The Shatnerverse is a series of Star Trek Expanded Universe novels written by William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.
The series (there's ten in all) tries to reconcile what Shatner wanted to happen with the main Trek continuity.
The novels are split into trilogies:
The Odyssey trilogy:
- The Ashes of Eden (published 1995) (set in 2293, after the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, but told primarily as a flashback set after Star Trek: Generations)
- The Return (published 1996) (set in 2371, just after the events of Star Trek: Generations)
- Avenger (published 1997) (set in 2373)
The Mirror Universe trilogy:
- Spectre (published 1998) (set in 2375)
- Dark Victory (published 1999) (set in 2375)
- Preserver (published 2000) (set in 2375)
The Totality trilogy:
- Captain's Peril (published 2002) (set in 2378)
- Captain's Blood (published 2003) (set after 2379)
- Captain's Glory (published 2004) (set in 2381)
and his last work to date,
- Academy: Collision Course (published 2007) (set in 2249)
These books provide examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Academy: Collision Course was to be the first in a new series set during Kirk's Academy days. The new films are pretty clearly the reason this series was retired early.
- Action Mom: Teilani, after she gives birth to her and Kirk's son Joseph in Preserver.
- Alternate Continuity: To the main Star Trek Novel 'Verse.
- Big Bad:
- Androvar Drake serves this role in The Ashes of Eden.
- Salatrel is the primary 'face' of the Borg/Romulan alliance in The Return.
- The Mirror Universe trilogy focuses on Emperor Tiberius, Kirk's counterpart from the other reality.
- Complexity Addiction: At least one of Salatrel's subordinates tries to point out to her that her plan to use Kirk to assassinate Picard is purely intended to satisfy her own twisted desire for 'revenge' on the Federation, when it would be far simpler for her to have dispatched a conventional assassin against Picard.
- Continuity Snarl: While (naturally) fairly faithful to the TV series, the books contradict other Expanded Universe works a couple of times. The most visible example is probably that Shatner's version of the Tarsus IV massacre, and Kirk's role therein, is notably different (to the point of irreconcilable) from the way it was portrayed elsewhere in the Star Trek Novel 'Verse.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Ariadne Drake, Androvar Drake's daughter, in The Ashes of Eden.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- Salatrel, the main Romulan villain in The Return, and the granddaughter of Keras (the Romulan commander from "Balance of Terror"); Salatrel is utterly convinced that the Federation are ruthless murderers, which causes her to make various flawed assumptions about how her enemies will act at key points.
- When Picard meets his Mirror Universe counterpart in Spectre, Mirror-Picard is convinced that Picard killed his brother and nephew and just made it look like it was a fire because Mirror-Picard did basically that in his own universe, the mirror version incapable of comprehending that Picard isn't like that.
- Expendable Alternate Universe: The Mirror Universe versions of Kirk and Picard both refer to the 'prime' reality as the "ghost" universe, acting as though their counterparts are just weak imitations, in contrast to how the prime reality treats the Mirror Universe as an equal.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Joseph Kirk, the son of Kirk (a human) and Teilani (a Klingon/Romulan/human hybrid).
- Heinz Hybrid: Kirk's son Joseph has 1/4 Klingon, 1/4 Romulan, and a strange mix of human ancestry from Kirk and his Chalchaj'qmey mother (an artificial Klingon/Romulan hybrid race with the addition of human organs). Additionally, according to Spock, the boy's Romulan ancestry also makes him part-Vulcan. Interestingly, Joseph Kirk's unique genetics make him an Ancient, among those who seeded most of the galaxy with life.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In Spectre, the Alliance manage to recreate Voyager from plans stolen from Starfleet, but do such a good job that they copy the ship's command protocols. As a result, Picard is briefly able to take control of the ship by issuing an emergency directive, and later the mirror Janeway (who is working for the Terran rebels) manages to take full command of the ship by using the default captain codes, once instructed in them by Kirk and Scotty.
- Honorary Uncle: Spock and McCoy both become this to Kirk's newborn son Joseph at the end of Preserver.
- It's All About Me:
- Androvar Drake is so certain of his superiority over Kirk that he continually refers to himself as being 'better' than his rival even though he has never clearly proved himself superior.
- Emperor Tiberius has the view that he is the pivot point of the entire universe - his AND the Prime universe. Turns out he's not entirely wrong - James Kirk will either preserve or destroy the universe. Of course, James Kirk exists in both universes.
- Landfill Beyond the Stars: One is featured in Avenger, as the location where the Borg send their discarded drones.
- Ludicrous Precision: Spock, as always; when McCoy bemoans that it's been eighty years since Spock last saw Kirk and he's just saying that he is "most pleased" to see his old friend, Spock's immediate response is to correct McCoy that it was actually "Seventy-eight point four years".
- Meaningful Rename: In The Return, when the Defiant-class USS Monitor is transferred to Kirk and Picard for their assault on the Borg homeworld, the ship's usual captain has his ship temporarily renamed Enterprise for the duration of the mission, even though he acknowledges that it will not be recorded as such in history.
- Multistage Teleport: In Spectre and Dark Victory, Kirk is kidnapped and beamed through numerous transporter stations (he briefly sees them while he's being transported) all the way to a distant location outside normal transporter range, where he meets his Mirror Universe counterpart, Emperor Tiberius.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: There's a female Orion scientist in The Return who has Federation citizenship and makes a point of dressing un-sexy.
- Not Proven: Ashes of Eden reveals that following the events of the Genesis Trilogy, Starfleet launched an investigation into how David Marcus had acquired the Protomatter he secretly used in the Genesis Device. The official investigation concluded it had come from black market channels, but Kirk wasn't satisfied with these findings and had Chekhov quietly pursue his own independent investigation. Pavel eventually discovered that the protomatter had actually come from Starfleet's advanced strategic weapons research and development division, which was headed up by Kirk's old rival Admiral Drake. In other words, Drake was using the Genesis Project as a secret and illegal test-bed for potential protomatter WMDs. However, the failure of the Genesis Technology scuttled those plans and Drake covered his tracks before Starfleet's investigation began. So, Kirk and Chekov know he's guilty and had a role in David's death, but they can't officially prove it.
- Not So Stoic:
- In The Return, when Spock learns that McCoy and Kirk are on board the "Challenger", Riker thinks that he actually sees Spock smile for a moment at that news.
- In Avenger, Spock joyfully hugs Kirk when he is first reunited with his old friend (although this can be attributed to Spock suffering a loss of emotional control after he has been afflicted with a poison simulating the effects of Bendii Syndrome).
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: In The Ashes of Eden, for all that Androvar Drake claims that he wants to secure the Federation's future by using the resources on Chal, his plans will still lead to war because he considers that the only way the Federation can survive. Kirk explicitly informs Drake that if his plan is the only way the Federation can survive, it doesn't deserve to.
- Poor Communication Kills: The Return would be a much shorter story if everyone just talked to each other (although most of this can be justified as Kirk being brainwashed and other parties bound by confidentiality warnings).
- Remember the New Guy?: Androvar Drake, the villain in The Ashes of Eden, has been a rival of Kirk's since they were in the Academy together, instigated the brief Federation/Klingon war that was ended by the Organian Treaty, and provided David Marcus with protomatter to complete the Genesis Device, and yet he has never appeared in any media before now. This is at least consistent with the Original Series, where Kirk constantly was running into old flames and old friends who were never mentioned before or after their plot-relevant episode.
- Shout-Out: Naturally, the books are loaded with references to Star Trek: The Original Series and the subsequent films.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Salatrel is so certain of Romulan supremacy that she believes the Romulan Empire could even defeat the Borg on their own.
- Wham Line: From The Return: "We are V'Ger."
