Ok, so I stopped reading Star Trek books a while back because they just got really bad...the exception in my opinion was the "season 8" DS9 stuff, that was great. And that kind of brings up my question, are there any good post-end of TNG books out there yet? I'm hesitant just because Star Trek books really burned me the last few times I tried to read them, but I am frankly curious to see where the writers are taking that whole universe now that the movies are going back to TOS.
I would be interested in the answer to that myself. I gave up trying to read Star Trek novels LONG ago.
I just started one because the reviews are good, Day of the Viper, the first of the Terok Nor series and DS9 is my favorite Trek. I am 60 pages into it and it isn't BAD its just boring. The first of Harry Harrison's Deathworld Trilogy appeard on the Gutenberg Project. I downloaded that. Day of the Viper is 435 pages and Deathworld 1 is 174 pages. A lot more happens in 40 pages in a book from the 60s than in 60 pages of a book these days. Too much writing and not enough story telling. I'm supposed to spend $8 on a book to be bored?
http://books.simonandschuster.com/9781416550938
Since DS9 is my favorite Trek I decided to give it a try and I was curious about what they came up with as a prelude to the arrival of the Federation. I'll keep going since it hasn't actually alienated me yet. LOL But it is about as interesting as a Harry Potter book so far. And I didn't read two of those for enjoyment but to know what I was criticizing.
The thing is, Star Trek is television. I could tell it wasn't as good as decent sci-fi literature `when I first watched it in the 60s. But it was just an hour and didn't require reading so it had a different standard to meet. I think most of the books are just trying to cash in on the wide spread Star Trek addiction.
psik
Last edited by psikeyhackr; April 25th, 2009 at 10:43 AM. Reason: add link, sp err
Hmmm...prequel to Federation arrival may be cool...the first few books of the post-season 7 were quite interesting, namely the renewed exploration of the Gamma Quadrant and the gradual buildup of yet ANOTHER mega enemy race...but then it all kinda fell apart, Sisko was reintroduced in a really kooky way, and hey...the chest-dwelling worms from TNG season 1 are back...??? Wha?
I've never been a major Star Trek fan. Sure I enjoyed some of the films and TV shows, but never read the novels. However, I have read a few of Peter David's novels (and many of his comics) and Peter David is considered one of the top writers of Star Trek novels
You might enjoy the Star trek TITAN series of novels.
I wrote book #4 and a fifth one is coming out soon.
And the recent Star Trek: Destiny trilogy might just blow your socks right off.
I wish I had a book to recommend but I stopped reading them a long time ago.
I think I liked the older books the best since they simply tried to emulate the same story style into a book form - made for a nice little afternoon of reading. The newer books try too hard and end up falling short or are just trying to cash in on Star Trek fame. Not to make it a blanket statement, but it makes it really hard to find the good ones when they do appear.
I will take a look at the recommendations here though, who knows it might get me reading them again lol. Til then, I'm just going to stick with my current writing project and worry about it later
No. That's wrong. If you stopped reading years ago you are missing out on some AMAZING writing done by people who are very talented and very serious about writing good fiction (Star Trek or not).Originally Posted by Sparx1_1
Please don't tar us with that brush because ALL of us are busting our asses to put out really good work. We treat Star trek fiction precisely the way we treat our "original" fiction.
Please don't make judgments based on info that is years out of date. You'll make Baby Jesus cry.
I thought the first TNG books that came out were very weak. The numbered series ones, I mean. I think Ghost Ship was the first. They were basically just pulp books churned out very quickly.
The proper novels however, that started coming out later and were unrelated to the series are very good.
http://onceuponageek.com/2008/11/13/...stuff-i-enjoy/
This isn't a recommendation by me, just a link I found.
psik
As I said, if you haven't picked up a Trek novel or collection in the last few years, you are missing out. They are competitive with nearly everything that's out by non-tie-in authors.
They have nothing to do with past eras of Trek Lit.
I just finished Rogue Saucer by John Vornholt
http://www.amazon.com/Rogue-Saucer-S.../dp/0671549170
I would give it 3 stars. I didn't have any trouble finishing it. I am still only 60 pages into Day of the Viper. This book gets into the story faster and doesn't do a lot of boring wordy character introductions and explanations. It is only 190 pages in my e-book reader. It is all action and excitement, lots of deaths. It is interesting in that it has Ro Laren with the Maquis after she left the Enterprise.
It uses one particular thing that annoys me which was also used in a few TNG episodes but never in TOS that I recall. They turn life support off and behave as though the ship will become unlivable in a few minutes or hours. Like the air in the ship could be used up quickly and the ship would get cold. There are 3 ways of transferring heat, conduction, convection and radiation. A spaceship in a vacuum cannot conduct or convect. The crew should last for days without life support.
I don't consider this to be competition for any of Bujold's SF works or most of the Honor Harrington series. This story does qualify as military sci-fi. I suppose it was kind of nice to be able to finish a Star Trek story though.
psik
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=98297 points to a thread in a Trek forum about the Top 10 Trek books.
Last edited by Rob B; July 29th, 2009 at 11:20 AM. Reason: A little helpful explanation
I think I should have put more emphasis on the part where I said it makes it hard to find the good books that are out there lol.
I know there are some AMAZING Trek books, but thanks to the not so amazing ones that flood the market from time to time, it makes it hard for someone like to me to "catch up". That's why I take the time to read threads like this - so that I can get decent recommendations and save myself the trouble and aggravation.
That is the problem with Trek, with Sci-Fi and with books in general.
Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crud.
The strange thing is that the good stuff doesn't float to the top all that well. Certain things get mentioned a lot, Dune, Ender's Game but a lot of good stuff just gets buried. There are plenty of things I think are better than Neuromancer but don't get mentioned nearly as much.
From my perspective a lot of people that say they like science fiction seem to dislike science.
psik
Pick the best book from each series
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=100952
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