Star Trek is well into its 40mumbleth year of being the king of all pop culture phenomena, and just when I think that maybe its popularity might be on the downhill slide, I am pleasantly reminded that once again, reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. (Thanks Mr. Clemens.)

While news about the next Abramsverse Star Trek film is still being kept tight-to-the-vest by Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot, the responsible studio and J.J. Abramsproduction company, we have all heard that the writing team is now in their first throes of script fabrication and that its original release date has been pushed back to at least 2012.

Since CBS Television, the studio that holds the rights to create any future television series based on the Trek genre, has made absolutely no intimation that they are seriously considering any such move, Trekkies have once again been relegated to glean their Trek from : shall we say : other less canon avenues.

I am actually glad to say that Ive been informed that Simon & Schuster, the parent company of CBS/Pocketbooks which publishes official Trek material, has moved forward with a new line of books.

After the decision to cease the Starfleet Corps of Engineers books, and more recently, a complete absence of USS Titan books, as well as the layoff of the lead editor of the Star Trek division at CBS/Pocketbooks, I was really beginning to worry whether or not the company was going to kill the Star Trek literary line altogether. (OK, yes, there will be a book about Titans crew in the forthcoming Typhon Pact series. But still, I miss stories about the USS Titan, or even the USS Enterprise just going out to explore : )

The new books you ask? Believe it or not, they have created a line of Star Trek books for the young adult market, a market that I have always believed was completely underserved by the Trek marketers.

Coming this November, The Delta Anomaly will be the first in at least four books in the new Starfleet Academy series based on the 2009 film.

Im looking forward to seeing what direction this new division will take the genre and whether or not it will have the capacity to bring in new fans. Ill let you all know after I read it. Ive known a lot of Trek fans whose kids loved the movie and would likely love stories that revolve around those characters.

However, I still fear the changes occurring (or really, the lack of activity) in the adult book lines though. I really hope that the company settles down and realizes there is still a market for tie-in books.

Personally I crave a day where a brave new editor will kill the requirement that all of the stories have to fit within some tunnel-vision-and-therefore-limiting universe.

While on one side it makes sense to have the crews of the ships, space stations and planets all live within the same timeline so to speak - - I feel like its done nothing but force writers to try to tell tales that are interesting while being weighed down with a history they inherited from the writers before them.

If there is (and trust me, there are innumerate examples I could cite) a plot point which is unpopular, or in some cases, just dumb, the next author is tasked with having to bring that plot point forward, even if they wouldnt have wanted the story to go in that direction.

I long for the days of tie-in books like they used to be for The Original Series; one book never affected the next. Kirk died a bazillion times and it didnt matter because hed be alive in the next book.

I find it sad that I get a new Star Trek: The Next Generation book and feel like I have to gloss over the hideous tripe of a Picard-Crusher baby. *shivers* (Dont even get me started on the fan-boi-universe that was created for the MMORPG, Star Trek Online - I wont be able to stop ranting. )

And while I doubt that day will ever come, I will continue to read the official tales as well as revel in the rich and diverse stories that the fans themselves create and share because, for the most part, theyre still the only new Trek we will be able to get until The Suits decide to produce a new show.

Yet, also brewing in the Trek world is a brand new convention.

After being stung once by a massive failure of a new start-up convention, (*cough*FedConUSA *cough*) I have been very wary of spending money to attend another convention that may not be able to live up to the hype.

However, Ive decided that the new Hollywood Xpo -- and contained within that cons broader appeal, the more-focused Trek Xpo -- will be my next venture.

Ive known about this project since long before it was announced. Ive been constantly and consistently impressed by their ability to announce and bring in a huge number of celebrities, not just from Star Trek (although that list is freaking impressive) but from other science-fiction shows, books as well as the broader comic industry and television at large.

So, The Hubby and I will be heading to Los Angeles next week to check out this new foray into entertainment conventions in the hopes for its success and will report in as I can. I plan on tweeting as much as possible, so please feel free to follow me @TerilynnS.

As always, feel free to comment or e-mail me with any questions. If I dont know the answer, I will hunt down someone who does, and then return to you victoriously, answer in hand.

: or so I hope.