Amazing new covers for Seekers, Corps of Engineers, and more.

Behold, two of the most exciting Star Trek book covers ever! The next two books in the Seekers series: Long Shot, by David Mack, and All That's Left, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore. Both featuring cover art by Rob Caswell, the artist that inspired the book series. Images via StarTrek.com.

Continue below to read the blurbs for both these books, plus some new cover artwork from Corps of Engineers and Typhon Pact.

Book bits: Serpents, Voyager, and German covers

The latest books news, starting with the first look at the cover for Jeff Mariotte's TOS movie-era return to A Private Little War's planet Neural, Serpents in the Garden. Amazon have added this cover to their listings:

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

Serpents in the Garden is due out in May. Meanwhile Kirsten Beyer has posted news of another 2014 book on the TrekBBS, revealing her next Voyager novel, Acts of Contrition, is to be the October book. Thanks to Unreality SF's Jens Defner for pointing me towards that news.

And further thanks to Jens for helping decipher some of the latest news from German publisher Cross Cult, who have released final versions of several of their covers for forthcoming books on their Star Trek books Facebook page. The big news is that they plan to release Michael A. Martin's Romulan War books as a trilogy, having opted to split Beneath the Raptor's Wing (Unter den Schwingen des Raubvogels) into two books. Here's the new cover art for the first part:

They have also released the finalised version of the second part, which uses the previously released artwork for the book when it was to be a single volume. They've yet to release the final version of To Brave the Storm, but they previously released artwork, so you can get an idea of what the final triptych will look like:


Books parts of Unter den Schwingen des Raubvogels are expected in August, while the German version of To Brave the Storm has to wait until early 2015.

Continue after the jump for a look at the finalised versions of several other Cross Cult books:

Books bits: New Lost Era, comic extra features, Khristmas preview, and German covers

A few bits of books news, starting with the reveal of the title of David R. George III's forthcoming Lost Era novel. The Simon and Schuster website has recently had a listing added for The Lost Era: One Constant Star, which they have listed for release in May. There are no other details yet, but George has previously suggested it will be set between 2303 and 2319, will feature a captain he has previously written, and will be exploration focused.

If that is the final format of the title, it would be the first time The Lost Era (the catch all title for books set between the end of the TOS movies, and the start of TNG) has been part of the title of a book since the original 2003 series. Subsequent lost era books, The Buried Age, and the Terok Nor trilogy, used the cover copy "A tale/saga of the lost era", while Cast No Shadow made no reference to the idea of a lost era series at all.

UPDATE: A little more novel news. Jens Deffner pointed be towards a tweet from David Mack, in which he revealed his forthcoming novel, Section 31: Disavowed, will be a direct sequel to his entry in The Fall series, A Ceremony of Losses (which has just been released).

Elsewhere in the publishing world, StarTrek.com has launched what they promise will be a new regular feature, providing a writers commentary to Star Trek comics. In their first "Writer's Log", Mike Johnson pulls apart the first issue of the Khan prequel series. If you follow the comics it's certainly worth a read, as Johnson expands on some of his decisions in characterisation, and points out some of his nods to other parts of Trek. For instance, here's what he had to say about the appearance of Samuel T. Cogley, from the TOS episode Court Martial:

Cogley’s appearance here was suggested by John Van Citters of CBS Consumer Products, and brought to life by the great David Messina, artist on both 2009’s “Countdown” and 2013’s “Countdown to Darkness.” Whenever we can, we like to insert characters and places into the new comics that are callbacks to the original timeline. Part of the fun of having an alternate timeline is seeing how familiar things have changed (or haven’t) in this reality.

For a completely different sort of illustrated Star Trek, this month sees the release of Paul Ruditis' A Very Klingon Khristmas. Amazon have now added pages from that book to their look inside feature, giving us a look at this particularly quirky release, and its lovely artwork by Patrick Faricy, including a look at the real Shakespeare! Here are the three spreads they preview:

Finally, Cross Cult have released the finalised covers for several of their forthcoming books. Continue after the jump for a look at those:

Book bits: KRAD's Klingon return, next Voyager novels, and latest German and French titles

A few bits of book news: Starting with news that Keith R.A. DeCandido finally has a new Trek book on the way! Now listed for release next May, from Simon and Schuster, is Klingon Art of War. A hundred-and-sixty page hardcover release, I expect this is a new "non-fiction" book. No other details just yet though. Thanks to dhorizon to pointing this out via Twitter. UPDATE: UnrealitySF's Jens Deffner has unearthed a bit more about this (via Chronic Rift), and pointed me towards it: Like so many of the recent Star Trek non-fiction books, this is being developed by Becker and Mayer, and the listing on their website has a cover a blurb:

Klingons fight, but they do not merely fight. For Klingons, battle is a dance, a way of living with dignity and purpose. This is central to the concept at the heart of Klingondom: honor.

The Klingon Art of War lays out the principles of the Klingon code that animates their entire culture. Each chapter introduces another part of the Klingon ethic and explores the ways it informs Klingon life, behavior, and history. Each chapter also celebrates famous Klingons, warships, and battles, and the role they've played in advancing the Klingon Empire.

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

There's also news of the next few Voyager relaunch novels! TrekCore recently interviewed Kirsten Beyer, where she talked about all her work on the Voyager relaunch, and more. She gave this summary of next year's new Voyager novel, Protectors:

Protectors picks up right where The Eternal Tide left off, but it does cover more time than my books have up to this point, with the exception of Full Circle. It has a lot of ground to cover. In addition to beginning Janeway on her new journey, the reality of the fleet’s new circumstances must be addressed.

They started out as nine ships. Now they are three with one more back in the Alpha Quadrant and a big job still unfinished. There is a new mission and lots of new discoveries that will continue to play out as the stories continue. Neelix does make an appearance. And no, I haven’t forgotten about Meegan, nor has the crew.

The Eternal Tide changed so much. One of the main tasks of Protectors is to show how those changes play out for all of the characters who started the journey of Project Full Circle, to bring closure to some of them, and to set the stage for resolutions yet to come.

She also mentioned early work has already begun on the next books following Protectors:

There was no way to begin the new book, however, without thinking long-term. Luckily, my editors embraced this possibility, which is great for a number of reasons. It allowed me to think big, while knowing that I would have the time to develop those thoughts into a cohesive narrative.

There were issues already established prior to The Eternal Tide that need to be addressed. The massive alteration of the status quo came first, but also had to set the stage for what is to come. To do that, I had to know what that was going to be. Now, I do.

Although the paperwork has yet to be completed, so nothing can be stated to an absolute certainty, I am now in the process of outlining the book that will follow Protectors along with one more that will tie up currently dangling threads and stuff that is about to start unraveling with Protectors. This will include the return of some familiar faces, along with the introduction of lots of new ones.

Meanwhile in France, Amazon.fr have a listing up for a French edition of Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary. L'Encyclopedie Illustrée Star Trek is due out in November, and has a new cover:

Over in Germany, Cross Cult have announced they will be reusing the US cover art when they release Dayton Ward's Vanguard ebook, In Tempest Wake, and David R. George III's Typhon Pact novel, Plagues of Night. German translations of both are due out early next year.

Cross Cult's latest covers

Cross Cult, the publisher of German translations of Star Trek novels and comics, have announced their next TOS novel; expected February next year is Das Ende der Dämmerung, Jerry Oltion's 1996 novel, Twilight's End. I guess they must like Oltion, as their last TOS book was his later novel, Mudd In Your Eye. They have already revealed some shiny new new artwork for their new release of Twilight's End, as ever by their regular artist, Martin Frei. A nice retro feel to this one I think:

Cross Cult have also released finalised versions of some of their upcoming releases. Christopher L. Bennett's Typhon Pact ebook novella, The Struggle Within, is following the pattern of Cross Cult's other Typhon Pact releases so far, in having its name condensed down to a single word. This time we've ended up with Kampf, which translates back to Fight.

Kampf is due in October, as is Heimkehr (Homecoming), the first book in Christie Golden's Voyager relaunch, which will be followed by Ferne Ufer (Father Shore) in November. Here are the finalised covers for those two books:

Thanks as ever to Jens Deffner (of Unreality SF) for pointing me towards much of this, and unscrambling the German for me! Jens has also very kindly offered to write a review of Maximum Warp, Cross Cult's new Star Trek fiction guide book; so you can look forward to that at some point in the coming weeks.

Latest German Star Trek releases

It seems someone turned on the Star Trek tap this week in Germany, as all of a sudden there's a flood of new Trek stuff on the way. Starting with the usual source of things Star Trek in German, Cross Cult have released their latest cover art, for Christopher L. Bennett's TNG Typhon Pact ebook, The Struggle Within. No German title title yet for this one, which features Picard and Jasminder Choudhury - The second appearance by the latter book-only character, who we last saw on Den Frieden Verlieren (Cross Cult's edition of Losing the Peace):

Cross Cult have also released a new portrait for their New Frontier range; the new look Katerina Müller will appear along side the rest of the New Frontier cast on the spine of a future Cross Cult translation.

In other news from Cross Cult, my regular source of all news German, UnrealitySF's Jens Deffner, has pointed out an interesting little bit hidden at the end of the latest Cross Cult catalogue; a book called, Die Zukunft von Star Trek liegt im Roman, which Jens translates to The future of Star Trek lies with the novels.

My first thought was it might be Voyages of Imagination, but at 320 pages, it's less than half as a long as that brilliant guide to Star Trek books. So what might it be? Jens speculates it might be a collection of essays and interviews, such as those that have been printed in some of Cross Cult's novels. My dream is that it might be some sort of guide to the various relaunch series, with illustrations of new ships, species, and characters (so those of us who don't read German can enjoy it too). Whatever it turns out to be, it's coming in July!

Cross Cult arn't the only Trek publishers in Germany, Jens also pointed me to the latest from Panini, who regularly print DC Comics there, and will in April be releasing German versions of the Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover. They will be releasing both paperback and hardcover versions, with the hardcover version limited to 222 copies:

 

Finally there are also so new home video releases coming, in the form of a new steelbook release of the Star Trek (2009) bluray, and a very stark black and red packaging for the prime timeline films on DVD, which they've dubbed, the Stardate Collection:

These are out in May, as are new bluray releases of each of the first ten films; these are just German cover version of the same Region B designs already available in the UK, France and Italy.

Cross Cult's Brinkmanship

Cross Cult have posted a new cover draft for one of their future German translations, Una McCormack's Typhon Pact novel, Brinkmanship. They've gone for highlighting the feature ships from the book (possibly using a new illustration of the Aventine, it's not an angle I recognise), rather than the feature captains of the English edition. Their version is due out some time next year. Here's the art work, by Cross Cult's regular artist, Martin Frei:

The German language editions of the first series of Typhon Pact books are all out this summer, and are now available for pre-order on Amazon.de.

Cross Cult updates Typhon Pact covers, again

A couple of days ago I posted what I thought were the final covers for Cross Cult's German translation of the original Typhon Pact series. But it seems they weren't quite done. They have now released higher res versions of the rest of the series, and the cover for Nullsummenspiel (Zero Sum Game) has its third version of Ezri. They've also fixed an error in swapping the uniform collar colours for Ezri and Bashir.

I suspect either Nullsummenspiel or  Feuer (Seize the Fire) will change again, as the most recent version of the Feuer cover features the shoulder of Ezri seen in the second version of the Nullsummenspiel cover. I think this most recent portrait of Ezri is the best version so far, so am hoping this is the final one!

Cross Cult also posted larger versions of the final (maybe) covers for Bestien (Rough Beasts of Empire), and Zwietracht (Paths of Disharmony):

 

As they previously did with the Destiny and Crucible cover art, they plan to make the tetraptych of the series available as a poster print at a convention, and then online.

More Trek books coming in German

It's a good time to be a Star Trek fan in Germany, with oddles of books on the way from Cross Cult and other publishers. UnrealitySF's Jens Defner has pointed me to some of the updates coming from Cross Cult:

Cross Cult's release of the original Typhon Pact series is due to start in June, and now they have released (on the Star Trek Romane website) the finalised cover art for the series. Here's the tetraptych of covers for the whole series:

Aside from the addition of titles there are just a couple of alterations from the previous version: The Saber class has been turned around so it's no longer running away from the Borg on Bestien (Rough Beasts of Empire); and a different image of Ezri has been used on Nullsummenspiel (Zero Sum Game).

Here's a closer look at the Feuer (Seize the Fire) cover from the Star Trek Romane Facebook page, the rest of the series will probably be posted over the next few days/weeks:

Cross Cult have also amended their design for Der Friedensstifter (Mudd In Your Eye), as they weren't allowed to use the previous version with Harry Mudd on the cover due to likeness rights issues. So they've made Kirk's head bigger to fill the gap. This one is due out about now:

Cross Cult also have some new comics on the way; coming on May 6th is the omnibus edition of Countdown to Darkness. They've posted their version of the cover, translating the byline at the top, but seem to be keeping the title in English. This release will apparently see the return to a simultaneous paperback and hardcover release of comics from Cross Cult, which hopefully will mean a cool new variant cover for the hardcover (their previous hardcovers have been pretty snazzy).

In addition to the omnibus version they have also announced plans to publish issue one, as part of the free comic book day promotion, which comes a few days after the omnibus release, on the 11th of May.

As well as Countdown to Darkness, Cross Cult are continuing with the release of the Star Trek ongoing series in German, with the second omnibus due in April. This one is only coming in paperback, so I guess the hardcover treatment is for special cases now.

Cross Cult aren't the only publisher doing Trek in Germany, Heel, who previously published German Trek novels themselves, and most recently offered the German version of the Haynes Enterprise Manual, are returning with the Klingon/German dictionary, due in April. This appears to be a reissue of the German version of the Klingon Dictionary, which came out in 1998. It has a slightly rearranged cover - They've dropped the Klingon image, and rearranged the remaining elments somewhat:

 
Meanwhile coming from Panini Books in May is a German translation of the Star Trek Vault book, which has been rechristened Star Trek Archive: 40 Jahre Sci-Fi-Kult.

Covers for the new ebook novel omnibuses

Simon and Schuster have updated their listings for their forthcoming ebook omnibuses of Star Trek novels. Not surprisingly, but maybe a little disappointingly, they have reused cover art from one of novels contained in each collection:

The Original Series: The Continuing Missions, Volume I
Contains The Rings of Time, by Greg Cox, That Which Divides, by Dayton Ward, and  Forgotten History, by Christopher L Bennett's. Reusing the latter book's cover:

Typhon Pact: The Khitomer Accords Saga
The three most recent Typhon Pact branded books: David R George III's Plagues of Night and Raise the Dawn, and Una McCormack's Brinkmanship. This time the first book in the collection contributes the cover art:

Destiny: The Complete Saga
All three books of David Mack's Destiny trilogy, which like the recent trade paperback omnibus of the trilogy uses the Mere Mortals cover art.

UPDATE: David Mack has been able to confirm this ebook omnibus will include the slightly revised version of his trilogy from the trade paperback omnibus (rather than the untweaked original versions)

All three will be available to download onto your ebook reader of choice in Janaury.

Books updates

Lots of book bits to share: Starting with the first look at the cover for Tony Daniel's first Star Trek novel, Devil's Bargain, which is set to feature the Horta in a TOS adventure. Sadly there are no Horta on the cover, just a lot of Spock - But not bad for a head cover (via StarTrek.com):

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

Another of next year's TOS books, William Leisner's The Shock of Adversity, has a new blurb, added to its listing on Simon and Schuster's online catalogue:

Located far beyond the boundaries of explored space, the Goeg Domain is a political union of dozens of planets and races. When the U.S.S. Enterprise arrives in its territory to investigate an interstellar phenomenon, Commander Laspas of the Domain Defense Corps is at first guarded, then fascinated to discover the existence of an alliance of worlds much like his own, and finds a kindred spirit in Captain James T. Kirk. And when the Enterprise is attacked by the Domain’s enemies, crippling the starship’s warp capability and leaving its crew facing the prospect of a slow, months-long journey home, the Goeg leader volunteers the help of his own ship, offering to combine the resources of both vessels to bring the Enterprise to a nearby Domain facility to make the necessary repairs.

But what at first seems to be an act of peace and friendship soon turns out to be a devil’s bargain, as Kirk and the Enterprise crew learn that there are perhaps more differences than similarities between the Federation and the Domain. When the Goeg’s adversaries strike again, the Enterprise is drawn deeper and inexorably into the conflict, and Kirk begins to realize that they may have allied themselves with the wrong side…

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

Later in 2013, the TOS block gives way to the five-part TNG-era crossover series, The Fall. So far we know David R George III is starting the series with a DS9 novel, Revelations and Dust, and that both Dayton Ward and David Mack are also contributing books to the series. Now James Swallow has also announced his involvement, with a Titan book on the way -Which pleases me no end, as his previous Titan novel, Synthesis, was one of the best in the series.

A bit less far away, listings have popped up lately for three new ebook omnibuses, all coming in January:

• Typhon Pact: The Khitomer Accords Saga - Comprised of the three most recent Typhon Pact branded books; David R George III's Plagues of Night and Raise the Dawn, and Una McCormack's Brinkmanship.
• The Original Series: The Continuing Missions, Volume I - Collects together this year's TOS novels: The Rings of Time, by Greg Cox, That Which Divides, by Dayton Ward, and Christopher L Bennett's second DTI novel, Forgotten History.
• Destiny: The Complete Saga - Which unsurprisingly is all three books of David Mack's Destiny trilogy. It's not clear whether this is a straight repackage of the three original novels, or a ebook release of this year's omnibus edition, which had a few tweaks from the originals.

Finally the second episode of TrekFM's new Literary Treks podcast is available for listening now. This time they talked to Kirsten Beyer about her Voyager relaunch books. She talked extensively about how she has developed the series, so if you're a fan it's well worth a listen (and if you're not a fan, what's wrong with you?). She also reconfirmed that her next book wont be getting to us until early 2014.

More books news

Simon and Schuster and Amazon listings have appeared for more new Trek books in 2013.

August's book has been revaled as Dayton Ward's mysterious new Star Trek book, and if the listing is correct will be no less than the sixth TOS novel of 2013! Titled From History's Shadow.

September's book is David R. George's DS9 novel. It is currently listed as a TNG book on Simon and Schuster, titled The Fall, Book 1: Time and Revelation. George has posted on Facebook clarifying that despite the current series allocation this is indeed a DS9 novel, and will be the first in a series called The Fall. Time and Revelation was an early working title for it, and will not be the final name.

There is now a paperback listing for June's book; The Shocks of Adversity, by William Leisner. Which had until now only been available for pre-order as an ebook on Amazon.

Christopher L. Bennett's July Enterprise book, Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures, is also now available for pre-order.

Back in the present, UnrealitySF have recently posted an interview with Una McCormack, in which she discussed her recent Typhon Pact novel, Brinkmanship. She talked about the creative opportunities afforded by the cold war-like setting of the Typhon Pact era, and how the book allowed her to explore familiar ground with the Cardassians, as well as really developing the Tzenketh.Check out UnrealitySF for all she has to say about that novel, and more of her work.

In other prose news, Cross Cult have recently announced the addition of the Voyager relaunch to their schedule of German novel translations, starting in October 2013 with Homecoming, the first of Christie Golden's Alpha Quadrant Voyager books. UnrealitySF's Jens Defner also tells me Cross Cult are already looking into doing a translation of the new movie prequel comic, Countdown to Darkness.

Prose updates, covers and more

The cover for David R. George III's forthcoming TOS novel Allegiance in Exile has been released. The rather stylish design looks like this:

UPDATE: Somehow completely failed to notice: They added "The Original Series" as a subtitle. About bloody time!

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

In other 2013 novel news, William Leisner's TOS novel, formerly using the stand-in title, A Conflict of Strangers, has been rechristened, The Shocks of Adversity. At the moment the Simon and Schuster listing for this is using the blurb previously (and still) used for Jeff Mariotte's The Folded World.

Meanwhile on Amazon.co.uk (but seemingly no where else yet), there is a new blurb for Greg Cox's next Trek novel, The Weight of Worlds:

Kirk and the Enterprise crew face off against an ancient extra-terrestrial cult known as the Crusade, who believe that ancient prophecies proclaim the universe will soon be destroyed and recreated, but only those who surrender to the Truth will be saved. The Crusade is on a sacred mission to bring the Truth to Kirk's universe before the End comes. But how do you fight an idea? And is the Crusade here to save or subjugate the Federation?

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

Back to this year; this month's novel, Brinkmanship, and ebook, In Tempest's Wake, don't seem to have excerpts on the Simon and Schuster site, but if you want to try before you buy, both have a small sample you can read using Amazon's look inside feature. So, have a look, here, and here.

On the subject of In Tempest's Wake, Doug Drexler posted on his Facebook an unused alternate cover for the book:

He also posted the artwork for Raise the Dawn, which reveals the final artwork was cropped in quite significantly. Check out the runabouts with cargo modules! Curiously he refers to this as a cover from Pocket's Omega series.

Finally the Star Trek Czech books Facebook page posted a higher res version of the new cover for Kobayashi Maru, coming soon in Czech from Laser Books: