6 Fast-Paced, Interstellar Reads for Fans of Star Trek: Picard

May 20 2020
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If you binged the latest Star Trek series Picard, then it’s a good bet you’re a fan of strong, memorable space captains. After all, Jean-Luc Picard—known for his mix of wit, ingenuity, and ability to quote Shakespeare like no one’s business, while also exploring galaxies and settling conflicts—is one of the most famous sci-fi characters to helm a star ship. Whether you’re looking to delve deeper into the Star Trek universe or to follow other intrepid captains into the great unknown, here are six out-of-this-world reads with great leads.

Check out Simon & Schuster’s In Other Worlds page for even more (inter)stellar book recommendations.

STAR TREK and related marks © 2020 CBS Studios. All Rights Reserved.

This post was originally published on GetLiterary.com.

Star Trek: Picard: The Last Best Hope
by Una McCormack

Star Trek has a long and storied history of companion tie-in novels for the various series. The latest series, Star Trek: Picard, follows that tradition with The Last Best Hope. It takes place before the Picard TV show begins, when Captain Picard is running a mission to save Romulans by resettling them as refugees on other planets. This prequel gives some insight into how the Romulan resettlement changed the Federation and helps explain how the mission ended up influencing Picard’s decision to leave Starfleet. With great intuition for the characters, author Una McCormack enhances the story of a prestigious captain pushed to the breaking point as he tries to save lives…and, in some ways, himself.

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Star Trek: Picard: The Last Best Hope
Una McCormack

An original novel based on the new Star Trek TV series!

A thrilling novel leading into the new CBS series, Una McCormack’s The Last Best Hope introduces you to brand new characters featured in the life of beloved Star Trek captain Jean-Luc Picard—widely considered to be one of the most popular and recognizable characters in all of science fiction.

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Collateral Damage
by David Mack

If you’re a big Jean-Luc Picard fan, then you’ve probably seen at least a few episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which is where he was introduced. Collateral Damage follows another of Picard’s adventures, one that is just as twisted and political as the conflicts in Picard. Our fearless captain is brought back to Earth to answer for a murder committed years ago, with several people calling it treason. Worf takes over as acting captain of the Enterprise as the rest of the crew searches for a stolen weapon of mass destruction. Balancing life and death, and drama and humor, this story will have you hooked, and then likely inspire you to a Next Gen/Picard marathon.

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Collateral Damage
David Mack

From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours comes an original, thrilling novel set in the universe of Star Trek: The Next Generation!

The past returns to haunt Captain Jean-Luc Picard—a crime he thought long buried has been exposed, and he must return to Earth to answer for his role in a conspiracy that some call treason. Meanwhile, the U.S.S. Enterprise is sent to apprehend pirates who have stolen vital technology from a fragile Federation colony. But acting captain Commander Worf discovers that the pirates’ motives are not what they seem, and that sometimes standing for justice means defying the law….

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Leviathan Wakes
by James S. A. Corey

When humanity expands beyond the stars, it may not always be able to control what it finds there. In James S. A. Corey’s The Expanse series, Earth, Mars, and the Belt are constantly watching each other, and that tension only heightens when a strange new entity, the protomolecule, starts wreaking havoc on a massive scale. Captain Jim Holden of the Rocinante has found himself and his small crew smack-dab in the middle of it all, trying to navigate political factions, massive militaries, and terrorist organizations in order to survive. Filled with memorable characters, gripping battles, and sinister conspiracies, Leviathan Wakes, the first book in the series, reminds us that even the smallest actions can have huge consequences.

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Leviathan Wakes
James S. A. Corey

When humanity expands beyond the stars, it may not always be able to control what it finds there. In James S. A. Corey’s The Expanse series, Earth, Mars, and the Belt are constantly watching each other, and that tension only heightens when a strange new entity, the protomolecule, starts wreaking havoc on a massive scale. Captain Jim Holden of the Rocinante has found himself and his small crew smack-dab in the middle of it all, trying to navigate political factions, massive militaries, and terrorist organizations in order to survive. Filled with memorable characters, gripping battles, and sinister conspiracies, Leviathan Wakes, the first book in the series, reminds us that even the smallest actions can have huge consequences.

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Dark Run
by Mike Brooks

The captain of a ship need not be honorable. Take Ichabod Drift of the Keiko for example, a former pirate who runs a ship of mercenaries, con artists, and lowlifes. The number one rule aboard the ship is you don’t talk about your past, which seems to help the crew work together. Unfortunately for Drift, his past ends up finding him instead, leading to blackmail and a suicide mission to get some secret cargo to Earth. Often compared to the hit sci-fi Western show Firefly, Dark Run is a dark, biting tale that manages to surprise readers at every turn, with a diverse and engaging cast of characters and an expansive universe to explore. Perfect for readers who are interested in stories that place on the other side of the law.

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Dark Run
Mike Brooks

In this debut space epic, a crew of thieves and con artists take on a job that could pay off a lot of debts in a corrupt galaxy where life is cheap and criminals are the best people in it.

The Keiko is a ship of smugglers, soldiers of fortune, and adventurers travelling Earth’s colony planets searching for the next job. And they never talk about their past—until now.

Captain Ichabod Drift is being blackmailed. He has to deliver a special cargo to Earth, and no one can know they’re there. It’s what they call a dark run…And it may be their last.

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Across the Void
by S.K. Vaughn

Commander Maryam “May” Knox is not having a great journey into space. For one, she wakes up alone from a coma on the Stephen Hawking II and has no idea who she is, where she is, or where she’s going. Also, she might not be as alone as she thinks. In this part mystery, part thriller, May must figure out what she was supposed to be doing and get it done before certain parties enact a plan to kill her. Across the Void not only features a woman of color at the helm, but manages to make her constant problem solving with the ship’s AI more fun and engaging than the drama happening on Earth. A great choice for fans of Andy Weir’s The Martian looking for more trials in space travel.

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Across the Void
S.K. Vaughn

A visceral space thriller—perfect for fans of Arrival and The Martian—following the sole survivor of a catastrophic accident in space that leaves her drifting in the void with only the voice of her estranged husband, a NASA scientist, to guide her back to Earth.

Commander Maryam “May” Knox awakes from a medically induced coma alone, adrift in space on a rapidly failing ship, with little to no memory of who she is or why she’s there.

Slowly, she pieces together that she’s the captain of the ship, Hawking II; that she was bound for Europa—one of Jupiter’s moons—on a research mission; and that she’s the only survivor of either an accident—or worse, a deliberate massacre—that has decimated her entire crew. With resources running low, and her physical strength severely compromised, May must rely on someone back home to help her. The problem is: everyone thinks she’s dead.

Back on Earth, it’s been weeks since Hawking II has communicated with NASA, and Dr. Stephen Knox is on bereavement leave to deal with the apparent death of his estranged wife, whose decision to participate in the Europa mission strained their marriage past the point of no return. But when he gets word that NASA has received a transmission from May, Stephen comes rushing to her aid.

What he doesn’t know is that not everyone wants May to make it back alive. Even more terrifying: she might not be alone on that ship. Featuring a twisting and suspenseful plot and compelling characters, Across the Void is a moving and evocative thriller that you won’t be able to put down.

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Star Trek: Discovery: Drastic Measures
by Dayton Ward

Encompassing the early days of Starfleet, Star Trek: Discovery, a prequel to the original series show, details the crew’s encounters with a mostly unformed Klingon Empire, and conflicts of the United Federation of Planets. We even get a look at Christopher Pike and Spock. Drastic Measures gives us an adventure with two new captains from the show: Philippa Georgiou and Gabriel Lorca. Both are tasked with a crisis on Tarsus IV, where the colony’s governor, Adrian Kodos, has set in motion a horrific plan to prevent mass starvation during a contagion. Harkening back to the character Kodos the Executioner from the original series, this book presents the horrifying events that led to his moniker and provides more insight into the characters of the two new captains.

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Star Trek: Discovery: Drastic Measures
Dayton Ward

An original novel based upon the explosive new Star Trek TV series on CBS All Access!

It is 2246, ten years prior to the Battle at the Binary Stars, and an aggressive contagion is ravaging the food supplies of the remote Federation colony Tarsus IV and the eight thousand people who call it home. Distress signals have been sent, but any meaningful assistance is weeks away. Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Lorca and a small team assigned to a Starfleet monitoring outpost are caught up in the escalating crisis, and bear witness as the colony’s governor, Adrian Kodos, employs an unimaginable solution in order to prevent mass starvation.

While awaiting transfer to her next assignment, Commander Philippa Georgiou is tasked with leading to Tarsus IV a small, hastily assembled group of first responders. It’s hoped this advance party can help stabilize the situation until more aid arrives, but Georgiou and her team discover that they‘re too late—Governor Kodos has already implemented his heinous strategy for extending the colony’s besieged food stores and safeguarding the community’s long-term survival.

In the midst of their rescue mission, Georgiou and Lorca must now hunt for the architect of this horrific tragedy and the man whom history will one day brand “Kodos the Executioner”….

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