'Star Trek' writer releases book about King Sejong the Great

 By Kwak Yeon-soo

The book cover of the historical fantasy novel "King Sejong the Great" / Courtesy of FitBook

Joe Menosky, a writer who has worked on four TV series of the sci-fi franchise "Star Trek," has released a Kèo nhà cái fantasy novel titled "King Sejong the Great" that revolves around the fourth king of the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom. This is the first time a non-Korean writer has contributed a work of fiction on King Sejong.

Both English-language and Korean-language editions were published on Hangeul Day on Oct. 9, which commemorates the promulgation of Hangeul in 1446.

The story is based on King Sejong, who reigned 1418-1450, and his lifelong mission of inventing Hangeul, the writing system for the Korean language, which eventually promoted the literacy level of the general public.

In "King Sejong the Great," the king is described as a wise ruler who forms friendships with his servants who oppose his governing policies and as a humble sovereign who shows respect even to his palace gatekeepers.

Menosky first learned about King Sejong when he started learning Korean language five years ago, and was fascinated not only by the excellence of Hangeul but the fact that a king invented Korea's alphabet system.

"If a leader from a European country had created an alphabet system for his people, the whole world would already know about it through novels, films and TV series," Menosky writes in his book.

"I had to create new characters and combine three to four historical figures into one. I also changed the location and time period of some incidents. I hope the readers understand that this is a newly created historical fantasy."

Menosky is credited as writer or co-writer of 15 episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," four of "Deep Space Nine," 36 of "Voyager" and one of "Discovery," as well as one episode of "The Orville."