Here are 12 books that Star Trek fans have personally recommended if you like
Star Trek.
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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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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…
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.
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!
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…
Although I’ve written non-fiction articles on films and British history for magazines, my fiction reflects my love of science fiction, which goes right back to when I watched Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, and Star Trek on television as a child. You can read – or watch – the stories as straightforward adventures in imagination, or take away clever commentaries on contemporary problems. The possibilities are endless, and I always enjoyed conjuring stories and scribbling them down – though it took a long time for those scribbles to translate into publishing success! My first novel, Unreachable Skieswas published in 2018 by Mirror World, with Exile in 2019 and Ascent in 2020 completing the trilogy.
Dauntlessis the first in the six-book Lost Fleetseries, and sets off on an epic SF journey like no other. Jack Campbell’s approach to space battles feels realistic; while the tensions and terrors of the characters are sharply realised. The opening chapters take an entire fleet of ships deep into enemy territory – and maroon them there, under the sudden and unexpected command of Captain “Black Jack” Geary. A space legend, due to his presumed death, his rescue from hibernation means he is by far the most senior officer on any of the ships – a cause for resentment and conflict on his own ship and around the fleet. And as if that’s not enough for him to deal with, his ships face annihilation from the duplicitous Syndics who lured them into a deadly trap. How will they find their way home?
The first novel in the New York Times bestselling Lost Fleet series!
The Alliance has been fighting the Syndics for a century—and losing badly. Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is a man who's emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he has been heroically idealized beyond belief....
Captain John “Black Jack” Geary’s exploits are known to every schoolchild. Revered for his heroic “last stand” in the early days of the war, he was presumed dead. But a century later, Geary miraculously returns and reluctantly takes command of the Alliance Fleet as it…
In writing character-driven space fantasy, heavily influenced by my training as an electromechanical engineer, I’ve realized a love for stories with a heavy emphasis on moral dilemmas and shifts in thinking. How does a character change direction after realizing much of what they always believed was a lie? When well-trained instincts pull them backward instead of propelling them forward? I love these stories, mirroring my own messy self-discovery journey through life. The settings and stakes are more fantastical, but that makes them more appealing. A way to confront my own trials without becoming burdened by them. If the characters can do it, so can I.
I adore the way Glynn Stewart writes about good people in bad situations, and this book remains one of my favorite examples. Captain Annette Bond is an upstanding woman with the unenviable assignment of doing whatever it takes to free Earth from its unexpected conquerors.
There’s no doubt she's the underdog in this fight. I admired her resilience as she fought against unreasonable odds to discover a way to regain Earth’s freedom while maintaining her crew’s morale and morals through the ever-darker options available to her.
By the end, even I wasn’t certain what path she’d take with the knowledge she’d uncovered, and I learned as much about myself as I did about her by the conclusion.
Earth is conquered. Sol is lost. One ship is tasked to free them. One Captain to save them all.
When an alien armada destroys the United Earth Space Force and takes control of the human homeworld, newly reinstated Captain Annette Bond must take her experimental hyperspace cruiser Tornado into exile as Terra's only interstellar privateer.
She has inferior technology, crude maps and no concept of her enemy, but the seedy underbelly of galactic society welcomes her so long as she has prizes to sell and money to spend.
But when your only allies are pirates and slavers, things are never…
I’ve been a lover of fantasy stories, mythology, and folklore for a long time, mostly because fully realized fictional settings beyond our world enthralled me. My first forays into writing dwelt on fantasy with a strong historical slant, even when I dabbled in romance. It was also then that I realized my male characters had more chemistry with each other than with the females I’d paired them with. This is how I wound up in fan fiction, where virtually anything goes. During those years, I honed my writing, deepened my fascination with world-building, and crafted stories that would feed the wellspring of my first historical fantasy novel.
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?
It is the twenty-third century. On the planet Vulcan, a crisis of unprecedented proportion has caused the convocation of the planet's ruling council -- and summoned the U.S.S. Enterprise from halfway across the galaxy, to bring Vulcan's most famous son home in its hour of need. As Commander Spock, his father Sarek, and Captain James T. Kirk struggle to preserve Vulcan's future, the planet's innermost secrets are laid before us, from its beginnings millions of years ago to its savage prehistory, from merciless tribal warfare to medieval court intrigue, from the exploration of space to the the development of o'thia…
I’ve been fascinated by Star Trek since I was a young child and went to my first convention, seeing a gorgeous Uhura walk by trailed by three gentlemen dressed as Mr. Spock. One of my local librarians must have been a Trekkie because I checked out stacks of novels from the likes of James Blish and Vonda McIntyre. Now, as an author myself, I feel privileged to have not only been a Trekkie for many years but to have written a book about Star Trek with one of my best friends. I hope you enjoy theseStar Trekbooks, and the many others that are coming this year and beyond, as much as I have.
This is another work I got a preview of, and just loved it. Like the creating of the films, the creation of the props and costumes that make the aliens, well, so alien is absolutely fascinating. For Trekkies, you’ll recognize everything from Star Trek (2009) forward to Discoveryand Picard.
Perhaps the most attractive part of this book? The concept sketches and early ideas for each creature are illustrated. The reader gets a glimpse inside the mind of the artist and sees where the initial ideas came from. It’s another must-have for the shelf of any dedicated Trekkie.
Showcasing his entire Star Trek career to date, this visually stunning retrospective celebrates the inventiveness of Neville Page's designs.
During a career spanning over twenty years, visionary creature designer Neville Page has applied his considerable expertise to the creation and development of the aliens of the Star Trek Universe. From the movies Star Trek (2009) through to Star Trek Beyond (2016), as well as the shows Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard, Page's incredibly detailed and intricate work has yielded some of the franchise's most memorable characters.
Featuring captivating concept art and detailed sketches, Star Trek: The Art of…
I am a writer of science fiction and fantasy, and a humorist. My husband and I fell in love over Star Trek and puns, and we both share a deep abiding hatred of people acting stupidly to further a plot. I read to escape, so I’m looking for laughs but also compelling characters who live their stories rather than act out the author’s wishes. I will toss a book as soon as it insults my intelligence or bores me. Thus, when I write, I let the characters run the show—and they never fail me.
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.
Dilithium. In crystalline form, the most valuable mineral in the galaxy. It powers the Federation's starships...and the Klingon Empire's battlecruisers. Now on a small, out-of-the-way planet named Direidi, the greatest fortune in dilithium crystals ever seen has been found. Under the terms of the Organian Peace Treaty, the planet will go to the side best able to develop the planet and its resourses. Each side will contest the prize with the prime of its fleet. For the Federation -- Captain James T. Kirk and the Starship Enterprise . For the Klingons -- Captain Kaden vestai-Oparai and the Fire Blossom. Only…
I’ve loved stories of space, and especially space operas, since I was a child watching Star Trek reruns with my dad. I love the ways very different cultures can work together toward a common goal, but also the many ways those cultures can butt into each other and cause friction. While you can certainly tell stories about that kind of thing on Earth, science fiction lets you tell it writ large, without smacking any particular human group over the head with their differences. I love the way you can tell a story about humans today by focusing on struggles between alien cultures that aren’t a part of our everyday experience.
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.
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