Book bits: Final Coda cover revealed, new blurb, other novel updates, and Star Trek Online short story collection

The final cover for the Coda trilogy(ad) has been revealed, as has a new blurb from the series, and a surprise Star Trek Online short story collection. Continue below for more on these, and all the latest Star Trek prose updates.

Next month begins the Coda trilogy, a series which will bring together the heroes of the Star Trek novel continuity of pre-Picard reset in a "Temporal Apocalypse" mega event. The cover for the final book in the trilogy, David Mack's Oblivion's Gate(ad), which will close the story in November, has finally been revealed, and stars the USS Defiant, seemingly beginning to vanish from reality!

Novel news: New Coda cover and blurb, and Shadows Have Offended excerpts

The next cover for the Coda trilogy has been revealed, along with a new blurb for the series. Continue below to check out those updates, plus excerpts from the recently released TNG novel Shadows Have Offended.

This autumn the Coda trilogy(ad) will bring together the heroes of the Star Trek novel continuity from the last couple of decades, in a "Temporal Apocalypse", which is presumably their final adventure, as their timeline has been shunted into an alternate timeline by the events of Picard painting a very different future for the prime timeline. The second book in that trilogy is James Swallow's The Ashes of Tomorrow(ad), and the cover has now been revealed for that, which has a bit of a DS9 focus, with the new Starfleet-built replacement Deep Space 9, and Captain Dax's slipstream-ship the USS Aventine.

Star Trek novel news: First Coda cover, and audiobook updates

Exciting times Star Trek novel readers, the first cover for this year's mega-crossover event, the Coda trilogy, has been released. Continue below to check it out, and for some other Star Trek novel updates.

The Coda trilogy(ad) will feature the crews under Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Ezri Dax, and William Riker dealing with a "Temporal Apocalypse" in the Star Trek books continuity readers will know well from the last couple of decades of Star Trek novels, which Picard has now rendered an alternate timeline (or maybe after this apocalypse, more linked in some way?). Dayton Ward's Moments Asunder(ad) kicks off the series, and as we can now see, the cover features the USS Enterprise-E swooping into action. 

Star Trek novels: New Picard post-season one novel announced, plus Coda and Living Memory previews

A few Star Trek novel news items have turned up lately, including a little something from the Coda trilogy, and previews of the newest TOS novel, Living Memory. But most excitingly, there is news of the first Star Trek novel scheduled for 2022, and the first non-prequel Picard novel!

Coming in April 2022 from Una McCormack is Second Self(ad), a new Picard novel which centers on Raffi, and unlike the three Picard novels so far(ad), which have filled in the backstory for characters in the series in prequel settings, this new book is set after the events of the first season. 

The blurb therefore might be mildly spoilery for where we are come the start of the second season, as it suggests where some characters are beyond simply flying off away on La Sirena:

A thrilling untold adventure based on the acclaimed Star Trek: Picard TV series!

Following the explosive events seen in season one of Star Trek: Picard, Raffi Musiker finds herself torn between returning to her old life as a Starfleet Intelligence officer or something a little more tame—teaching at the Academy, perhaps. The decision is made for her though when a message from an old contact—a Romulan spy—is received, asking for immediate aid. With the help of Cristobal Rios and Dr. Agnes Jurati, and assistance from Jean-Luc Picard, Raffi decides to take on this critical mission—and quickly learns that past sins never stay buried. Finding the truth will be complicated, and deadly….

Book bits: Coda teases, audiobook covers, and Discovery: Wonderlands excerpts

There a diverse offering of Star Trek novels on the way this year, from old and current series, and even a (presumably) last hurrah from the novel continuity Picard has now pushed into an alternate timeline. Publisher Simon and Schuster have now released some updated covered for several of those, plus various excerpts from the latest release, Discovery: Wonderlands. Continue below for all the latest Star Trek novel updates:

German cover art for the Destiny crossover trilogy

First up, looking towards the end of the year (September to November), we have the Coda(ad) trilogy. Initial short blurbs were released for this a couple of months ago, revealing it will chronicle a "Temporal Apocalypse", and feature the crews under Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Ezri Dax, and William Riker.

These are the lead commanders of the post-Nemesis novel continuity featuring the ongoing adventures of the USS Enterprise-E, USS Titan, USS Aventine, USS Robinson, and the rebuilt Deep Space 9. A continuity that alas is no longer compatible with the on-screen Trekverse established in Picard, due to numerous divergent elements, including most significantly the lack of a massive Borg invasion in the Destiny(ad) trilogy, the resurrection of Data in the Cold Equations(ad) trilogy, and a very different life of Captain Picard.

While not explicitly marketed as such, the Coda trilogy seems to be offering us one last chapter in this world of Trek, which will hopefully tie up a few dangling plots, let us enjoy one last adventure with many novel-only characters or versions-of-characters we know, and give us some sense of resolution to what for many has been the main reality of Star Trek for years. 

The authors of the trilogy, Dayton Ward, James Swallow, and David Mack have been talking about work on the trilogy on the TrekBBS message boards, and revealed some little titbits. Responding to a question about the involvement of DS9 in the series, Mack reassured it will be a major element:

Not just some role — a pivotal role. I'll tell you now we were not able to address all of the open story threads from that series, but we are doing some deep-cut callbacks and making sure the DS9 heroes are front-and-center for the climax of book three.

Star Trek novel updates: First Coda blurbs, details of next DS9 novel, and audiobook covers

More Star Trek novel news! Following the recent reveal of the 2021 line-up of Star Trek novels, Simon and Schuster have now updated their Online Catalog with blurbs for the books coming towards the end of the year, including the first details of the Coda trilogy. Continue below for all the details.

The Coda trilogy is set to tie-up the reality of the Star Trek litverse which has been told over the last couple of decades, but was alas shunted into an alternate timeline by the new canon events of Picard. All three of the new blurbs start with the following intro, which confirms we are getting one last enormous TNG/DS9/Titan/Aventine crossover:

The crews of Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Ezri Dax, and William Riker unite to prevent a cosmic-level apocalypse—only to find that some fates really are inevitable.

Book 1: Moments Asunder(ad), by Dayton Ward kicks off the trilogy in September:

REALITY ITSELF IS UNDER ATTACK.

The epic Star Trek: Coda trilogy begins when the unexpected arrival of an old friend triggers a desperate mission to avert a fast-spreading temporal disaster.

James Swallow continues in October with Book 2: The Ashes of Tomorrow(ad):

THE FUTURE IS AT WAR WITH THE PAST.

The epic Star Trek: Coda trilogy continues as friends become foes, the Temporal Apocalypse accelerates, and the catastrophe’s true cause is revealed.

And David Mack closes the trilogy in November with Book 3: Oblivion's Gate(ad):

THEIR MOST DAUNTING MISSION WILL BE THEIR FINEST HOUR.

The epic Star Trek: Coda trilogy comes to a shattering conclusion as the Temporal Apocalypse forces Starfleet’s greatest heroes to make the greatest sacrifices of their lives.

Temporal Apocalypse!! Blimey. Who is the mysterious old friend, what is the nature of the disaster, how will this all mesh the litverse with the canon reality? I cannot wait to find out!

Lower Decks canonises the Luna class USS Titan, and other series updates

Something very exciting happened in the last episode of Lower Decks, the Captain Riker's ship, the USS Titan, made its on-screen debut, a decade and a half after being named in Nemesis! To mark this historic moment CBS released a fun little social media poster featuring the ship, Riker, and Troi, who all appeared in the episode. Continue below for more on this, and other updates from Lower Decks.

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:

Starships Collection updates: More Discovery ships, main series extended again, Spacedock, and videos!

A few big Eaglemoss Starships Collection updates have trickled out over the last few days, and you can get up to date with them all below.

Let's start with Discovery news. So far we only knew of the first two issues of the Discovery spin-off series, the USS Shenzhou and the USS Discovery. Now Eaglemoss' Ben Robinson has tweeted detailed of a further four issues:

Europa is on the way but issues 3 and 4 are the Kerala (you didn't see her named) and The Bird-of-Prey - which are the little fighters.

Matt Mira‏, the host of After Trek, also tweeted this photo of the Eaglemoss Discovery model (giving us a look from a new angle), on display on the After Trek set (it's right behind him if you watch the show):

Review: The Official Starships Collection - USS Titan

Following a demonstration of fan demand championed by this very website, Eaglemoss have recently released their first bonus issue in The Official Starships Collection featuring a ship that originates from the Star Trek novels, the Luna class USS Titan.

If you're not familiar, the Titan was of course named in Nemesis, as the new command of Captain Riker. But we never saw it until Sean Tourangeau won a competition to design the ship at the heart of the then (a decade ago) new Titan book series. The Luna class has since gone on to appear in Star Trek exhibitions, comics, and video games - It is surely the most prominent of non-canon ships, and indeed is at least technically canon!

I've been clamouring for this since the collection began; so it's safe to say my views may be a little biased - But none the less, continue below for a closer look at this much anticipated model, and the accompanying magazine.

Loads of new ships announced and other Starships Collection news

At this weekend's Star Trek Mission: New York convention Eaglemoss ran a panel on Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, in which series manager Ben Robinson announced loads of new ships,and other news. Continue below for a round-up of what we learnt:

The big news is that once again the collection has been granted an extension, and will now run for at least 130 issues (plus specials and other additional issues), which is almost twice the originally planned 70 issue run!

Ben announced a whole load of new ships during the panel, but by far the most exciting to me was confirmation that the USS Titan issue will be coming, off the back of the petition to find support for it championed right here on The Trek Collective. And better yet, Ben also confirmed the USS Aventine will be released too! Both ships are due out in 2017.

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.

Book bits: Prey cover, new TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Section 31 blurbs, and more!

Lots of book news today, including brand new blurbs for the first four novels on the 2017 novel schedule, which continue the adventures of the Enterprise-E, new-DS9, Voyager and the Full Circle fleet, and Docotr Bashir's efforts to thwart Section 31. But before we get to all those exciting stories, there's new cover!

Coming in November is the middle book in John Jackson Miller's Prey trilogy, The Jackal's Trick. The TNG era story is Klingon focused, and the cover, released by StarTrek.com, certainly demonstrates that, with a couple of Klingon ships and a big--scary-demon-thing (anyone recognise what that is?).

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.

Starships Collection updates: Titan passes 5000, latest previews, possible book, and more!

Lots of updates from Eaglemoss' Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection below. But first the news I've been waiting for, for a little over a year: The petition to get the USS Titan in the collection has now passed over the five-thousand signatures mark! Here's the collection's manager, Ben Robinson's response on Twitter:

Now I wouldn't expect anything to happen very fast, getting the list of names is just the first step, but as Ben has indicated, plans are now afoot on figuring out how to translate that interest into making the extra Titan issue a reality. Ben seemed very positive and determined to make this happen when I talked to him, and had some exciting thoughts on sharing the development process for this extra issue too. Until Eaglemoss finalise their plans for the next stage, please continue to try and seek out more fans of the Titan to sign the petition, I am sure a proportion of the names on there will not follow through with pre-ordering when the time comes, so the bigger the buffer the better, to make sure this happens!

Meanwhile, regular issues continue apace as ever! The latest to get their official solicitations are issues sixty-one and sixty-two, the Norway class, and Voth Research Vessel. These are due out in the UK first, this December, while other markets will follow behind as usual.

Titan: Sight Unseen cover

Coming in October is James Swallow's new Titan novel, Sight Unseen, and StarTrek.com have now revealed the cover, featuring artwork by Tobias Richter, showcasing his fantastic Titan model (first seen on the cover of Swallow's last Titan story, The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice) once again:

While the Titan and crew have featured in a novella, Absent Enemies, and a more TNG and Aventine focused novel, Takedown (both by John Jackson Miller), this will be the first Titan novel since The Fall, so should be interesting to see how the series adapts to Riker's new job in the admiralty.

Continue after the jump for a reminder of the blurb:

Book bits: New covers and blurbs for 2015 books, and more.

It's a big books news day, as Pocket Books have released blurbs for the last four novels of the publishing year, which include a Pike-era story, the next books in the Seekers and Titan series, and a blurb that is sure to make fans of the DS9 relaunch do back-flips and set off fireworks! Continue below for all those, and more. But first:

Coming in July is the first novella in a New Frontier ebook trilogy, by Peter David of course. Previously reported as being titled Return, StarTrek.com have now revealed a revised title, The Returned, and the cover and blurb for the first book in the series, which features an intriguing choice of ship given when this is taking place in the New Frontier continuity:

Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur are back, picking up three months after the stunning events depicted in New Frontier: Blind Man’s Bluff. Calhoun's search of Xenex has failed to find any survivors, and now he is bound and determined to track down the race that killed them—the D'myurj and their associates, the Brethren--and exact vengeance upon them. His search will take the Excalibur crew into a pocket universe, where he discovers not only the homeworld of the D’myurj, but another race that shares Calhoun's determination to obliterate his opponents. But is this new race truly an ally…or an even greater threat?

Simon and Schuster tend to release their novel blurbs a third of a year at a time, so there latest updates give us summaries of the October to January books, the last four of the 2015 publishing schedule. All four are now available to pre-order, while the blurbs themselves are so far only found on Simon and Schuster's digital catalogue. Continue after the jump to check them out:

Cross Cult's Foundations, and schedule updates

Cross Cult have revealed (on their Star Trek books Facebook page) the new cover art for several of their forthcoming German translations of Corps of Engineers ebook novellas. The three new designs below are for the Foundations trilogy, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore. They are books seventeen to nineteen in the Corps of Engineer series, and will get their German release starting in December.

Cross Cult have also released finalised versions of several other Corps of Engineers books they previously posted artwork for. Continue after the jump to check out those, and news of German books schedule updates:

Books bits: Margaret Clark teases 2015 releases, new books, and more

Loads of books news today, the bulk of it coming via Visionary Trek's The Captain Table podcast, which recently had Star Trek books editor Margaret Clark on, and many a bean was spilt as they talked about the novels and novellas coming over the next year.

Margaret spoke most extensively about where things are going in DS9 books, particularly in regard to David R. George III's next two books, July's Sacraments of Fire, and the follow-up, which Margaret revealed will be titled Ascendance, and is due out in January 2016 (officially the last book of the 2015 schedule). Margaret revealed the books will be set quite shortly after The Fall and will pick up on many of the threads from that crossover event, and how the crew of the new DS9 react to the historic events.

It's mere days after Bacco's assassination. ...What happens to all of these people realising, the first thing that's going to be written about the new station's history, is that Nanietta Bacco was assassinated here.

She also noted Ben Sisko will be staying closer to home than we might have anticipated:

Because of what happened in The Fall, Starfleet told [Sisko] you can't go out and explore the Gamma Quadrant, we need you here. 

Margaret discussed the books at some length, noting some of the other plots that will be picked up from both The Fall, and earlier DS9 relaunch books.

Continuing the post-The Fall era, Margaret also discussed Titan, and the how the books will continue with Riker now an admiral, in John Jackson Miller's Takedown, and James Swallow's Sight Unseen, both out this year:

John Jackson Miller's is mere days after The Fall, so things aren't that firm, Starfleet Command are trying to figure out what to do with Will. Where James Swallow is actually the first mission of the Titan, and is the first thing that Will Riker is given to do as an admiral in that book. So John Jackson Miller's is sort of the bridge book between The Fall, but the first real Titan book, with the ship dealing with the fact that "it's not Will, aww", that's October, and it's Star Trek: Titan - Sight Unseen.

Margaret also told The Captain's Table all about lots of the other forthcoming books. Continue below for further highlights, and more Star Trek books news!