Star Trek Novels Update

While Star Wars have abandoned their Extended Universe to remain in perpetual holding pattern until the next trilogy of films complete, Star Trek continues on its merry way as it has for decades. As has been the pattern for the last few years, Pocket Books is planning around a novel a month with occasional novella. Below is the list of known titles with the full synopsis of the next year or so compiled over at TrekMovie.com or The Trek Collective. You can also pre-order many of these from Amazon.

Star Trek Lit-Verse Reading Order Chart and Trek Personality Analysis

Below are links for two not really related topics of note. The first one provides a rather massive chart that can help new readers to the Star Trek "lit-verse" figure out a good starting point and then what order to read from there. It seems intimidating but just pick your favorite type of Trek, go to that column and follow the arrows forward or backwards until hit an interesting sounding title. Then search Amazon.com to learn more about that book. If want self contained and off beat, the New Frontier books are excellent reads. Except for The Original Series, most of the books for the last 5-10 years take place in a post Star Trek movie-verse continuity so it continues the sagas of the TNG, DS9 and Voyager crew, with those characters often crossing over. If interested in that, a good place to start is Star Trek: Destiny which features the origin of the Borg in a war to save what remains of the Federation. The full chart and other details can be found here.

In regards to choosing your favorite Star Trek that covers the series, movies and various book series, i09.com has posted a tongue in cheek "guide" to show what your favorite might say about your personality. That can be found here.

Star Trek: Federation Book Review

TrekMovie.com has posted a book review and video unboxing (below) for Star Trek: Federation - The First 150 Years that was recently released. The 176 page "history book" details the major events like First Contact, Romulan War, etc.) that led to the founding of the Federation and the next 150 years of its history (so around Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country). The detailed book has a nice electronic display with introduction from Admiral Hikaru Sulu (George Takai) and includes various "artifacts" from that era of Star Trek history. Based on their review, it is a good buy for long time Trek fans who have a running continuity of the Trek universe in their head. For casual fans, they probably would not get nearly as much out of the book. Their full review can be found here. The retail price is $100 but Amazon has it on sale for $60.

Borg Cake and Non Canon Books

News on the Star Trek sequel front remains slow but here are two Trek things that grab my interest this weekend. The first is a post of a Borg wedding cake, complete with attacking Federation ships. Just have the one pic but it’s a cool one.

The second item is from long time Star Trek writer Dayton Ward who picked around 10 Star Trek novels that should be part of canon but are not. His list can be found here. Of the list I highly recommend reading Strangers from the Sky, Dark Mirror, and Federation. Along those lines I also submit Enterprise (first voyage of the Enterprise), Prime Directive (crew violates directive to save a civilization from nuclear annihilation) and William Shatner's Trek (mostly cause clever ideas on Trek stuff).

Star Trek Federation: First 150 Years Announced

StarTrek.com has revealed a few details of a new hardcover collection called Federation: The First 150 Years. The book written by David A Goodman (writer-consulting producer on Enterprise) with illustrations is a "history" book (with props) from the founding of the Federation to just about the end of the Kirk era of Trek (aka end of the TOS movies). As described on Amazon:

Assembled as a Special Exhibit on Memory Alpha, Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years celebrates the 150th anniversary of the founding of the United Federation of Planets.

Star Trek's Peter Weller Playing CEO?

Entertainment Weekly is reporting a few more details on the role that Peter Weller has been cast for in Star Trek 2013. It was confirmed that the actor was cast in the Trek sequel but no information was provided. “Of course J.J. Abrams is very tight-lipped about his projects,” said agent Todd Eisner, “but I do know that it’s a substantial role and that Peter is playing a C.E.O.” This is an interesting development that could mean anything since Star Trek never really explored the business side of the universe much outside of Quark's bar.

AICN has an interesting theory about the role; based on the assumption the movie will have Khan as the big bad, which remains an unconfirmed rumor. Their theory is he could be the CEO of the company that created Khan and his group of genetically-engineered soldiers. This means he could either be a Trek present day CEO demanding his "property back", in this case the S.S. Botany Bay and the soldiers it contains or part of a flashback that explains the origins of Khan. Something not explored in canon but told in detail via the book series "The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh" by Greg Cox. Considering sequel writer Roberto Orci is a fan of the many Trek novels, this idea does have legs. Again assuming the sequel has Khan in it.

William Shatner's Star Trek Pitch

Blastr is reporting that around 2003 William Shatner pitched a new Star Trek series to replace Star Trek: Enterprise on then UPN. I remember the rumors at the time which indicated the series was set at Starfleet Academy but no real details. According to the site, that is actually true. Not only was the series at the Academy but would have focused on young Kirk and Spock's years there. An idea that probably was fleshed out in Shatner's novel "Star Trek: Academy - Collision Course" that was released in 2007. The description of the novel suggested that it was a beginning of a new series of Trek novels from Shatner but sadly the next book never materialized. This was probably due to the by then leaked description of the J.J. Abrams' reboot that would partially take place there and explore the early years of both characters.

As we know now, whatever direction Shatner might have gone in would not have stepped on any toes but I guess the publishers didn't want to take the risk or simply stopped caring. If the current novel publishing state is any indication, tragically for long time fans, the exploration of the Star Trek Prime universe is on its last legs. Later this year or sometime next year there is a plan for a series of books to explore Kirk and Spock's Academy days but those will take place in the Star Trek 2.0 universe.

Typhon Pact: Seize the Fire Chapter One Excerpt

While the Star Trek novels don't come out with the frequency they use to, when they do come out the result is often some very entertaining work that continues the ongoing saga, especially for the Next Generation universe which as continued to expand for years beyond where Star Trek: Nemesis left off. The current story involves the Typhon Pact which is kind of the cold war with a mix of the World War II treaty system set in the Trek Universe. It is essentially the Federation (the Allies) vs. the Axis (Romulus, Breen, Gorn, etc) on what could become a galactic war.

Seize the Fire is second volume, available now, in this story arc written by Michael A Martin that focuses on Captain Riker and his crew on the Titan. The excerpt can be found at TrekMovie.com here.

Star Trek: Typhon Pact Excerpt

TrekMovie.com has posted an excerpt from Star Trek: Typhon Pact - Zero Sum Game by David Mack. The Typhon Pact series takes place in the post Star Trek: Nemesis universe shortly after a huge Borg invasion devastated much of Alpha quadrant and led to the various enemies of the Federation to join together to form the Pact. The idea is kind of the pre-World War II formation of Allies and Axis Powers set in the Star Trek universe. The book will be hitting store shelves in two weeks, click here to read the excerpt.

Typhon Pack Preview

After about a year delay, it seems the next big storyline of the Star Trek novels is finally going to come out starting this fall, according to StarTrek.com. The previous "Destiny" storyline ended with the assimilation of the Borg by their parent race the Caeliar after the thousands ship strong Borg force invaded the entire quadrant and destroyed entire planets and cities including Deneva, Qo'noS, and Khitomer. As a result of the invasion, six enemies of the Federation (which still includes the Klingons) joined together to form the Typhon Pact. The membership is the Romulans, Tzenkethi, Breen, Gorn, Tholian, and Kinshaya. The four novels will cover the consequences of this new coalition of forces and the impact it will have on the rest of the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game (10/26/10)
By David Mack

A spy for the Typhon Pact—a new political rival of the Federation—steals the plans for Starfleet’s newest technological advance: the slipstream drive. To stop the Typhon Pact from unlocking the drive’s secrets, Starfleet Intelligence recruits a pair of genetically enhanced agents: Dr. Julian Bashir, of station Deep Space 9, and Sarina Douglas, a woman whose talents Bashir helped bring to fruition, and whom Bashir thinks of as his long-lost true love.

2011 Star Trek Books Schedule

Thanks to TrekMovie, you can now find out the preliminary plans for the next wave of Star Trek books coming out next year. The books explore most of the various sub-franchises within the Star Trek universe from Star Trek 2.0-verse, New Frontier, TOS era, Next Generation, and bunch more. Personally I highly recommend most Star Trek books as just a fun read. The post Star Trek: Nemesis books have been solid for the last few years now as it continues the adventures of the Star Trek universe of characters from Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation, and Voyager often in new yet familiar directions.

January
Star Trek: New Frontier: Blind Man’s Bluff (TPB)
by Peter David
Latest novel for the Excalibur crew follows the events of David’s 2009 novel "Treason"

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – The Competitive Edge by Rudy Josephs
Second young adult novel set at the Academy during the events of the 2009 Star Trek movie.

Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony
by Dayton Ward
Fourth novel of the Typhon Pact series focuses on Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-E dealing with "the survival of the Andorian civilization hanging in the balance".

Star Trek Publishing Plans

CBS Comsumer Products has added new partners to their publishing arm for Star Trek that will to new novels and manuals for 2011 and 2012. “There are always more stories to be told in the Star Trek saga,” said Liz Kalodner, Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Consumer Products. “Books have accompanied the Star Trek series since the very beginning in 1968, and these new Star Trek publishing projects will give fans and newcomers alike a new way to explore and indulge in their favorite universe.” Plans include expansion of the Star Trek Online universe, and stories set at Starfleet Academy while the originial crew of the Enterprise (not sure if Prime or 2.0 crew) was training there as cadets. Below are descriptions of the titles.

The Needs of Many (Pocket Books – March 2010)
This paperback novel written by Michael A. Martin and Jake Sisko is based on Star Trek Online, the multiplayer online role-playing game that launched this past February.

Updated Star Trek Book Schedule

Pocket Books has released its 2010 schedule of Star Trek books now that the four Star Trek movie books are no longer planned. Other then the removal the rest of the scheduled remains mostly on track from the one released last year. Full details here, brief summary below.

In general, most of the books set on DS9, the Next Generation Enterprise, etc all take place post in the post Star Trek: Nemesis era but around 20 years before the events of JJ Abram's Star Trek movie or 50 years before Star Trek Online's timeframe. The Typhon Pact (below) is a new coalition between the "evil" Star Trek races of Romulans, Tholians, Gorn, Breen, Tzenkethi, and Kinshaya that was a response to the near destruction of their universe by a Borg Invasion in the Destiny series of books. The Borg was defeated but the Federation suffered huge losses with multiple worlds and cities destroyed. This creates a unique opportunity of expansion that the Pact hopes to take advantage of.

01/10: Inception (TOS era)
02/10: Star Trek New Frontier: Treason by Peter David (post TNG movie era)
02/10: Star Trek: Seven Deadly Sins
03/10: Star Trek Online: The Needs of the Many (post TNG movie era)
03/10: Star Trek: Unspoken Truth (TOS movie era)
04/10: Star Trek: The Children of Kings (Christopher Pike era)
06/10: Star Trek SCE: Out of the Cocoon (post DS9 era)
07/10: Star Trek SCE: What's Past (post DS9 era)
08/10: Star Trek (2009) (movie novelization, ST2.0 era)
09/10: Star Trek: TNG Nightshade (reprint of 1992 book, TNG era)
10/10: Star Trek: Typhon Pact #1: Seize the Fire (Titan)
10/10: Star Trek: Typhon Pact #2: Zero Sum Game (Aventine)
11/10: Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Shattered Light (three what if stories)
12/10: Star Trek: Typhon Pact #3: The Rough Beasts of Empire (DS9)
01/11: Star Trek: Typhon Pact #4: Paths of Disharmony (TNG Enterprise)

Star Trek Movie Tie-In Books On Hold

According to TrekMovie.com, the four tie-in books written for the new universe created in the recent Star Trek movie are being put on hold in light of the announcement that a sequel is planned for 2012 release.

From a Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books spokesperson:

With last summer’s blockbuster STAR TREK movie, JJ Abrams created a new vibrant, layered version of the Star Trek universe. After careful consideration, we decided to hold off on telling new stories while JJ and his team continue to develop his vision.

The books were going to be Star Trek: Refugees, by Alan Dean Foster (May release), Star Trek: Seek A Newer World, by Christopher L. Bennett (June), Star Trek: More Beautiful than Death, by David Mack (July), and Star Trek: The Hazard of Concealing, by Greg Cox (August) all of which were nearly complete.

IDW has published comics set in the new Star Trek universe but bear in mind they are either prequels (Countdown) or took place during the movie (Nero). The books were intended to be set after the movie took place so I guess the publisher has reservations about making the novels invalid or confusing fans of the new universe with conflicting "facts" of continuity. It makes me wonder if maybe Paramount is planning a more unified Star Trek continuity much like George Lucas has with Star Wars where the movies, novels, comics, and video games all exist in the same universe and don't contradict each other continuity wise.

Star Trek Books Spring Preview

From TrekMovie.com is a preview of the spring 2010 plans (PDF link) for Star Trek. Currently the plan is five paperback books between January and April. Sadly, the increase in Star Trek volume wasn't enough to prevent the layoff Star Trek editor Margaret Clark from Simon & Schuster after nearly 13 years with the company as part of a workplace reduction due to lagging profits.

Star Trek: Inception
by S.D. Perry (release date: 1/26/10)

Blending the best of both the Star Trek television show and the movie, the story of a younger less experienced Kirk and Spock—and the two great loves of their lives, Carol Marcus and Leila Kalomi.

As man expands beyond explored space, the need to find a way to make inhospitable planets habitable grows greater. One young biologist, Carol Marcus, has a project that she believes can reshape planets. A young committed scientist, she dares to dream of a Federation where there is never any hunger and every world is a paradise. Her dream is shared by James Kirk, a young Starfleet officer and her lover. One of Carol’s more enthusiastic team members is botanist Leila Kalomi. Leila finds Carol’s passion contagious, and sparks the interest of the Enterprise’s science officer, Spock, who convinces her to join Project: Inception.

Star Trek: Seven Deadly Sins
by Margaret Clark (release date: 3/16/10)

An all-new collection of engaging novellas showcasing the seven archetypal adversaries of the Star Trek universe.

Lust. Gluttony. Greed. Sloth. Wrath. Envy. Pride. These are the seven deadly sins of humanity…but humans are not the only creatures in the universe to surrender to their baser instincts. In the world of Star Trek, entire civilizations are driven by avarice, or anger, or insatiable hunger, or one of the other fundamental urges that have come to define these fascinating species. Now, this edgy collection of original novellas explores these empires from the inside, delving into the qualities that shape their cultures and their worldviews, through characters as compelling as they are provocative. These surprising and engaging tales feature all of Star Trek’s most prominent adversaries, including the Borg (gluttony), the Klingons (wrath), the Romulans (pride), the Cardassians (envy), the Ferengi (greed), the Pakleds (sloth), and the Mirror Universe (lust), and their adventures on the dark side of the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek: To Thine Own Self
by David Stern (release date: 3/30/10)

When the Orion syndicate holds the Enterprise’s doctor for ransom, Captain Pike must discover why the Orions no longer fear Starfleet in this new novel set in the classic Star Trek era.

A thorn in the side of civilized space travel for more than a hundred years, the Orion syndicate has gotten bolder. They are harassing more ships and daring to even tangle with smaller Starfleet vessels. When one of the leading members begs Captain Christopher Pike to let his doctor treat one of their own, Pike agrees. But it’s a trap, and the Orions take the doctor hostage. Captain Pike is left to wonder why, since the Orions know that Starfleet does not negotiate. Spock thinks perhaps they no longer fear the consequences, and if so, they must discover what has changed the Orions’ instinctual nature

Star Trek: Unspoken Truth
by Margaret Wander Bonanno (release date: 4/27/10)

Lieutenant Saavik—the compelling female Starfleet officer who is half-Vulcan, half- Romulan—struggles to discover where her loyalties lie.

A wild child, Saavik was left to die in a world so horrifying that it was dubbed Hellguard by those who dared to cling to life there. She was rescued by Spock who took the half-Vulcan half-Romulan child home to his parents, knowing only they could care for the troubled child. As an adult, Saavik followed Spock into Starfleet, but recent events have shaken her. When she comes home to Vulcan to find that other Hellguard survivors are being killed, she wonders if she can dare to call Vulcan home. And when forced to choose, can she embrace the pacifism of Vulcan or is the violence of Romulus her true nature?

Star Trek: New Frontier - Treason
by Peter David (release date: 2/23/10)

Now available in mass market, the exciting New Frontier novel from New York Times bestselling and popular Star Trek author Peter David!

Jumping ahead three years from the events depicted in Stone and Anvil, tensions within the New Thallonian Protectorate are at a fever pitch following the murder of Prime Minister Si Cwan. The sudden power vacuum will have farreaching ramifications for Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, the crew of the USS Excalibur, and all of Sector 221-G itself.

Star Trek 2.0 Book Plans

PocketBooks has announced its 2010 plans for Star Trek novels including four for the new Star Trek 2.0 universe created by the recent movie. I tend to geek out on these books, owning most and read almost all of them so looking forward to the new novels. It appears that the movie has provided an injection into publishing plans as the number of books had dropped over the years from 1 to 2 a month to about 1 a quarter. The new plans returned the volume back to what it used to be with about one book a month, each covering various eras of Trek history.

Four novels, about one a month from June to September 2010 will be set in the Star Trek 2.0 universe with the Enterprise embarking on new mission of exploration that will be independent of any sequels plans that Abrams and company may be devising.

Five planned books will cover various gaps in Trek history. One will involved the relationship between James Kirk and Carol Marcus (Inception, 2/2010), another will give background on the Orions during Captain Pike's era (The Children of Kings, out 4/2010), and another will give additional background on Saavik (Unspoken Truth, 5/2010) who eventually marries Spock in some of the non-canon books.

In addition, four more novels will cover the "Typhon Pact" which is events set in the post Star Trek: Nemesis era before events of Abrams's Trek that sent spot back in time. The events take place after an armada of Borg nearly wiped out the Federation (but killed billions along the way) in the "Destiny" series of books (fantastic reads). Those events led to the creation of the "Typhon Pact" which is a kind of anti-Federation agreement between the Romulans, Tholians, Gorn, Breen, Tzenkethi, and Kinshaya) which has the unspoken goal of breaking the Federation.

For more details on each of the novels, writers and more head to TrekMovie.com.

Sequel Book to Star Trek Movie Planned

Alan Dean Foster has signed on to write a sequel novel to Abram's Star Trek that is tentatively titled Star Trek: Refugees for release in October. He spoke with Wired about the plans:

I signed the contract, so that’s a go. At least the first step is a go. The second step is for Pocket Books and Paramount to approve the outline. They wanted an outline. Sometimes when I’m asked to do a book, I just get a book contract for two books or three books or whatever. Sometimes they’ll ask for a very brief synopsis of what the general idea is. Not even so much for the editor. The editors are generally satisfied at this point that I’m going to do what I say I’m going to do. But they have to present something to marketing so that marketing has something to promote from the get go. So marketing will want a description. It’s obviously different with a novelization where you have a film studio involved, sometimes somebody else, like in this case, Hasbro. They want to know what you’re going to do with their franchise. There is a lot more riding on it than just a book by me that’s going to be published. So I did a fairly extensive outline for the book which has the tentative title of “Star Trek: Refugees” which I can’t explain without giving anything away. I mean, I just signed the contract. But hopefully the outline will be approved since the book is due in October.

In addition, TrekMovie has a summary of the various Star Trek (all eras) novels planned for the rest of the year for Voyager, Vanguard and more. Of note is the Enterprise novel may actually tell the story of the war with the Romulans that was inferred to have occurred way back in the Original Series but never chronicled. Click here for more information.

Star Trek II: Demon Warrior?

In a walk down Star Trek books past, Vonda N McIntyre discusses some of her experiences writing Star Trek books and adapting several of the movies. I remember reading many of her books, my Dad at one time owning pretty much every paperback Star Trek book that ever came out (before giving most of them away). One of her stories is the news that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan had several potential names in the works.

Somebody in the licensing department at Paramount called me and said, “What do you think of The Revenge of Khan?”

This was just about the time The Return of the Jedi was scheduled to debut, though the title hadn’t been released yet and the gossip was that it would be called Revenge of the Jedi.

They sent me a copy of the cover. It was quite handsome, with The Revenge of Khan in gold embossing (which is expensive and takes longer).

“OK,” sez I. I didn’t actually care what they called it since they weren’t going to use Demon Warrior (I knew I’d remember that eventually).

A few weeks later I saw an article about The Return of the Jedi, with a quote to the effect that it had never been going to be called “Revenge,” nuh-uh, because Jedi knights don’t indulge in revenge.

I fell on the floor laughing.

The full blog post is here and worth the read as are her books.

Foster Writing Movie Adaptation

Sci-Fi writer Alan Dean Foster has been tapped to write the movie adaptation novel for the upcoming movie, as announced on his website.

This month's update is going to be very brief. I had to fly into Los Angeles a week ago to, among other things, see the new STAR TREK movie at Paramount. Which in my opinion is, by the way, really, really good. And as I'm writing the book version, and as said book version must be completed really, really soon, I am going to be really, really busy for the next month.

TrekMovie.com (who has contacts I would love to have) have verified the news with Pocket Books. The adaptation will be released around May 8th, in the large sized paperback format (I think that is the longer books seen recently in stores) for an estimated price of $16 which could change. No word on an audio version but I would be very surprised if there isn't one.

The choice even comes Star Trek movie writer Roberto Orci approved:

If you are a fan of novelizations as we were as kids, then you have known his name for a long time and aside from that he has written some incredible sci-fi of his own. You are lucky to get him to do something based on your work and it was an honor to have this chance. And of course we were huge fans of his Transformer novelization.

Orci is hoping the novelization can provide more details then the movie can and "explain things and answer some questions in a way that can’t be done in a script." Those detail probably relate to this movie taking place in a Star Trek 2.0 alternate universe and can provide more background on the various rebooted characters.

Star Trek Print Panel

While the Star Trek movie is currently a no show at San Diego Comic-Con, the books and comics where represented at a panel held today that reveals the next year plans for the franchise.

Three part "Destiny" series will launch this fall that involves an all out Borg attack and the discovery of the starship Columbia in the 24th century (TNG era). It was lost during the "Enterprise" 22nd century era so it appears the series will cover the two time periods. The books will involve most of the characters and captains from those eras that "promises to change the face of the Federation forever." The first book is called "Gods of Night."

Due to the movie, the 23rd century (TOS era) has been "walled off" for the novels. However, there is a book called "Kobayashi Maru" coming out but what era it covers is not mentioned.

In comic related news, IDW plans a new run of Alien Spotlight issues that covered the Ferengi, Klingons, and the Q. There will also be a Mirror Universe mini series called Star Trek: The Last Generation that will cover a rebellion led by Picard on the Klingon occupied Earth.