Star Trek Novels uses several sources for information and background details on books.  First is Star Trek: Voyages of Imagination by Jeff Ayers.  This compilation of Star Trek fiction is invaluable.  Ayers was able to compile and list every novel published through 2006.  The included interviews with authors is also valuable in understanding the intent of each story.

Wikipedia’s List of Star Trek Novels page has also proven to be a valuable resource.  This online listing of Trek fiction is easy to access and follow, and has provided valuable information at a glance.

The header image used for this site is from the cover illustration of Bantam Books’ 1971 Star Trek 4 by James Blish and the Star Trek Reader.  The artist is Lou Feck, who did many book illustrations throughout the 1960s and ’70s.  His work for the Bantam Star Trek line is considered classic modern art by some, and inspired a generation of readers to want to know more about this exciting universe.  Some, as this site details, even went on to write about that universe.

Click the image to see an enlarged version of this illustration.

Finally, Star Trek Novels wants to credit James Blish.  While Mack Reynolds wrote the first original story to be based on Star Trek, Mission to Horatius, that work was intended for children.  Blish wrote the first serious fiction based on Trek for adults, Spock Must Die!

A long-time science fiction author with a lengthy career, Blish began writing short story adaptions of Star Trek episodes in 1967.  He worked on Star Trek 1 through 11, but died while working on Star Trek 12 in 1975.  That volume was completed by his wife, J. A. (Judith Ann) Lawrence.

But in 1970, Blish wrote the original story Spock Must Die!  It was the first Star Trek novel written for adults.  While it took Bantam another six years before the second novel was published, Blish and Spock Must Die! kicked off a publishing juggernaut that is still going strong today.

It seems only fitting that we pay tribute to James Blish, the author who started it all.