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:

DS9 books: new covers, blurbs, and excerpts

Here's a double dose of Deep Space Nine books news, with a new cover and blurb for a forthcoming ebook, and excerpts from a freshly released novel. Continue below to check them both out.

Due out in November, is Paula Block and Terry Erdmann's third DS9 ebook novella, I, The Constable. Like their previous novellas, Quark features, but as the title suggest, this time it is Odo starring. Check out the delightful new cover which has just been released (as spotted by Defcon's Treklit):

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: Latest Star Trek prose, comics, and non-fiction updates

Lots of Star Trek books bits and pieces gathered below, including news of a new Titan novel, new rare comic reprints, a look at the new Star Trek Encyclopedia, and some intriguing new titles. Continue below for details of all those and more!

First up, from the world of Star Trek comics, Amazon has now added a listing for the second book in the reprints of the UK comic strips, the rare early Star Trek comics which were originally published in several magazines in the UK in the sixties and seventies. Star Trek: The Classic UK Comics, Volume Two, is due out in November, and has this snazzy cover that shows off some of the glorious art within.

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:

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.

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: New Frontier covers, and 50th anniversary trilogy!

Books news! Including new covers and the first details of fiftieth anniversary novels!

In a recent interview with Visionary Treks' The Captain's Table podcast, David Mack revealed his next Star Trek novel, following Seekers 3: Long Shot in August, will be one book in a TOS trilogy, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek next year:

I do have one more, that I'm going to be writing this fall, which will be out in the fall of 2016. The story line hasn't been approved yet, so I don't know for sure that it's a go. But what we're working on is a special set of stories to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek. And I'm working on one volume of what is hoped to be a trilogy, which will play homage to classic Star Trek, in fine Original Series style.

I wonder who else will be filling out the trilogy? Following this, David Mack will be missing in action from the Star Trek universe, while he is busy working on his original trilogy of World War II era fantasy novels. He doesn't expect to be returning to Star Trek until at least 2017, and doesn't seem entirely sure about that, not be able to foresee his own, or the Star Trek books, schedule. What has become of Section 31: Control? Well, the fiftieth anniversary book has displaced his writing of that until a later date. Mack being busy could also effect the ongoing nature of the Seekers series, and one of the points discussed in the interview was who Mack might favour to fill in for him if he is otherwise occupied when the next books come along. Check out the full interview, with discussion of this and much more, on Visionary Treks: Part one and part two.

Also, do you notice the fiftieth anniversary logo at the top? That was recently discovered by TrekCore, and I'm sure will be appearing all over Star Trek products in the not-to-distant-future. Check out TrekCore's report for more on that.

Meanwhile, new cover time! The last two covers for Peter David's New Frontier ebook trilogy The Returned have now been revealed. The first was released a couple of weeks ago. Continue below to check them both out:

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:

Books bits: Armageddon, Wit, and more

There have been several new covers for forthcoming Star Trek books released recently, plus some other bits of books news, which you'll find below.

First up an exciting new cover for Dayton Ward's TNG novel, Armageddon's Arrow. The cover art is by Doug Drexler, with a spacey background from Ali Ries.Via StarTrek.com:

Armageddon's Arrow, due out in June, will see the USS Enterprise-E embarking on it's new mission of exploration. Here's the blurb:

It is a new age of exploration, and the U.S.S. Enterprise is dispatched to “the Odyssean Pass,” a region charted only by unmanned probes and believed to contain numerous inhabited worlds. Approaching a star system with two such planets, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew find a massive alien vessel, drifting in interstellar space for decades. Sensors detect life aboard the derelict—aliens held in suspended animation.

Thought to be an immense sleeper ship, the vessel actually is a weapon capable of destroying entire worlds . . . the final gambit in a war that has raged for generations across the nearby system. Now caught in the middle of this conflict, Captain Picard attempts to mediate, as both sides want this doomsday weapon . . . which was sent from the future with the sole purpose of ending the interplanetary war before it even began!

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

More books news after the jump:

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!

Book bits: Voyager covers, new releases, and annotations

A few bits of books news today, starting with some new cover art from German publisher Cross Cult. Posting on the German Star Trek books Facebook page, they revealed the artwork for Kirsten Beyer's third Voyager relaunch book, Children of the Storm, aka Kinder des Sturms. The ship staring on this cover is the USS Curie, as designed by Mark Rademaker:

Kinder des Sturms is due out in August. Cross Cult also released an updated version of another of their covers. Continue after the jump to check that out, plus a few other Star trek book updates: