-: Hi, my name is Andy Robinson.
I am both the author and the narrator of 'A Stitch in Time'
based on the life and times of my old pal, Elim Garak.
My inspiration for writing this book
came out of my ignorance
about Cardassia, Cardassians, even the world of Trek.
So after I got what information I could
about who and what a Cardassian is,
I began to write a biography for Garak,
an origin story, so to speak.
And out of the origin story came 'A Stitch in Time.'
I became fascinated by the character,
not just playing him, but then writing about him
and creating this world,
the world of Cardassia
as well as the interior world of Garak
and it went from there.
When I was approached by a fan at a convention,
she asked me,
'Why isn't there an audio version of 'A Stitch in Time?''
And I said, 'I don't know, but I would love to do one.'
And she said, 'You know what?
We're gonna start a letter writing campaign.'
I said, 'Please be my guest'
because I really did wanna read the book.
I wanted to get back into this
and I thought this would be a perfect way
for people to
make contact with the book by listening to it.
But it meant a great deal to me that the fans did this.
Revisiting the book and reading it,
I've never read a book for audio before,
it was a real pleasure for me.
I love the character, and I also, I love this book.
And it was a way to essentially play Garak again
and without the makeup, which was an added blessing.
I found deeper levels in the book,
levels that I honestly didn't know existed.
I was voicing the subtext that was never voiced
when I was playing the character.
The subtext, the interior life of Garak
was always very guarded.
You never knew what he was thinking
and he wasn't going to tell you
and he wasn't gonna let you in.
But reading the book, which is almost a confessional
more than a memoir,
it allowed me to go much deeper with the character
and as well and playing the other characters as well.
Also, there was a breadth to the experience.
I mean, this was totally immersive,
reading the book for several days,
for several hours each day.
In short, I loved it.