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borg’s Best of 2021–The Best Books

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Con Culture, Fantasy Realms, Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment

December 16, 2021

Our borg Best of 2021 list continues today with the Best Books of 2021. If you missed them, check out our reviews of the Kick-Ass Heroines of 2021 here, the Best Movies of 2021 here, and the Best in TV 2021 here. And we wrap-up the year with our additions to the borg Hall of Fame tomorrow. We reviewed more than 100 books that we recommended to our readers this year, and some even made it onto our favorites shelf. We don’t publish reviews of books that we read and don’t recommend, so this shortlist reflects only this year’s cream of the crop. So let’s get going!

Best Sci-Fi, Best Tie-In Novel – Moments Asunder by Dayton Ward (Gallery Books). An engaging read and fun-filled start to a new trilogy, full of great throwbacks to all the Star Trek series, with several surprise characters and incorporated events, and a great update to Wesley Crusher. Runner-up: Star Trek: Picard–Rogue Elements (Gallery Books), by John Jackson Miller, provided a great story for a newer character, pulling into the mix the future of some familiar characters including the classic villain Kivas Fajo.

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Tags: 50th anniversary Red Sonja, A Heart Divided, Abrams Books, Abrams Books for Young Readers, Algonquin Young Readers, Alien 3, Alien3, Alien3: The Unproduced First-Draft Screenplay, Amazing Spider-Man 75, Amy Ratcliffe, Ang Hor Kheng, Ben Robinson, best books 2021, best comic book artist 2021, best comic book writer 2021, best comic books 2021, best comics 2021, best fantasy 2021, best mystery 2021, best sci-fi 2021, best writer 2021, Black Star, Blade Runner Origins, borg Best of 2021, Castle in the Air, Charles Ardai, Chris Masna, Clint Howard, Cold-Blooded Myrtle, cyborg Spider-man, Cynthia Von Buhler, Dayton Ward, Donald E. Westlake, Elizabeth C. Bunce, Essential Directors TCM, Fernando Dagnino, Fight Girls, Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, Flash Gordon The Official Story of the Film, Frank Cho, Freya Hartas, Gabrielle Dell'Otto, Gallery Books, Gigi Chang, Girl Who Electrified Tesla, Gun Honey, Halloween Kills, Halloween Kills The Official Movie Novelization, Hard Case Crime, Hardears, Harper Design, Hero Collector, If You Go Down to the Woods Today, Jim Curious and the Jungle Journey, Jin Yong, John Jackson Miller, John Walsh, Kevin Eastman, L. Frank Baum, Later crime novel, Legends of the Condor Heroes, Mark Wright, Matthias Picard, MinaLima, Moments Asunder, Pat Cadigan, Peter Laird, Rachel Piercey, retro reads, RJ Palmer, Ron Howard, Running Press, Saurian A Field Guide to Hell Creek, Shelly Bryant, Sloan De Forest, Smart Girl, Smart Girl graphic novel, St. Martin's Press, Star Trek, Star Trek Coda, Star Trek Picard, Star Trek Picard Rogue Elements, Star Trek Voyager A Celebration, Star Wars, Stephen King, Stray Dogs, TCM's Essential Directors, The Art of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, The Boys, The Last Ronin, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz MinaLima, Tim Waggoner, Titan Books, Tom Parker, William Gibson, William Morrow, Wizards of the Coast

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Star Trek: A Celebration–After 55 years the original series gets a definitive account of cast, crew, and the production like you’ve never seen before

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — 1 Comment

September 21, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

In many ways the most diehard Star Trek fan is going to be surprised when they flip open the new behind-the-scenes account of the original 1966-1969 series in the full-color, hardcover, coffee table-style book, Star Trek: A Celebration. Even if you’ve read everything about Star Trek you could get your hands on, you haven’t seen it in one volume presented like this. Star Wars fans have seen this kind of volume in the works of the late JW Rinzler, and although this book is not as dense, it will serve the same purpose for Star Trek aficionados. The wildly popular The Princess Bride–A Celebration was given similar treatment, as was the landmark Star Trek: Voyager–A Celebration, released only this year, also by publisher Hero Collector. I can’t understate what a welcome book this is for fans of the original Star Trek series. As Star Trek fans across the globe celebrate 55 years of the Star Trek franchise, coinciding with the centennial of the birth of its creator, Gene Roddenberry, it’s well past time fans got a book to–yes–celebrate one of the greatest and most influential television series of all time. Star Trek: A Celebration is available today for the first time here at Amazon and at bookstores everywhere.

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Tags: Ben Robinson, Best of 2021, Gene Roddenberry, Gene Roddenberry centennial, Hero Collector, Ian Spelling, Star Trek 55th anniversary, Star Trek A Celebration, Star Trek A Celebration book preview, Star Trek A Celebration book review, Star Trek books, Star Trek Day, Star Trek library, Star Trek The Original Series A Celebration, Star Trek The Original Series A Celebration book review, Star Trek Voyager A Celebration

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Updated and expanded Star Trek Shipyards volume incorporates Starfleet ships from Discovery, Lower Decks, and Picard

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September 20, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

By my count there are six books so far in the Star Trek Shipyards library from publisher Hero Collector: Star Trek Shipyards: Starfleet Ships 2063-2293, Star Trek Shipyards: Starfleet Ships 2294 – The Future, Star Trek Shipyards: Federation Members, Star Trek Shipyards: Klingon Fleet, and most recently in 2021, Star Trek Shipyards: The Borg and Delta Quadrant (reviewed here), and Star Trek Shipyards: The Delta Quadrant Volume 2 (reviewed here). With two more volumes due out in the coming months available for pre-order now (Alpha Quadrant and Major Species Volume 1 and Alpha Quadrant and Major Species Volume 2), the publisher is taking a step back with the late summer release Star Trek Shipyards: Starfleet Ships 2294 – The Future, an updated and expanded edition of the second volume in the library, adding significant content to the original edition. The most popular of the Star Trek Shipyards library, this volume presents many of fans’ favorite ships of the line in high-quality illustrations. A lot has happened in the franchise in the past few years, and readers will find much of it making its way into this book, with vessels from all three seasons of Star Trek: Discovery to Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard.

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New Star Trek Designing Starships volume features the ships from Deep Space Nine to the movies

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September 10, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

Where Star Trek Shipyards is an in-universe library looking at the hundreds of ships of the franchise, Star Trek Designing Starships is a library about the creators and creative process behind those ships. The fifth volume of the encyclopedia of Star Trek ship design has arrived as publisher Hero Collector continues its series after volumes on the starships Enterprise, Voyager, the Kelvin timeline ships, and Discovery. The human adventure continues in Star Trek Designing Starships: Deep Space Nine and Beyond. It’s available now here at Amazon. As with the publisher’s previous books, Star Trek Designing Starships is known for its colorful, high quality illustrations in a coffee table-style hardcover edition, providing a near-exhaustive library to the array of the franchise’s highly-detailed spacecraft.

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Star Trek: A Celebration–Star Trek Day is approaching, celebrate 55 years with new chronicle, now available for pre-order

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — 1 Comment

August 28, 2021

With a new Star Trek Day event coming next month, Star Trek fans across the globe will be celebrating 55 years of the Star Trek franchise, coinciding with the centennial of the birth of its creator, Gene Roddenberry. The 55th anniversary of the launch of the series is worthy of the celebration, and authors Ben Robinson and Ian Spelling have created the latest definitive, behind the scenes account of the 1966-1969 series in their new full-color, hardcover, coffee table-style book, Star Trek: A Celebration, available for pre-order now here at Amazon.

On September 8, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. Central, get ready for Star Trek Day (not to be confused with First Contact Day–April 5, or Picard Day–June 16, or Alien Day–April 26, or Star Wars Day–May 4). Star Trek Day 2021 will be all virtual– a better deal than, say Star Wars Celebration and D23, since everyone can join in for a virtual event. Look for 13 streamed panels, including several retrospective panels, as well as panels featuring stars of all five in-production Star Trek series: Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds, to feature Anson Mount’s Captain Pike and the early Enterprise crew. Check out streaming platform Paramount Plus for more information, which says fans worldwide will be able to live-stream the Star Trek Day celebration panels for free at StarTrek.com/Day.

First check out this big, 14-page look inside Star Trek: A Celebration:

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Tags: Alien Day, Ben Robinson, First Contact Day, Gene Roddenberry, Gene Roddenberry centennial, Hero Collector, Ian Spelling, Paramount Plus, Picard Day, Star Trek 55th anniversary, Star Trek A Celebration, Star Trek A Celebration book preview, Star Trek Day, Star Trek Day 2021, Star Trek Day 2021 official poster, Star Trek Voyager A Celebration, Star Wars Day, Strange New Worlds series

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New Star Trek Shipyards volume continues the Voyager journey through the Delta Quadrant

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August 16, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

The sixth volume of the encyclopedia of Star Trek ships has arrived as publisher Hero Collector continues its library where Star Trek Shipyards: The Borg and Delta Quadrant (reviewed here at borg), left off. Continuing the voyages chronicled over seven seasons of Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek Shipyards: The Delta Quadrant Volume 2 documents, in a coffee-table class, full-color hardcover edition, the ships of the alien races in alphabetical order from Ledosian to Zahl. It’s available now here at Amazon. Star Trek Shipyards is known for its colorful, high quality illustrations, providing an in-universe guide–with the goal of creating an exhaustive library–to the seemingly endless array of the franchise’s highly-detailed spacecraft.

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Star Trek Shipyards library begins new two-part Voyager journey

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May 17, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

The fifth volume of the encyclopedia of Star Trek ships has arrived. This time Hero Collector is taking on the ships of Star Trek: Voyager. It’s all in the new full color hardcover book Star Trek Shipyards: The Borg and Delta Quadrant, Volume One, available now here at Amazon. Star Trek Shipyards is known for its colorful, high quality illustrations, providing an in-universe guide to the seemingly endless array of the franchise’s spacecraft. Because of the timing of cutting edge computer-generated design during the seven years of Star Trek Voyager, writers Ben Robinson and Marcus Riley were able to compile two volumes worth of images, using the actual renderings used by the show’s art and visual effects departments. But first it takes a look at the ships of The Borg, the cybernetic race first seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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Star Trek Voyager: A Celebration–Excellent chronicle of the seven-year series arrives for 25th anniversary

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment

January 4, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

For a fan like me, Star Trek: Voyager was the definitive Star Trek series, the crew that most fully embraced Gene Roddenberry’s vision beyond the television series he created in 1966. It featured a crew on a ship that explored like no crew before it, with only their available technology and their wits to survive. Helmed by Kate Mulgrew’s personable yet tough Captain Kathryn Janeway, the crew would travel 70,000 light years home after being stranded in the Delta Quadrant. The 25th anniversary of the launch of the series was 2020, and worthy of the celebration, authors Ben Robinson and Mark Wright have created the definitive behind the scenes account of the 1995-2001 series, Star Trek: Voyager–A Celebration, available now here at Amazon.

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