As all Star Trek fans know, the franchise reaches beyond television and movies into the realm of fiction, with new Star Trek fiction hitting the shelves all the time. Along with the hundred of hours of episodes and movies, there are also hundreds of Star Trek books out there to satisfy fans' appetites.

In order to let the fans in on the fun, Pocket Books holds its "Strange New Worlds" competition, where fan writers submit short stories and the Star Trek Editors at Pocket select the best entries and publish them in one volume. Like Star Trek itself, the stories span time and space, ranging from the early days of Jonathan Archer's Enterprise through the Original Series era and right up to the 24th Century of Jean-Luc Picard and beyond.

"Strange New Worlds VIII," the next volume in the series, is scheduled to hit shelves in July of 2005, but the winning stories have been selected and are as follows:

Star Trek - The Original Series:
"Shanghied" by Alan James Garbers
"Assignment: One" by Kevin Lauderdale
"Demon" by Kevin Andrew Hosey
"Don't Call Me Tiny" by Paul C. Tseng

Star Trek: The Next Generation:
"Morning Bells Are Ringing" by Kevin Summers
"Passages of Deceit" by Sarah Seaborne
"Final Flight" by John Takis — THIRD PRIZE

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
"Trek" by Dan C. Duval
"Gumbo" by Amy Vincent
"Promises Made" by David DeLee
"Always a Price" by Muri McCage
"If You Love a Tribble..." by Dayle Dermatis

Star Trek: Voyager:
"Transfiguration" by Susan S. McCrackin
"This Drone" by M.C.DeMarco
"Once Upon a Tribble" by Annie Reed
"You May Kiss the Bride" by Amy Sisson
"Coffee With a Friend" by JB Stevens

Star Trek: Enterprise:
"Egg Drop Soup" by Robert Burke Richardson
"Hero" by Lorraine Anderson
"Insanity" by A. Rhea King

Speculations:
"L & W (Alpha and Omega)" by Derek Tyler Attico — FIRST PRIZE
"Concurrence" by Geoffrey Thorne — SECOND PRIZE
"Dawn" by Paul J. Kapla

Congratulations to all of this year's winners! "Strange New Worlds VIII" is tentatively scheduled to hit stores on July 19, 2005.