Released in 2006 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, Voyages of Imagination is a complete guide to the first four decades of professionally published Star Trek fiction. The book includes cover images (in black and white) and synopses of every Star Trek book published in that time, beginning with those published by Bantam Books and Ballantine Books in the 1970s, before moving on to the material published by Pocket Books, who remain the publishers of Star Trek books to this day.
The book is divided into sections examining the novels published based on each of the Star Trek television series, and also includes sections on novelizations, original fiction concepts (like New Frontier and Vanguard), miniseries (like Gateways and Section 31), anthologies, and young adult fiction. The book is well organized and easy to navigate, with an index, and an exhaustively researched Star Trek fiction timeline (the earliest entry in the timeline is chapter 11 of The Q Continuum: Q-Space, which takes place 5 billion years ago, and the last entry is the short story "Our Million Year Mission" which takes place in the year 102260).
While the complete lists of novels and the timeline make this book an ideal resource for trivia lovers, it is the interviews and commentary from popular Star Trek authors like Peter David, William Shatner, and Diane Duane, that really add substance to the book and make it a must-have for fans of Star Trek fiction. You'll find, in this book, a good description of the collaborative process between William Shatner and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens on the "Shatnerverse" novels, something I'd always been curious about. Star Trek fiction editor John Ordover is particularly forthcoming and honest. He reveals that both the New Frontier series and the "New Earth" miniseries came from personal frustrations with the direction of Star Trek: Voyager. Regarding the covers to the "Double Helix" crossover books, Ordover says, "The covers were lousy! They were what I would call color forms; bad likenesses of the characters pasted down on the covers." Like a good DVD commentary track, you'll get glimpses into disagreements between writers and editors, and between editors and Paramount, but overall one comes away with a sense of a creatively fertile atmosphere, made up of people who take their jobs seriously and strive to produce the best products they are capable of. Everyone reading this blog knows that Star Trek fiction is more than just cheap tie-in product, and it's nice to see that the writers and editors feel as passionately about the books as the fans do.
Speaking personally, this book has been a real treat that I am constantly returning to. After having been away from the novels for several years, I have just recently begun to read Star Trek fiction again, and this book, along with some online resources, have been a Godsend in terms of getting caught up with all of the great material that I missed when it was originally published. I think anyone interested in Star Trek fiction would find a lot to enjoy in Voyages of Imagination.
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