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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 Pocket Books logo is a kangaroo named "Gertrude".
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. To this end, Pocket Books was formed.
In 1975, Simon & Schuster, and thus Pocket Books, was sold to Gulf+Western (which earlier also bought Paramount Pictures in 1966), and were later incorporated into Viacom in 2002.
Pocket acquired the license to publish Star Trek fiction in 1978 when holding company Gulf+Western ordained the development of a Star Trek book line as a tie-in for the first Star Trek movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, that was at the time in the process of being produced. A total of sixteen Star Trek related book titles were foreseen to coincide with the premiere of the movie for publication in 1980, including one to be flippantly titled U.S.S. Enterprise Officer's Date Book. (Playboy magazine, January 1980, p,. 310) Yet, due to the mixed reception of the movie only about half of them (and perhaps graciously not including the aforementioned title) were eventually released. Befittingly, one of these, the December 1979 novelization of that movie, is considered the company's first Star Trek publication. This marked the start of Pocket Book's official Star Trek book franchise and for the next two and a half decade the company was the sole officially licensed publisher for Star Trek novels in all formats. 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 for the same time span concurrently the sole officially licensed publisher allowed to release Star Trek 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 and Bunkasha for Japan), but its track record in that respect has been a mixture of commercial successes and failures. Due to perceived diminishing interest in these kind of works, publication of them dropped sharply after 2002. Licenses to publish reference books were henceforth extended to other publishing houses, the first time in 2009 when Titan Books published Star Trek - The Art of the Film, the first officially licensed 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.
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
- Star Trek (1979-present)
- Star Trek: The Original Series (1979-present)
- Star Trek Photostories (1980-1982)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988-present)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-present)
- Star Trek: Voyager (1995-present)
- Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-present)
- Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (1993-1998)
- Star Trek: New Frontier (1997-present)
- Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers (2000-present)
- Star Trek: Stargazer (2000-2004)
- Star Trek: Klingon Empire (2003-present)
- Star Trek: Titan (2005-present)
- Star Trek: Vanguard (2005-2012)
- Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (2010-present)
- Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations (2011-present)
- Star Trek: Seekers (2014-present)
- Star Trek: The Lost Era (2003-present)
- Star Trek: Mirror Universe (2007-present)
Reference books
- note: in chronological order of year of first printing
- Star Trek Speaks (1979, as "Wallaby Books")
- Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology (1979, as "Wallaby Books")
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture Make-Your-Own Costume Book (1979, as "Wallaby Books")
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture Peel-Off Graphics Book (1979, as "Wanderer Books")
- The USS Enterprise Bridge Punch-Out Book (1979, as "Wanderer Books")
- The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1980, as "Wallaby Books")
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture Blueprints (1980, as "Wallaby Books")
- The Star Trek Compendium (1981, as "Wallaby Books")
- The Making of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
- The Klingon Dictionary (1985)
- The Official Star Trek Quiz Book (1985)
- Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise (1987)
- The Worlds of the Federation (1989)
- Star Trek: The First 25 Years (1991, canceled)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (1991)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (1992)
- Star Trek Chronology (1993)
- The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1994)
- Star Trek Encyclopedia (1994)
- Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before (1994)
- The Art of Star Trek (1995)
- The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition (1995)
- Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (1996)
- Make It So (1996)
- Star Trek: Federation Passport (1996)
- The Klingon Way (1996)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D Blueprints (1996)
- Star Trek: These are the Voyages... (1996)
- Klingon for the Galactic Traveler (1997)
- Star Trek: Federation Travel Guide (1997)
- Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series (1997)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission (1997)
- Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook (1997)
- Q's Guide to the Continuum (1998)
- The Secrets of Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
- Star Trek: Action! (1998)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual (1998)
- Star Trek Science Logs (1998)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation Sketchbook: The Movies (1998)
- The Tribble Handbook (1998)
- A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager (1998)
- Fade In: The Writing of Star Trek: Insurrection (1999, canceled)
- The Q Chronicles (1999)
- Quotable Star Trek (1999)
- Star Trek Cookbook (1999)
- Star Trek Sticker Book (1999)
- The Definitive Star Trek Trivia Book (2000)
- The Klingon Hamlet (2000)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (2000)
- Star Trek: Paper Universe (2000)
- Starship Enterprise (2000, canceled)
- Unseen Frontier (2000-2001, canceled)
- The Definitive Star Trek Trivia Book Volume II (2001)
- The Magic of Tribbles: The Making of Trials and Tribble-ations (2001, eBook only)
- Star Trek: Celebrations (2001)
- Star Trek: Starship Spotter (2001)
- The Hologram's Handbook (2002)
- I'm Working on That (2002)
- Star Trek: Star Charts (2002)
- Star Trek: The Starfleet Survival Guide (2002)
- Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual (2002-2003, canceled)
- Star Trek: Voyager Companion (2003)
- Ships of the Line (2006)
- Voyages of Imagination (2006)
- Star Trek 101 (2008)
Editors
- David G. Hartwell
- Mimi Panitch
- Dave Stern
- Kevin J. Ryan
- John J. Ordover
- Margaret Clark
- Marco Palmieri
- Ed Schlesinger
- Jennifer Heddle
- Jaime Costas
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
- "Star Trek Encyclopedias", Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 4, August 1999, pp. 90-91
- "Star Trek: Non-Fiction Books", Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 7, November 1999, pp. 59-61
- "Canon Books?", Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 11, March 2002, pp. 69-72