Star Trek Encyclopedia returns in style

Newly announced, and due out next year is the Star Trek Encyclopedia, the long awaited update to the comprehensive reference guide to Star Trek, the first edition of which came out in 1994. The last update, the third edition, came in 1999; so until now the Encyclopedia has been missing information on the last few seasons of Voyager, all Enterprise, and movies from Nemesis onwards.

The new edition will be huge, more than a thousand pages split over two hardcover volumes, released in a slipcase. Star Trek specialist books makers Becker and Mayer, are developing the book, with the original authors, Michael and Denise Okuda returning to update and expand their work. Here's the blurb from Becker and Mayer:

With the previous edition published in 1999, this long-awaited update to The Star Trek Encyclopedia will include a completely new design, illustrations, and exhaustive entries on the characters, ships, and events from the last 15 years of Star Trek television shows and movies.

Nearly 300 pages of new text and illustrations will provide fans with a complete reference to the Star Trek canon. This authoritative two volume hardcover edition will release in 2016, in time for the 50th anniversary of Star Trek.

According to StarTrek.com, the new formatting will see the entire prime universe catalogued together, with information on the alternate timeline of the nuTrek movies listed in an appendix section.

Posting on their Facebook page, the Okudas revealed they have already been working on this for a year, and are anticipating a July release next year. StarTrek.com is less specific, describing an autumn release. The Okudas also note the cover may not be final.

Becker and Mayer do have a couple of sample pages on their website. But these are most definitely not final, as the text is all larem ipsum (ie, nonsense):

They also have this alternate version of the cover up, which also has some filler text on, so obviously isn't the final form either.

I'm sure we can look forward to proper previews of what will surely be a very impressive release, closer to publication next year.

For a reminder of some of the other creative and gloriously presented Star Trek books Becker and Mayer has previously produced, check out my latest list on my new Star Trek lists sub-site.