New Star Trek Explorer short story collection arrives in December

By John Freeman on June 26, 2024

The next collection of Star Trek short stories first published in Titan’s Star Trek Explorer magazine will hit bookshops on 10th December 2024, behind a striking cover by Neil Edwards, coloured by John Paul-Bove.

The hardback collection includes stories previously featured in the official magazine’s physical edition, alongside tales from the subscriber only digital supplement. It leads with “Chekov’s Challenge” by actor and author Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov in the original series and seven feature films, and the award-winning Chris McAuley, set after events in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

This anthology of 14 fully illustrated short stories, collected for the first time, Star Trek Explorer: A Year to the Day That I Saw Myself Die and Other Stories includes tales by Jake Black, Greg Cox, Keith DeCandido, Michael Dismuke, Rich Handley, Peter Holmstrom, David Mack and Una McCormack, illustrated by artists such as Louie de Martinis, Philip Murphy, whose credits include work on Star Trek: Lower Decks, Wamberto Nicomedes and Pete Wallbank.

The stories features characters from Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Star Trek: Picard, along with tales from other shows.

A declaration of bias: as the current editor of Star Trek Explorer, I’m very proud to have commissioned these tales, and working on them with such a talented range of writers and artists was a delight. A tip of the hat, too, to Jonathan Wilkins, editor of the collection, for assembling this latest line up of SF stories, and designer Dan Bura! Thank you, all.

The Stories:

• “Chekov’s Challenge” by Walter Koenig and Chris McAuley, with a frontispiece by Neil Edwards and John Paul-Bove (Star Trek: The Original Series movie era)
• “Jack of Diamonds” by Una McCormack – frontispiece art by Louie de Martinis (Star Trek: Picard)
• “The Trouble with Jones” by Greg Cox – frontispiece art by Andy Walker (Star Trek: The Original Series)
• “Sundering” by David Mack – frontispiece art by Wamberto Nicomedes (A story set on ancient Vulcan)
• “The Kellidian Kidnapping” by Keith R. A. Candido- frontispiece art by Wamberto Nicomedes (Star Trek: Voyager)
• “A Dish Served Cold” by Chris Dows – frontispiece art by Pete Wallbank (Star Trek: The Original Series)
• “Working Miracles” by Jake Black – frontispiece art by Pete Wallbank (Star Trek: The Original Series)
• “Forewarned and Three-Armed” by Rich Handley – frontispiece art by Philip Murphy, additional art by Aaron Harvey (Star Trek: The Animated Series)
• “Academy Acquisition” by Jake Black – frontispiece art by Andy Walker (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
• “A Year to the Day I Saw Myself Die” by Michael Collins – frontispiece art by Michael Collins (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
• “See and Seen” by Peter Holmstrom – frontispiece art by Louie de Martinis (Star Trek: Voyager)
• “Lost and Founder” by David Mack – frontispiece art by Pete Wallbank (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
• “Work Worth Doing” by Keith R. A. Candido — frontispiece art by Louie de Martinis (Star Trek: Discovery)
• “Confirmation Bias” by Michael Dismuke – frontispiece art by Pete Wallbank (Star Trek: Picard)

This story was updated on 7th October to amend reflect the revised release date from 1st October

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.