This Fall Pocket Books has Star Trek novels spanning all the eras of Trek future history, from the 22nd century Romulan War, to the 23rd century Mirror Universe up through to the latest for the USS Voyager and USS Titan in the 24th century. Today TrekMovie has an exclusive first look at the covers and jacket copy for the Star Trek books coming out September – December 2009.
STAR TREK BOOKS FALL 2009 PREVIEW
Below is the back of the book jacket copy from each book, along with the books covers (note some may not be final copy). All book covers below can be seen in high resolution by clicking on the images. All books are mass market paperbacks, unless otherwise noted.
September 2009
STAR TREK: VOYAGER – UNWORTHY
by Kirsten Beyer
Freed with a thought, the greatest menace to humanity, the Borg are gone, absorbed into the Caeliar gestalt. But are they? Can this deadly menace, that has hovered over humanity for decades truly be gone? Might some shadow of the Caeliar remain? The Federation decides that they have to know and Starfleet is ordered to find out.
The Starship Voyager leads a fleet into a region of space that has lived in fear of instant annihilation for generations, home of the Borg, the Delta quadrant. Afsarah Eden—the new captain of Voyager is charged getting answers, to reach out to possible allies, and resolve old enmities in the Delta quadrant
The perfection that was given to the Borg was withheld from Seven of Nine. Left behind she is living a twilight existence—neither Borg nor human—and slowly going mad. The whispers of the Collective, comforting mummers she has always known, is replaced with a voice deep within her that keeps insisting she is Annika Hansen. Chakotay, the former captain of Voyager, offers to help Seven rendezvous with the ships that Starfleet Command has sent into the Delta quadrant, the probable destination of the mysterious Caeliar.
These are not the friendly stars of the Federation, the unknown and the unexpected are the everyday.
[pre-order "Unworthy" at Amazon]
September 2009
STAR TREK: Enterprise – THE ROMULAN WAR: BENEATH THE RAPTOR’S WING
by Michael A. Martin
[trade paperback]
At the start of the twenty-second century unconditional war swept across the Earth. A war that engulfed the great and the small, the rich and the poor, giving no quarter. Each side strove for unconditional victory, and as battle built upon battle the living began to envy the dead.
Chastised by the cataclysm that they had unleashed, the governments of Earth banded together. Humanity vowed to put an end to war, and to strive for the betterment of every living creature. A united Earth created Starfleet, an interstellar agency, whose mission was to explore the cosmos, to come in peace for all mankind. A naïve wish, yet man persists in the belief that peace is the way. Banding together with other powers to form a Coalition of Planets, humanity hopes that the strength each can offer the other, will allow for peaceful exploration.
The rise of the Coalition strikes dread within the Romulan Star Empire. They feel the growing reach will cut them off from is rightfully theirs. But, the Romulans know that the alliance is fragile, that the correct strategy could turn allies into foes. Perfecting a way of remotely controlling Coalition ships and using them as weapons against each other, the Romulans hope to driving a wedge of suspicion and mistrust between these new allies.
One ship, one Starfleet captain uncovers this insidious plot, Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise. Determined not to lose what they have gained, out manned and out gunned, the captains of Starfleet stand tall vowing to defend every inch of Coalition space. The tide begins to turn. The Romulans now plan to strike at what they see as the heart of their problem. With nothing left to lose the Romulan Star Empire engages in all out war against humanity, determined once and for all to stop the human menace from spreading across the galaxy.
[pre-order "Romulan War" from Amazon]
October 2009
STAR TREK: TITAN – SYNTHESIS
by James Swallow
The Starship Titan continues on her outward voyage of discovery. Ranging farther and farther from Federation space, Captain William Riker and the crew look forward to living Starfleet’s mission: seeking out new life, discovering new civilizations.
Striking a “sandbank”—a spatial distortion—the Titan is knocked out of warp, her crew shaken up but uninjured. Titan has stumbled across a battlefield, and floating in it, shattered and in pieces, are the remains of a ship. Searching for survivors, they discover the ship never had a crew. The away team removes the computer core, looking for answers. Once the device is restored, it becomes clear this is not just a computer, but a thinking, reasoning artificial intelligence.
It identifies itself as SecondGen White-Blue, it comes from a civilization composed entirely of sentient computers. Eons ago these artificial intelligences were charged to be the first line of defense against The Null—a destructive force so allconsuming that generation upon generation have waged unending war trying to find a way to beat back this terror. Captain Riker offers to assist them, but years of war have left the AIs distrustful and suspicious, especially of organics.
The tide of the battle is turning, The Null is winning. Set free, it will destroy everything in this system and then, unchecked, spread its mindless destruction into the heart of the Federation.
[pre-order "Synthesis" from Amazon]
November 2009
STAR TREK: VANGUARD – PRECIPICE
by David Mack
Operation Vanguard is in chaos.
On a post-apocalyptic world in the Taurus Reach, undercover Starfleet Intelligence agent Cervantes Quinn finds an ancient Shedai conduit. Unfortunately, the Klingons have found it first and sent an army to claim it.
Light-years away on Vulcan, reporter Tim Pennington answers a cryptic call for help and ends up stalking interstellar criminals with an unlikely partner: T’Prynn, the woman who sabotaged his career and is now a fugitive from justice.
Meanwhile, Diego Reyes, former commander of Starbase 47, lives as a prisoner aboard a Klingon starship. But his former enemies aren’t seeking revenge. In fact, the only man who knows why Reyes is still alive is the one who arranged his kidnapping and faked his death—the enigmatic Councilor Gorkon.
All their fates, as well as the futures of three great powers, are linked by one thing: the mysterious Mirdonyae Artifact. And unless Doctor. Carol Marcus and Ming Xiong can unlock its secrets in time, it might destroy them all.
[pre-order "Precipice" at Amazon]
December 2009
STAR TREK: MIRROR UNIVERSE – SORROWS OF EMPIRE
by David Mack
One man can shape the future…but at what cost?
“In every revolution, there is one man with a vision.”
Captain James T. Kirk of the United Federation of Planets spoke those prophetic words to Commander Spock of the Terran Empire, hoping to inspire change. He could not have imagined the impact his counsel would have.
Armed with a secret weapon of terrifying power and a vision of the alternate universe’s noble Federation, Spock seizes control of the Terran Empire and commits it to the greatest gamble in its history: democratic reform.
Rivals within the empire try to stop him; enemies outside unite to destroy it.
Only a few people suspect the shocking truth: Spock is knowingly arranging his empire’s downfall. But why? Have the burdens of imperial rule driven him mad? Or is this the coldly logical scheme of a man who realizes that freedom must always be paid for in blood?
Spock alone knows that the fall of the empire will be the catalyst for a political chain reaction—one that will alter the fate of his universe forever.
[pre-order "Sorrows of Empire" from Amazon]
DS9 SUMMER + 2010 PREVIEW COMING NEXT
TrekMovie has much more book coverage planned for July. Next weekend is the annual Shore Leave convention in Maryland. As they do every year, Pocket Books will hold a panel announcing their upcoming book schedule and TrekMovie will present the same preview online to coincide with the Pocket Books panel.
Pocket also has two Deep Space Nine books planned for July and August [see previous story for preview]. TrekMovie will have the first review in a couple weeks, preceded by a ‘DS9 releaunch primer’ to get you ready.
The holodeck lady returns to haunt Riker! My mind is warped!
Trek novels covers are always dull and uninspired, imo. Faces ripped from the show, staring at the reader. Starships in space. I’d like more art and imagination.
Troi is going to tear Riker a new one when she finds out about this Titan cover with Minuet.
Minuet! (Carolyn McCormick) – one of my all time favorite TNG characters. That was a cool episode. And, a cool holodeck “love story”.
If goateed Spock was holding on to a pitchfork, that front cover would be a perfect sci-fi homage to Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” painting.
I think the cover art for Star Trek: Vanguard is the best one from the three. It feels like the new movie, but also evoking a classic Trek feel.
Can’t wait for the next installment of Star Trek Enterprise. Sigh, if only it was a movie or TV mini-series.
Riker hasn’t looked like that in more than 10 years.
He needs to ditch the dye job and be a fatter version of the Old Grey Riker he played in the TNG finale.
8: Tell me about it….I mean look at his waistline! I dont think Frakes was ever that thin AND muscular….someone had some fan fun with photoshop….
re: VOY…. oh, joy… another Borg story….
too bad….the holodeck lady with Riker looks very much like Patrick Swayze in this picture.
Wish there would have been another TOS novel other then Vanguard. Or a post XI novel.
Why is it that the Trek novels – which are stories composed of written words – routinely have great looking covers while the Trek comics – which are stories composed primarily of drawings – routinely have such lousy looking covers? Seems ironic . . . .
#12 – there are several TOS novels due out next year; there should be more details next week with the Shore Leave preview mentioned above.
Ah, good to see that the extended version of “The Sorrows of Empire” is still coming out as planned.
How about we give the old Trek Crew their jobs back and have a TV Series based in the Star Trek “Prime” Timeline following the Adventures of the USS Titan and the aftermath of the Nero incident and the destruction of Romulus??
And just have this new Trek in the form of a movie Franchise???
Paramount could do some serious milking of the market there, and it would generate alot of interest:
Having the Prime Timeline continued would please fans who weren’t that taken by the new film and crave the continuity of 40 years of previous Trek that now seems abit pointless… It would also possibly generate interest from new fans who loved the movie and started watching box-sets of old shows (I was in HMV the other day and a group of lads were crowded round the Star Trek section of the DVD boxsets area saying that they loved the movie and might get into the older series)
Continuing the New Time Line in the Movies would be the real cash-cow as Paramount would still be milking the success of the film and if written correctly and intelligently could lead to a long series of popular films.
Just an idea… but I honestly think this would be a good move for Paramount as it covers all its bases and would IMO generate the highest possible income. OK ENT was abit of a flop, but that was almost 5 years and I think that based on the HUGE popularity of the new movie, a TV show would generate alot of interest.
Just to point out aswell, that when I meant the old crew getting back together, I didnt mean Berman, I mean people like Ira Behr, Michael Westmore, David Livingstone, Herman Zimmerman etc…
Just an idea….
Regards
Jay (UK)
They’re going back to the Minuet well? Really? Ugh.
– 13 – Sorry, but I can’t agree that “Trek novels…routinely have great looking covers….” Have you actually LOOKED at the covers? These are awful! Most of these look like college-student practice with Photoshop, not professional fiction artwork.
Then again, I haven’t really liked a Trek cover since the old Blish novelizations in the 1970s. (sigh) Now THOSE were some great Trek covers! Classic space opera…
Nowadays, they all look like Photoshop templates gone awry…
can’t wait for ENT “the Romulan War” novel
I wonder when they’ll start with novelizations in the new Trek ‘verse?
I am a huge Voyager fan, but it seems to me like the Voyager novels are following the ship around, not the crew. Star Trek has always been a character story, and, in my opinion, it isn’t Star Trek: Voyager if the crew isn’t there, but the ship is…that’s just my opinion tho…
My God, these books are awful. Even the ones that are ‘supposed’ to be good. I’m finishing the ‘Destiny’ series. It’s like something written by someone in High School. A total waste of time.
I always considered Minuet to be an incarnation of the Enterprise herself, considering she was a creation of the holodeck by the Binars. I never thought of her as just a construct, but an extension of the ship’s “heart.”
Am I the only one that got that impression?
CAUTION! David Mack’s “Sorrows of Empire” was first published in “ST Mirror Universe: Glass Empires” in 2007.
The new edition might be “extended”, but somehow I doubt it.
#24 – David Mack has said that the new version adds about 40,000-50,000 words to the original. That’s double the original.
http://infinitydog.livejournal.com/39031.html
Ok then, then I can honestly recommend it!
25
Was the original version any good?
I’ve never been interested in any of other thousands of Mirror Universe stories out there, but I’d definitely love to follow Mirror Spock’s story a little further…
TPTB may want to make sure of the direction that Mssrs Orci and Kurtzmann want to take before allowing the writers to have their say about the ‘new’ timeline. As this site has reported, they haven’t sat down and fleshed out the sequel possibilities yet, and probably don’t want a bunch of writers “beating them to the punch” over stories that might be ST12.
From a story-telling perspective, it would be VERY interesting to see what Spock-prime does now that he has resigned himself to the new timeline. How much does he decide to tell those around him of future events unrelated to the changes he brought about to make this new timeline better. The doomsday machine will still be coming. Yes, Khan is still a popsicle out there. Yonada is still careening out of control and McCoy will still need the cure in their database if Spock-prime doesn’t just make up a batch and tell him to take it.
I think that his acceptance of not hitting the reset button will give him the ability to act like Kirk did during the original series. Since he knows the outcomes of how situations were accomplished, the Prime Directive now does not have the power over him or others it may have in the ‘future/past’.
There are also the Organians, Trelane, V-Ger, Nomad and several other issues that might fill up the plate of a very old Vulcan who needs to now mate more than once every seven years to re-populate the species.
Just a few thoughts for the beginning of July….
Trust in the Prophets.
The Vedek.
I just hate these photoshop photo covers. They are cheesy. I miss the old painted cover art, the ones that looked like they could be movie posters or framed and hung on a wall.
How many words does a Star Trek novel have average? 50,000? 100,000?
It’s really bugging me what is happening to the Voyager series. I really loved that show, in retrospect it is my favorite of the Star Trek sequel series. I also love the original four re-launch books. Now I haven’t read FULL CIRCLE yet (next on my list) but I’m disturbed that they killed off Janeway in a TNG book and now it seems Chakotay will be driven from his command.
In this next book there is a new captain of the ship and the crew is all scattered. I’m really kinda bummed here.
Oh and before any of the Voyager-haters start to chime in….please don’t bother. I’ve watched every hour of Star Trek produced, I’m well aware of the best and the worst of Trek, and I see no reason whatsoever to dislike this show. LOVE IT!!!
I’m becoming a bit nostalgic for the 1980’s-90’s stand-alone pocket books. All of these inter-twining series and tie-ins are leaving me very unfulfilled.
The Vanguard/Precipice cover is the best looking of the covers. There is some bad Photoshop going on in some of the others, but that one’s pretty sharp, actually.
And it has lens flares!
Something old, something new —
Bart, you should really read FULL CIRCLE. I hadn’t read any of the previous VOYAGER post-series novels, and wasn’t sure what to make of the new direction, but this book was fantastic. If you haven’t read the TNG book in which Janeway dies, the book is structured to allow for that, and I think you’ll find it very moving. Put it this way: I wasn’t a VOYAGER fan, and I not only loved FULL CIRCLE, I can’t *wait* for UNWORTHY.
Well this is exciting! I guess I’m the first person to point out that the “unconditional war” (in the ENT synopsis) that swept across the Earth was actually the fictional WW3 which happened in the twenty FIRST century.
Nitpicking aside, I’m really looking forward to that and the new Titan book. And the new DS9!!!
Not Daniel, FULL CIRCLE is next on my list (finishing up MERE ANARCHY) now. I look forward to trying it, but it’s just the direction of the book series that worries me a bit. We’ll see though…
Thanks for the recommendation
The only one of these covers that’s any good is the Vanguard one. What’s with the really terrible photoshop job on the Enterprise and Mirror universe ones?
Maybe it’s not Minuet. It could be “Law & Order”‘s Dr. Liz Olivet on that cover with Riker.
27: “Was the original version any good?”
In my opinion, it was great. The other two stories were interesting as well.
Does anyone know, which Kirk actor will be on the covers of future books featuring Kirk?
i hope i explained myself.
@10: It doesn’t sound like another Borg story, it sounds like an “abscence of the Borg” story.
I want that Romulan War book. NOW. :D
And the Vanguard cover looks killer. If I’m not mistaken, Doug Drexler strikes again!
That voyager book sounds like a hot mess. I’m not a faithful trek novel reader, however, so I don’t know what’s going on for the most part. Perhaps this would make sense if I were. It just sounds…blah.
New Titan sounds interesting (read a couple a while back). New DS9 books that I have magically found time to read have been pretty good (though there is a boring one here and there).
-P
@39: I would imagine Shatner if it has to do with TOS, Pine if it has to do with the movie.
As an aside, I never understood that notion some people have that TOS doesn’t matter after the new movie. Have you guys ever watched Trek?? It just means there’s one more parallel universe to play in.
They put Pine’s picture on a classic ‘prime’ TOS novel cover, that’s just plain wrong.
Vanguard novels always have the most awesome covers.
@ #16
I agree Jay, the Prime Timeline should be explored, in any context, as should be the New Alternate Timeline. Both have much potential. It would be rediculous to ignore the 40 previous years of Star Trek History to jump off a cliff with an alternate.
I think they SHOULD utilize BOTH timelines, there is much potential for both. They don’t have to intersect, since both are totally seperate from each other. SO MUCH material available if you just think about it.
It would be a very bad move for “the powers that be,” to just ignore the Prime Timeline in favor of the New Alternate version. USE BOTH!
I haven’t read a Star Trek tie-in in decades, but what is the deal with Riker’s open-neck high collar uniform? Is the 25th(?) century experiencing TMP-era fashion nostalgia? Why not photochop some gold chains in there and be done with it.
These covers (with the exception of Drexler’s Vanguard) are horrible. I suppose they can’t afford to commission many original art works these days. Though to be honest, most of the old painted covers simply reproduced publicity shots, so I guess they’re just cutting out the middleman.
Looking forward to MIRROR UNIVERSE – SORROWS OF EMPIRE
These look great, but I can’t help but compare the cover for the Titan book to a Harlequin romance novel , , , , but I’ll still read it.
Bart, I agree with Not Daniel! You should read Full Circle. It was great and will leave you anxious for Unworthy.
I collected ST novels for many years; but recently I rarely buy them. I’m a bit disappointed with what is done currently with the post-TNG era. Now that the writers practically unlimited possiblities here, they seem hellbent to “shrinking” their universe. Over the last years, they got rid of: Martok’s family; The Dominion; Trill symbiosis; The Romulans as a major power (good thing Romulus exploded anyway) and Kathryn Janeway (plus The Borg – here I have to admit they were done to death, already – and Captain Sisko’s death – cheesy, but fine with me).
So I’ ve limited my purchases mostly to the “New Frontier” (constantly good) and “Titan” books (even if the latter series is a bit hit-and-miss). Keith de Candido’s “political” novels (“Articles of the Federation” etc.) are good, though.
As for novels set in the New Universe, I’d rather have they would wait until the movie trilogy is done, to avoid contradictions.
But a Kelvin series would be great!