Okay, can I confess to having not looked forward to reading this book? I may have begun my reading life with short stories, but my tastes have moved on somewhat, and I find novellas and shorter novels have replaced the short story collection as my preferred reading – allowing as they do the chance for a fuller development of the story.

Also I may have begun my taste in visual science fiction with the original Star Trek shows when they were shown on UK television, I find that "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine" have replaced Kirk and Co in my preferences.

So back to the book. Well it's an anthology of short stories based on the original Star trek series. Now you see why I was not looking forward to it.

Well the names of the authors on the cover did ease this feeling of trepidation somewhat. Having read some of the Star Trek novels these authors have written over the last few months I had no worries as to the standards of writing likely to be found in this book. But a dozen short stories I thought might be a less than pleasurable experience.

Well I was surprised. I enjoyed this book. Okay it didn't change my opinion of either original series Star Trek or short stories overly. I still prefer them less than either the aforementioned alternatives. But they have lessened the wariness I will have at any future such volume.

The majority of these stories concentrate their focus on a single character from the Enterprise's crew. The first features Dr McCoy, and a mission he has to locate Dr. Jendra, a former colleague who has returned to a planet on which she previously served as part of a covert observation mission. She had returned to the planet despite it having been declared off limits by Starfleet and that exposure to the environmental conditions there would be fatal in the long term to humans without regular medication – medication which she has long since run out of.

This starts a strong set of stories, each one written by author fully aware of the characters and their world – and I have read a number of tie-in stories where this is not the case so to find the characters so well represented is quite wonderful.

So we have first mission commands for Sulu – a covert surveillance mission with Kirk and co disguised as natives of the planet - a tale of Spock and his struggle against both the prejudices of full-blood Vulcans and his own human emotions in the pursuit of logic and others. In this book we have a range of well written enjoyable tales.

Synopsis
Star Trek: Constellations is a mind-blowing collection of specially-commissioned stories designed to go where no anthology has gone before. Featuring the iconic heroes of the Star Trek universe - the legendary characters who were the inspiration for all those who followed - this treasure trove of untold tales recreates all the sense of adventure that marked the original Star Trek when it first burst on to our television screens in 1966. Each story takes as its inspiration an element of 'unfinished business' from the original series so that they read like 'lost episodes' of the television show, exploring aspects of the Star Trek crew and their adventures which have intrigued Trekkers ever since the original series ended. The result is a magnificent tribute to the series that changed the face of television history and will have millions of fans worldwide feeling as though they have just discovered a whole 'missing' season of their favourite show.