What written works of fiction and non-fiction have inspired, or could have inspired, Star Trek? Gene Roddenberry has stated in interviews that the Horatio Hornblower books and the Sci-Fi pulp magazines and stories he read when he was young greatly influenced Trek. It has also been said that he was influenced by Arthur C. Clarke's Profiles of the Future: space drive, warped space, instantaneous transportation, etc. I also believe Moby Dick and the works of Jules Verne are responsible. What else? Note: This thread is a spin-off of the thread Sci-Fi Cinematic & TV Inspirations for Star Trek?
Don't know about the series as a whole, but individual episodes certainly have literary roots and inspirations. "Wolf in the Fold" is basically Robert Bloch doing a sci-fi rewrite of his classic horror story,"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" (previously adapted on Boris Karloff's THRILLER tv series). "The Enemy Within" is a futuristic riff on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, "Elaan of Troyius" owes a debt to Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" (even though the title evokes Helen of Troy), and "Requiem for Methuselah" is a variant on "The Tempest," possibly by way of FORBIDDEN PLANET.
A.E. Van Vogt's "Black Destroyer", Astounding Science-Fiction (July 1939) and in The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950), seems like an inspiration for It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958), TOS "The Man Trap", and Alien (1979) & sequels. According to "Homefront" and "You Are Cordially Invited" the early Klingons killed their gods who created them. Thus it is possible that the first Klingons were foolishly created by non Klingon scientists, perhaps to serve as warriors. If I remember correctly "Black Destroyer" makes Coeurl a member of the civilized species of his planet, while The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) suggests that the Coeurls were an artificial species created by the intelligent beings of that planet. Thus I wonder if The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950) could be an inspiration for the idea that the first Klingons killed their creators.