Star Trek: The Higher Frontier
Star Trek: The Original Series
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
By Christopher L. Bennett
Publisher: Star Trek/Pocket Books
Release date: March 10, 2020

After the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, James T. Kirk retained command of the U.S.S. Enterprise and he and his trusty crew were assigned a second 5-year mission to explore new worlds. In Star Trek: The Higher Frontier, a new story in The Original Series timeline, Christopher L. Bennett weaves of tale of hatred, destruction, and betrayal, as a group of peaceful telepaths are hunted to near extinction by phantom killers and it’s up to the Enterprise crew to figure out who’s behind these attacks and how to stop them.

Star Trek: The Antares Maelstrom
Star Trek: The Original Series
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
By Greg Cox
Publisher: Pocket Books | Gallery Books | Simon & Schuster
Release date: August 13, 2019

He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. I’ll chase him “˜round the Moons of Nibia and “˜round the Antares Maelstrom and “˜round Perdition’s flames before I give him up! – Khan Noonien Singh, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

When Khan said he’d chase Captain James T. Kirk “”˜round the Antares Maelstrom” in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, audiences knew nothing about this galactic whirlpool. Presumably, it was a dangerous area to circumnavigate if the genetically enhanced supervillain name-checked it like that, but that’s all anyone has had to go by for the last 37 years. Now, we’re finally getting a look at the famed location in The Antares Maelstrom, a new Star Trek: The Original Series novel from Greg Cox.

Bitter Bite
Elemental Assassin Series
Paperback | Kindle | Audio CD
Written by Jennifer Estep
Pocket Books
Release Date: February 23, 2016

Gin Blanco has many talents. She can run a BBQ joint by day, and run the underworld by night. Does this Ice and Stone Elemental magician ever sleep? Probably not. When we meet Gin in Bitter Bite, the 14th installment of Jennifer Estep‘s Elemental Assassin series, she is digging up a grave, and set upon by dwarves.

Cue immediate interest.

Spoilers below.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Warped
An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season
Paperback | Kindle
By Mike McMahan
Illustrations by Jason Ho
Star Trek Pocket Books | Gallery Books | Simon and Schuster
Release date: October 13, 2015

Back in the 1990s, before everything you ever wanted to know was just a high-speed Internet click away, the best way to get a behind-the-scenes look and in depth analysis of your favorite television series was to pick up the inevitable Authorized Companion Guide. And let me tell you something, I love a good TV show companion guide.

I was (and still am) a proud owner of the Xena: Warrior Princess Official Guide To the Xenaverse, Hercules, The Legendary Journeys: The Official Companion, and Frasier: The Official Companion Book to the Award-Winning Paramount Television Comedy, amongst others. (Yes, lengthy titles are a common trend for these things). But sometimes, if you want to get down to the nitty gritty, you want an unofficial guide, such as The Nitpicker’s Guide for Classic Trekkers and its follow up The Nitpicker’s Guide for Next Generation Trekkers, both of which I own.

Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Raise The Dawn
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Paperback | Kindle
Written by David E. George III
Pocket Books
Release Date June 26, 2012

When it comes to the expanded universe for Star Trek, I am a bit of a newbie but so far my adventures into the universe of the books has been well worth it. Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Raise The Dawn is a follow-up book to Plagues of Night which sees the destruction of Deep Space 9 by the Typhon Pact, which is made up of the Romulan Star Empire, Tholian Assembly, Breen Confederacy, and Gorn Hegemony. Tensions have risen been the Typhon Pact and the Federation for a while and now there could be total war.

Raise The Dawn picks up with Captain Benjamin Sisko (who was played by Avery Brookson the show Deep Space Nine) on his knees on the bridge of his ship, the U.S.S. Robinson, watching the destruction of his station and his wife’s ship. From there we go to the U.S.S. Enterprise, which is going through the wormhole on its way back to the alpha quadrant. While traveling through the wormhole, the Enterprise crew finds a chunk of Deep Space Nine floating through it and on board is not only Kassidy Yates Sisko, but Major Kira. Meanwhile, Starfleet Command tells the U.S.S. Defiant to track down the Romulan vessel that was seen leaving the station just before the explosion.