Our book club is currently reading through the Star Trek:Vanguard series and really enjoying it. Part of what makes the Original Series novels so enjoyable is that they are using non-canon characters. Major characters can and do die, and it really adds something when characters don’t have the “plot armor” that canon characters do.

Inspired by discussions on this Reddit thread, I’ve compiled notes on other series like Vanguard which I’d like to consider for future Star Trek series, either in our Dicehaven.com book club or for personal enjoyment.

The “New Frontier” series is a TNG era setting much like Vanguard with all-original characters. It has 18 novels in the series! This would probably be my top choice for a post-Vanguard series, although I would be happy with any novels on the list below!

The “Lost Era” series which covers the generations after TOS. The series has 11 novels. It features characters like Demora Sulu (Sulu’s daughter). In this series, “Serpent Among the Ruins” is well regarded.

Star Trek “New Earth” series of 6 novels is billed as a ‘wagon train to the stars’ with a colonial focus and many new characters (though it still includes TOS Enterprise). This takes place in the Enterprise’s 2nd five year mission, between TOS and TMP. (Side Note: The final ‘Star Trek: Challenger’ novel in the above New Earth series introduced new characters and was meant to be spun off into a new Vanguard / New Frontier style original non-TV-character series, but that spin-off series never materialized)

The “Destiny” trilogy by David Mack is well regarded, but it’s more of a crossover than a non-TV series.

“Articles of the Federation” is a single novel in which the federation president and her staff. One person on Reddit said “it’s The West Wing but at Federation headquarters.”

“Star Trek: Titan” is a 12 book, post-TNG series with Riker, Troi, and a mostly non-human crew. In addition to the 12 books in the main series, Titan is also featured in the three novel Destiny” trilogy. One person I know of says the Titan series starts off rough, but many of its later book in the series are quite good .

I’m not sure what we’ll read after Vanguard but it’s so fantastic that there is a lot of great reading out there!