Book bits: New books, Animated Series Guide previews, and more

A few bookish updates today, including new covers and preview pages of a couple of forthcoming releases. But first, new book news:

Original 1979 edition cover

New listings have confirmed two new books on the way, and for the first time in a while we know the title of one of them! Due out in October is an unusual release, a reprint of Gene Roddenberry's novelisation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The rationale is for the film's 40th anniversary; there's no mention of whether there's any new content, such as an introduction, to mark that occasion. Like all the current novels, this will be a trade paperback release, and will also have an audio edition. There's no cover yet (but surely the iconic movie poster will be used), but there is a blurb:

Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture with this classic movie novelization written by legendary Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry!

The original five-year mission of the Starship Enterprise to explore strange new worlds and to seek out new life and new civilizations has ended. Now James T. Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise have separated to follow their own career paths and different lives. But now, an overwhelming alien threat—one that is ignoring all attempts at communication and annihilating all opposition in its path—is on a collision course with Earth, the very heart of the United Federation of Planets. And the only vessel that Starfleet can send in time to intercept this menace is a refitted Enterprise, with her old crew heeding the call to once again boldly go where no one has gone before….

Another book matches the cryptic naming of the other recent new listings, known currently as Untitled LBH; you can only tell it's a Star Trek book as it's listed under Pocket Star Trek. Whatever it is, we can expect it in February 2020.

Coming this September is the new Official Guide to The Animated Series, from Aaron Harvey and Rich Schepis. Amazon listings for this now give us a brand new set of preview pages to enjoy, which give a wider idea of the book's contents (literally, the contents page is among them) then the previous preview. It includes one spread from the preview preview with a new image selection, so some updates must have been happening as the book approaches publication:

Finally there are also a couple of updates for The Enterprise War, the next Discovery novel, from John Jackson Miller. The audiobook edition's cover has now been revealed too, and look even snazzier in the square format:

And the back cover for the print edition has also been released, which has a fairly-rare-for-a-modern-Star-Trek-novel back cover image, featuring the Disco-Enterprise trio of Pike, Number One, and Spock.

To keep track of all the latest releases, hit the prose or books buttons on my 2019 schedule page. You can also find series reading lists and author bibliographies on my dedicated Star Trek lists site.