The Higher Frontier. Mysterious armored warriors have reduced the Aenar population to nearly zero. Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise must investigate this brutal and seemingly unprovoked attack with the help of Miranda Jones and the Medusan ambassador, Kollos. However, the situation escalates when the targets of the mysterious attackers expands to include other telepaths, including members of the Enterprise crew. Can the mystery surrounding these dangerous warriors be solved before more lives are lost?

In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Bruce Gibson and Dan Gunther discuss the new TOS novel The Higher Frontier by Christopher L. Bennett. We talk about Commander Thelin and the Aenar, the "New Humans," a sequel to "Is There in Truth No Beauty?," the war between the Spectres and the Lords, parallels to hate groups here on Earth, ending the novel on a hopeful note, some fun references from the author, and wrap up with our final thoughts and ratings.

In the news segment, we talk about the recently announced TOS novel, A Contest of Principles by Greg Cox. We also respond to listener feedback from The Babel Conference for Literary Treks 299: We Need a Kick in Our Complacency. News TOS: A Contest of Principles Synopsis (00:05:45) Listener Feedback (00:09:23)

Feature: The Higher Frontier The Aenar and Thelin (00:16:19) New Humans (00:24:16) Is There in Truth No Beauty? (00:30:16) The Spectres and Lords (00:34:53) V'Ger (00:41:22) Hate Groups (00:44:15) T'Nalae and the V'tosh ka'tur (00:51:53) Ending on a Hopeful Note (00:54:53) Admiral Morrow (00:57:35) Starfleet: The Enterprise Chronicles (00:59:37) Ratings (01:05:37) The Crew's New Positions (01:09:44) Final Thoughts (01:13:08)

Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson

Production Bruce Gibson (Editor and Producer) Dan Gunther (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer) Casey Pettitt (Associate Producer)