From an actor's motivational tool, to a fan audience's shipboard diversion, to an introspective examination of one of Star Trek's most enigmatic characters - such was the path of Andrew J. Robinson's "A Stitch in Time."

Pocket Books has just released the latest entry in its line of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novels, and this one arrives practically from the source: A memoir of Elim Garak, Cardassian spy turned simple tailor, created by Robinson, the actor who brought the character to life.

"This book is especially for people who are really into Cardassia," says Robinson, who numbers himself among that group of people. "It's probably the first investigation and explanation of Cardassian culture and society. It shows the good, the bad and the ugly. But it's more than that. As you get into it further, it has a strong narrative story for Garak beyond his first-person narrative voice."

And it's a voice Robinson knows intimately after playing Garak throughout the seven-year run of ST: DS9, from the first-season episode "Past Prologue" in 1993 through the series finale, "What You Leave Behind" in 1999. Refusing to limit his understanding of Garak to the lines on the printed page of a script, Robinson began crafting his own tales of the character's life and actions before his exile from Cardassia on the Federation-run space station.

"He's such a mysterious character," acknowledges Robinson with barely contained glee. "You're always off-balance when dealing with Garak, and that's what people like. But in order to make a character that mysterious work, an actor must know what is going on for that character. You have to have all of the information yourself, so you can mask that information. There's no subtext in a performance at all if you just play someone mysteriously."

So Robinson set to work crafting Garak's back story, shaping his ideas around the events chronicled or alluded to in ST: DS9 episodes. While reading each line, Robinson's voice and mannerisms were finessed by thoughts of his character's untold family life, education and, most importantly, nefarious deeds under the auspices of the Obsidian Order, an intelligence arm of the Cardassian government capable of striking fear into the hearts of even its own people.

"I always had a story about what had happened to him, a character biography. All I wanted to do was a good job as an actor on the show," he explains. "When I started writing things down, I decided to read it as something different to do at conventions; kind of a 'Confessions of Garak.'"

Several years ago, Robinson made his confession to a group of ST: DS9 fans onboard a Star Trek-themed ocean cruise. The reaction to his revelations, he says, was surprising.

"His [Garak's] popularity just blew me away. I had no idea how he would catch on," Robinson says. "The response was so overwhelming that I just kept writing more stuff."

Robinson's perceptions of himself not just as a performer but as a writer were bolstered, he says, by a conversation with David R. George III, who co-wrote last year's ST: DS9 novel "The 34th Rule" with Armin Shimerman, the actor under the lobes of Quark, the Ferengi barkeep of Deep Space Nine. He broached the topic of a Garak novel with Pocket Books' editors, and when he got the go-ahead, Robinson began Garak's memoir in narrative form.

As a first-time novelist, and one working within the parameters of an established universe, Robinson says he pressed forward with great enthusiasm - that had to be bridled a bit by Pocket Books editor Margaret Clark. "I sent the first 90 pages to Margaret, so she could get a sense of what I was up to," he explains, "and she said she liked what she saw - but with one reservation. Basically, I was making up a lot of stuff about Cardassia, but I also was making up a lot of stuff that already was laid out and it wasn't jibing."

Her answer to that, he says, was a copy of "The Star Trek Encyclopedia" by Michael and Denise Okuda sent by overnight mail. "In terms of investigating the civilization, they had some limits on what was said about Cardassia, but never any prohibitions," he says. "I really had to immerse myself. I had to be absolutely specific, and I consulted my references constantly."

Clark says that his attention to detail is a big payoff for readers enthralled not just by Garak but by the civilization that spawned him. Robinson started the first draft of "A Stitch in Time" during the fourth season of ST: DS9, when he didn't know what would happen with the character. Ultimately, she says, the novel begins where an eighth season of the show might have. "He knows the character and he loves Cardassians," Clark says. "Garak is unique and, like Odo, is the only one of his race trapped among the humans on Deep Space Nine. What's really compelling about it is that it's Andrew's perception of the character. He has tapped into what the writers discovered about Garak: Anything is possible with him."

The novel unfolds as a letter from Garak to Dr. Julian Bashir, arguably his best friend on the space station and perhaps Garak's whole life. It becomes a detailed memoir that Robinson says works on three levels. "It begins with Garak on a ruined Cardassia where the show left him. He flashes back to his life on Deep Space Nine, which helps explore his relationship with Dr. Bashir, and it fills in the blanks of that relationship. On a third level, and the level in which I had the most fun in the sense that it was the most interesting, is that it goes into Garak's childhood and upbringing, his training, his relationship with his parents, and his recurring dealings with his friends and enemies."

Notes Clark, "It's the first time that, I think, there has been a Star Trek book with one main and central character for the book. Even in Armin's book, you leave Quark behind for some sections. This is all Garak.

"It's a compelling read," she says. "You get the character of Garak ... but you don't get everything. There's still a lot of mystery left."

But most importantly, says Robinson, is that the novel is completely his creation, and an accomplishment of which he is proud.

"This book is 100 percent me," he says. "I'm proud of this. For six months, I went into a room and did this. And now that it's done, that is enough of a motivation for me to do it again. The great thing about finishing a novel is that it's very encouraging to start the next one."