The Star Trek universe started in the early days of television, and creator Gene Roddenberry was inspired by a variety of different media, including television and books, when he wrote the series. Today, there are plenty of novels that Star Trek has inspired, and many others that borrow the same template of a captain, a starship, and going where no one has gone before.RELATED: Classic Sci-Fi Novels That Have Yet To Be Adapted Into MoviesThere’s plenty of literature out there for Star Trek fans who want a break from screen time. In addition to the vast library of canon and fan-fiction novels that take place within the Star Trek universe, here are a few that were written completely outside the franchise, but reflect its tone, mythology, and themes.
6 The Calculating Stars — Mary Robinette Kowal
The prequel to what’s known as the “Lady Astronaut” series, The Calculating Stars tells the story of the formation of the International Space Coalition and the rise of Elma York from mathematician and pilot to an astronaut. Although the story is set in our world, like Star Trek, there are a few important differences.
The story is told in a fictionalized version of planet Earth, in which human life has limited time to get off the planet when it starts to change irrevocably after being hit by a meteorite. When she is first recruited to the space program, it’s the 1950s, and the cultural understanding is that women can’t be astronauts. Does anyone remember the days of Star Trek: The Original Series when no women were allowed in the Captain’s training program?
5 Doomsday Book — Connie Willis
The title is a reference to a famous compilation and reference work, The Doomsday Book, which was written by unknown authors in 1086 at the request of William the Conquerer. The ploy of Willis’s novel includes scientific research, time travel, and other details that sound very much like Star Trek’s Prime Directive.
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The protagonist is historian and medieval specialist Kivrin Engle, who lives in a future where time travel exists and is used as the basis for scientific study. She convinces her professor to send her back to her time of expertise, the 14th century. Kivrin arrives at the time of her choosing and eventually discovers she’s arrived at the time of the Black Plague. Meanwhile, in her own time, a mysterious illness is ravaging the university.
4 Supernova Era — Cixin Liu
The basic idea behind Supernova Era made critics draw comparisons to Lord of the Flies. It might remind Trekkers of all those episodes about aliens that lived comparatively short lives, or when children were abandoned on alien planets to either grow up alone or be raised by other beings.
In this book, a star goes supernova. The blast itself doesn’t harm the Earth, but when the wave of radiation hits the planet, it changes the genetic makeup of humans. Anyone more than 13 years old has one year to live. Adults set out to prepare their children for a world without them, but the next generation has plans of their own.
3 Foundation — Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov has an impressive body of work that forms most of the basis of the modern genre of science fiction. One of his earliest novels, Foundation, is one of the few books by Asimov that hasn’t been made into a movie or television show. However, it’s credited with inspiring the Jedi Order and the Republic of Star Wars fame, and there’s also a lot here for Star Trek fans to enjoy.
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The novel is a compilation of five stories about Foundation, a planet on which the first psycho-historian in the universe has decided to preserve all the knowledge of the Galactic Empire before it is overrun by barbarian hordes. The work has gone though a few changes over the years, but it’s currently the first part of a trilogy that includes seven other short stories collected into similar compilations.
2 Four Ways To Forgiveness — Ursula Le Guin
Four Ways To Forgiveness is one of the books that make up Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle, and any part of this series is ideal for Star Trek fans. This novel in particular, though, has more of the character-driven drama and episodic storyline that Trek fans have come to expect, especially when it comes to serialized television.
The series can be read in any order, and this book could be considered a prequel because it gives some background on the Akumen, a federation of planets that make up the setting. It’s actually four stories about the same two planets, Werel and Yeowe, with some references to a third planet called Hain.
1 Ninefox Gambit — Yoon Ha Lee
The first book in the Machineries of Empire trilogy, Ninefox Gamebit is the story of intrepid infantry Captain Kel Cheris, the traitorous general Shuos Jedao, and their adventures and clashes under the interstellar rule of the Hexarchate Empire. This particular novel is about Captain Cheris and her search for redemption after being disgraced in battle.
The work of Yoon Ha Lee has been described as space opera, science fantasy, and military science fiction, all of which fans can see in modern and classic Star Trek. More militant cultures in the franchise, like Klingons or Romulans, might seem similar to the methods of the Hexarchate.
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