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Star Trek: New Frontier #1
House of Cards
Sector 221-G: For the whole of Federation history, this large area of space has been controlled by the Thallonians, a cruel, militaristic race of which little is knownexcept that they rule the other races in their sector with vicious iron hand.
Now the Thallonian Empire has collapsed and the systems it once ruled are in chaos. Old hatreds are surfacing. Petty tyrants control deadly weapons. World after world is descending into disorder and self-destruction. The Federation must send a starship to help where it can and report what it finds.
That ship is the U.S.S. Excalibur, a newly refit Ambassador-class starship commanded by Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and manned by Starfleet's best and brightest, including some old friends from Star Trek: The Next Generation and some of the most dynamic new characters ever to crew a Federation starship.
Join Captain Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur as they explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no one has gone before!
Now the Thallonian Empire has collapsed and the systems it once ruled are in chaos. Old hatreds are surfacing. Petty tyrants control deadly weapons. World after world is descending into disorder and self-destruction. The Federation must send a starship to help where it can and report what it finds.
That ship is the U.S.S. Excalibur, a newly refit Ambassador-class starship commanded by Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and manned by Starfleet's best and brightest, including some old friends from Star Trek: The Next Generation and some of the most dynamic new characters ever to crew a Federation starship.
Join Captain Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur as they explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no one has gone before!
168 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1997
About the author
Peter David
3,698 books1,382 followersaka David Peters
Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.
Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews
December 7, 2017
Indeed a new frontier in "Star Trek" franchise!
This is the 1st novel in the “Star Trek: New Frontier” book series.
FIRST PROSE STAR TREK SERIES
This novel was very important for the line of prose novels of Pocket Books about Star Trek.
Since before this, there were only prose novels about the original series and spin-offs aired on TV, however, Pocket Books made a strong bet giving green light to this idea by author, Peter David, one of the most popular writers in the franchise, to create a new Star Trek spin-off series BUT exclusively for the development on prose novel format.
Peter David knew that the key factor to make this works was to "cast" an interesting crew, in the same way that it would be made for a TV show.
So, he was allowed to bring known characters as "Cmdr. Elizabeth Shelby", "Dr. Selar" and "Lt. Robin Lefler", all of them have appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation but since there weren't any plans to re-use them so, they were "free" to be used as regular members of the new crew, the three characters were popular with the Trekkers so it was a wise move.
Also, Peter David had written some novels directed to younger readers in the line Starfleet Academy narrating the years of Worf at the academy, and in those books, he created three characters: "Soleta", "Zak Kebron" and "Mark McHenry", so it was logical that they must be assigned in some ship after graduation like Worf, so, Peter David bring them to the new crew too.
However, he also created "brand-new" characters for the new series like "Burgoyne 172" and "Si Cwan" and the most important character to secure the success of the series...
...the captain...
Meet: Mackenzie Calhoun...
...that his name may sound of Earth origin but it was a "personal" decision of the character to fit better but his real name was M'k'n'zy of Calhoun, an alien with a convulted past.
NEW FRONTIER, NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Peter David was smart making the debut of this new series to appeal not only to fans of 24th Century based series of Star Trek but also of the Original Series bringing as "guest stars" in the first part of the "pilot" adventure to Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Ambassador Spock.
And I say "first part" since the first four books of the series in reality are all part of a same adventure, but "Pocket Books" decided to print them in thinner editions with a cheap price to secure that new reader of the series may take the risk of buying them.
In many series and stories of Star Trek, you may find explorations of known Earth history events but transformed to alien equivalents. In Star Trek: New Frontier, Peter David decided that it was a good idea to explore the fall of the USSR and its following socio-political struggles but also merging it with some concepts of the fall of the Romanov dinasty too, so...
...in this series you find that the scenario is a space sector known as 221-G that until very recently was under the tight control of the Tallonian Empire, however this empire collapsed and now several worlds and star systems are in disorder, suffering civil wars, uprising of hunger, etc...
Therefore, the Federation decided to send a starship to study the situation in the sector and to bring any possible humanitarian help.
I was lucky to get the beginning of the series on its original format of 4 books (that this one is the first of them) since for collection is better because later I think you only would find the omnibus edition of this 4 books.
Star Trek: New Frontier was so well accepted by fans that there were even some crossover book events with the other series that were real TV shows, and even some comic books, proving that this book series was already perceived as strong as the other spin-offs of the franchise.
Moreover, the success of Star Trek: New Frontier, in its format of prose novels, opened the doors to a whole bunch of new series like Starfleet Corps of Engineers, I.K.S. Gorkon, Titan, Stargazer, etc...
This is the 1st novel in the “Star Trek: New Frontier” book series.
FIRST PROSE STAR TREK SERIES
This novel was very important for the line of prose novels of Pocket Books about Star Trek.
Since before this, there were only prose novels about the original series and spin-offs aired on TV, however, Pocket Books made a strong bet giving green light to this idea by author, Peter David, one of the most popular writers in the franchise, to create a new Star Trek spin-off series BUT exclusively for the development on prose novel format.
Peter David knew that the key factor to make this works was to "cast" an interesting crew, in the same way that it would be made for a TV show.
So, he was allowed to bring known characters as "Cmdr. Elizabeth Shelby", "Dr. Selar" and "Lt. Robin Lefler", all of them have appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation but since there weren't any plans to re-use them so, they were "free" to be used as regular members of the new crew, the three characters were popular with the Trekkers so it was a wise move.
Also, Peter David had written some novels directed to younger readers in the line Starfleet Academy narrating the years of Worf at the academy, and in those books, he created three characters: "Soleta", "Zak Kebron" and "Mark McHenry", so it was logical that they must be assigned in some ship after graduation like Worf, so, Peter David bring them to the new crew too.
However, he also created "brand-new" characters for the new series like "Burgoyne 172" and "Si Cwan" and the most important character to secure the success of the series...
...the captain...
Meet: Mackenzie Calhoun...
...that his name may sound of Earth origin but it was a "personal" decision of the character to fit better but his real name was M'k'n'zy of Calhoun, an alien with a convulted past.
NEW FRONTIER, NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Peter David was smart making the debut of this new series to appeal not only to fans of 24th Century based series of Star Trek but also of the Original Series bringing as "guest stars" in the first part of the "pilot" adventure to Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Ambassador Spock.
And I say "first part" since the first four books of the series in reality are all part of a same adventure, but "Pocket Books" decided to print them in thinner editions with a cheap price to secure that new reader of the series may take the risk of buying them.
In many series and stories of Star Trek, you may find explorations of known Earth history events but transformed to alien equivalents. In Star Trek: New Frontier, Peter David decided that it was a good idea to explore the fall of the USSR and its following socio-political struggles but also merging it with some concepts of the fall of the Romanov dinasty too, so...
...in this series you find that the scenario is a space sector known as 221-G that until very recently was under the tight control of the Tallonian Empire, however this empire collapsed and now several worlds and star systems are in disorder, suffering civil wars, uprising of hunger, etc...
Therefore, the Federation decided to send a starship to study the situation in the sector and to bring any possible humanitarian help.
I was lucky to get the beginning of the series on its original format of 4 books (that this one is the first of them) since for collection is better because later I think you only would find the omnibus edition of this 4 books.
Star Trek: New Frontier was so well accepted by fans that there were even some crossover book events with the other series that were real TV shows, and even some comic books, proving that this book series was already perceived as strong as the other spin-offs of the franchise.
Moreover, the success of Star Trek: New Frontier, in its format of prose novels, opened the doors to a whole bunch of new series like Starfleet Corps of Engineers, I.K.S. Gorkon, Titan, Stargazer, etc...
March 26, 2024
Mostly background, this seems like a solid setup for a new series starring a new ship and captain, one created for use in prose novels rather than derived from an existing television series.
September 17, 2019
Star Trek: New Frontier is the father of the modern Star Trek Expanded Universe. Much like Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy created the modern Star Wars Expanded Universe, so did Peter David's adventures of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the U.S.S Excalibur create the foundations on which all others would follow.
Star Trek fiction existed before this massive multi-book series, existed in books by the hundreds in-fact, but it was continuity-less and insubstantial as a cloud to the greater universe. I hesitate to use the word licensed fan fiction, because some of it was really good, but that's how Paramount viewed it. Flattering, fun to read, but lacking in consistency and unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
New Frontier changed that by providing a self-contained universe written entirely by Peter David, carrying the consequences from one story to the next. For over fifteen years, the adventures of Captain Calhoun have entertained fans of Star Trek and created a bedrock to let publishers know fans were willing to follow original characters into the void.
With the obliteration of planet Vulcan by Nero, the old universe now exists entirely within text (and in Star Trek Online) so the importance of Star Trek fiction can't be understated. So, what better way to celebrate my love of Star Trek fiction than to discuss the Star Trek: New Frontier universe with its first four volumes collected neatly into this omnibus.
So what do I have to say about this series, now that I've talked it up for about four paragraphs?
It is very-very silly.
No, seriously, that's what you should understand before you pick up this volume and read a word of it. Peter David is a comic book writer, one of my favorite if not my favorite, and I mean that in both tenses of the word. The adventures of Captain Calhoun and his wacky crew trump the Original Series in terms of ridiculousness, are often prone to comedy skits, and include a race of Ewok-shaped evil wizards. If the idea of a planet-sized egg for a being not-too-dissimilar to the Phoenix from the X-men comics offends you, this may not be the series for you.
The strange thing is, New Frontier is still capable of generating drama and pathos despite its occasional verges into utter insanity. I care about the characters of the U.S.S. Excalibur more than I care about a lot of fictional characters. The death of billions during the Star Trek Destiny series affected me less than than the loss of some crew members here. This is definitely a book series where your mileage may vary but I recommend checking them out just in case.
Now that I've discussed the series as a whole to death, I'll mention the omnibus itself. The premise for New Frontier is brilliance in itself and I've replicated it a dozen times for my tabletop Star Trek games. A big Romulan Empire-sized territory called the Thallonian Empire has collapsed, leaving dozens of star systems anarchic and without leadership.
The Federation, fearing a humanitarian crisis on an epic scale, sends a lone starship into the chaos to patch things up. It is captained by the second most renegade/rules-ignoring Captain in Starfleet history (the most being Chris Pine's Captain Kirk).
Captain Mackenzie Calhoun is a former planetary warlord who joined Starfleet after liberating his planet from oppressive alien rule. He's also spent the past six years on undercover assignments for Admiral Nechayev, doing the sorts of things Section 31 would do if it had been invented yet out-of-universe.
His crew is a similar collection of misfits including straight woman Shelby from "The Best of Both Worlds", Robin Lefler (Wesley's girlfriend played by Ashley Judd), a hermaphrodite alien engineer, one-off TNG character Selar, an exiled alien dictator, and the cast from Peter David's Starfleet Academy books. It's not the sort of cast which immediately excites you but the way they interact is delightful. Assuming, you know, you throw out all sense that Starfleet has any discipline whatsoever.
I suggest buying the Kindle collection of the first four four books but I own the paperback of the first volume as a collector's piece.
9/10
Star Trek fiction existed before this massive multi-book series, existed in books by the hundreds in-fact, but it was continuity-less and insubstantial as a cloud to the greater universe. I hesitate to use the word licensed fan fiction, because some of it was really good, but that's how Paramount viewed it. Flattering, fun to read, but lacking in consistency and unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
New Frontier changed that by providing a self-contained universe written entirely by Peter David, carrying the consequences from one story to the next. For over fifteen years, the adventures of Captain Calhoun have entertained fans of Star Trek and created a bedrock to let publishers know fans were willing to follow original characters into the void.
With the obliteration of planet Vulcan by Nero, the old universe now exists entirely within text (and in Star Trek Online) so the importance of Star Trek fiction can't be understated. So, what better way to celebrate my love of Star Trek fiction than to discuss the Star Trek: New Frontier universe with its first four volumes collected neatly into this omnibus.
So what do I have to say about this series, now that I've talked it up for about four paragraphs?
It is very-very silly.
No, seriously, that's what you should understand before you pick up this volume and read a word of it. Peter David is a comic book writer, one of my favorite if not my favorite, and I mean that in both tenses of the word. The adventures of Captain Calhoun and his wacky crew trump the Original Series in terms of ridiculousness, are often prone to comedy skits, and include a race of Ewok-shaped evil wizards. If the idea of a planet-sized egg for a being not-too-dissimilar to the Phoenix from the X-men comics offends you, this may not be the series for you.
The strange thing is, New Frontier is still capable of generating drama and pathos despite its occasional verges into utter insanity. I care about the characters of the U.S.S. Excalibur more than I care about a lot of fictional characters. The death of billions during the Star Trek Destiny series affected me less than than the loss of some crew members here. This is definitely a book series where your mileage may vary but I recommend checking them out just in case.
Now that I've discussed the series as a whole to death, I'll mention the omnibus itself. The premise for New Frontier is brilliance in itself and I've replicated it a dozen times for my tabletop Star Trek games. A big Romulan Empire-sized territory called the Thallonian Empire has collapsed, leaving dozens of star systems anarchic and without leadership.
The Federation, fearing a humanitarian crisis on an epic scale, sends a lone starship into the chaos to patch things up. It is captained by the second most renegade/rules-ignoring Captain in Starfleet history (the most being Chris Pine's Captain Kirk).
Captain Mackenzie Calhoun is a former planetary warlord who joined Starfleet after liberating his planet from oppressive alien rule. He's also spent the past six years on undercover assignments for Admiral Nechayev, doing the sorts of things Section 31 would do if it had been invented yet out-of-universe.
His crew is a similar collection of misfits including straight woman Shelby from "The Best of Both Worlds", Robin Lefler (Wesley's girlfriend played by Ashley Judd), a hermaphrodite alien engineer, one-off TNG character Selar, an exiled alien dictator, and the cast from Peter David's Starfleet Academy books. It's not the sort of cast which immediately excites you but the way they interact is delightful. Assuming, you know, you throw out all sense that Starfleet has any discipline whatsoever.
I suggest buying the Kindle collection of the first four four books but I own the paperback of the first volume as a collector's piece.
9/10
April 26, 2011
As a former die-hard Star Trek fan who still enjoys a good story, I picked up the first four books of Peter David's "New Frntier" Star Trek spin-off. I was curious to see what was new.
NOt much. Bascially, the story is Star Trek--a few different characters but no major differences from any of the other TREK series. Not bad--but very average.
Recommended for die hard Star Trek fans only.
NOt much. Bascially, the story is Star Trek--a few different characters but no major differences from any of the other TREK series. Not bad--but very average.
Recommended for die hard Star Trek fans only.
April 16, 2009
The majority of authors I have read who have dealt with a Star Trek novel have treated the characters and universe itself with some semblance of reverence.
"What the hell kind of person was capable of sounding erudite while losing blood out of his face by the pint?"
Peter David seems intent on breaking this trend, with his combination of amusing asides and in-character sarcasm.
"please leave me to my work. This is a scientifically curious situation, and it takes precedence over the famed Thallonian inhospitableness."
David seems to be well on the road to starting his own mini trek series, though. He's taken some fringe characters from television (such as Selar and Elizabeth Shelby) and seems to be setting them on a path to innumerable adventures. Having added characters of his own into the mix (Mackenzie Calhoun, Si Cwan, Soleta, etc), and with judicious use of cannon characters (although in unexpected positions sometimes) such as Edward Jellico, Alynna Nechayev and Spock, all seems ready for Calhoun to take the Captain's seat of this vessel with one of the most eclectic crews in starfleet.
Not having any eyesight, I've been unable to keep up with comic books over the years. I know, of course, that Peter David wrote comics - his flamboyant style and quick wit makes him quite good at it, I imagine. still, this is a very short novel and I can see why the first four were combined into an omnibus volume.
Short doesn't mean less, though - well it does, but there's plenty more in the series. I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it and will pick up the second one forthwith.
"What the hell kind of person was capable of sounding erudite while losing blood out of his face by the pint?"
Peter David seems intent on breaking this trend, with his combination of amusing asides and in-character sarcasm.
"please leave me to my work. This is a scientifically curious situation, and it takes precedence over the famed Thallonian inhospitableness."
David seems to be well on the road to starting his own mini trek series, though. He's taken some fringe characters from television (such as Selar and Elizabeth Shelby) and seems to be setting them on a path to innumerable adventures. Having added characters of his own into the mix (Mackenzie Calhoun, Si Cwan, Soleta, etc), and with judicious use of cannon characters (although in unexpected positions sometimes) such as Edward Jellico, Alynna Nechayev and Spock, all seems ready for Calhoun to take the Captain's seat of this vessel with one of the most eclectic crews in starfleet.
Not having any eyesight, I've been unable to keep up with comic books over the years. I know, of course, that Peter David wrote comics - his flamboyant style and quick wit makes him quite good at it, I imagine. still, this is a very short novel and I can see why the first four were combined into an omnibus volume.
Short doesn't mean less, though - well it does, but there's plenty more in the series. I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it and will pick up the second one forthwith.
August 18, 2009
It’s amazing how the content of the story can make such a difference. A few years ago, I picked up Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David and did not like it at all. Apparently the story just did not appeal to my personal tastes because it certainly wasn’t the author. On recommendation of other Goodreads member I picked up Peter David’s Star Trek: New Frontier series and absolutely loved it! Story was fun, style was sharp and true to Trek universe, and there was a pleasantly surprising amount of humor intertwined with the passionate characters. A very fun read. I’ll certainly continue with this series and highly recommend it to any Trekkie.
January 11, 2022
Good writing and story, but the e-book version I had was missing some lines on a few pages. Next time, I'll just find a print version.
May 13, 2017
This is an interesting 'origin story' type of book for several of the crewmembers of the Star Trek spaceship. Little short stories about several, including the captain, science officer. Plus part of the story takes place on 'The Next Generation' version of the Enterprise, oh and Spock is around.
On the other hand - while there were some interesting stories here . . . there really wasn't much of a coherent whole novel here. Though I understand that this is a series and that this book here was 'setting up' everything else. At least I hope that was the reason for the somewhat less than coherent novel situation.
I've actually had the hardcopy version of the first four books since something like the late 1990s but never got around to trying the books. And no, I didn't get the first and read it - I'm actually reading that big huge 4 book hardback. Not sure I'll read all the books in there (since it is a physical copy book and it's harder for me to read those now), so I put my review here instead of on the 4 book copy I actually own.
May 13 2017
On the other hand - while there were some interesting stories here . . . there really wasn't much of a coherent whole novel here. Though I understand that this is a series and that this book here was 'setting up' everything else. At least I hope that was the reason for the somewhat less than coherent novel situation.
I've actually had the hardcopy version of the first four books since something like the late 1990s but never got around to trying the books. And no, I didn't get the first and read it - I'm actually reading that big huge 4 book hardback. Not sure I'll read all the books in there (since it is a physical copy book and it's harder for me to read those now), so I put my review here instead of on the 4 book copy I actually own.
May 13 2017
February 26, 2016
Of all the Star Trek series I have read, this was the most odd beginning to a series. The first 50 or so pages was about Calhoun's young life. Then the middle 50 or so focused on other characters, and barely mentioned Calhoun at all. The last chunk of pages, brought him back, but only at the last five or so pages, and then you find out that this isn't even a self contained novel, the story continues. I really like Calhoun as a character, so I was disappointed as his lack of appearance (in a series about him!). I really don't know how I feel about this book, I don't hate it, but I certainly did not love it. I might try the next book.
December 1, 2025
Star Trek: New Frontier 01 House of Cards by Peter David
3.5 Stars
challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense
Medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
This is a good start to a series. It took me a bit to find this book, especially since I could find a "standalone" digital version of House of Cards. For some reason it is ONLY available in paperback (used) and hardback (used). I then searched my files...and found that I had the digital version in an omnibus version with the first four novellas.
I read the first story, and now I am moving to my individual copies of the second novella called Into the Void by Peter David.
This novella had three POV characters, which is odd for a novella. They were M'k'nz'y of Calhoun (aka Mackenzie Calhoun),
Soleta (half Vulcan and half Romulan scientist) and Selar (a Vulcan...with a situation). Also, these narratives were at different timelines.
If this was a standalone story, I wouldn't have liked it, but since it is the beginning of the story...I'm here for it.
Okay, onto the next novella Star Trek: New Frontier 02 Into the Void by Peter David. Let's go!
3.5 Stars
challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense
Medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
This is a good start to a series. It took me a bit to find this book, especially since I could find a "standalone" digital version of House of Cards. For some reason it is ONLY available in paperback (used) and hardback (used). I then searched my files...and found that I had the digital version in an omnibus version with the first four novellas.
I read the first story, and now I am moving to my individual copies of the second novella called Into the Void by Peter David.
This novella had three POV characters, which is odd for a novella. They were M'k'nz'y of Calhoun (aka Mackenzie Calhoun),
Soleta (half Vulcan and half Romulan scientist) and Selar (a Vulcan...with a situation). Also, these narratives were at different timelines.
If this was a standalone story, I wouldn't have liked it, but since it is the beginning of the story...I'm here for it.
Okay, onto the next novella Star Trek: New Frontier 02 Into the Void by Peter David. Let's go!
December 4, 2024
A quick read, but well written, even if a rather sudden ending.
This is a character set-up for one Mackenzie Calhoun, who has a traumatic backstory and is a “rebel” “cowboy” Starfleet officer who dabbles in underhanded things. The UFP through Picard and Riker decide Calhoun is the guy they need for an unstable situation near his old turf. A rebel half Vulcan half Romulan Science Officer has her own adventures and is recruited into this. Spock makes an appearance being ambassadorial when he’s not being sneaky and “observing” not spying. Definitely not spying.
The worlds involved are somewhat vague, leaving the characters somewhat floating in a void. Xenex? No clue, but seems like a desert with low resources and bad weather. The kids go into The Pit badlands much like The Forge on Vulcan except they’re not supposed to. People have visions of their fate. Thallon? An empire of planets with a royal family and claims they keep order but they keep their subjects dependent. Surpise. They ride big animals and have ostentatious buildings.
Seems like a setup for a darker character version of the Kirk/Spock thing, but fun regardless.
Generous 3.5 bumped.
This is a character set-up for one Mackenzie Calhoun, who has a traumatic backstory and is a “rebel” “cowboy” Starfleet officer who dabbles in underhanded things. The UFP through Picard and Riker decide Calhoun is the guy they need for an unstable situation near his old turf. A rebel half Vulcan half Romulan Science Officer has her own adventures and is recruited into this. Spock makes an appearance being ambassadorial when he’s not being sneaky and “observing” not spying. Definitely not spying.
The worlds involved are somewhat vague, leaving the characters somewhat floating in a void. Xenex? No clue, but seems like a desert with low resources and bad weather. The kids go into The Pit badlands much like The Forge on Vulcan except they’re not supposed to. People have visions of their fate. Thallon? An empire of planets with a royal family and claims they keep order but they keep their subjects dependent. Surpise. They ride big animals and have ostentatious buildings.
Seems like a setup for a darker character version of the Kirk/Spock thing, but fun regardless.
Generous 3.5 bumped.
November 27, 2024
I was going to give this book 3 stars, but I liked the surprise cliffhanger in the end so I gave it an extra star. It turned some people off, but I thought it was a good way to get people to want to continue reading the series. It’s made me wanting to start book 2. I don’t think it was that great of an introductory book to a series, though. You had to wade through a lot of dragging dialogue, but for me it came together in the end good enough to make me like the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2019
This is the best Star Trek novel I've ever read. Which actually isn's saying too much. I think it's (maybe) the third ST novel I've read. Nonetheless, I'm totally loving it. Peter David has long been one of my favorite comics writers but this is the first time I've read his prose work. I'm going to have to read more David prose work.
June 4, 2025
Peter David recently passed away so I decided it was an appropriate time to re-read his New Frontier series. This first book does a great job of setting the stage. In grand Star Trek tradition, some of our favourite heroes are present to kick off a new mission, with new characters. David does a great job of leaving the reader excited for book two.
May 20, 2024
I wouldn’t call this a book in its own right, more of a part one to a longer book. It’s very much just setting up the plot rather than having any of its own, but I did enjoy it. I like Mackenzie as a character, and I’d like to read the next one to see where it goes.
There were a few craft issues which irritated me, like switching between viewpoints in the same paragraphs.
There were a few craft issues which irritated me, like switching between viewpoints in the same paragraphs.
February 21, 2023
Good start to the series, introducing a new Captain and ship, with a few nostalgic appearances thrown in for good measure - looking forward to continuing the series in the next one.
March 19, 2025
I used to own the first few books of this series but never really read them. I had to get some used copies off eBay and I enjoyed this first one. I like the interactions with already established characters and the way the book sets up a new crew and new characters to go along with it. I’m excited to get back into the series and see where the adventures take us into this new frontier.
February 24, 2022
This book was literally 100% setup.
May 3, 2026
[One of my long-term reading projects is the 134 titles in Simon & Schuster’s “Star Trek Relaunch” series that ran from 2001 to 2021, in which the publishing company was given permission from Paramount to create a persistent “canon” universe for the books, where events have permanent repercussions and characters die for good without ever coming back. I’m reading them in the order they were originally released; here’s a Google Doc of the entire run, including links to all the reviews I’ve so far written.]
2026 reads, #23-27. We’ve reached the point of the Star Trek “Relaunch” history where the book-only series “New Frontier” is finally getting enfolded into this persistent storyline (which, to be specific, happened in September 2003 with book #13, Gods Above); but since I wasn’t familiar yet with this particular series, its characters, or its milieu, I thought I’d start by reading the very first book in the series, which is a little tricky because it was actually first released not as one big 600-page book (which is how it’s now sold) but rather as four 150-page novellas over the course of summer 1997, almost exactly one year after Stephen King briefly made this serial publishing format popular again with the six-part original release of The Green Mile. That’s why you’re seeing me do multiple posts of this review not only at that compilation’s book page, but at the book pages of all four original novellas as well.
“New Frontier” represents a fascinating moment in the history of Trek supplemental media, in that it’s a sneak preview of what the larger “Relaunch” series would become as well; originally envisioned about halfway through the run of television’s Deep Space Nine, the first show in Trek’s history to be written in a serial style instead of as interchangeable standalone episodes, it originally came about because of a frustration we’ve talked about here several times, of how unsatisfying it is amongst not only certain audience members but also certain writers that supplemental “non-canon” books like these essentially aren’t allowed to change the Star Trek universe whatsoever, meaning that the universe they’re set in is frozen in amber and the only adventures authors are allowed to add to it are ones that supposedly happened one week when the TV cameras weren’t around, or in other words are treated as supplemental episodes to the original series in which the status quo of the TV version is perfect and intact both before the story begins and after it ends.
The pre-“Relaunch” staff at Simon & Schuster, especially franchise head John J. Ordover, were feeling hemmed in by this back in the ‘90s when DS9 showed a fascinating new way to tell Trek stories; so they asked Paramount for, and received, permission to create a brand-new Trek series that exists only as books, the very first Trek series in history to not start life as a TV show, which ended up lasting a total of 23 books that were unusually all written by a single author, the late Peter David (who was actually better known in the comics world, and was also a staff writer on the similar serialized sci-fi show Babylon 5). The two set up a really interesting milieu for the series to take place -- it’s set in a sector of the Milky Way Galaxy that for centuries was ruled by an all-powerful empire, one that has recently fallen apart because of a violent revolution by one of their former colony worlds, and Starfleet has decided to add a permanent presence in the sector because of the chaos and anarchy that has erupted in the face of the massive power vacuum, guaranteeing an unending amount of opportunities for crazy action-packed stories.
Even more smartly, the captain of the USS Excalibur that Starfleet assigns to the sector is none other than the man who first fomented and then led the rebellion in his early twenties, a Xenexian whose “Earthified” name (long story) is Mackenzie Calhoun, who became disillusioned after the rebellion as he saw his countrymen become the exact corrupt elite they had been fighting against, and who joined Starfleet in order to regain a sense of purpose in life again. At the start of the series, he’s actually been out of commission for a while, with it being heavily hinted that he’s actually been working “off the books” for the controversial CIA dirty-tricks wing of Starfleet first invented by the writers of DS9 (expressly against the wishes of franchise creator Gene Roddenberry), the nefarious Section 31; needless to say, neither his compatriots nor the shattered ex-empire of their former oppressors are happy to see him put in charge of Starfleet’s first-ever permanent presence in the region, which opens up a tremendous amount of opportunities for story conflict (of which we see plenty in just this first book).
David and Ordover then fill out the rest of the cast with an intriguing series of brand-new races -- there are the Brikar, for example, a sort of humanoid version of thick-skinned, hulking rhinos or elephants, and there are also the Hermat, which in trendy ‘90s fashion is an entire race of gender-fluid individuals, impressively progressive in a pre-Woke age even if David gets a few of the details wrong. (Instead of using the special pronoun “ze” that most non-binary people now do, for example, David uses the pronoun “s/he,” pronounced out loud as “suh-he,” which seems kind of silly if the whole point is to avoid saying the word “he;” he also makes the race name uncomfortably similar to the outdated medical term “hermaphrodite,” and he unfortunately also makes the race’s main defining trait as being horny all the time and wanting to have sex with everyone they meet, a bad stereotype about trans people back in these ‘90s years.)
On the other hand, one thing Paramount insisted on was that the series incorporate a number of existing Trek characters, because they were convinced that audiences wouldn’t want to read a bunch of Trek novels featuring characters they’ve never heard of (they were ultimately wrong -- the original run of these books were in fact hugely popular); so that’s how it is that the Excalibur’s first officer is none other than Elizabeth Shelby from the infamous Next Generation Borg episodes, and their chief operations officer is Next Generation minor character Roblin Lefler (most famous now for being played in the TV show by a pre-famous teenaged Ashley Judd), among other familiar faces.
Ultimately none of this is much different than the other Star Trek novels -- the DS9 “Relaunch” books, for example, feature half a dozen new characters themselves -- but there’s something about it all being brand-new that simply hits differently here, or at least it did with me. Like its original ‘90s fans, I found something really exciting about this being a brand-new milieu that could go in literally any direction, without being saddled by seven years of “Data would never act that way” or “Worf only owns a bat’leth, not a d’k tahg too” narrative baggage. Befitting the genre veteran he is, David does an excellent job with it all, turning in an introductory volume here that both has a lot of expository moving parts and is also a fast-paced and exciting adventure, and by the end of the 600 pages these people were as real and concrete in my head as any Trek character seen on television, extra impressive because of there being no visual element to the story in this case.
In fact, I liked this debut so much, I’ve made a major new decision about this “Relaunch” reading project I’m in the middle of, and have decided to just burn through the other eight “New Frontier” novels that exist between this first one and book #13’s Gods Above. After all, the whole point of this project is merely to be entertained by Trek stories again, in a period of history where no more Roddenberry-era shows are being made, and where the newest round of Trek shows (the Woke-heavy “NuTrek” era) leave me cold and disappointed; so if I’m being entertained by the “New Frontier” books (and to be clear, I was highly entertained by this debut), I think the world can handle me taking a detour for a while into the rest of this series’ titles, before they finally catch up with the main “Relaunch” storyline I’m currently now 21 books into. (Just 113 more to go!) So, for the rest of this year you’re going to see me outputting lots of “New Frontier” titles, which I will try to get to in a more timely basis; coming next month, for example, will be 1998’s Martyr, the crew’s first “regular” adventure after this extra-long title setting everything up. I hope you’ll have a chance to join me here again then.
2026 reads, #23-27. We’ve reached the point of the Star Trek “Relaunch” history where the book-only series “New Frontier” is finally getting enfolded into this persistent storyline (which, to be specific, happened in September 2003 with book #13, Gods Above); but since I wasn’t familiar yet with this particular series, its characters, or its milieu, I thought I’d start by reading the very first book in the series, which is a little tricky because it was actually first released not as one big 600-page book (which is how it’s now sold) but rather as four 150-page novellas over the course of summer 1997, almost exactly one year after Stephen King briefly made this serial publishing format popular again with the six-part original release of The Green Mile. That’s why you’re seeing me do multiple posts of this review not only at that compilation’s book page, but at the book pages of all four original novellas as well.
“New Frontier” represents a fascinating moment in the history of Trek supplemental media, in that it’s a sneak preview of what the larger “Relaunch” series would become as well; originally envisioned about halfway through the run of television’s Deep Space Nine, the first show in Trek’s history to be written in a serial style instead of as interchangeable standalone episodes, it originally came about because of a frustration we’ve talked about here several times, of how unsatisfying it is amongst not only certain audience members but also certain writers that supplemental “non-canon” books like these essentially aren’t allowed to change the Star Trek universe whatsoever, meaning that the universe they’re set in is frozen in amber and the only adventures authors are allowed to add to it are ones that supposedly happened one week when the TV cameras weren’t around, or in other words are treated as supplemental episodes to the original series in which the status quo of the TV version is perfect and intact both before the story begins and after it ends.
The pre-“Relaunch” staff at Simon & Schuster, especially franchise head John J. Ordover, were feeling hemmed in by this back in the ‘90s when DS9 showed a fascinating new way to tell Trek stories; so they asked Paramount for, and received, permission to create a brand-new Trek series that exists only as books, the very first Trek series in history to not start life as a TV show, which ended up lasting a total of 23 books that were unusually all written by a single author, the late Peter David (who was actually better known in the comics world, and was also a staff writer on the similar serialized sci-fi show Babylon 5). The two set up a really interesting milieu for the series to take place -- it’s set in a sector of the Milky Way Galaxy that for centuries was ruled by an all-powerful empire, one that has recently fallen apart because of a violent revolution by one of their former colony worlds, and Starfleet has decided to add a permanent presence in the sector because of the chaos and anarchy that has erupted in the face of the massive power vacuum, guaranteeing an unending amount of opportunities for crazy action-packed stories.
Even more smartly, the captain of the USS Excalibur that Starfleet assigns to the sector is none other than the man who first fomented and then led the rebellion in his early twenties, a Xenexian whose “Earthified” name (long story) is Mackenzie Calhoun, who became disillusioned after the rebellion as he saw his countrymen become the exact corrupt elite they had been fighting against, and who joined Starfleet in order to regain a sense of purpose in life again. At the start of the series, he’s actually been out of commission for a while, with it being heavily hinted that he’s actually been working “off the books” for the controversial CIA dirty-tricks wing of Starfleet first invented by the writers of DS9 (expressly against the wishes of franchise creator Gene Roddenberry), the nefarious Section 31; needless to say, neither his compatriots nor the shattered ex-empire of their former oppressors are happy to see him put in charge of Starfleet’s first-ever permanent presence in the region, which opens up a tremendous amount of opportunities for story conflict (of which we see plenty in just this first book).
David and Ordover then fill out the rest of the cast with an intriguing series of brand-new races -- there are the Brikar, for example, a sort of humanoid version of thick-skinned, hulking rhinos or elephants, and there are also the Hermat, which in trendy ‘90s fashion is an entire race of gender-fluid individuals, impressively progressive in a pre-Woke age even if David gets a few of the details wrong. (Instead of using the special pronoun “ze” that most non-binary people now do, for example, David uses the pronoun “s/he,” pronounced out loud as “suh-he,” which seems kind of silly if the whole point is to avoid saying the word “he;” he also makes the race name uncomfortably similar to the outdated medical term “hermaphrodite,” and he unfortunately also makes the race’s main defining trait as being horny all the time and wanting to have sex with everyone they meet, a bad stereotype about trans people back in these ‘90s years.)
On the other hand, one thing Paramount insisted on was that the series incorporate a number of existing Trek characters, because they were convinced that audiences wouldn’t want to read a bunch of Trek novels featuring characters they’ve never heard of (they were ultimately wrong -- the original run of these books were in fact hugely popular); so that’s how it is that the Excalibur’s first officer is none other than Elizabeth Shelby from the infamous Next Generation Borg episodes, and their chief operations officer is Next Generation minor character Roblin Lefler (most famous now for being played in the TV show by a pre-famous teenaged Ashley Judd), among other familiar faces.
Ultimately none of this is much different than the other Star Trek novels -- the DS9 “Relaunch” books, for example, feature half a dozen new characters themselves -- but there’s something about it all being brand-new that simply hits differently here, or at least it did with me. Like its original ‘90s fans, I found something really exciting about this being a brand-new milieu that could go in literally any direction, without being saddled by seven years of “Data would never act that way” or “Worf only owns a bat’leth, not a d’k tahg too” narrative baggage. Befitting the genre veteran he is, David does an excellent job with it all, turning in an introductory volume here that both has a lot of expository moving parts and is also a fast-paced and exciting adventure, and by the end of the 600 pages these people were as real and concrete in my head as any Trek character seen on television, extra impressive because of there being no visual element to the story in this case.
In fact, I liked this debut so much, I’ve made a major new decision about this “Relaunch” reading project I’m in the middle of, and have decided to just burn through the other eight “New Frontier” novels that exist between this first one and book #13’s Gods Above. After all, the whole point of this project is merely to be entertained by Trek stories again, in a period of history where no more Roddenberry-era shows are being made, and where the newest round of Trek shows (the Woke-heavy “NuTrek” era) leave me cold and disappointed; so if I’m being entertained by the “New Frontier” books (and to be clear, I was highly entertained by this debut), I think the world can handle me taking a detour for a while into the rest of this series’ titles, before they finally catch up with the main “Relaunch” storyline I’m currently now 21 books into. (Just 113 more to go!) So, for the rest of this year you’re going to see me outputting lots of “New Frontier” titles, which I will try to get to in a more timely basis; coming next month, for example, will be 1998’s Martyr, the crew’s first “regular” adventure after this extra-long title setting everything up. I hope you’ll have a chance to join me here again then.
January 1, 2020
Title: House of Cards
Author: Peter David
Series: New Frontier, book one
Copyright Date: 1997
Number of pages: 168
This novel is the first in a new series concept developed by senior editor John J. Ordover and author Peter David called the New Frontier. It takes place in Sector 221-G, an area of space controlled for all of Federation history by a militaristic race called the Thallonians, of which little is known when this series starts. The Thallonians ruled the other races in their sector with a vicious iron hand, but suddenly the Thallonian Empire crashed leaving the entire area in a state of chaos. Into this politically volatile situation a Federation starship, the U.S.S. Excalibur, is sent to help where it can and report what it finds.
Excalibur's captain is a new character named Mackenzie Calhoun. The first book in the series tells the story of Mackenzie, where he comes from, how he came to command the Excalibur and be assigned this mission. I enjoyed the novel a great deal, enough even to rate it five stars. It is a short novel, in which more than ten pages are blank or just part headings. This shortness is not a drawback. David tells the story at a good pace without any boring dawdles. The part and chapter headings by being so stark clearly signal when each section takes place and provides a clean break from the other book sections.
The novel spans twenty years. The first fifty-one pages takes place twenty years ago and gives us Mackenzie's origin. The Next Generation cast is brought in towards the end of this first section in dramatic fashion. I loved it! The next section takes place ten years ago and is about Soleta, a new female Vulcan character who becomes the Excalibur's science officer. The thirty page section also features Spock. I liked this section too, especially the way Spock entered into it. The third section is set two years ago and is short, just 13 pages, and introduces a third new character, a Vulcan doctor, female, named Selar. This novel does not make it clear yet, but presumably she is to become the Excalibur's doctor. The fourth and final 69-page section takes place in the present and is about how the mission for Sector 221-G arises and why Mackenzie and Soleta were assigned it.
The three new characters David introduces are intriguing, and I love how unerringly perfectly he portrays the entire Next Generation cast (minus Worf, who makes no appearance) perfectly in character. His portrayal of Spock is a little less convincing for me. Spock would have to be quite aged by this time and David describes some rather superhuman physical prowess, especially speed, that Spock never evinced on television even when in his prime. David only here gives away the fact that he is primarily a superhero comic book writer. But this is a nitpick.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at just how engaging this plot was, the author's ability to move things along, the new characters he has introduced, and the fascinating premise for the entire series. Star fleet captains are so upright and Star Fleety. It's nice to get one who has his own rules and agenda. The novel ends on a cliffhanger that made me go straight to my computer and order the second in the series, also by Peter David. I can't wait for its arrival!
Author: Peter David
Series: New Frontier, book one
Copyright Date: 1997
Number of pages: 168
This novel is the first in a new series concept developed by senior editor John J. Ordover and author Peter David called the New Frontier. It takes place in Sector 221-G, an area of space controlled for all of Federation history by a militaristic race called the Thallonians, of which little is known when this series starts. The Thallonians ruled the other races in their sector with a vicious iron hand, but suddenly the Thallonian Empire crashed leaving the entire area in a state of chaos. Into this politically volatile situation a Federation starship, the U.S.S. Excalibur, is sent to help where it can and report what it finds.
Excalibur's captain is a new character named Mackenzie Calhoun. The first book in the series tells the story of Mackenzie, where he comes from, how he came to command the Excalibur and be assigned this mission. I enjoyed the novel a great deal, enough even to rate it five stars. It is a short novel, in which more than ten pages are blank or just part headings. This shortness is not a drawback. David tells the story at a good pace without any boring dawdles. The part and chapter headings by being so stark clearly signal when each section takes place and provides a clean break from the other book sections.
The novel spans twenty years. The first fifty-one pages takes place twenty years ago and gives us Mackenzie's origin. The Next Generation cast is brought in towards the end of this first section in dramatic fashion. I loved it! The next section takes place ten years ago and is about Soleta, a new female Vulcan character who becomes the Excalibur's science officer. The thirty page section also features Spock. I liked this section too, especially the way Spock entered into it. The third section is set two years ago and is short, just 13 pages, and introduces a third new character, a Vulcan doctor, female, named Selar. This novel does not make it clear yet, but presumably she is to become the Excalibur's doctor. The fourth and final 69-page section takes place in the present and is about how the mission for Sector 221-G arises and why Mackenzie and Soleta were assigned it.
The three new characters David introduces are intriguing, and I love how unerringly perfectly he portrays the entire Next Generation cast (minus Worf, who makes no appearance) perfectly in character. His portrayal of Spock is a little less convincing for me. Spock would have to be quite aged by this time and David describes some rather superhuman physical prowess, especially speed, that Spock never evinced on television even when in his prime. David only here gives away the fact that he is primarily a superhero comic book writer. But this is a nitpick.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at just how engaging this plot was, the author's ability to move things along, the new characters he has introduced, and the fascinating premise for the entire series. Star fleet captains are so upright and Star Fleety. It's nice to get one who has his own rules and agenda. The novel ends on a cliffhanger that made me go straight to my computer and order the second in the series, also by Peter David. I can't wait for its arrival!
January 11, 2008
Wow. I'd heard that Mackenzie Calhoun was the definition of a Marty Stu, but I thought the people who told me that had to be exaggerating. They weren't--he even has the purple eyes! In spite of that, though, an enjoyable enough read--most of the supporting cast, at least that I've met so far, more than makes up for the, er, overaccomplished captain. *g* I was just annoyed to find out that the first few books all end on a cliffhanger!
July 19, 2016
This book is astonishing, in that it is all backstory with no plot until the very final chapter. Characters are as one-dimensional as it is possible to get - most jarringly Jellico is changed from a competent captain with a very different style to Picard, to a blistering idiot who all the other characters take pleasure in annoying.
For the first 'proper' Star Trek EU novel, some very strange choices were made, and the whole thing falls completely flat.
For the first 'proper' Star Trek EU novel, some very strange choices were made, and the whole thing falls completely flat.
October 11, 2014
I eat this stuff like cotton candy. Should I be embarrassed by low brow fiction? Well, heck, I enjoy it. A guilty pleasure. This series started in 1997, and is a new captain, built off the TV shows. Next Generation and the first series characters are present. It's new built on the old. I ordered the next one.
August 2, 2017
There is a lot more sex in this book than I am used reading, especially in a "Star Trek" book. Additionally, the cliff hanger ending was very frustrating as the book really only makes up an Act I, if not a Prologue.
November 24, 2016
Well-written, fast-paced and ends too soon (it is meant as a bit of serial fiction, so...)
November 3, 2021
Star Trek New Frontier Boldly Goes!!!!
Back in the 1997, the Star Trek books editors wanted to try something different.
They were tired of how the books couldn’t really change the characters, they were just allowed to tell what they considered routine adventures. Some fans, like me, were fine with that, but other fans, like me, wanted epic scale and massive changes all the time.
So the concept of Star Trek New Frontier was born, with editor John J. Ordover and writer Peter David being the proud parents.
New Frontier takes place in the time of Next Generation in the movies era after First Contact. The expansive dictatorial and secretive Thallonian Empire has collapsed and chaos seems to be thriving inside this far flung area. The Federation wants to help, but is not sure how to, so a decision is made to send a single Starship in to render aid and assess the situation internally. It is risky, but as one Captain stated, risk is our business.
Soon a ship, Captain and crew are picked and head out, and immediately run into issues galore in the once powerful Empire, subjects that tax their moral dilemmas. They also face numerous personal issues, that tax themselves and their relationships. This is just the sort of drama Peter David excels at, making this book series a perfect fit for him.
David populates the Excalibur with his own creation, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, a strong willed man who led a revolution as a teen on his planet and then was recruited into Starfleet by Captain Picard and his First Officer Jack Crusher. He becomes a Captain, faces trouble, does some dirty work for the Federation, and is now back in charge. Part of me thinks this was originally supposed to be Commander Quentin Stone from David’s A Rock And A Hard Place Next Gen novel.
The rest of the crew is a mix of characters David created in his excellent Starfleet Academy trilogy of Young Readers novels starring Cadet Worf. This includes Security Chief toughie Zak Kebron, Vulcan Science Officer Soleta, and odd genius Navigator Mark McHenry. Others are minor recurring characters from various Next Gen episodes, like Commander Shelby from the famous Best Of Both Worlds cliffhanger, the Vulcan Dr Selar, and Robin Lefler who quotes her own unique set of life rules. Completely new are Engineer Burgoyne 172, who is from a race of she/he beings who are unafraid to explore their sexuality, which leads to David really getting into gender issues and language amongst other topics, and also new is Prince Si Cwan from the former Empire. He knew it was troubled and tried to reform it but to no avail, so now he serves as “Ambassador” and guide while he searches for his sister.
With this cast, David explores a zillion subplots, including the previous romantic relationship between Calhoun and Shelby, the purely sexual dating of McHenry and Burgoyne 172, Dr Selar having PTSD because her husband died during wedding night Pon Farr, Dr Selar’s hormones sending signals to Burgoyne 172, and Soleta dealing with a shocking family secret. As you can tell, David does not shy away from tackling controversial stories, and with the premise of New Frontier being that things can evolve, you can tell things are going to move forward in very fascinating ways. Which, by the way, they do. New Frontier goes on with twenty something books, and I know that characters get married and have children and leave the ship, and alot of not so nice things happen as well.
The setup for New Frontier is spread over four slim paperbacks, which I think were originally designed to be a hardcover. The scope of the story is big enough, and the richness of the crew personalities, do warrant this. And besides Picard and Crusher, we also get cameos from Riker, now Admiral Jellico who is still an ass, and the awesome Ambassador Spock! At one point, a certain Engineer from Kirk’s Enterprise is maybe possibly mentioned. Was he supposed to be a part of this as well?
David is creating a great tapestry in New Frontier, one worthy of a modern day streaming service and would be definitely be an award-winning hit. That would be awesome.
Scoopriches
Back in the 1997, the Star Trek books editors wanted to try something different.
They were tired of how the books couldn’t really change the characters, they were just allowed to tell what they considered routine adventures. Some fans, like me, were fine with that, but other fans, like me, wanted epic scale and massive changes all the time.
So the concept of Star Trek New Frontier was born, with editor John J. Ordover and writer Peter David being the proud parents.
New Frontier takes place in the time of Next Generation in the movies era after First Contact. The expansive dictatorial and secretive Thallonian Empire has collapsed and chaos seems to be thriving inside this far flung area. The Federation wants to help, but is not sure how to, so a decision is made to send a single Starship in to render aid and assess the situation internally. It is risky, but as one Captain stated, risk is our business.
Soon a ship, Captain and crew are picked and head out, and immediately run into issues galore in the once powerful Empire, subjects that tax their moral dilemmas. They also face numerous personal issues, that tax themselves and their relationships. This is just the sort of drama Peter David excels at, making this book series a perfect fit for him.
David populates the Excalibur with his own creation, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, a strong willed man who led a revolution as a teen on his planet and then was recruited into Starfleet by Captain Picard and his First Officer Jack Crusher. He becomes a Captain, faces trouble, does some dirty work for the Federation, and is now back in charge. Part of me thinks this was originally supposed to be Commander Quentin Stone from David’s A Rock And A Hard Place Next Gen novel.
The rest of the crew is a mix of characters David created in his excellent Starfleet Academy trilogy of Young Readers novels starring Cadet Worf. This includes Security Chief toughie Zak Kebron, Vulcan Science Officer Soleta, and odd genius Navigator Mark McHenry. Others are minor recurring characters from various Next Gen episodes, like Commander Shelby from the famous Best Of Both Worlds cliffhanger, the Vulcan Dr Selar, and Robin Lefler who quotes her own unique set of life rules. Completely new are Engineer Burgoyne 172, who is from a race of she/he beings who are unafraid to explore their sexuality, which leads to David really getting into gender issues and language amongst other topics, and also new is Prince Si Cwan from the former Empire. He knew it was troubled and tried to reform it but to no avail, so now he serves as “Ambassador” and guide while he searches for his sister.
With this cast, David explores a zillion subplots, including the previous romantic relationship between Calhoun and Shelby, the purely sexual dating of McHenry and Burgoyne 172, Dr Selar having PTSD because her husband died during wedding night Pon Farr, Dr Selar’s hormones sending signals to Burgoyne 172, and Soleta dealing with a shocking family secret. As you can tell, David does not shy away from tackling controversial stories, and with the premise of New Frontier being that things can evolve, you can tell things are going to move forward in very fascinating ways. Which, by the way, they do. New Frontier goes on with twenty something books, and I know that characters get married and have children and leave the ship, and alot of not so nice things happen as well.
The setup for New Frontier is spread over four slim paperbacks, which I think were originally designed to be a hardcover. The scope of the story is big enough, and the richness of the crew personalities, do warrant this. And besides Picard and Crusher, we also get cameos from Riker, now Admiral Jellico who is still an ass, and the awesome Ambassador Spock! At one point, a certain Engineer from Kirk’s Enterprise is maybe possibly mentioned. Was he supposed to be a part of this as well?
David is creating a great tapestry in New Frontier, one worthy of a modern day streaming service and would be definitely be an award-winning hit. That would be awesome.
Scoopriches
February 12, 2019
The first in the New Frontier sub-series in the Star Trek universe, and it's clearly a set-up novel. Nearly the entire first half of the book is taken up introducing three new characters, giving them all separate origin stories. The second half is all plot set-up. Spock is shoe-horned in, I assume for the sake of ratings, while Picard and other Enterprise characters decide that, for humanitarian purposes, a starship needs to be sent into a war-torn region of space. Together, they need to find a captain to take on this likely disaster. Now, credit where it's due, I thoroughly enjoyed the TNG characters in this, and I think the mission itself has the potential to be interesting, although it hasn't started yet. Presumably that's what book #2 is for.
What's causing this to get a two star rating is the new characters. Of those three, I'm afraid I'm only interested in Dr. Selar. The other two just make me want to roll my eyes. Soleta is deeply annoying just on the face of her. I rather suspect I'm supposed to see her as spunky, whereas she really just comes across as rude. But the bigger problem is the chosen captain. Mackenzie Calhoun, once we get rid of all those bloody apostrophes... boy rebel genius turned adult rebel genius, apparently, albeit this constant state of rebellion is against two different institutions. Well. Like most people I have a streak of perversity, and you can only tell me so many times just how edgily fantabulous some character is before I start thinking bollocks to that. Picard's constant slavish praise does not help. I get that it's authorial manipulation: You trust Picard, and Picard says Calhoun is the best thing ever, therefore you'll think Calhoun is the best thing ever. Well I don't. I'm quite prepared to be manipulated for the sake of story, but this is just too damn blatant. Maybe it'll improve. I hope so, because right now it's all subtle as a sledgehammer, and about as realistic.
And, finally, if any Trek author feels the need to write about Orion slave girls ever again, they should put down the keyboard and go have a nice lie-down until the upper brain reasserts itself, because there is only so much eye-rolling one girl can reasonably be expected to perform in a single sitting. That is all.
What's causing this to get a two star rating is the new characters. Of those three, I'm afraid I'm only interested in Dr. Selar. The other two just make me want to roll my eyes. Soleta is deeply annoying just on the face of her. I rather suspect I'm supposed to see her as spunky, whereas she really just comes across as rude. But the bigger problem is the chosen captain. Mackenzie Calhoun, once we get rid of all those bloody apostrophes... boy rebel genius turned adult rebel genius, apparently, albeit this constant state of rebellion is against two different institutions. Well. Like most people I have a streak of perversity, and you can only tell me so many times just how edgily fantabulous some character is before I start thinking bollocks to that. Picard's constant slavish praise does not help. I get that it's authorial manipulation: You trust Picard, and Picard says Calhoun is the best thing ever, therefore you'll think Calhoun is the best thing ever. Well I don't. I'm quite prepared to be manipulated for the sake of story, but this is just too damn blatant. Maybe it'll improve. I hope so, because right now it's all subtle as a sledgehammer, and about as realistic.
And, finally, if any Trek author feels the need to write about Orion slave girls ever again, they should put down the keyboard and go have a nice lie-down until the upper brain reasserts itself, because there is only so much eye-rolling one girl can reasonably be expected to perform in a single sitting. That is all.
April 30, 2026
We need to get back into the wayback machine to talk about these books and why I wanted to re-read them. I didn't live through the golden age of science fiction, but I did experience the golden age of Star Trek fiction. On TV, we can look back at the 90s as a great era of ST, but in print, it was truly under the editorship of John J Ordover. I am a fan of John, whom I interviewed a couple of times on podcasts, and, best of all, he showed up in his robe to do a panel about Picard Season 3 -> Watch it here...
Under his editorship, Star Trek hardcovers were often bestsellers, and organized as tie-ins for the TV shows, several as big events during the year. At the same time, Pocket Books was releasing two paperbacks a month based on various shows in the franchise, and sometimes series like Day of Honor, which featured a story set in each show (TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY) on the Klingon holiday. Voyager even did a Tie-in episode.
I was one of the Trek fans who bought the new paperbacks each month, sometimes skipping authors or concepts that I didn’t like, but those were rare. LA Graf was the pen name for two authors whose Trek novels I found dense, for example. Still, I might as well have had a subscription. I set aside money for the books. I went to the Borders at the Carousel Center in Syracuse every month to pick up the new books; they were my bus and break at work reads, as at home I was reading for school and activism.
The one problem these books had was that the stakes for the main characters couldn't be threatened outside the show's canon. So often ST novels like Diane Careyś Dreadnought worked because it created original characters that were engaging. One of the smartest moves an editor (at the time)John J.Ordover did was to put the year's titles inside the cover of the paperbacks. You saw all the titles for the year, it would build anticipation, and give a collect them all feeling.
In 1997, I was excited for months about a new title, Star Trek New Frontiers. What was that? Basically a Star Trek show, built in books instead of TV. Ordover got Paramount to okay this idea, but they wanted a few characters from TNG, assuming that readers needed an anchor. Smartly, the first book brought in Spock and the Enterprise-D itself. Picard in many ways, chooses our new Captain for the mission.
ST had a deep bench at the time of the authors, including Greg Cox, who is the only still active Trek author from that era. Peter David was a great choice; he got his start writing comics, but by this point, he had many, many Star Trek novels. He was one of the most popular who was very smart at typing TOS and TNG together. Peter David was the first to suggest (in Qpid) that Trelane from the Squire of Gothos was a Q (made canon by Strange New Worlds), and in the novel Vendetta, played with the notion that Spinrad’s Doomsday Machine was built as a weapon to fight the Borg.
Peter David played with the canon, was a great storyteller, and a solid writer, so he was perfect to create his own series. The first novel was serialized (like Stephen King’s The Green Mile) over two months. June and July of 1997. While serious Trek fans were digging DS9’s growth into the final seasons, getting used to Voyager, and enjoying the TNG movies, we got a new series.
Spock and Picard assigning this mission to the Captain was a similar hand-off we got in the TV series, and a smart way to bridge the gap. New Frontier was the story of a volatile region of space left in chaos as an empire falls. Starfleet is worried about this region that borders Federation space.
They want to send a ship, but who will command. Riker and Lt. Commander Shelby renewed their rivalry from the classic TNG episode Best of Both Worlds, but Picard thinks it should be a local. Mackenzie Cahloun (a humanized name he took), on the surface, is a disgraced officer, but has been acting as a spy. The rough around the edges captain grew up a revolutionary on his home world, but Starfleet only smoothed some of his edges.
Shelby was a character who was in two very important episodes of TNG. We get a crew member, Robin Lefler (who was in two episodes played by a pre-stardom Ashley Judd), but mostly a new crew. This makes the stakes higher off the bat. We learn that Shelby (who is the first officer) on the new ship is the Excalibur. The crew and the setting is perfect for expanding the ST universe.
I wanted to re-read this one because I was thinking about what a cool thing was to have a ST series that was originally created for prose. This is something I would like to see the franchise do again, maybe with a writers' room (SW High Republic style). I mean, give me a call S and S.
ST: NF holds up nicely, with excellent characters and settings. The serial style made each book fly by and feel like an episode. Each of the four holds up and feels like the Berman era, I mean that as a compliment (although I am a fan of most of Kurtzman era Trek)
I will have to slowly make my way through the ST NF books, which I didn’t keep up with. I admit I burned out on ST novels a bit at the end of the 90s. Thanks to excellent new novels by Greg Cox, Dayton Ward, and David Mack, I am back. I really enjoyed revisiting this classic.
Under his editorship, Star Trek hardcovers were often bestsellers, and organized as tie-ins for the TV shows, several as big events during the year. At the same time, Pocket Books was releasing two paperbacks a month based on various shows in the franchise, and sometimes series like Day of Honor, which featured a story set in each show (TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY) on the Klingon holiday. Voyager even did a Tie-in episode.
I was one of the Trek fans who bought the new paperbacks each month, sometimes skipping authors or concepts that I didn’t like, but those were rare. LA Graf was the pen name for two authors whose Trek novels I found dense, for example. Still, I might as well have had a subscription. I set aside money for the books. I went to the Borders at the Carousel Center in Syracuse every month to pick up the new books; they were my bus and break at work reads, as at home I was reading for school and activism.
The one problem these books had was that the stakes for the main characters couldn't be threatened outside the show's canon. So often ST novels like Diane Careyś Dreadnought worked because it created original characters that were engaging. One of the smartest moves an editor (at the time)John J.Ordover did was to put the year's titles inside the cover of the paperbacks. You saw all the titles for the year, it would build anticipation, and give a collect them all feeling.
In 1997, I was excited for months about a new title, Star Trek New Frontiers. What was that? Basically a Star Trek show, built in books instead of TV. Ordover got Paramount to okay this idea, but they wanted a few characters from TNG, assuming that readers needed an anchor. Smartly, the first book brought in Spock and the Enterprise-D itself. Picard in many ways, chooses our new Captain for the mission.
ST had a deep bench at the time of the authors, including Greg Cox, who is the only still active Trek author from that era. Peter David was a great choice; he got his start writing comics, but by this point, he had many, many Star Trek novels. He was one of the most popular who was very smart at typing TOS and TNG together. Peter David was the first to suggest (in Qpid) that Trelane from the Squire of Gothos was a Q (made canon by Strange New Worlds), and in the novel Vendetta, played with the notion that Spinrad’s Doomsday Machine was built as a weapon to fight the Borg.
Peter David played with the canon, was a great storyteller, and a solid writer, so he was perfect to create his own series. The first novel was serialized (like Stephen King’s The Green Mile) over two months. June and July of 1997. While serious Trek fans were digging DS9’s growth into the final seasons, getting used to Voyager, and enjoying the TNG movies, we got a new series.
Spock and Picard assigning this mission to the Captain was a similar hand-off we got in the TV series, and a smart way to bridge the gap. New Frontier was the story of a volatile region of space left in chaos as an empire falls. Starfleet is worried about this region that borders Federation space.
They want to send a ship, but who will command. Riker and Lt. Commander Shelby renewed their rivalry from the classic TNG episode Best of Both Worlds, but Picard thinks it should be a local. Mackenzie Cahloun (a humanized name he took), on the surface, is a disgraced officer, but has been acting as a spy. The rough around the edges captain grew up a revolutionary on his home world, but Starfleet only smoothed some of his edges.
Shelby was a character who was in two very important episodes of TNG. We get a crew member, Robin Lefler (who was in two episodes played by a pre-stardom Ashley Judd), but mostly a new crew. This makes the stakes higher off the bat. We learn that Shelby (who is the first officer) on the new ship is the Excalibur. The crew and the setting is perfect for expanding the ST universe.
I wanted to re-read this one because I was thinking about what a cool thing was to have a ST series that was originally created for prose. This is something I would like to see the franchise do again, maybe with a writers' room (SW High Republic style). I mean, give me a call S and S.
ST: NF holds up nicely, with excellent characters and settings. The serial style made each book fly by and feel like an episode. Each of the four holds up and feels like the Berman era, I mean that as a compliment (although I am a fan of most of Kurtzman era Trek)
I will have to slowly make my way through the ST NF books, which I didn’t keep up with. I admit I burned out on ST novels a bit at the end of the 90s. Thanks to excellent new novels by Greg Cox, Dayton Ward, and David Mack, I am back. I really enjoyed revisiting this classic.
October 31, 2023
“Star Trek, New Frontier (Book One)” by Peter David (1997) First Edition PB
Overall Rating 6/10 – Phasers didn’t make stun
Plot
The Federation are called in to mediate a failed sector where a Royal House has been deposed and a neighbouring race appear to be helping insurgents. The best person for the job is already elsewhere deep undercover …
Writing Style
Naive and unclipped. Many instances of duplicate words used far too often. Some irritating instances of the use of the word “for” (as in “For he was too strong”, “For there were too many of them” etc.). That aside, it was an easy read and easy to follow the film unfold in your mind’s eye.
Point of View/Voice
Written in the 3rd Person / Past Tense (standard convention)
Critique
So much to say. On the positive side, the author has exactly portrayed the existing Star Trek characters and their quirks. Damn fine work actually. It was also nice to see that a “new” episode of Star Trek has been found (the novel) because it slots into the brain as though you have just watched it on TV. Nice Job.
On the less positive side, the entire first half of the book was given to backstory and was totally unnecessary. I very nearly put it down because it was droning on for too long with what I believed to be unnecessary material. This proved correct later.
The whole plot seemed to be a prelude of everything to come. A sort of “starter” before the main meal – perhaps even just an aperitif. It was quite a lot to digest just to make your way onwards. For me, the use of the word “for” (as above in writing style) is hugely irritating. It is both unnecessary and bestows fake accreditation in the writing. It doesn’t manifest much but when it does it’s like a punch in the gut to me. I guess if I wasn’t such an avid fan of Star Trek, I probably wouldn’t have read past the first few pages. But, because I am, I already have all the other books in this series and I will get around to reading them in between other “proper” books I enjoy.
December 19, 2020
Taking away a star because of two things: first, most of the book is setup for the main characters with only a few scenes involving the main plot. Second, the damn thing ends on a cliffhanger! Agh!
The rest of the stars - holy cannoli, this is a book worthy of the Star Trek name. Interesting aliens, an interesting collision with the Prime Directive, well-written TV show characters - to the point that I could hear the dialogue in the actor's voices! - and finally the hints of a fascinating plot that I want more of.
A summary, by the characters: First, Mac, our handsome captain on the cover. The book opens with a flashback about his youth as a rebel. He's an alien on a planet that's been conquered by other aliens, and he's going to get them off via guerilla warfare and rebellion. The book covers this in short order, then explains how he goes from that to becoming a captain.
Second, a dual-intro to the main plot and our heroine(?) - Soleta, a Vulcan. We find her being sneaky on an alien planet trying to learn about their culture despite their xenophobia, and things go wrong. This alien planet becomes vitally important later on, even after she's left it, so pay attention!
Third, another Vulcan named Selar: she has the smallest focus in the book, but easily the most emotional. She's a medical officer from the Enterprise, and, well, you'll see.
It all links together in the second half of the book as the Enterprise arrives at Deep Space Five, and we get to see some delightful scenes involving Picard and crew - and Spock! - as they set up the main plot for the rest of the series.
At this point you're either interested or you aren't - this is Star Trek at its TV-show best, with lots of aliens and tricky moral dilemmas and fun characters. If you don't like Star Trek, away with you!
It's also short, roughly 150~ pages so I can't speak for the quality of the rest of the series yet... but if it's anything like this, I'm excited.
The rest of the stars - holy cannoli, this is a book worthy of the Star Trek name. Interesting aliens, an interesting collision with the Prime Directive, well-written TV show characters - to the point that I could hear the dialogue in the actor's voices! - and finally the hints of a fascinating plot that I want more of.
A summary, by the characters: First, Mac, our handsome captain on the cover. The book opens with a flashback about his youth as a rebel. He's an alien on a planet that's been conquered by other aliens, and he's going to get them off via guerilla warfare and rebellion. The book covers this in short order, then explains how he goes from that to becoming a captain.
Second, a dual-intro to the main plot and our heroine(?) - Soleta, a Vulcan. We find her being sneaky on an alien planet trying to learn about their culture despite their xenophobia, and things go wrong. This alien planet becomes vitally important later on, even after she's left it, so pay attention!
Third, another Vulcan named Selar: she has the smallest focus in the book, but easily the most emotional. She's a medical officer from the Enterprise, and, well, you'll see.
It all links together in the second half of the book as the Enterprise arrives at Deep Space Five, and we get to see some delightful scenes involving Picard and crew - and Spock! - as they set up the main plot for the rest of the series.
At this point you're either interested or you aren't - this is Star Trek at its TV-show best, with lots of aliens and tricky moral dilemmas and fun characters. If you don't like Star Trek, away with you!
It's also short, roughly 150~ pages so I can't speak for the quality of the rest of the series yet... but if it's anything like this, I'm excited.
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