DeCandido's knowledge of Klingon culture is second to none, and his Klingon chronicles continue in his wildly popular Star Trek: IKS Gorkon series.

"Well of Souls" from Trek-newcomer Ilsa K. Bick looks at little known Enterprise-C Captain Rachel Garrett and details a struggle with organized crime rival organizations, the Asfar Qatala and the Orion Syndicate. A secondary story with Garrett's estranged family forces her into some heart-wrenching decisions as well.

Bick's tale leaves you wanting more about Garrett and her "legendary" journeys before her ill-fated mission to Khitomer, chronicled in the highly-regarded TNG teleplay, "Yesterday's Enterprise."

Jeff Mariotte's "Deny Thy Father" looks closer at the rift between then-Starfleet Cadet William Riker and his father, Kyle. The elder Riker is revealed to be as complex a man as his son will grow into as Captain Picard's first officer, and his pride shows.

Margaret Wander Bonanno returns to the Trek-writing fold after an absence of many years with the final Lost Era tome, "Catalyst of Sorrows." Starfleet Intelligence head, Admiral Nyota Uhura (yes, THAT Uhura) has to put together a covert team of operatives (all of which are familiar names of Trek lore from "future years") to find and stop a seemingly incurable biological weapon before it can be released on worlds across Federation space. With eerie parallels to the terrorist plots of today, Uhura's team led by then-Lieutenant Ben Sisko journeys to the source of the contagion with orders to stop it.

As far as I'm concerned, it wouldn't be a bad move for Paramount to turn over the Star Trek franchise to the authors and editors of the Star Trek book lines. The story lines are far more compelling and complex than anything that Berman and Braga have turned out for Enterprise or the poorly received Star Trek: Nemesis.