Voyager: Architects of Infinity previews

Out now is Architects of Infinity, the latest book in Kirsten Beyer's series of Voyager novels set after the TV series, during the Project Full Circle mission back to the Delta Quadrant. Here's a reminder of the blurb, and continue below to read and/or listen to excerpts from both the print and audio editions of the book.

As the Federation Starship Voyager continues to lead the Full Circle Fleet in its exploration of the Delta Quadrant, Admiral Kathryn Janeway remains concerned about the Krenim Imperium and its ability to rewrite time to suit its whims. At Captain Chakotay's suggestion, however, she orders the fleet to focus its attention on a unique planet in a binary system, where a new element has been discovered. Several biospheres exist on this otherwise uninhabitable world, each containing different atmospheres and features that argue other sentient beings once resided on the surface. Janeway hopes that digging into an old-fashioned scientific mystery will lift the crews' morale, but she soon realizes that the secrets buried on this world may be part of a much larger puzzle—one that points to the existence of a species whose power to reshape the galaxy might dwarf that of the Krenim.

Meanwhile, Lieutenants Nancy Conlon and Harry Kim continue to struggle with the choices related to Conlon’s degenerative condition. Full Circle’s medical staff discovers a potential solution, but complications will force a fellow officer to confront her people’s troubled past and her own future in ways she never imagined…

Voyager: Architects of Infinity cover, and other new Trek-novel covers

With a thin release schedule of Star Trek novels this year (due to a still pending license renewal), there aren't so many book cover reveals lately. So this should be exciting day! Simon and Schuster have now released the cover for the next book in Kirsten Beyer's Voyager relaunch series, Architects of Infinity. The cover features Voyager and a Vesta class ship (presumably the USS Vesta) both firing off phasers and torpedoes!

Latest Star Trek novel previews and hints at future books

We've got a quite time coming up for Star Trek novels, with only a couple of books on the schedule so far for next year (more on that below), but before we enter the lean months ahead the year is ending with a bumper load of releases. So continue below for preview from all the new novels and novellas released in the last week or two, and other Star Trek novels news.

The last Star Trek book from Pocket Books this year is David Mack's Fortune of War, the latest in the Titan series, and a follow up the TNG episode The Survivors, exploring the fallout from the disappearance of the Husnock. Here's an except from that book:

Book bits: DTI and Prey covers, and details of future books

Books news! Continue below for bumper update on the latest novels and novellas, including new covers, and details of new books.

First up, the latest cover to enter the wild is snazzy spacey cover for the latest book in Chrisopher L. Bennett's Department of Temporal Investigations series. The ebook novella Time Lock, is due next month.

New Legacies and Prey covers

This year there are two Star Trek novel trilogies on the way (three even, if you count the German-language Prometheus series), and now Pocket Books have released the covers for the last book of one, and the first of the other. Continue below to check them out.

Due out in September, and bringing to an end the TOS trilogy Legacies, is Purgatory's Key, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore. Thew new cover features the Enterprise swooping down on the mysterious structure that was first revealed on the cover of the previous book in the series.

Latest Star Trek book covers: Legacies, novelisations, Encylopedia, and more

Lots of Star Trek book covers for you today, including the 50th anniversary novel trilogy in print and audiobook form, a new omnibus of classic novelisations, the latest Star Trek Encyclopedia, and more!

The big prose event of the fiftieth anniversary year is the Legacies trilogy, and the first two covers have now been released, which you can see below. To mark just how big an event this is, Simon and Schuster are not just releasing this in print and ebook form, but also as audiobooks! Author Dayton Ward broke this news on his blog, revealing the unabridged recordings will be read by actor Robert Petkoff. The novelisations of the first two nuTrek movies got audiobook releases, but the last original novel to get an (English language) audio version was Vulcan Soul: Epiphany, way back 2007!

The first of those audiobooks is already available to pre-order on Amazon, alongside the print and ebook version's of Greg Cox's Captain to Captain. Here's the cover, which features a special extended version of the cover art:

Star Trek novel previews: Force and Motion and Elusive Salvation

Out this month is the latest DS9 novel, Jeffrey Lang's Force and Motion, a new adventure away from the station focusing on Nog and O'Brien, and guest starring Benjamin Maxwell. Here's a reminder of the blurb:

In 2367, Captain Benjamin Maxwell of the starship Phoenix ordered the destruction of a Cardassian warship and a supply vessel, killing more than six hundred crew members. Maxwell believed that the Cardassians were arming for a new attack on the Federation, and though history eventually proved he was probably correct, the Federation had no choice but to court martial and incarcerate him.

Almost twenty years have passed, and now Maxwell is a free man, working as a maintenance engineer on the private science station Robert Hooke, home to crackpots, fringe researchers, and, possibly, something much darker and deadlier. Maxwell’s former crewmate, Chief Miles O’Brien, and O’Brien’s colleague, Lieutenant Commander Nog, have come for a visit. Unfortunately, history has proven that whenever O’Brien and Nog leave Deep Space 9 together, unpredictable forces are set into motion…

You can read a excerpt from that book below, thanks to Amazon's handy-dandy preview thing. And continue below for an excerpt from last month's new novel too:

Live by the Code preview

Out now is Live by the Code, a new Enterprise novel by Christopher L. Bennett. This is the fourth book in Bennett's Rise of the Federation series, which depicts the continuing adventures of the Enterprise crew in the early days of the Federation.

This book picks up some of the threads from the previous instalment, Uncertain Logic, which explored the threat of the "Ware" (the creepy automated technology seen in the fantastic episode Dead Stop). The Klingons are also set to return this time, as the cover (by Doug Drexler) dramatically depicts, and the blurb from the back cover describes below.

Continue after the jump to read preview pages from the first chapter:

Force and Motion cover

Due out in June is Force and Motion, a new Deep Space Nine novel from Jeffrey Lang, which is due to feature Chief Miles O'Brian, Nog, and O'Brian's former captain, Benjamin Maxwell. StarTrek.com have now revealed the cover, which is not credited, but looks like a Doug Drexler creation to me:

I wonder what all that swirly sparkling stuff is up to - We'll find out in a few months. Here's a reminder of the blurb:

In 2367, Captain Benjamin Maxwell of the starship Phoenix ordered the destruction of a Cardassian warship and a supply vessel, killing more than six hundred crew members. Maxwell believed that the Cardassians were arming for a new attack on the Federation, and though history eventually proved he was probably correct, the Federation had no choice but to court martial and incarcerate him.

Almost twenty years have passed, and now Maxwell is a free man, working as a maintenance engineer on the private science station Robert Hooke, home to crackpots, fringe researchers, and, possibly, something much darker and deadlier. Maxwell’s former crewmate, Chief Miles O’Brien, and O’Brien’s colleague, Lieutenant Commander Nog, have come for a visit. Unfortunately, history has proven that whenever O’Brien and Nog leave Deep Space 9 together, unpredictable forces are set into motion…

To keep track of all the latest releases, hit the books or prose buttons on my 2016 and 2017 schedule pages. You can also find series reading lists and author bibliographies on my dedicated Star Trek lists site.

New blurbs for John Jackson Miller's Prey trilogy, and Christopher L. Bennett books

Lots of new prose blurbs today, for all the books in John Jackson Miller's TNG-era Prey trilogy, and Christopher L. Bennett's forthcoming TOS novel and Department of Temporal Investigations novella. Continue below to check them all out.

Due out in the final months of this year, John Jackson Miller's Prey trilogy is to feature the crews of the Enterprise-E, and Titan, in a story setting the Federation and Klingon Empire at odds. There will also be elements from TOS, as the new blurbs describe. Amazon have revealed these new details in listings for the books, with the titles also being posted for the first time. Those are: Hell's Heart, The Jackal's Trick, and The Hall of Heroes. If you're especially spoiler-averse, the three blurbs give plenty of detail, so proceed with caution:

Hell's Heart begins the trilogy, and will be the October book:

Continuing the milestone 50th anniversary celebration of Star Trek—an epic new trilogy that stretches from the events of The Original Series movie The Search for Spock to The Next Generation!

When Klingon commander Kruge died in combat against James T. Kirk on the Genesis planet back in 2285, he left behind a powerful house in disarray—and a series of ticking time bombs: the Phantom Wing, a secret squadron of advanced Birds-of-Prey; a cabal of loyal officers intent on securing his heritage; and young Korgh, his thwarted would-be heir, willing to wait a Klingon lifetime to enact his vengeance.

Now, one hundred years later, while on a diplomatic mission for the United Federation of Planets, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise are snared in the aged Korgh’s trap—and thrust directly in the middle of an ancient conflict. But as Commander Worf soon learns, Korgh may be after far bigger game than anyone imagines, confronting the Federation-Klingon alliance with a crisis unlike any it has ever seen!

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr.

Trek-lit editor Margaret Clark details latest books

Whenever Margaret Clark joins one of the Star Trek books podcasts we can be sure of hearing plenty of new news about forthcoming titles, and be certain to have an entertaining listen thanks to her joyful and playful character. So when I noticed Visionary Trek's latest episode of The Captain Table had her on as a guest I clicked over to listen straight away! As ever, I was not disappointed! Clark discussed all kinds of Trek books stuff (and a bit of TV too) including new titles and details of several forthcoming books. Continue below for a few highlights, but be sure to listen to the full podcast for a whole lot more!

Coming in the last three months of this year is John Jackson Miller's new trilogy, Prey, which has been previously announced as a TNG book featuring the Klingons. Well now Clark tells us there's much more to it, as Prey is the next big 24th century crossover:

We have the Titan being recalled from their mission, we have the Enterprise-E, there's some involvement with some Deep Space Nine characters. So it is a Star Trek: All series; if you can do a three book series, you should be able to take out all the pieces, including the sharp knives, and play with them all.

Since it is the fiftieth anniversary, Captain Kirk makes a guest starring appearance in one of the books.

Books bits: Rules of Accusation blurb, new novels, and non-fiction details

Lots of Star Trek books updates today, including a new blurb, news of several new novels on the way, and details of new non-fiction titles!

Quark's previous adventure

First up, in July Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann are returning to DS9 for their second ebook novella featuring Quark, Rules of Accusation. Simon and Schuster have now released a blurb for this:

On the space station Deep Space 9, Quark’s Public House, Café, Gaming Emporium, Holosuite Arcade, and Ferengi Embassy can’t legitimately be called an embassy until the Grand Nagus—namely, Quark’s brother Rom—dedicates it as such. Not that Quark really cares about Ferengi protocol, but a well-publicized dedication ceremony will naturally draw people to the bar. Everybody loves a good open house—free appetizers, half-price drinks, door prizes, etc.—all of which Quark can write off as Embassy expenses. It’s a win-win situation, with him on both sides of the win. There’s even a plan to display the original scroll of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition—which no one has seen for decades given that it’s been held in protective storage—and charge patrons by the minute to look at it up close. Nothing, of course, could possibly go wrong with this big plan. Absolutely nothing at all…

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp. 

Book bits: New covers, new ebooks, Legacies blurbs, and more

Lots of updates from the world of Star Trek prose today, including several dazzling new covers, news of a whole bunch of new ebooks, new blurbs from the 50th anniversary Legacies trilogy, and more! Continue below for everything, starting with new covers!

First up, StarTrek.com have premiered the covers for two novels. Due out in May is Elusive Salvation, Dayton Ward's sequel to the brilliant TOS/20th century book, From History's Shadow. This new cover, by Alan Dingman (as credited by the author), seems to feel both very modern and superbly retro, and quite atypical for Star Trek. I love it:

Book bits - Fiction edition: New covers, new blurbs, new ebook, and more!

Lots of books news lately, continue below for all the latest on prose fiction titles, including new details of next year's anniversary trilogy, new blurbs, a new ebooks, the return of Strange New Worlds, and more! First up, pretty new covers to look at.

Two new novel covers have been released lately, the first one here is for A Pocket Full of Lies, Kirsten Beyer's next Voyager novel, due in February:

The Full Circle Fleet has resumed its unprecedented explorations of the Delta Quadrant and former Borg space. Commander Liam O'Donnell of the U.S.S. Demeter makes a promising first contact with the Nihydron—humanoid aliens that are collectors of history. They rarely interact with the species they study but have created a massive database of numerous races, inhabited planets, and the current geopolitical landscape of a large swath of the quadrant. When an exchange of data is proposed via a formal meeting, the Nihydron representatives are visibly shaken when Admiral Kathryn Janeway greets them. For almost a century, two local species—the Rilnar and the Zahl—have fought for control of the nearby planet Sormana, with both sides claiming it as their ancestral homeworld. The shocking part is that for the last several years, the Rilnar have been steadily gaining ground, thanks to the tactics of their current commanding officer: a human woman, who appears to be none other than Kathryn Janeway herself...

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp. 

Speaking to TrekFM's Literary Treks podcast about he most recent book, Atonement, Beyer also revealed she is already at work on the next two Voyager novels following A Pocket Full of Lies. While this next book isn't the start of another multi-book arc, she does already have ideas on where the series is and could be going:

Books bits: 2016 novel schedule fills out

Last weekend the annual Shore Leave convention occurred in Maryland. As has become the tradition, Star Trek book writers flocked there and revealed details of many forthcoming titles, including several new book announcements, and details of some of the ones we already knew about. In fact the entire 2016 novel schedule has now been filled out, plus a few titles known for 2017 already!

From Christopher L. Bennett, as detailed on his blog, the TOS novel he has previously mentioned is now scheduled to be the January book in 2017, which means it should find it's way to the shops just in time for the end of the 50th anniversary year. This will be a five-year-mission story, and the title is The Face of the Unknown. That title had an air of familiarity about it to me, and a quick search reveals it is a line from The Corbomite Maneuver; I wonder if we'll be visiting the First Federation?

Bennett has also announced he will be continuing his Department of Temporal Investigations series, with a second ebook novella, Time Lock. There is no scheduling information for this one yet.

Dayton Ward also had plenty of news, which he has blogged about too. The big TOS books event of 2016 will be the Legacies trilogy, set for release from July to September. All three titles have now been revealed:

• Legacies Book I: Captain to Captain, by Greg Cox.
• Legacies Book II: Best Defense, by David Mack.
• Legacies Book III: Purgatory's Key, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore.

Ward also revealed the title for his next TNG novel will be Headlong Flight, which is due out in 2017. In doing so he also noted it will take place after both his recent novel Armageddon's Arrow, and the recently announced 2016 TNG trilogy Prey, by John Jackson Miller.

The other new title reveal comes from Jeffrey Lang, whose DS9 novel featuring Miles O'Brien and Nog now has a title, Force and Motion; it fills the last slot in the 2016 schedule, due out in June. Posting on the TrekBBS, Lang has revealed some details about the book:

Book bits: New TNG trilogy, new ebook title, covers, and new formats

I think it's safe to say John Jackson Miller is now firmly established in the Star Trek writers A-team. Following his Titan ebook debut, Absent Enemies, and the fantastic TNG (with Aventine and Titan elements) novel Takedown, he will return to the Trekverse next year with an entire trilogy! Starting in October, and running for three consecutive months, will be Prey, which Miller describes on his blog as "a star-spanning Next Generation epic of the Federation and the Klingon Empire!"

In other books news, on Twitter Paula Block has revealed the next ebook she and Terry Erdmann are working on has got a new title. Previously known as The Empty Sack, and then A Quark of Fate, their next Quark story will now be known as The Rules of Accusation. There's still not publication date set for this, but it was hoped it would be out this year some time.

Elsewhere in DS9, David R. George III's latest novel in the series, Sacraments of Fire has just come out recently, and the story will continue early next year in Ascendance. George recently appeared on TrekFM's Literary Treks to discuss the former, and gave this curious brief description of the latter:

I feel like it's very much a Star Trek story. But it's also a little bit weird.

Sounds like a good combo to me!

Dayton Ward gave a slightly longer, if almost as vague, outline for his next TNG novel, in his latest writing round-up blog post:

Book bits: Elusive Salvation, New Frontier, Captain Kirk, and more

Coming next May is Elusive Salvation, Dayton Ward's follow-up to the brilliant aliens-on-Earth novel, From History's Shadow. Simon and Schuster have now updated their digital catalogue with the first blurb for this book, giving details of the new alien infiltration on pre-First Contact Earth:

The Arctic Circle, 1845: Escaping the tyranny under which their people have lived for generations, aliens from a distant planet crash land on Earth’s inhospitable frozen wastes. Surviving the harsh conditions will pose a challenge, but over time the aliens will migrate to more populated areas, with decades passing as they work to conceal their presence from their former oppressors, who continue hunt them at any cost.

San Francisco, 2283: When a mysterious craft is detected entering the solar system, Admiral James Kirk is dispatched by Starfleet to confront the vessel. He meets with an emissary from the Iramahl, a previously unknown alien race who have come in search of their brothers and sisters thought to have gone missing in this area of space centuries earlier. Having recently thrown off the last chains of subjugation by another species, the Ptaen, they now believe their lost people hold the key to saving their entire race from eventual extinction.

New York, 1970: Roberta Lincoln, young protégé of the mysterious agent Gary Seven, is shocked when she receives the oddest request for help—from the future…

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.  

Continue after the jump for more news of new books, including New Frontier, and Captain Kirk reading his own autobiography:

First blurbs for 2016 Voyager, TOS, and Enterprise novels

Simon and Schuster have started listing details for the first three four novels in the 2016 Star Trek novel schedule, including scheduling information, blurbs, and even a new title. These come from Simon and Schuster's digital catalogue, which is aimed more at retailers I think, so take these with the due pinch of salt given it's early and these probably wont be the final blurbs.

UPDATE: Another book listing has appeared, and some of the authors have commented on their new books; see below for more details.

February's book, which customarily will start to appear come late January, will be the eighth novel in Kirsten Beyer's Voyager relaunch, A Pocket Full of Lies. Given this takes place after Atonement, which is due out this September, beware ye minor spoilers, if you were anticipating this character or that, might get vaporised in the next book:

The Full Circle Fleet has resumed its explorations of the Delta Quadrant and former Borg space. Captain Regina Farkas of the U.S.S. Vesta makes a promising first contact with the Nihydron—humanoid aliens that are collectors of history. They rarely interact with the species they study but have amassed a large database of numerous races, inhabited planets, and the current geopolitical landscape of a large swath of the quadrant. When an exchange of data is proposed via a formal meeting, the Nihydron representatives are visibly shaken to be greeted by Admiral Kathyryn Janeway. For almost a hundred years, two local species, the Rilnar and the Zahl, have fought for control of the nearby planet Sormana, with both sides claiming it as their ancestral homeworld. The shocking part is that for the last several years, the Rilnar have been steadily gaining ground, thanks to the tactics of their current commanding officer: a human woman, who appears to be none other than Kathryn Janeway herself…

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp. 

More new covers! Costumes, TOS and COE.

The avalanche of new book cover continues! And the latest new releases come from a diverse range of forthcoming titles.

Insight Editions have plans for several non-fiction Star Trek books, and the first of those will be comprehensive exploration of costume design throughout the history of the franchise, in Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann's Star Trek: Costumes - Five Decades of Fashion from the Final Frontier. The book is due out in September, and StarTrek.com released the cover:

I think this is likely to be one of the most interesting non-fiction books in some time, and I hope it does well, as it might open the door to exploring other aspects of Star Trek production in the same fashion. Here's the blurb:

From the classic Starfleet uniforms and daringly provocative outfits of The Original Series, to flowing Vulcan robes, flamboyant Ferengi fashions, and formidable Klingon wedding attire, Star Trek: Costumes explores how these designs have played a key role in transporting fans to distant worlds and alien cultures over the last five decades.

Filled with exclusive photography, stills from the saga, rare concept art, and other striking visuals, Star Trek: Costumes also focuses on the talented individuals who have brought the Star Trek universe to life, including original costume designer William Ware Theiss and his successors, Robert Fletcher, Robert Blackman, and, most recently, Michael Kaplan.

Featuring extensive information on the creation of each featured costume, with insight and anecdotes from interviewees including Blackman, Kaplan, J.J. Abrams, LeVar Burton, Jonathan Frakes and Ronald D. Moore, this book is a comprehensive and captivating celebration of the incredible artistry that has made Star Trek’s costumes as innovative and imaginative as its futuristic technologies.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.

Also newly released is the cover Child of Two Worlds, Greg Cox's Pike-era TOS novel. This book is due out in December, and with the release of this cover, all the 2015 novels have now been revealed! Continue after the jump for a reminder of the blurb, plus the latest Cross Cult cover art.

Books covers: Atonement, Ascendance, and posters!

The novel cover reveals are coming a pace at the moment, hot on the heels of the latest Seekers and Titan covers, Pocket Books have released a couple more.

Due out in September is Kirsten Beyer's Atonement, the final book in the current trilogy within her Voyager relaunch, continuing on from Protectors and Acts of Contrition. StarTrek.com have released the cover, featuring an illustration of Admiral Janeway by Alan Dingman:

Here's a reminder of the blurb:

Admiral Kathryn Janeway faces a tribunal determined to execute her for supposed crimes committed during Voyager’s maiden trek through the Delta Quadrant. Captain Chakotay knows that the Kinara, several species now allied against the Full Circle fleet, are not all they appear to be. The Confederacy of the Worlds of the First Quadrant—a pact he cannot trust—is his only hope for unraveling the Kinara’s true agenda and rescuing Admiral Janeway. Meanwhile, Seven and Tom Paris are forced to betray the trust of their superiors in a desperate bid to reveal the lengths to which a fellow officer has gone in the name of protecting the Federation from the legendary Caeliar.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes.

Coming in January will be David R. George III's Ascendance, a follow-up his forthcoming DS9 novel, Sacraments of Fire. David has released that cover on his Facebook page, which features both the new DS9 and the Defiant (with something exciting happening to it!), with the artwork by Doug Drexler:

Continue after the jump for the blurb for this one too, plus news of some new posters featuring novel artwork!