Please help an ill newbie find something good! :-)

[Cepstrum]

Hi

I haven't posted to the fora for a very long time. After a botched surgery, I was hospitalized twice with two unrelated, life-threatening medical conditions. In the first I should have died, and in the second I nearly did. In June twice I fell into a coma/physical death b/c of liver failure and they could only just barely revive me in time.

Anyhow, I've been buffeted by terrible after effects: inability to walk, lost use of an arm/hand, horrible pain from so many things that night is more a nightmare.

To pass the night, I tried out Trek Lit for the first time by getting Destiny on iBooks and had the computer-voice read it too me; I was gripped and loved it. I thought I could continue this "pain reliever" by getting the Typhoh Pact's first two novels. Their episodic nature disapionted me; I can't even finish the second. :-/


My plea for help: can anyone recommend a trilogy-type set of novels that are gripping and serialized? I don't "get", e.g., which novels in the TNG-R are good * and* serial. Is it the "Time to..." books? " Greater than the Sum," *"Unworthy," "Q & A"? What about "Articles of the Federation" (I enjoyed "A Singular Destiny")


I'm just such a newbie at Trek lit. But I really need a good few novels to download on iBooks so I can listen to them during my horrific nights.


note: I don't require TNG-R; a crossover miniseries would be good, and I've read good things about the DS9-R and the post-Destiny VOY-R. I just am baffled and can't afford buying a lot of books and using trial-and-error... "Brave and the Bold?" "Invasion"? "Double Helix"? "Worlds of DS9"? Aaah! I need *something* ;-)


So someone, please: recommend book(s) to help ease my misery.


Thanks. (I apologize if I put too much text and TMI at the beginning; my thinking is scrambled. I literally must be awake most all night and be wheeled to one of my ~8 medical specialists, from neurologists to urologists to heptologist pathologists. And in between nurses come to my home to help treat my many wounds as well as help me relearn how to walk. I'm going crazy! )


Cheers!

[King Daniel Into Darkness]

The DS9 relaunch starts with Avatar, books 1 and 2, with were enjoyable. That's probably the best start point. After that it's the four-book Mission: Gamma series, which I haven't read yet. I'd also highly recommend the Millenium trilogy. It's not really part of the relaunch, but it's a brilliant time travel/alternate future adventure. I loved it.

A Time To... is a load of books bridging the gap between Insurrection and Nemesis. I haven't read them.

The Voyager books picking up after Destiny are Full Circle, Unworthy and To Brave the Storm. They're very good. They frequently mention Janeway's death, which occurs in the Next Gen novel Before Dishonor, about a bizarre Borg attack prior to Destiny. I thought it okay, but most here hate it with a passion. You don't need to have read it to enjoy the Voyager books.

I'm sure others more knowing can give much more detailed responses.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. Get well soon!

[Clawhammer]

Hello Cepstrum,

First of all: get well soon!!!

I'm ofcourse somewhat biased, but I try my best to keep that out.

I loved the Destiny trilogy as well, it was a quick and superfast read. I also had a bit of a struggle reading the Typhon pact books. I'm Dutch and the writing style was somewhat harder to follow. Small exception is David Mack's book. It somehow nails that episodic feel, where you mind can bring the characters alive. That Breen world I imagined as a glowed green "bladerunner" city.

I have read the Voyager Full Circle books just as quick as the Destiny trilogy, Kirsten Beyer really can write without loosing the tempo. I think you will enjoy them too.

Anyway good luck!

[Thrawn]

Read the Voyager books that take place after Destiny - Full Circle, Unworthy, Children of the Storm. Not quite a trilogy, but definitely serialized and awesome. Also, read Vanguard. It's 6 books strong so far, out of a planned 8, highly serialized, and TOTALLY KICKASS IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY. (Plus every other book, alternating, is written by David Mack, who wrote Destiny, so if you liked that...) Voyager and Vanguard are the two best things going right now, you'll love them both, trust me.

The whole DS9 Relaunch is also a good place to go; very, very serialized. Each book doesn't make sense without the others. Start with the "Twist Of Faith" omnibus (it has the first four books + novella) and for the reading order after that go to Memory Beta and search "DS9 Relaunch". Just don't read too much about the characters; spoilers abound. That's quite a few books - at least 17, with a few more tied in depending on how far you want to venture afield - and should last you a while.

I'd also recommend TNG: Losing The Peace and maybe also A Singular Destiny; they're both standalones, but they follow up on the events of Destiny in really cool ways, so they're still very much tied into the overall story.

Good luck! Get better soon!

[Fer]

In addition to the great books recommended, I strongly recommend the Vanguard series. Get well soon!!!

[JWolf]

I hope you do get well soon.

But as for a recommendation, I'm going to go with The Q Continuum Trilogy by Greg Cox. Quite a fun read.

The unpredictable cosmic entity known only as Q has plagued Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise™ since their very first voyage together. But little was known of Q's mysterious past or of the unearthly realm from which he hails.


Until now.


A brilliant scientist may have found a way to breach the energy barrier surrounding the Milky Way galaxy, and the Enterprise is going to put it to the test. The last thing Captain Picard needs is a surprise visit from Q, but the omnipotent trickster has more in mind than his usual pranks. Kidnapping Picard, he takes the captain back through time to the moment the Q Continuum faced its greatest threat.

Now Picard must learn Q's secrets -- or all of reality may perish!

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Q-.../9780743491822

[JD]

Quite well soon!
As for book recomendations, I'm putting in another vote for Vanguard. Each book in the series so far is made of pure awesomesauce. Then the DS9 Relaunch, which is almost as awesome.

[Yevetha]

The Gorkon series is for you.

Its a self contained four book series with Klingon protagonist folowing a Klingon ship on an explore and conquer mission.

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/KE

[Cepstrum]

My goodness! I'm honored and encouraged by all your helpful replies. I wish I could start all of them. I went with the most cost effective, Twist of Faith (five books for $13.99). It'll be tricky knowing what to do next, and b/c of my awful nights I listen through these really quickly, so it will come up soon. (Though the automated reader on the iOS is funny at times: "Pee-card", "En-sine", etc. But it's otherwise great.)

And I wish I could get well soon. My illness has been going for 2.5 years with many life threatening times in hospitals. Worse, I keep developing secondary (though severe/dangerous/unpleasant) conditions, to the point wherein most doctors won't see me and I, for example, have four days at hospitals next week seeing specialist-professors who take the hard cases (after some already this week). I have almost no days without nurses coming to my home or making a trip to the hospital (hard given my severe transport difficulty).


Again, thanks! Vanguard would be fun given its era, the post-Destiny VOY books good for continuity (I started Trek Lit with Destiny), and I can't deny the others look good, too. One thing I really liked about Destiny and ASD was the crossover nature: it kept left me hanging as it jumped from ship to ship, earth, and the Caeliar. Would love a crossover miniseries (preferably in omnibus form, hehehe!).

Thanks again. Your words of well wishes mean a lot.


(Oh, and I'm already around about 1/5 through Twist of Faith. When you listen all night, it goes by faster for me, though I couldn't read the books myself, anyway.)

[JWolf]

The Q Continuum which is a set of three books is $8.99 for the eBook bundle.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-...81508680?mt=11

[zarkon]

Another thumbs up for Q continuum.

The Errand of Vengeance & Errand of Fury trilogies are both brilliant - Vengeance first if you give them a whirl. They focus on the TOS-era conflict between the federation and the klingons from some interesting viewpoints.

[Smitty]

JWolf wrote:

---

The Q Continuum which is a set of three books is $8.99 for the eBook bundle.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-...81508680?mt=11

Amazon as well: http://www.amazon.com/The-Q-Continuu...3780237&sr=8-2

UPDATE: I re-read your original thread and see you have ipad, of course you can still do amazon but if your into the ibooks cool

[JWolf]

But you can use the Kobo app, the B&N app, the Bluefire Reader app. And if you decide to switch from iBooks, please use one of the apps that uses ePub instead of the Kindle app. It's time Amazon moved on from it's obsolete Mobipocket format to ePub.

[Relayer1]

My advice would be Articles of the Federation. Simply wonderful.
Any of Beyers Voyagers (avoid the ones she didn't write) but Full Circle, Unworthy and Children of the Storm are truly great.

I've just finished Christopher L Bennetts Watching The Clock and really enjoyed it.

I hope your condition improves soon !

[Smitty]

JWolf wrote:

---

But you can use the Kobo app, the B&N app, the Bluefire Reader app. And if you decide to switch from iBooks, please use one of the apps that uses ePub instead of the Kindle app. It's time Amazon moved on from it's obsolete Mobipocket format to ePub.

I hear that several times but fail to understand what I as a reader gets from ePub.