While much of the buzz in 2009 was about the new Star Trek movie, the world of Star Trek continued in earnest on the printed page in novels and comics and non-fiction books. Today we continue our year end look back with our selections of the best in Star Trek books and comics for 2009. . BEST STAR TREK BOOKS AND COMICS OF 2009 TrekMovie editors John Tenuto, Robert Lyons and Alex Fletcher contributed to this article. STAR TREK NOVELS IN 2009 Despite laying off the two leading Star Trek editors (Marco Palmieri in December 2008 and Margaret Clark in August) Pocket Books maintained an ambitious schedule throughout 2009. Novels spanned the Trek universe with entries from Vanguard, New Frontier, Titan, Enterprise, Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine and the original series, along with the New York Times best-selling novelization of the new JJ Abrams Star Trek movie. With so much to chose from, making it was hard to make the calls on the best, but the call has been made. Best Novel: Star Trek: Troublesome Minds written by Dave Galanter While several very unique novels, Christopher L. Bennett’s “Over a Torrent Sea” and James Swallow’s “Synthesis” joined with “The Never Ending Sacrifice” in contending for top honors, it is ultimately a blast from the past that takes the top spot among this year’s outings – Dave Galanter’s Original Series outing “Troublesome Minds” featured an outstanding storyline and a significant moral dilemma for Spock, one that would eventually form the basis for his decision to pursue the Kholinar discipline after the Enterprise’s original five-year mission. “Troublesome Minds” was also a magnificent throwback to an earlier era of Star Trek fiction, one where the stories were told on a stand-alone basis, and where the unexpected could come to pass on most every page. This isn’t to say that arc-based storytelling is bad, but the feeling of nostalgia one gets when reading Galanter’s entry into this year’s stable of Trek Lit is profound; at least for those of us who read and enjoyed many of the early Star Trek books from Pocket. [available at Amazon — see TrekMovie Review] Best Novel Cover: Deep Space Nine: The Never-Ending Sacrifice art by Nicolas Bouvier The year was filled with the repercussions of the late-2008 “Destiny” trilogy in the TNG timeline, and featured a well-received relaunch of the Voyager novels at the hands of author Kirsten Beyer. DS9 fans were treated to two significant stories this year, the second of which, Una McCormack’s “The Never Ending Sacrifice” features arguably the year’s best cover. While Doug Drexler and MoJo continue to amaze with their CGI starship and space scenes, it is Nicolas Bouvier’s stark view of Cardassia that comes across as both the most original and unique of the year. The book itself features one of the most original and unique Star Trek stories in years, and was a pleasure to read; but the title of best book of the year goes to a book from earlier in the year. [available at Amazon — see TrekMovie Review] STAR TREK NON-FICTION IN 2009 Almost from its beginning and the publication of "The Making of Star Trek" in 1967 by Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek has enjoyed extensive non fiction treatment. From guides to the USS Enterprise to episode compendiums, there are always interesting behind the scene or technical information to explore. 2009 was no different. Which were the best? Best Non-fiction Book: Star Trek – The Art of the Film (Titan) written by Mark Cotta Vaz Although we had to wait until the release of the DVD in November, "Star Trek: The Art of the Film" was worth the wait. The coffee table book gave you a real insight into how JJ Abrams, Production Designer Scott Chambliss and all the movie artists re-imagined the universe of Star Trek. Although primarily a book of imagery, the text provided by Cotta Vas (and the foreword by JJ Abrams) provides lots of details about the decisions made along the way to each area of the film, including ship designs, sets, costumes, makeup and more. [available at Amazon — see TrekMovie review] Best Reference Book: Star Trek: A Comic Book History (Hermes) written by Alan J. Porter Covering all Star Trek comics beginning with Gold Key’s 1960s books and published by Hermes Press, this is an exhaustive guide. It is organized nicely, with a history of each licensee, and then a summary of each issue. Illustrated throughout, the only hope is that the next edition will include more about the IDW comics line which is too new to really be covered historically, yet has produced some excellent titles. The best feature of the book is its detailing of the newspaper strips which many fans may not have enjoyed before. Combine Porter’s text this with last year’s impressive Star Trek: The Complete Comic Book Collection CDROM by GIT Corp and comic fans will be very happy with these historical achieves. [available at Amazon] Best Biography/Memoir: The View From the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood (Viking) written by Nicholas Meyer In a year where the general public embraced Star Trek again, it is, to borrow a cliché, "fascinating" to revisit past Trek films from the brow of writer and director Nicholas Meyer. Meyer provides insight without providing answers to readers – he doesn’t explain everything, he provides a historical account as he remembers the details and provides fans with new information and behind the scenes tales, This is an honest account, yet refreshingly it doesn’t include the vapid tabloid fodder of some other celebrity biographies. There are also interesting chapter’s on Meyer’s non Star Trek films and his own life experiences, some of which are heart aching, all of which provide a fascinating tapestry of one of Star Trek’s most important creators. [available at Amazon — see TrekMovie review] STAR TREK COMICS IN 2009 IDW released 37 comic books over 11...