87 Books Like Galactic Patrol

It was the comic book titles of HG Wells early science fiction books which drew me in as a teenager, including this, his most famous. You never had to guess what it was about. And I was never disappointed. They took me into a different world.

What I always liked about HG Wells was his attention to detail and his attempts to provide a rational scientific explanation for the events which occurred in those books.

Truly a book for the ages, how could I not recommend this? It is THE iconic book about a constructed being and his consequent travails.

Made by Victor Frankenstein from all sorts of collected detritus, when the monster opens his “yellow, watery eyes,” the scientist flees from him and never looks back. The monster is left to negotiate the world on his own, but much like a newborn baby, he is ignorant and unequipped to do so.

I love how, unlike the popular concept of the monster, he is, in fact, a vegetarian, and at the start, very vulnerable and peaceful. He learns to read by sitting outside a cottage where he can hear the cottagers teaching a foreigner to read.

I wrote a whole novel about him, A Monster’s Notes, which transports him into the 21st century.

I dearly loved Isaac Asimov's vision of the robot. Although the idea of a mechanical man has entertained audiences for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, Asimov dealt with the reality of how humans will coexist with our intelligent creations. 

Prior to Asimov's three laws we had always thought of robots delivering evil as surrogates of their evil masters. And always with human intent. Evil emperors trying to rule the world is typical. But Asimov showed us the danger of machines that are their own masters. 

Machine learning and reasoning are now a reality different from anything humans can conceive. We are limited in our comprehension of machines by our biology and evolutionary context. But they are not limited in their comprehension of us or themselves. Just ask AlphaGo move 37. I am certain Asimov's three laws will never be enough to ensure our survival in a world where we… show more.

This book made me ask myself how far I would go for someone I loved. Would time, distance, and beliefs change me, too?

I like the classic hardcore science fiction setting of this story mixed with a culture based on a mystical belief—science meets faith. Which would I choose if I were living in that world? Or can I have both? The answer is bittersweet because there is no perfect solution.

A novel from Greg Cox is always going to bring me the kind of deep-cut Trek continuity I love, but Foul Deeds Will Rise goes above and beyond by bringing me the sequel I didn’t know I needed: the return of Lenore Karidian, last seen twenty years earlier suffering a psychotic break after accidentally killing her mass-murderer father in the episode “The Conscience of the King.”

I also love when Trek plays in other genres, and here we get a murder mystery: Kirk has to investigate whether Lenore was successfully rehabilitated after serving her time for psychiatric treatment, or if has she fallen off the wagon and gone on a killing spree that could derail an entire peace process. Beyond the immediate plot, it plays amusingly well off Kirk’s long history of getting involved in doomed relationships. 

I’ve been a Trekkie—yeah, I own it—since I was a tiny child. And in all that time, my favorite race in Star Trek was the Romulans. This book has been one of my favorites since it was published in 1987; I re-read it often. The book tells two stories in alternating chapters: one is the story of Arrhae, a servant who is also a Federation deep-cover operative. The other chapters are the history of the Romulans from before their split with the Vulcan people. Duane gives us more than we’d seen in TOS, giving us a rich history and culture of a proud people. The novel also gives us a way to see forward to a time when maybe the Federation and the Romulans will no longer be enemies. This is absolutely my favorite Star Trek novel. 

I came to the books late, inoculated by the 2004 – 2009 TV series with slightly off-key costumes and the idea of a tribe of people looking for their cousins on earth. I like the mind games between the Cylons and the humans at the pinnacle when some of the humans are actually robots but programmed not to know it. I felt a bit of a letdown when the best characters turned out to be the bad guys. The boundaries between the two “species” are both clearly defined and indistinguishable at the same time (Schrodinger’s robot?). I loved it as the “skin jobs” finally worked out what they really were and reveled in the opportunities for chaos and conflict.

Honestly, I couldn’t put this book down. I read Rogue Elements during a summer vacation on a lovely North Sea island and I had to force myself to have a break and go out for some bicycling and beach fun.

John Jackson Miller just had me hooked with his tale of dashing (but also sad and often drunken) ex-Starfleet officer Cristóbal Rios – introduced in Star Trek: Picard – living through a hilarious adventure while at the same time trying to find a new purpose in life after being cashiered out of his career because of some fishy diplomatic affair.

Grumpy gangsters, a dangerous woman, strange new crew members, and the hunt for a secret treasure keep Rios on the run throughout the whole novel. 

Many Star Trek books are about dangers threatening a starship, a colony, or even a planet. “Hold my beer,” said Mack – and let the Borg, this mechanical hive-mind terror, invade the whole Alpha and Beta Quadrant of our galaxy.

Star Trek Destiny (a trilogy, but you can buy it as an omnibus edition) depicts a catastrophe on a scale that’s hardly imaginable. I can’t tell you how much I was on the edge of my seat when the first armada of Borg cubes arrived – with no intention of assimilating anyone at all!

Although there are world-breaking tragedies to be witnessed, the book is not all about fighting battles. It also delves into the origin of the Borg, and it concludes their overall story arc in a very “trekkie” way. I like that a lot!

Of the novels based on the classic Star Trek TV series, this book is one of a handful that delves extensively into the background of arguably the show’s most iconic character. Diane Duane created a history for Spock and his birth world Vulcan, skillfully merged it with the show’s canon and used that as the backdrop for a political crisis that threatens to affect the United Federation of Planets.

Trekkie that I am, it felt like a pilgrimage of sorts when I read this book. I was fascinated with the past events that shaped the planet due to the extraordinary world-building covering Vulcan’s prehistory all the way to its peoples’ ventures into space exploration and, of course, the development of the famous Vulcan ethic of logic. What’s not to love about a novel that makes the most fascinating world in the Star Trek universe come alive in every aspect?