This Month: October 2015 Star Trek releases

There have been many varied takes on the world of Star Trek this month, including visits to the mirror universe, and the never before seen eighth season of TNG. Continue below for look at everything October had to offer:

Books

After three months in a row of ebooks accompanying the regular novel releases, we return to a solitary novel this month, the latest entry in the Titan series, James Swallow's Sight Unseen. Here's the blurb:

In the wake of political upheaval across the United Federation of Planets, Admiral William Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan find themselves in uncertain waters as roles aboard the ship change to reflect a new mandate and a new mission. On orders from Starfleet, Titan sets out toward the edge of Federation space to tackle its latest assignment: to work with an alien species known as the Dinac, who are taking their first steps into the galaxy at large as a newly warp-capable civilization.

But when disaster befalls the Dinac, the Titan crew discovers they have unknowingly drawn the attention of a deadly, merciless enemy—a nightmare from Riker’s past lurking in the darkness. Friendships will be tested to the limit as familiar faces and new allies must risk everything in a fight against an unstoppable invader—or a horrific threat will be unleashed on the galaxy!

Purchase: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes.

Book bits - Fiction edition: New covers, new blurbs, new ebook, and more!

Lots of books news lately, continue below for all the latest on prose fiction titles, including new details of next year's anniversary trilogy, new blurbs, a new ebooks, the return of Strange New Worlds, and more! First up, pretty new covers to look at.

Two new novel covers have been released lately, the first one here is for A Pocket Full of Lies, Kirsten Beyer's next Voyager novel, due in February:

The Full Circle Fleet has resumed its unprecedented explorations of the Delta Quadrant and former Borg space. Commander Liam O'Donnell of the U.S.S. Demeter makes a promising first contact with the Nihydron—humanoid aliens that are collectors of history. They rarely interact with the species they study but have created a massive database of numerous races, inhabited planets, and the current geopolitical landscape of a large swath of the quadrant. When an exchange of data is proposed via a formal meeting, the Nihydron representatives are visibly shaken when Admiral Kathryn Janeway greets them. For almost a century, two local species—the Rilnar and the Zahl—have fought for control of the nearby planet Sormana, with both sides claiming it as their ancestral homeworld. The shocking part is that for the last several years, the Rilnar have been steadily gaining ground, thanks to the tactics of their current commanding officer: a human woman, who appears to be none other than Kathryn Janeway herself...

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp. 

Speaking to TrekFM's Literary Treks podcast about he most recent book, Atonement, Beyer also revealed she is already at work on the next two Voyager novels following A Pocket Full of Lies. While this next book isn't the start of another multi-book arc, she does already have ideas on where the series is and could be going:

Starfleet Academy comic preview

Starting in December is the five-part Starfleet Academy comic miniseries, which explores the lives of the Enterprise crew as cadets in the unseen parts of their education from the first nuTrek movie, plus the "present day" class back on Earth while the Enterprise is busy exploring between the events of Into Darkness and Beyond. The series is written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, with art by Derek Charm.

At the recent New York Comic Con, IDW released an ashcan preview of the first issue in the series, and have now made that available online too. These first few pages reveal a wonderful diversity of alien races populating the scenes, drawn from all periods of Star Trek; adding to the already impressively diverse and representative main cast of the book. Top marks IDW! Continue below to read through the preview, and other news from the series:

nuTrek ongoing mirror universe story preview

Out this week is the first issue of the new three-part mirror universe story in the nuTrek ongoing comic series, a story which appears to be titled Live Live. As ever, Mike Johnson has written this tale, with art by the current regular artist on the series, Tony Shasteen.

To mark the milestone of this being the fiftieth issue in the series, the book also has some extra features! Those include a couple of articles looking back at how IDW has approached all its nuTrek comics, I guide to the various aliens featured in the ongoing series, and interviews with the nuTrek artists.

There is also some special treatment for the covers, with the main cover by Shasteen featuring wraparound artwork. There is also a subscription photo-cover, a retail incentive sketch cover by Rachael Stott, and a blank sketch cover, ready to have an artist of your choice add something unique.

Continue below to check out all the covers, and a five page preview from the issue:

TNG: Warped preview pages and images

The TNG parody book, Star Trek: The Next Generation - Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season, has just been released. As the title suggests, the book details the previously unknown eight season of The Next Generation, based on the TNG_S8 Twitter account, by Mike McMahan. The book also features lots of new illustrations by Jason Ho, several of which have been previewed to tempt you into this amusing volume. Continue below for a look at the preview images, and several preview pages:

Starships Collection's shuttlecraft arrive + USS Kelvin and dedication plaques

The much anticipated shuttecraft set from Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection is now available to order in the UK. Included are the TOS-era Galileo, TNG type 6 Goddard of the Enterprise-D, DS9's type 10 shuttle Chaffee of the Defiant, and Voyager's type 9 Cochrane. The four shuttles are smaller models than regular issues, about seven centimetres long on average, and also some with smaller magazines, eight-page booklets for each ship. As a sweetener, also included are four brand-new Okudagrams, printed on plastic sheets, and held upright with little stands.

As forewarned, due to being a smaller production run, these are, despite their smaller size, going to be more expensive than regular issues. The UK price is £75, although you can take that down to £55 using a promo code which is being emailed to subscribers (and might be circulating on Twitter too...). As ever, they will be released in other markets later (some of which have offered them as a premium subscription extra). Continue below for more views of the shuttles, and some other updates from the collection:

The Spectrum War #4 preview

Out this week is the fourth issue of the nuTrek/Green Lantern crossover comic series, The Spectrum War. Written by nuTrek regular Mike Johnson, with art by Angel Hernandez, this issue has three different covers: The A cover by Marc Laming, coloured by Lara Margarida; the B cover by J.K. Woodward, and the subscription cover by Garry Brown, coloured by Doug Garbark. You can see all three, and a five-page preview from this issue, continuing below:

Redshirt's Little Book of Doom preview pages

It's not due out until next July, but Insight Editions have their landing parties well planned it seems, as they have already released (via Amazon) a bunch of preview pages for their forthcoming Star Trek parody book, the Redshirt's Little Book of Doom. Illustrated by Anna-Maria Jung, and written by Robb Pearlman, the featured redshirt seems to have even less luck than your average Enterprise security officer, facing not just landing party perils, but everyday disasters, and even fairytale fatalities. Continue below for a few preview images (which judging by the note on the cover, might not be finalised quite this far in advance of publication):

First Mega Bloks Star Trek construction sets revealed

Earlier this year it was announced Mega Bloks had secured the license to produce Star Trek construction toys, and a few months later we got the first look at their incredibly impressive USS Enterprise model. Well now at the New York Comic Con they are showing off the Enterprise again, as well as two other sets that will be released along side it when the line launches in the autumn of 2016. Continue below for all the details.

The biggest set by far is that incredible USS Enterprise, which Gizmodo's Toyland report will be made from over three thousand pieces, and also have light up nacelles! It will also come with two figurines (not to scale), Kirk and Spock, in dress uniforms. This 1/350 scale masterpiece will set you back $250.

Starships Collection updates: Titan passes 5000, latest previews, possible book, and more!

Lots of updates from Eaglemoss' Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection below. But first the news I've been waiting for, for a little over a year: The petition to get the USS Titan in the collection has now passed over the five-thousand signatures mark! Here's the collection's manager, Ben Robinson's response on Twitter:

Now I wouldn't expect anything to happen very fast, getting the list of names is just the first step, but as Ben has indicated, plans are now afoot on figuring out how to translate that interest into making the extra Titan issue a reality. Ben seemed very positive and determined to make this happen when I talked to him, and had some exciting thoughts on sharing the development process for this extra issue too. Until Eaglemoss finalise their plans for the next stage, please continue to try and seek out more fans of the Titan to sign the petition, I am sure a proportion of the names on there will not follow through with pre-ordering when the time comes, so the bigger the buffer the better, to make sure this happens!

Meanwhile, regular issues continue apace as ever! The latest to get their official solicitations are issues sixty-one and sixty-two, the Norway class, and Voth Research Vessel. These are due out in the UK first, this December, while other markets will follow behind as usual.

Trek-wear: New skirts, scarves, hats, sportswear, bathrobes, and novelty T-shirts

Got your wardrobe ready for the winter? Well don't forget to add some Star Trek flare, with some of the latest releases - Although you might need to layer up (or enjoy summer in the southern hemisphere), as a lot of what's new is T-shirts! Continue below to check out all the latest Trek-wear, starting with something that definitely is ready for the cold:

New from ThinkGeek, Starfleet officers from both the 23rd and 24th centuries can keep warm with new Starfleet winter gear. Here's the TNG uniform styled hats and scarves: