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Characters Mackenzie Calhoun, Robin Lefler, M'Ress Books House of Cards, Into the Void, The Two‑Front War, Excalibur Book 3: Restoration, End Game | ||
Star Trek: New Frontier is a Star Trek novel series created by John J. Ordover and Peter David and published by Pocket Books. The idea behind it was to create a Star Trek book series with its own continuity and not one that is purely a reaction to the television shows. Nearly every story of the series is written by series co-creator Peter David. New Frontier centers on the adventures of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and his crew aboard the USS Excalibur.
Contents
- Origins
- Main series
- Additional novels
- Comic books
- Characters
- Ships
- USS Excalibur
- USS Trident
- USS Exeter
- References
Origins
According to David, "The basic concept was John Ordover's, as was the notion of using several already existing characters. I fleshed out the concept and created the original characters."
First published in 1997 as a serial consisting of four short novels, New Frontier is set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe, but in the unexplored Sector 221-G, home of the recently fallen Thallonian Empire. Starting the series with a combination of new characters and former Next Generation guest stars gave David the opportunity to create his own corner of the Star Trek Universe. Characters from New Frontier have been involved in several crossover events with novels based on the television series (the Gateways, Double Helix, Captain's Table and mirror universe novel series).
Star Trek.com announced in March 2015 that a trilogy of eBooks called The Returned would be released in July, August and September of the same year, continuing the New Frontier story.
Main series
Unless otherwise noted, all of the following novels, short stories, and comic books were written by Peter David.
Several of these stories have also been reprinted elsewhere.
Additional novels
Other novels have included or even focused on characters that star in the New Frontier universe. Because some of the characters originated in Star Trek: The Next Generation, some of these novels were actually released months or years before the first New Frontier book. Some of these books include:
Comic books
Characters
The characters in the New Frontier novels are a combination of characters that had already appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation: (Elizabeth Shelby, Dr. Selar, Robin Lefler, and Edward Jellico), characters from Peter David's Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy books (Soleta, Zak Kebron, Mark McHenry, and Tania Tobias), characters from Star Trek: The Animated Series (Arex and M'Ress), and newly created characters (such as Mackenzie Calhoun, Burgoyne 172, Si Cwan and Kalinda).
Ships
The New Frontier series has followed the course of several different ships.
USS Excalibur
The original Excalibur is the ship featured in the silhouette on the New Frontier logo. It was an Ambassador-class starship. The Excalibur's commander just prior to the start of New Frontier was Captain Morgan Korsmo, an old Academy class mate of Captain Picard, who was killed fighting the Borg. Command of the ship then passed to Captain Calhoun. Captain Calhoun was believed dead for a time when the Excalibur was destroyed, but upon his return he was granted command of another ship of the same name, this one Galaxy-class.
USS Trident
The Trident was the second command of Elizabeth Shelby, after the Exeter. Like the second Excalibur, it is a Galaxy-class starship. Shelby served as commanding officer of the ship for only a few years before she was promoted again to become Admiral of Sector 221-G (where the Trident was serving alongside the Excalibur), at which time her second-in-command, Katerina Mueller, became captain of the ship.
USS Exeter
Elizabeth Shelby was promoted to Captain of the Exeter in Restoration, the 11th novel in the series. Later under the command of Captain Alexandra Garbeck.