Cross Cult's all new Promtheus trilogy!

Cross Cult, the publishers of German translations of Star Trek novels, have announced huge news; for the first time ever, they will be releasing entirely original German language Star Trek books. Starting next July, and running for three consecutive months, will be the Prometheus trilogy, written by Bernd Perplies and Christian Humberg - Both have a good number of sci-fi and fantasy books to their names, and both have previously done translations of many of the modern continuity Star Trek books which Cross Cult have released in German.

The trilogy will be tied to the current prose continuity; set shortly after the assassination president Bacco in The Fall series. It sees the USS Prometheus sent on a mission to deal with new threat in the Lembatta Cluster, a region near the Klingon border. The Prometheus, commanded by Captain Richard Adams, has to deal with both the new enemy, and a tense relationship with the Klingons, in the guise of the IKS Bortas and crew, who are also sent to investigate. Here's Cross Cult's overview of the series (in German of course):

Erst vor wenigen Wochen wurde Föderationspräsidentin Nanietta Bacco an Bord der Weltraumstation Deep Space 9 ermordet. Und so steht im November 2385 die Vereinigte Föderation der Planeten an einem historischen Wendepunkt: Eine neue Präsidentin soll die Schrecken der jüngeren Vergangenheit vergessen machen und den Weltenbund in ein besseres Zeitalter führen. Nicht nur in den Reihen der Sternenflotte regt sich die Hoffnung, endlich wieder zur friedlichen Erforschung des Alls zurückzukehren.

Doch während die Vereinigte Föderation der Planeten und die Sternenflotte hofft, endlich zur Ruhe zu kommen, taucht eine neue Bedrohung am Horizont auf.

Die Sternenflotte entsendet die U.S.S. Prometheus, eines ihrer stärksten Schlachtschiffe, während gleichzeitig Spannungen zwischen der Föderation und dem Klingonischen Reich entstehen.

And a translation care of UnrealitySF's forever helpful Jens Deffner:

Just a few weeks earlier Federation President Nanietta Bacco was assassinated on the new Deep Space 9 space station. As a result the United Federation of Planets has reached a historic turning point: A new President is tasked to let the recent horrors remain in the past and lead the Federation into a new, better era. Not only within Starfleet hope is rising to return to peaceful exploration of space.

But while the Federation and Starfleet hope for quieter times, a new Meance rises on the horizon.

Starfleet sends the U.S.S. Prometheus, one of its most powerful battleships, all the while new tensions arise between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.

The series features brand new cover art by Tobias Richter (including nebulae by Ali Ries). The first book also promises a fold-out overview of the Prometheus. Continue below for details of each book in the series, and prospects of an English edition.

Book 1 will be Feuer gegen Feuer (which could translate as Fire Against Fire):

Nahe der Grenze zum Klingonischen Reich ereignen sich mehrere brutale Terroranschläge, die Tausende von Toten fordern.

Wer steckt hinter den Angriffen? Sind es Fanatiker aus dem fremdartigen Volk der Renao, das im benachbarten Lembatta-Cluster siedelt? Oder hat der zwielichtige Typhon-Pakt seine Finger im Spiel? Die Sternenflotte entsendet die U.S.S. Prometheus, ihr kampfstärkstes Schiff, in die Grenzregion, um das Rätsel zu lösen, bevor der nächste Krieg in der Galaxis ausbricht.

In English:

Near the border with the Klingon Empire several brutal terrorist attacks happen, claiming thousands of victims.

Who is responsible for those attacks? The fanatics from the alien race of the Renao, located in the nearby Lembatta-Cluster? Or is the dubious Typhon Pact involved? Starfleet sends the U.S.S. Prometheus, its strongest battleship to the border to solve the mystery before the next war erupts in the Galaxy.

Book 2 is Der Ursprung allen Zorns (which might be The Origin of Wrath):

Im Lembatta-Cluster, einer unheimlichen Raumregion am Rand der Föderation, wächst ein gefährliches Übel heran: Fanatische Anhänger der „Harmonie der Sphären“, die sich selbst die Reinigende Flamme nennen, rufen zum allumfassenden Krieg gegen die verderbten Reiche des Alpha- und des Beta-Quadranten auf. Der krankhaften Expansionslust der Menschen, Klingonen und anderen Völker muss Einhalt geboten werden – mit allen Mitteln.

Verzweifelt versucht die Mannschaft der U.S.S. Prometheus diese diplomatische und militärische Krise beizulegen. Dabei kämpfen Captain Richard Adams und seine Leute nicht nur mit den feindseligen Renao, sondern auch mit kriegslüsternen Klingonen, allen voran dem ruhmsüchtigen Captain der I.K.S. Bortas, dem einstigen Flaggschiff des verstorbenen Kanzlers Gowron, das der Hohe Rat ausgesandt hat, um das Problem auf die harte Tour zu lösen.

In English:

In the Lembatta-Cluster, an eerie region on the outer skirts of Federation space, a dangerous evil is arising: Fanatical followers of the "Harmony of Spheres", calling themselves the purifying flame, call for an all-out war against the depraved realms of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The pathological lust for expansion of the humans, Klingons and other races must be stopped – By all means necessary.

The crew of the U.S.S. Prometheus is trying desperately to stop this diplomatic and militaristic crisis. Doing that Captain Richard Adams and his crew not only have to fight against the hostile Renao, but also against the war-hungry Klingons, led by the ambitious Captain of the I.K.S. Bortas, the former flagship of the deceased chancellor Gowron, sent by the Klingon High Council to solve the crisis the hard way.

Finally book 3 is Im Herz des Chaos (or maybe In the Heart of Chaos):

Die Lage im Lembatta-Cluster spitzt sich zu! Während Flotten der Föderation und des Klingonischen Reichs an den Grenzen in Position gehen und die Vorgänge in der Tiefe der Sternenballung argwöhnisch beobachten, liefern sich die Mannschaften der U.S.S. Prometheus und der I.K.S. Bortas ein Wettrennen gegen die Zeit, um die Spirale der Gewalt zu durchbrechen, die sich mehr und mehr ausbreitet.

In einem schicksalhaften Verzweiflungsakt machen sich Captain Richard Adams und Captain Kromm auf die Spur einer geheimen Waffenfabrik. Doch sie finden einen Gegner aus den Tiefen der Vergangenheit, der unbezwingbar scheint. Nur gemeinsam haben die ungleichen Kommandanten vielleicht noch die Chance, Antworten auf ihre Fragen zu finden. Gelingt es ihnen rechtzeitig – oder geht die Galaxis einmal mehr in Flammen auf?

In English:

The situation in the Lembatta-Cluster comes to a head! While fleets of both the Federation and the Klingon Empire get into position at the borders and suspiciously observe the activities in the cluster, the crews of the U.S.S. Prometheus and the I.K.S. Bortas fight a race against time to break the cycle of violence that is expanding more and more.

In a fateful act of desperation Captain Richard Adams and Captain Kromm follow a lead to a secret arms factory. But they find an enemy from the depths of the past, who seems to be unbeatable. Only together those two unequal commanders maybe have a chance to find answers to their questions. Will they succeed in time – Or will the galaxy go up in flames once again?

So now the tides of linguistics are flowing in the other direction, I'm sure all the English readers who have got this far down must be wondering if there will ever be a translation from the German. Well according to Cross Cult they need to produce an English version in order to get approval from CBS. And while that in itself doesn't mean there will be an English edition, author Bernd Perplies has already indicated (in a post on the TrekBBS) Cross Cult themselves plan to distribute it, at the very least in ebook form:

As far as I know Cross Cult owns the rights to distribute the "Prometheus" trilogy worldwide. Editor Markus Rohde told Christian and me, there will be English e-books at least (professionally translated and proofread by native speakers of course - I translate novels from English to German, but my English is not good enough to do it the other way round).

Of cource we all hope for a printed version.

So essentially what this amounts to is a twenty-five percent increase in the number of Star Trek novels coming in 2016 - Awesome! Perplies also commented on the continuity connections with the wider litverse:

First, we know the timeframe our story is set in very well. Christian translated "The Fall", I am translating "Takedown" and "Armageddon's Arrow" at the moment. We both read the "Typhon Pact" novels. We know the year 2385. Then you should not overestimate continuity issues. A lot of "Star Trek" novels just take place after one another without referencing each other very much. It is more a matter of who lives and who is dead and who is on which ship. Also we have our own ship (with a few cameo characters of course) and we took care to think of a story, that does not interfere with current storylines from our fellow writers from the US. Last but not least: We are now free to talk about the project and of course we will contact John Jackson Miller, who is writing the "Prey" trilogy at the moment, to tell him what we are doing.

Lastly Pocket Books can do what they want. We are just playing in their sandbox. But we do what we can to be mindful of the existing continuity. (And we are lucky: At the moment a lot of TOS, ENT and VOY novels are planned for 2016 - they all do not interfere with "Prometheus".)

And if you're worried about a Star Trek Online style race to war with Klingons, fear not:

Don't be too alarmed by the teasers. We are not planing to start a war! It is more like political (and some military) tensions about how to handle a certain third party aggressor. And let's face it: Just because Martok likes the Federation, that doesn't mean, there is no single hardliner in the Klingon High Council left.

Meanwhile, Cross Cult have a packed schedule of other Star Trek books ahead, I'm long overdue an update on all their other plans, so look for that report in the coming days.

Huge thanks to Jens Deffner of UnrealitySF, for both providing much better translations of the blurbs than I would have managed via Google Translate, and for helping point me to various bits of information. If you haven' found your way there yet, you should definitely check out Jens' recent retrospect of the A Time to... series, it's a great read.