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 later became Paramount Pictures) in 1975, and were incorporated into Viacom in 2002.

Pocket acquired the license to publish Star Trek fiction in, and was originally responsible for published Star Trek novels in all formats, as well as reference books, the first one of these being the 1979 Star Trek Speaks, published under the then used imprint "Wallaby Books" ("Wanderer Books" being another imprint, aimed at the more juvenile audiences, used on occasion during those years). David G. Hartwell was instrumental in getting the initial license and authors for the series, and was the first editor of the line. Following an editorial reorganization at Simon & Schuster in, 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, but its track record in that respect has been a mixture of commercial successes and failures. 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 official reference book not published under the imprint of Pocket Books since 1979. More recently Abrams Books also started to release Star Trek reference books.

The company's 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

 * 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-present)
 * Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (2010-present)
 * Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations (2011-present)

Reference books

 * note: in chronological order of year of first printing


 * Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology (1979, as "Wallaby Books")
 * Star Trek Speaks (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 (NCC-1701) 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.