nuHmey wISov*! Your first officer Mac, here. While your away team continues their march through the Final Frontier (listen here, and subscribe wherever fine podcasts are streamed or downloaded), there is so much more to the Trek universe to watch, take in, and, in this case, read.
Every month Amazon puts an array of Star Trek tie-in books on sale for the dirt-cheap price of $0.99. If you’re anything like me, you’ll buy nearly anything Trek-related if it’s less than a dollar… which is why I have four gross of those marshmallow dispensers Kraft offered as a tie in to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). But you may find yourself wondering which books are on sale this month. Never fear! Here are each of the books on sale in September!
The Dark Veil (Star Trek: Picard) by by James Swallow (technically on sale for $1.99, but still a good deal)
Some might complain about the most recent Trek series’ first season finale, but anyone who has written off the series totally I think is missing the point. More to the point, I think they are willfully ignoring the fact that “Nepenthe” was easily the most satisfying hour of television in recent years, Trek or otherwise.
This month’s list has a number of titles which I—like a real chump—bought long ago and have already consumed. I read this shortly after it was released.
For those—like me—who wanted to spend some more time with the family Riker, you’re in luck. While this book’s story is a little hum drum, any time spent with Will and Deanna is time well spent. You might have to bring your own pizza, unfortunately.
It’s also a good opportunity to spend some time on the USS Titan and with its crew without making the daunting commitment of trying to get through the massive series of relaunch books. We hardly get to spend time with any of them on Lower Decks…
The Enterprise War (Star Trek: Discovery) by John Jackson Miller
Yet another book I picked up shortly after its initial release. Filling in the gaps left from the second season of Discovery, this details Pike, Spock, and Number One’s adventures during the Federation-Klingon war that made up that show’s first season. Between this and the first Discovery tie-in novel, Desperate Hours, there is plenty early-Enterprise to keep one sated while we’re all waiting patiently for Strange New Worlds to see the light of day.
More Beautiful Than Death (Kelvinverse) by David Mack
The sale list this month is certainly representative of more recent Trek**, and I’m actually intrigued by the idea of joining those crazy Kelvin-kids for another adventure, especially when it is not at all certain we’ll ever see them again on the big screen. I like Pine and the rest, give or take a Benedict Cumberbatch or two…
Interesting side note, this novel was written as part of a run of Kelvinverse books intended to be published around the release of Star Trek (2009), but were only published within the last year. I wonder how it will hold up after sitting on a shelf for a decade…
Q & A (Star Trek: TNG Relaunch) by Keith R.A. Decandido
If you’re wanting to get into the relaunch series, now that it will be wrapping up with the Coda miniseries later this year, this is not a bad place to start. Published early in the run, everybody’s still pretty much where you left them at the end of Nemesis. So it won’t be as jarring as some of the later books can be.
I had already bought this one and read it… And I don’t remember it all that well. I may just be conflating it with a novella released around the same time, Q Are Cordially Invited. I don’t necessarily mean that as knock against the book, but you can take from that what you will.
Memory Prime (Star Trek: TOS Book #42) by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
What with this looking a lot like Library Trek, not only did I buy this book this month, I’m likely to read it as quickly as I can. And, as I mentioned in last month’s list, you can’t go wrong with the Reeves-Stevenses.
On an odd side note, Amazon lists the paperback available at just over $900.00, which oof. The out-of-print book market is something else. Rare that you see the magical 900% markup when going from ebook to print copy.
The Captain’s Honor (Star Trek: TNG Book #8***) by David and Daniel Dvorkin
I’m an absolute sucker for the bland, nondescript tie-in book from the 80s an 90s, and boy-oh-boy does this ever fit the bill. Faces? You mean, this book’s got some legit faces in it?! And a sword? You had me at “it’s $0.99.”
The Expanse (novelization) (Enterprise) by J.M. Dillard
Direct novelizations of episodes can be kind of a drag at times. They are often more hastily put together than feature film novelizations, which is saying quite a bit. But if you’re Trek of choice brings you The Faith of the Heart, then a little more insight into the peak of their third season arc may just be worth a look.
Trials and Tribble-ations (novelization) (DS9) by Diane Carey
One more episode novelization, but it is a great one. The single TOS/DS9 crossover isn’t the best episode of the series (some would disagree with me), but for the obligatory gimmick episodes produced in conjunction with the franchise’s 30th anniversary, this one works far, far better than it has any right to. While the Forrest Gump tech wielded to put Sisko and crew in the middle of “The Trouble With Tribbles” ages a bit on screen with the twenty-five years that have passed, reading about these proceedings just might keep a seamless quality to the illusion.
Only one way to find out! Purchased!
Day of Honor Books 1-4
Ancient Blood (TNG) by Diane Carey
Armageddon Sky (DS9) by L.A. Graf
Her Klingon Soul (VOY) by Michael Jan Friedman
Treaty’s Law (TOS) by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch
I’m actually really excited that this is the series that Pocket/Gallery is putting on sale this month. I tried reading it way back in the day and had the damndest time getting into it from the first book. Now, if nothing else, an opportunity to spend some time smack-dab in the middle of a DS9-era Worf story would have maybe, almost caused me to pick this one up at the full price.
Oddly enough, this series had some synergy with canon at the time, as it fed directly into the Voyager episode “Day of Honor” from the same year.
That’s it for this month’s books! Be sure to check back here next month for more books on sale, check in on us at the podcast, and how about those clips released on Star Trek Day. Dare I say, Prodigy looks like it might actually be fun?
*Roughly translated from Klingon, “Welcome, bibliophiles.” “Welcome” is probably a bit of a stretch, but anyone who thought the children of Kahless wouldn’t have a word for “bibliophile” has clearly not read Shakespeare in the original text.
**I’m patiently waiting for Gallery or Pocket Books to start publishing books based on Lower Decks… They would be… pretty weird. All right, truthfully, I’m waiting for the opportunity to pitch a Lower Decks book series.
***A brief note about the numbered books. Pocket used to number their lines for TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, and NF, not unlike comic books. As titles became less frequent in the 21st century, those numbers became less frequent. Any TNG, DS9, or VOY novels taking place post-Nemesis (often referred to as “relaunch”) eschew the numbering scheme… Whew. Everyone still with me?