The upcoming year may be devoid of televised Star Trek for a while as the next round of episodes go before cameras, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any new stories for fans to enjoy in the meantime!
The year’s slate of Trek published fiction is starting to shape up already, with a wide range of new novels from all across the franchise — stretching all the way from the late 23rd century era of the classic Star Trek films, to the distant 32nd century-era of Star Trek: Discovery.
Coming in May is the first far-future tale in the Star Trek: Discovery novel series, Una McCormack’s Star Trek: Discovery – Wonderlands, set during the year between Michael Burnham’s arrival in 3188 (“That Hope is You, Part 1”) and the subsequent crash-landing of the USS Discovery in 3189 (“Far From Home”).
In a desperate attempt to prevent the artificial intelligence known as Control from seizing crucial information that could destroy all sentient life, Commander Michael Burnham donned the ‘Red Angel’ time-travel suit and guided the USS Discovery into the future and out of harm’s way.
But something has gone terribly wrong, and Burnham has somehow arrived in a place far different from anything she could have imagined—more than nine hundred years out of her time, with Discovery nowhere to be found, and where the mysterious and cataclysmic event known as “the Burn” has utterly decimated Starfleet and, with it, the United Federation of Planets.
How then can she possibly exist day-to-day in this strange place? What worlds are out there waiting to be discovered? Do any remnants of Starfleet and the Federation possibly endure?
With more questions than answers, Burnham must nevertheless forge new friendships and new alliances if she hopes to survive this future long enough for the Discovery crew to find her….
With the confirmation that David Ajala’s role aboard Discovery will be continuing in the now-filming fourth season of the series, this “lost era” of Michael Burnham’s time in the future will surely help fill in the blanks for her burgeoning relationship with Cleveland Booker.
June takes us back to the pre-Wrath of Khan days of Admiral Kirk, Captain Spock, and the Original Series crew with Star Trek: The Original Series — Living Memory from Christopher L. Bennett, the author’s next entry in his post-The Motion Picture storyline (and a follow-up to last year’s The Higher Frontier).
While attempting to settle in as commandant of Starfleet Academy, Admiral James T. Kirk must suddenly contend with the controversial, turbulent integration of an alien warrior caste into the student body — and quickly becomes embroiled in conflict when the Academy controversy escalates to murder.
Meanwhile, Captain Spock of the USS Enterprise and Commander Pavel Chekov of the USS Reliant are investigating a series of powerful cosmic storms seemingly targeting Federation worlds — unstoppable outbursts emitting from the very fabric of space.
Endeavoring to predict where the lethal storms will strike next, Spock and Chekov make the shocking discovery that the answer lies in Commander Nyota Uhura’s past — one that she no longer remembers….
The reference to Uhura’s lost memories may be a tie-in to her encounter with the Nomad probe in “The Changeling,” where the Enterprise communication officer had her mind erased during the events of that episode.
July beams us back to the Enterprise-D for Cassandra Rose Clark’s Star Trek: The Next Generation — Shadows Have Offended, a Deanna Troi / Beverly Crusher novel set during the final year of the television series.
The USS Enterprise has been granted the simple but unavoidable honor of ferrying key guests to Betazed for a cultural ceremony.
En route, sudden tragedy strikes a Federation science station on the isolated planet Kota, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard has no qualms sending William Riker, Data, and Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher to investigate.
But what begins as routine assignments for the two parties soon descends into chaos: Picard, Worf, and Deanna Troi must grapple with a dangerous diplomatic crisis as historic artifacts are stolen in the middle of a high-profile ceremony… while nothing is as it seems on Kota.
A mounting medical emergency coupled with the science station’s failing technology — and no hope of rescue — has Doctor Crusher racing against time to solve a disturbing mystery threatening the lives of all her colleagues….
This is the first Star Trek novel from Clark, whose book was first announced last September; cover artwork for this tale has not yet been released.
Cristobal Rios gets his own feature in August’s Star Trek: Picard — Rogue Elements, a just-revealed third novel in the Picard line (following January’s The Dark Veil) from John Jackson Miller, set “years” before the events of the Picard television series.
Starfleet was everything for Cristóbal Rios — until one horrible, inexplicable day when it all went wrong. Aimless and adrift, he grasps at a chance for a future as an independent freighter captain in an area betrayed by the Federation, the border region with the former Romulan Empire.
His greatest desire: to be left alone. But solitude isn’t in the cards for the captain of La Sirena, who falls into debt to a roving gang of hoodlums from a planet whose society is based on Prohibition-era Earth.
Teamed against his will with Ledger, his conniving overseer, Rios begins an odyssey that brings him into conflict with outlaws and fortune seekers, with power brokers and relic hunters across the stars.
Exotic loves and locales await — as well as dangers galore — and Rios learns the hard way that good crewmembers are hard to find, even when you can create your own.
And while his meeting with Jean-Luc Picard is years away, Rios finds himself drawing on the Starfleet legend’s experiences when he discovers a mystery that began on one of the galaxy’s most important days.
On his blog, Miller says that he specifically requested the chance to write about Rios, and that his “lockdown novel” is the longest book he’s ever written.
The year’s fiction slate also includes the still-mysterious Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — Revenant (announced last year) and a year-ending trilogy Star Trek: Coda which will “push forward” the long-running novel continuity, which to date has remained independent of the Star Trek: Picard storyline.
Book 1 is Moments Asunder by Dayton Ward, Book 2 is The Ashes of Tomorrow by James Swallow, and the final Book 3 is Oblivion’s Gate by David Mack — the trilogy will arrive in September, October, and November of this year. (Details uncovered by The Trek Collective.)
On top of all that, it also looks like there’s another non-fiction publication also headed to print this summer.
On the way from architectural photographer Dan Chavkin is Star Trek: Designing the Final Frontier — The Untold Story of How Midcentury Modern Decor Shaped Our View of the Future, a 160-page hardcover coffee table book from Simon & Schuster label Weldon Owen.
(COVER ART NOT FINAL)
Celebrate Star Trek: The Original Series and the show’s distinctive Mid-Century modern design that would change design– and television– forever.
Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969) was the first installment of one of the most successful and longest-running television franchises of all time.
Today, “Trekkers” champion its writing, progressive social consciousness, and aesthetic. Designing the Final Frontier is a unique, expert look at the mid-century modern design that created and inspired that aesthetic.
From Eames chairs to amorphous sculptures, from bright colors to futuristic frames, Star Trek: TOS is bursting with mid-century modern furniture, art, and design elements—many of them bought directly from famous design showrooms.
Author and mid-century modern design expert Dan Chavkin has created an insider’s guide to the interior of original starship Enterprise and beyond, that is sure to attract Star Trek’s thriving global fan base.
In a desperate attempt to prevent the artificial intelligence known as Control from seizing crucial information that could destroy all sentient life, Commander Michael Burnham donned the ‘Red Angel’ time-travel suit and guided the USS Discovery into the future and out of harm’s way.
Starfleet was everything for Cristóbal Rios — until one horrible, inexplicable day when it all went wrong. Aimless and adrift, he grasps at a chance for a future as an independent freighter captain in an area betrayed by the Federation, the border region with the former Romulan Empire.
