The best Star Trek novels that will warp you into hyperspace

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a Star Trek fan and storyteller all my life. The first stories I wrote at school, the first Star Trek episodes I watched as The Next Generation debuted on German TV. Many years have gone by since then. I watched hundreds of Star Trek episodes and professionally penned dozens of fantasy and science fiction novels for children and adults, like Drachengasse 13 (“Dragon’s Alley 13”, not translated) or Der Drachenjaeger (“Black Leviathan,” Tor Books). The culmination of both being a fan and a writer came in 2016 when, with Star Trek: Prometheus, I was allowed to add my own small part to the ever-growing Star Trek literary universe.


I wrote...

Star Trek Prometheus: Fire with Fire

By Bernd Perplies, Christian Humberg,

Book cover of Star Trek Prometheus: Fire with Fire

What is my book about?

In 2016 Star Trek had its 50th anniversary. Cross Cult, the German publisher of all US Star Trek novels, celebrated this by commissioning a trilogy written by two German authors. It was the first time in Star Trek history that “original novels” were published outside the US! I had the honor to be one of these authors.

A mysterious terrorist organization has attacked the Federation and Klingon Empire. Tensions are running high in a region already crippled by conflict. The perpetrators are tracked to the Lembatta Cluster, a region of space whose inhabitants regard the Alpha Quadrant's powers as little more than conquering tyrants. The Federation is desperate to prevent further bloodshed and sends the U.S.S. Prometheus to investigate the threat before all-consuming war breaks out.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements

Bernd Perplies Why did I love this book?

Honestly, I couldn’t put this book down. I read Rogue Elements during a summer vacation on a lovely North Sea island and I had to force myself to have a break and go out for some bicycling and beach fun.

John Jackson Miller just had me hooked with his tale of dashing (but also sad and often drunken) ex-Starfleet officer Cristóbal Rios – introduced in Star Trek: Picard – living through a hilarious adventure while at the same time trying to find a new purpose in life after being cashiered out of his career because of some fishy diplomatic affair.

Grumpy gangsters, a dangerous woman, strange new crew members, and the hunt for a secret treasure keep Rios on the run throughout the whole novel. 

By John Jackson Miller,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Star Trek as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

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

Starfleet was everything for Cristobal 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…


Book cover of Star Trek: Cast No Shadow

Bernd Perplies Why did I love this book?

It’s been years since I read this book, but it still resonates in my mind. I was intrigued by this novel back then because it used Valeris as the main protagonist (Spock, while on the cover, only has some cameos).

Valeris, played by the wonderful Kim Cattrall, was one of the traitors trying to disrupt peace talks between the Klingons and the Federation in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Now it is seven years later, and the peace is still fragile. A new conspiracy is taking place, and Valeris, with the help of DS9 relaunch protagonist Elias Vaughan and Captain Sulu on the Excelsior, has to sort it out.

I still love the setting telling a sequel to one of the best Star Trek movies ever and I love this group of characters that are not of Kirk or Picard fame, but very interesting “supporting actors” that can shine in their own adventure.

By James Swallow,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Star Trek as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures

Bernd Perplies Why did I love this book?

The scope of the multi-book project just blew me away the first time I heard about it. Telling the story of how the Federation came to be struck me as so ambitious that, as an author, I was in awe. I got the job of translating this book series into German, and I really loved the complexity of Bennetts' world(s) building.

The first book is set after the Romulan War and it follows the ex-crew of the NX-01 Enterprise – Archer, T’Pol, Reed, etc.  as they try to forge the future.

The book shows how difficult it is to unite peoples culturally, technologically, and militarily, to get new member worlds, and to deal with galactic neighbors that try to undermine the “new power” out of fear. A book that really made me think about interstate cooperation on Earth as well.

By Christopher L. Bennett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rise of the Federation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Romulans have retreated behind the Neutral Zone, but can the fragile alliances that were forged in the heat of war hold? Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of the Enterpriseare looking forward to easy service and returning to exploration-but history has other plans as they face a greater challenge.


Book cover of Revenant

Bernd Perplies Why did I love this book?

I loved Jadzia Dax in Deep Space Nine, and I was always fascinated by the Trill, a species in which some lucky few are selected to join as hosts with a symbiont creature that lives for several lifetimes and imbues the actual host with the talents and memories of all the previous hosts.

The TV show only scratched the surface of what that means psychologically and culturally, so I was really looking forward to reading this book. White did a lot of research on the Trill and then took the creepy premise of some kind of zombie Trill to really explore what it means to be Trill, to be joined or to be denied the joining by the almighty Symbiosis Commission.

A thrilling (and also empowering) Jadzia adventure.

By Alex White,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Revenant as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An all-new novel based on the landmark TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from the acclaimed author of A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe!

Jadzia Dax has been a friend to Etom Prit, the Trill Trade Commissioner, over two lifetimes. When Etom visits Deep Space Nine with the request to rein in his wayward granddaughter Nemi, Dax can hardly say no. It seems like an easy assignment: visit a resort casino while on shore leave, and then bring her old friend Nemi home. But upon arrival, Dax finds Nemi has changed over the years in terrifying…


Book cover of Star Trek: Destiny #1: Gods of Night

Bernd Perplies Why did I love this book?

Many Star Trek books are about dangers threatening a starship, a colony, or even a planet. “Hold my beer,” said Mack – and let the Borg, this mechanical hive-mind terror, invade the whole Alpha and Beta Quadrant of our galaxy.

Star Trek Destiny (a trilogy, but you can buy it as an omnibus edition) depicts a catastrophe on a scale that’s hardly imaginable. I can’t tell you how much I was on the edge of my seat when the first armada of Borg cubes arrived – with no intention of assimilating anyone at all!

Although there are world-breaking tragedies to be witnessed, the book is not all about fighting battles. It also delves into the origin of the Borg, and it concludes their overall story arc in a very “trekkie” way. I like that a lot!

By David Mack,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Star Trek as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Borg return -- with a vengeance! Blitzkreig attacks by the single-minded aliens with their hive mentality and their mission to assimilate every intelligent being they encounter are leaving whole worlds aflame. No one knows how they are slipping past Starfleet's defences, so Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprisecreware detailed to find out -- and to put a stop to it if they can. Meanwhile, thousands of light years away, Captain Will Riker and the crew of the Titanfollow bizarre energy pulses to a mysterious, hidden world. There they find a figure out of legend: a Starfleet captain long thought…


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Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

By Patrick G. Cox, Janet Angelo (editor),

Book cover of Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

Patrick G. Cox Author Of Ned Farrier Master Mariner: Call of the Cape

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

On the expertise I claim only a deep interest in history, leadership, and social history. After some thirty-six years in the fire and emergency services I can, I think, claim to have seen the best and the worst of human behaviour and condition. History, particularly naval history, has always been one of my interests and the Battle of Jutland is a truly fascinating study in the importance of communication between the leader and every level between him/her and the people performing whatever task is required.  In my own career, on a very much smaller scale, this is a lesson every officer learns very quickly.

Patrick's book list on the Battle of Jutland

What is my book about?

Captain Heron finds himself embroiled in a conflict that threatens to bring down the world order he is sworn to defend when a secretive Consortium seeks to undermine the World Treaty Organisation and the democracies it represents as he oversees the building and commissioning of a new starship.

When the Consortium employs an assassin from the Pantheon, it becomes personal.

Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

By Patrick G. Cox, Janet Angelo (editor),

What is this book about?

The year is 2202, and the recently widowed Captain James Heron is appointed to stand by his next command, the starship NECS Vanguard, while she is being built. He and his team soon discover that they are battling the Consortium, a shadowy corporate group that seeks to steal the specs for the ship’s new super weapon. The Consortium hires the Pantheon, a mysterious espionage agency, to do their dirty work as they lay plans to take down the Fleet and gain supreme power on an intergalactic scale. When Pantheon Agent Bast and her team kidnap Felicity Rowanberg, a Fleet agent…


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