Books Most Like TMP

So I absolutely adore ST:TMP but it always leaves me hungry for more. Which ST novels share themes and scenarios with TMP? I have already read The Wounded Sky, which I loved, and I have Ex Machina on my to read pile. I'm not feeling too fussy about which iteration of Trek it is, although my faves are TOS and the TOS movies, so fire away please.

 

So just to make sure, you mean other books that feel TMP-y, not just books in the same era as TMP? Because Christopher wrote a couple other TMP-era works, though they aren't really thematic follow-ups in the same way Ex Machina was.

 

Yeah, I just meant TMPy books. I like deep space, spatial anomalies, huge sentient gas clouds et al. Not too fussed about which iteration of Trek.

 

I've always been a fan of TMP and have tried to capture a similar sense of wonder in my books. Titan: Orion's Hounds is big on deep-space exploration, vast creatures, exotic environments, and the like. TNG: Greater Than the Sum involves contact with an advanced and highly alien intelligence.

Oh, and the third volume of David Mack's Cold Equations trilogy, The Body Electric, is a sequel to a key element of TMP and involves some pretty epic cosmic exploration.

 

When I read The Wounded Sky, that kind of gave me a TMP vibe, in terms of dimensional scope, encountering vastly powerful life forms on the cusp of changing their nature. Also included is an Enterprise crew that come from diverse and very strange backgrounds.

 

Do any novels give additional background and context for Roddenberry's intriguing concept of "love instructor" which is apparently a rather common thing in the enlightened New Human-influenced Earth society of the latter 23rd century? The TMP novelization was woefully vague in this regard.

Kor

 

They do not.

 

Just choose a book where Kirk and Spock are wearing the TMP uniforms on the cover, cover art is usually an accurate indicator of a a books content.

 

The Face of the Unknown kind of reminds me of TMP.

So does almost anything by Diane Duane, including her TNG stuff.

 

That is one of worst ways to find a specific era Trek book. The recent ones are usually pretty reliable, but for a long time to covers didn't match the content. There were a ton of TOS books that were series era stories with movie era images on the covers or vice versa, and even some that combined the two. Hell, the Yesterday's Cover shows Spock in TWOK style uniform..... but it's blue.

 

I was being ironic.

The Star Trek books I pick to read usually have art of the TMP era Enterprise on the cover simply because it's aesthetically pleasing to me, I'm quite aware that these books have been republished over the years with different covers.

 

At first I thought you were, but usually if people are joking they put a smiley at the end, so I wasn't sure.
It was actually the first edition that was usually wrong, if a book got a new edition with a different cover then they usually fixed it.
From what I've read hear it sounds like they just tended to put whatever the most recent appearances for the character, uniforms, and Enterprise were, no matter the content.

 

Every bit of slash fiction ever written.

 

Try "Corona" by Greg Bear if you can find a copy. One of the earlier Pocket novels, it has the refit Enterprise, and fits in with a TMP 'vibe' storywise.

 

Like many of the early Pocket novels, it uses TMP-era cover imagery, but is actually set during the 5-year mission, with Chekov still an ensign/navigator and Sulu and Uhura still lieutenants.

 

I second the mentions of Corona and anything by Diane Duane. Crossroad, maybe, if you want a story about knowing the unknowable. Some of the Titan books would be good for this-- I particularly liked Geoff Thorne's Sword of Damocles.

 

It's been years since I've read it, but I remember the ship making an extended voyage to the scene of the main story at Warp 11? That's why I'd assumed it's the refit Enterprise.

I agree with the TMP vibe of "The Wounded Sky" as well. Although it seems to me personally a mixture of TOS and TMP crew in feeling. Not that this is bad, cause I've yet to read anything by Diane Duane I haven't liked Treklit wise.

 

That is the worst piece of advice ever! Books like "The Entropy Effect" were printed with the crew in the TMP era uniforms (and even the Enterprise appears as the TMP Enterprise) when the story was set during the 5 year mission. You even got some covers, like "The Abode Of Life" that combined TMP uniforms and ships with "The Cage" era phasers.