dozen authors at various panels. Among the writers expected to be signing books are five from the new anthology Star Trek: Tales From The Captain's Table and ten of the latest Strange New Worlds winners. Guests will include Peter David, Keith DeCandido, Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger and Howard Weinstein as well as Klingon expert Lawrence Schoen and Trek historian Joan Winston.

Among the workshops will be a talk by Friedman on point of view in story writing and a discussion of covering Star Trek news led by Kevin Dilmore. The Shore Leave events listing also advertises several fans films to be screened at the convention, including episodes of New Voyages and Tales of the Seventh Fleet.

The upcoming San Diego Comic-Con 2005 also has several Trek events on its schedule, from a panel discussion with Brent Spiner (Data) about his upcoming series Threshold to "Starship Smackdown", during which panelists discuss which fictional spaceships could beat each other. Free Enterprise: The Special Edition will be screened as well.

The official Comic-Con web site lists a number of Trek actors and writers signing autographs, including J. Paul Boehmer, Julie Catlin Brown, Tanya George, Gary Graham, Bobbi Sue Luther, DeCandido and Jeff Mariotte.

Finally, the Galileo 7 convention will host the first European gig of The Enterprise Blues Band, in which Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest), Casey Biggs (Damar), Richard Herd (Admiral Paris), Ronald B. Moore (effects supervisor) and Steve Rankin (Colonel Green) play music with fellow actor William Jones. The band’s first CD, Enterprise Blues Band, features seven tracks of original music including "Red Shirt Boogie Blues" and "Get Me to the Holodeck"; it can be ordered through the band's web site.

The ninth Galileo 7 convention, which will also host William Shatner (Kirk), Michael Dorn (Worf) and other guests, will take place from September 30th through October 2nd in Neuss, Germany.

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