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Pocket Books

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Pocket Books

Pocket Books is a publisher, a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster. Pocket Books is the imprint under which all current Star Trek mass market paperback novels are published.

The origins of the company date back to 1939, with the publication of the first paperback books by Robert Fair de Graff. Prior to that time, only hardcover books were available, and most of them were priced at several dollars – beyond the means of most people during the Depression. de Graff's paperback books, at a quarter or so each, were affordable. de Graff presented his idea to several publishers, before Simon & Schuster decided it was worth a look. In addition to carefully selecting his titles, de Graff established new channels of distribution, such as drug stores, five and dime stores, and department stores – all places that, prior to his efforts, had not sold books. Thus, Pocket Books was formed.

Both Simon & Schuster and Pocket were sold to Gulf+Western (which also later bought Paramount Pictures in 1975), and were incorporated into Viacom in 2002.

Pocket acquired the license to publish Star Trek fiction in 1978, and was originally responsible for published Star Trek novels in all formats, as well as reference books. The first title of the latter was the 1979 Star Trek Speaks, published under the then-used imprint "Wallaby Books"; that brand, like the "Wanderer Books" imprint for juvenile readers, used on occasion during those years. David G. Hartwell was instrumental in getting the initial Star Trek license and authors for the series, and was the first editor of the line. Following an editorial reorganization at Simon & Schuster in 2009, Pocket's hardcover and trade paperback releases were incorporated into a new imprint, Gallery Books.

Pocket Books was the only officially licensed publisher to release reference books in the US, sub-licensing their titles to Titan Books for the UK market (and, if translations were applicable, sub-licensing titles to foreign language publishers such as Heyne Verlag and Heel for the German market, or Dai-X for Japan), but its track record in that respect has been a mixture of commercial successes and failures. Perceived interest in publishing these kind of works dropped sharply after 2002 and licenses to publish reference books were extended to other publishing houses, the first time in 2009 when Titan Books published Star Trek - The Art of the Film, the first officially licenced reference book not published under the imprint of Pocket Books since 1979. More recently Abrams Books and 47North (the publishing arm of Amazon.com), have also been contracted to release licensed Star Trek reference books.

The Pocket Books logo is a kangaroo named "Gertrude".

On the title pages of recent Star Trek novels, Pocket Books have listed fictional locations in the novels as a location of one of their offices.

Novel series

Reference books

note: in chronological order of year of first printing

Editors

Novel chronology

In general, the editing staff of Pocket Books have been known for ensuring that novels do not contradict each other and do not deal with any major issues to Star Trek such as the death of a major character or a promotion contradicting an established on-screen rank.

There are some important exceptions, such as the promotion of Chekov in the novel Deep Domain as well as the Lost Years series which gave detailed information regarding James T. Kirk's role as Chief of Starfleet Operations. A widespread theme in the Pocket Books novel is also the second five year voyage of the USS Enterprise under Captain Kirk, something never confirmed in canon. More recently, Kathryn Janeway was killed in the novel Before Dishonor, a death which was later confirmed in the subsequent novel Full Circle.

The chronology of Pocket Books is written so as to "fit in" with on screen episodes and films, even though, with the large amount of novels, the characters depicted would likely not have enough time to participate in all of the depicted adventures.

Further reading

External links

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