Captain Pike and his crew explore a lost Starfleet vessel in a new 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' novel coming later this month

The official release for Paramount+'s third season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" might still be under strict lock and key, but that doesn't mean that the "Star Trek" universe has suddenly stopped revolving as a new Strange New Worlds novel is coming later this month

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward the Night" is an intriguing new tie-in novel based on the celebrated sci-fi TV series, which first appeared as a spinoff of "Star Trek: Discovery" in May 2022.

Composed by veteran "Star Trek" author James Swallow and being published by Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books on April 29, this absorbing cosmic diversion should temporarily satiate fans with an original "Star Trek" adventure unfolding in the final frontier.

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward the Night" releases April 29, 2025 and it's available to pre-order at Amazon now.

The 336-page hardcover’s plot is centered around Capt. Christopher Pike and his intrepid Enterprise crew cruising along the Klingon Empire’s guarded borders. When the noble Federation craft receives a ripple of subspace transmissions emanating from a world circling a violent flare star, Lt. Spock and Commander Una Chin-Riley head up an official landing party to go investigate.

Related: 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds': Pike and crew go full Vulcan in first Season 3 clip (video)

While on the alien planet's surface, they stumble upon the ruins of what seems to be a long-dead extraterrestrial civilization, with scattered scraps of starship-quality metals that might indicate an old impact crash site.

Continuing to gather clues and speculate on the nature of the odd signals, Spock and Una uncover more signs of hazardous alien life and mysterious Federation relics. Soon, Pike and Lieutenant Erica Ortegas plunge deep into the puzzling history of a lost Starfleet vessel that’s been missing for more than 90 years that could put the entire Enterprise crew in serious peril and jeopardize the future.

London-based author James Swallow is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author who holds the distinction of being the only British writer to be associated with a "Star Trek" TV series, on "Voyager." His many "Star Trek"-related fiction titles include "The Ashes of Tomorrow," "The Dark Veil," "Fear Itself," "The Latter Fire," "Sight Unseen," "The Poisoned Chalice," "Cast No Shadow," "Synthesis," "Day of the Vipers" and "The Stuff of Dreams."

"I've had a blast watching 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,' so the opportunity to tell a story with those characters was one I could not pass up!" Swallow told Space.com. "I'm presenting an adventure that touches on elements of 'Star Trek's' 'untold' era; the novel puts Capt. Christopher Pike in a moral dilemma, places first officer Una in a head-to-head war of nerves with the ruthless commander of a Klingon warship, and brings Enterprise's ace pilot Erica Ortegas up against a face from her past."

Every diehard science fiction fan loves a good yarn revolving around spooky missing spaceships, derelict alien craft, and abandoned deep space vessels being discovered, and this upcoming "Strange New Worlds" novel seems to carry that satisfying DNA of Hollywood classics like "Alien" and "Event Horizon."

This will be the third in Pocket Books' series of in-universe "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" novels, the first of which was John Jackson Miller's "The High Country" in 2023, followed by Una McCormack's "Asylum" from 2024.

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward the Night" lands on April 29, 2025.