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Old 10-02-2006, 02:03 PM   #1
Bob Russell
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Question about Star Trek Books
I'm interested in the Star Trek books, but have no idea where to start... there seem to be millions of them and I would like some sort of natural progression in case I like them. You know, a series or collection with some natural order. And even some way to figure out what to choose based on whether I want to read TOS, New Generation, DS9, etc. Heck, maybe even other settings like Andromeda, Babylon 5, Farscape, etc.

Anyone know enough about these books to give us an idea of how to get started in an organized way? (And be able to read in sequence the things that should be read together!)
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Old 10-02-2006, 02:18 PM   #2
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You don't ask for much, do you, Bob?

I don't read the Star Trek books, mostly 'cause there are so stinkin' many of them, where do you start?

My brother and I read quite a few of them years ago from the library, but that was all Original Series stuff (well before The Next Generation series started).

I did read a few of the newer ones, but they failed to engage me (pardon the pun) so I didn't continue.

Here might be a place to start, when you're jumping in cold. I haven't looked at the guy's list in much detail, but he seems to have a considered approach to them, so....
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Old 10-02-2006, 02:26 PM   #3
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_novels
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Old 10-02-2006, 02:33 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NatCh
You don't ask for much, do you, Bob?
I'll take whatever answers I can get! And the info is great already between your link and the wikipedia entry. Thanks!

I'm getting quite excited about trying them!
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Old 10-02-2006, 03:44 PM   #5
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Just pick a series and start with #1

For most TOS and TNG books, order doesn't really matter unless it's a 2 or more parter. For Voyager, DS9, New Frontier, and SCE books the order does matter, they all link back to one another. And really almost every Star Trek book published after 2000 follows someway in a series.

I've been reading Trek for a while so it's pretty easy for me to keep up with the 2 books a month they come out with. The main focus nowadays is on the TNG and DS9 novels to get a gist for the Star Trek "universe". The DS9 relaunch series is def my favorite and it starts with "A Stitch in Time" written by Andrew Robinson (the guy who played Garek). That series has to read in order or you will not know what the hell is going on. I don't really like the Voyager relaunch but it's only half a dozen books at this point so it would be easy to catch up there. For TNG, I say start with the "A Time To..." series. It's seven books that take place after insurrection and before Nemesis. The books before that don't really need to read in any order and the same goes for any TOS book except for Shatner's "Kirk Lives" series which I actually like.
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Old 10-08-2006, 06:24 PM   #6
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Was this brought on by the included Vanguard book on the Sony Reader? I never really considered trying any Star Trek books but when I got mine I started reading it since it was already there and have been surprised. I'm about 300 pages in and it is actually pretty decent. I understand it's the first in the series, I might need to pick up the rest.
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Old 10-08-2006, 10:20 PM   #7
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I've thought about the Star Trek books in the past. Plus I like to read books that aren't hard to get into. I figured a familiar and fun setting would make the books effortless to follow.

But yes... it's because of the Vanguard book. I like it also!
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Old 10-09-2006, 09:19 AM   #8
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I just skimmed the Wiki list... man, there are a lot of those suckers, aren't there?

Speaking as a TOS reader, I've read all of the Bantam original novels... order is not an issue at all, so pick the one that most strikes your fancy. Same goes for the unnumbered Pocket books, of which I've read everything up to "Probe." I can recommend all of the books above, but if I was going to be crazy enough to recommend any single book out of those, I might pick "Prime Directive" as the first book I'd try.

Fortunately, Paramount maintained high quality throughout the TOS books, so all of them are good reads (though the episode novelizations are a bit dry).
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Old 10-10-2006, 02:03 PM   #9
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Probe is a good book.

IMO the best Star Trek book ever was Federation, Dark Mirror is a close second though.
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Old 10-10-2006, 10:39 PM   #10
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Am I dumb here or did Sony include Book 1 of a series by default on the new reader and then not put Book 2 in their own store? I can't find the next Vanguard book anywhere in there?

BTW, is it normal for Star Trek books to change authors during a series? I thought it was strange Vanguard book 1 is by a different author than book 2 and then the original author does book 3.
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Old 10-11-2006, 04:54 AM   #11
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I thought that was odd also.

But is the next Vanguard book even written? I didn't see it at Amazon either.
(BTW, I just noticed for the first time today that Amazon has integrated a customer wiki. Interesting!)
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Old 10-11-2006, 08:44 AM   #12
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I saw it on Amazon, in paperback for $8. Says it was released June 27th. The third book is not out until next year I think.
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Old 10-11-2006, 09:27 AM   #13
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So maybe the plan was to have it in e-book at the Connect store after the initial $50 coupon expires?
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Old 10-15-2006, 09:39 PM   #14
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Hi,

You can really start anywhere with the majority of the novels. There are some multi-book stories, but many, many of them are one-offs. Just pick a Trek series you most enjoy, look at the back to make sure it's not part of a long arc, see if the plot piques your interest, then start.

One of the more interesting series, which I doubt very much are electronic, are the so-called Blish-books which were literally TV episodes rewritten in book format. If I recall correctly, they were re-issued in the late 80s, but I might not be remembering that right.

Oh, and if you're a fairly observant Star Trek fan, you'll note a lot of weird continuity errors. For instance, one book, "Strangers From The Sky," which tells a pretty detailed account of the Vulcans first contact with Humans, is almost all nullified by later stories. My understanding is that Paramount doesn't consider the books part of the so-called canon.

I had a lot of fun reading them when I did. Not so much anymore.
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Old 10-20-2006, 01:44 PM   #15
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I haven't read one in years (and I don't usually read "TV" sf books), but I do remember fondly and can recommend the following original series books:

The Final Reflection by John M. Ford
Yesterday's Son (Star Trek, No 11) by A.C. Crispin
Ishmael (Star Trek, No 23) by Barbara Hambly

The first is a bit of pre-history, involving early human-klingon relations from the klingon point of view. The other two are time-travel stories with Spock as a central character.

I'm a Barbara Hambly fan anyway, which is why I picked up Ishmael, but the book stood on its own quite well. None of these are dependent on any others, but familiarity with the original Trek universe is probably best to be able to appreciate what's going on in them.

Happy reading,
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