9 books like Crisis on Centaurus

While it is best known for being the first book to introduce the concept of a "galactic empire," the real juice comes from the gradual revelation of a profound thesis: Epistemology and Persuasion Science are the most important academic disciplines of all. 

This was the inspiration for my own journey into those two fields and led to my career in Military Intelligence.

While these explorations are ultimately liberating, this liberation does not come without a cost. I found myself truly in the dilemma of Plato's Allegory of the Cave: I had to accept both the obligation to free minds and the social strife that comes with choosing that path.

P.R. Adams paints a horrifying picture of earth after the complete and total collapse of humanity. The future is brutal, violent, and demands everything of the survivors to make it out alive. This tale pits a group of scientific survivors of a suspended animation experiment against the most brutal tribe forged from the fires of humanity’s destruction. It’s a graphic and nail-biting adventure from beginning to end.

This is one of the first science fiction books I read growing up. I distinctly remember being amazed by the world-building that took place. There was also the strange biological construct of the different alien species and how they interacted with humanity that I found mind-blowing. It was a foundational text for both my science fiction and horror writing. I haven’t read it since, but surely a book that made such an impression on a 10-year-old mind has to be included.

I confess that this is the first book I read based on someone else’s recommendation. I’d never heard of Greg Bear, but I was immensely pleased with the experience of discovering him. The world-building in this science fiction epic is enveloping in its detail and believability. It was with Greg Bear’s masterful work that I discovered the ability to take people to another world and make them believably think it could exist. It’s a masterful work and a great addition to the pantheon of science fiction.

I’ve been a Trekkie—yeah, I own it—since I was a tiny child. And in all that time, my favorite race in Star Trek was the Romulans. This book has been one of my favorites since it was published in 1987; I re-read it often. The book tells two stories in alternating chapters: one is the story of Arrhae, a servant who is also a Federation deep-cover operative. The other chapters are the history of the Romulans from before their split with the Vulcan people. Duane gives us more than we’d seen in TOS, giving us a rich history and culture of a proud people. The novel also gives us a way to see forward to a time when maybe the Federation and the Romulans will no longer be enemies. This is absolutely my favorite Star Trek novel. 

Kirk and the Enterprise go up against the Klingons for the right to mine dilithium on Direidi. But the Direidians are writing their own script for this contest—a script that propels the crew of the Starship Enterprise into their strangest adventure yet! I think this was the first “serious” Star Trek novel I ran across that was all about the humor. Ford did a great job of creating situations that make the reader laugh while still respecting the characters.

Long before Captain Kirk and Starfleet, Smith’s Galactic Patrol served to protect the galaxy from the evil designs of those who would do us harm. First serialised in Astounding magazine in 1937 and then published in book form in 1950, Galactic Patrol is the great-great granddaddy of galaxy-spanning space opera, both military and otherwise. Make allowances for when it was written (woke, it ain’t), and it is difficult to think of a modern space opera theme that Smith didn’t play around with beforehand.

Of the novels based on the classic Star Trek TV series, this book is one of a handful that delves extensively into the background of arguably the show’s most iconic character. Diane Duane created a history for Spock and his birth world Vulcan, skillfully merged it with the show’s canon and used that as the backdrop for a political crisis that threatens to affect the United Federation of Planets.

Trekkie that I am, it felt like a pilgrimage of sorts when I read this book. I was fascinated with the past events that shaped the planet due to the extraordinary world-building covering Vulcan’s prehistory all the way to its peoples’ ventures into space exploration and, of course, the development of the famous Vulcan ethic of logic. What’s not to love about a novel that makes the most fascinating world in the Star Trek universe come alive in every aspect?

While The Making of Star Trek was a miraculous and uncalled-for contemporaneous title focused on the creation and production of the series overall, David Gerrold’s subsequent release, The Trouble With Tribbles, took one script and broke it down from beginning to end on exactly how the sausage—or rather a television show—was made. Filled with his witty observations combined with a writer’s frustrations of dealing with production limitations, it’s a fascinating insight for aspiring writers and Star Trek fans alike. This book, based on one of the most popular television episodes ever made, was originally published just a few years after production ended so all the stories were still fresh in his head. This one made me want to write for television but warned me why I shouldn’t.