What was the 1st Trek novel you ever read?

[Procutus]

Anybody remember the titles of the 2 collections of short stories? New Voyages? Something like that. Really liked those...

Those were pretty cool stories. The one that sticks out with me is where Kirk is kidnapped and tortured by the Klingons, then I believe they sent him back in time via the Guardian. The main thrust of the story was Spock searching the universe to find him.

 

[USS Intrepid]

The first Trek book I ever read was the tenth of the Blish adaptations of the original series. I think the first original Trek novel I read, was either Gordon Eklund's The Starless World, or Devil World (got them both about the same time, and I was maybe 7 or 8 so don't recall which I read first). Both are pretty good books, and I have fond memories of them to this day. In fact, I still have my original copies.

 

[Rush Limborg]

I...think it was Reunion, by Michael Jan Friedman.

Darn good read, IMHO.

After that...Federation (Judy & Gar's book), The Lost Years (J.M. Dillard), Q-Squared and Imzadi (Peter David, of course!), and Probe (MWB/Gene DeWeese).

Probe and Lost Years were pretty good. The other three were AWESOME!

 

[Mistral]

Anybody remember the titles of the 2 collections of short stories? New Voyages? Something like that. Really liked those...

Those were pretty cool stories. The one that sticks out with me is where Kirk is kidnapped and tortured by the Klingons, then I believe they sent him back in time via the Guardian. The main thrust of the story was Spock searching the universe to find him.

Yeah, that one stands out for me too. And the one about the dryad in the pool encountering Mr. Spock.

 

[Procutus]

Anybody remember the titles of the 2 collections of short stories? New Voyages? Something like that. Really liked those...

Those were pretty cool stories. The one that sticks out with me is where Kirk is kidnapped and tortured by the Klingons, then I believe they sent him back in time via the Guardian. The main thrust of the story was Spock searching the universe to find him.

Yeah, that one stands out for me too. And the one about the dryad in the pool encountering Mr. Spock.

That one I don't recall. I should really dig those two volumes out and re-read then once I finish with Spock: Messiah!

 

[Christopher]

Those were pretty cool stories. The one that sticks out with me is where Kirk is kidnapped and tortured by the Klingons, then I believe they sent him back in time via the Guardian. The main thrust of the story was Spock searching the universe to find him.

Yeah, "Mind-Sifter" by Shirley S. Maiewski was the standout story in the original New Voyages anthology. Back then, when I automatically included every Trek novel and story in my chronology (and there were far fewer of them at the time), I had trouble coping with "Mind-Sifter" since it covered a full year in the 23rd century.

And actually the main thrust, as I recall, was with Kirk in a mental hospital in the 1950s and his relationship with the nurse who cared for him. The stuff with Spock on the Enterprise was more of a B plot. Also, the Klingons didn't intentionally send Kirk back; they used the mind-sifter to extract the information about the Guardian from him, and in his deranged state he broke free and fled through it in search of Edith Keeler, ending up a couple of decades later. Or so I recall it.

 

[Stevil2001]

^ That sounds right to me.

Back when I kept a chronology, I coped with the difficulty by making it an adventure in the largely empty second five-year mission, post-Motion Picture.

 

[Christopher]

^^Yeah, I used to do that with a lot of TOS novels -- mentally editing them to put them in the TMP era. To this day, I sometimes have trouble remembering whether certain early Pocket novels were actually post-TMP or if I just pretended they were. But I kept "Mind-Sifter" in the 5-year mission, which was the main reason I had to set so many others in the movie era. I was only willing to do that with Pocket novels; everything from Bantam was 5YM. I guess because of the influence their covers had on my early-adolescent mind. I think initially I just assumed the early Pocket novels were post-movie because of their cover art. It was only later that it became a conscious choice to go against what I recognized as the textual intent.

 

[tmclough]

My first Trek novel was Encounter at Farpoint. I received it for Christmas, 1987. I watched the episode when it was first on; and in December I watched the first half again, twice. But, when the second half was on, campus was closed, and I was home with my parents, who didn't receive that channel, or any other that had TNG. So, I never got to watch the second half until years later.

That said, while reading the novel, I started to realize "Hey! This is the first episode!". Because I had recently watched the first half twice, while reading the first half I could easily remember and picture the scenes. However, the second half was a lot more difficult--I couldn't remember scenes from when it was first on.

After that, I read a limited number of TNG novels, but I had a very difficult time recognizing which episodes they corresponded to. It wasn't until years later that I realized that Encounter at Farpoint was the exception and not the rule.

Since getting back into ST, both watching it and reading it, my first novel was Spock's World.

 

[skeeter291]

If I remember... the first book I read was Corona by Greg Bear. After that it was anything I could get my hands on.

 

[thirteenth]

I am a rather late person in the Trek universe (2002), but the first one I think I read was Homecoming by Christie Golden.. hmmm...

 

[Johnhead99]

I...think it was Reunion, by Michael Jan Friedman.

Darn good read, IMHO.

After that...Federation (Judy & Gar's book), The Lost Years (J.M. Dillard), Q-Squared and Imzadi (Peter David, of course!), and Probe (MWB/Gene DeWeese).

Probe and Lost Years were pretty good. The other three were AWESOME!

I underestimated MJF's talent until I read Death in Winter. The last 2 chapters were average, but leading up to that, the book was very well written and the story was great.

 

[Ronald Held]

Paperbacks were 50 cents then, so that should have been the price. Mine are not easily accessible.

 

[Procutus]

To this day, I sometimes have trouble remembering whether certain early Pocket novels were actually post-TMP or if I just pretended they were.

I think that most of them 'pretended' to be, by utilizing TMP-influenced cover art; The Entropy Effect is a good example of that. I think the first two that actually were post-TMP were The Covenant of the Crown and Triangle.

I'm honestly surprised that over the years, there haven't been more post-TMP novels to fill up that second, 5YM. Any chance that we'll get another one from you in the future? (hint, hint).

 

[Trek Survivor]

I underestimated MJF's talent until I read Death in Winter. The last 2 chapters were average, but leading up to that, the book was very well written and the story was great.

I'm reading Death In Winter for the first time now and enjoying it a lot. I've always been a fan of MJF - "A Call To Darkness" was one of the first TNG novels I read, and I clearly remember when good old Marvel UK reprinted his opening issues of the comic book series - as a 10 or 11 year old reading them, I thought they were fantastic! They still stack up pretty well now IMO.

 

[Christopher]

I think that most of them 'pretended' to be, by utilizing TMP-influenced cover art; The Entropy Effect is a good example of that. I think the first two that actually were post-TMP were The Covenant of the Crown and Triangle.

No, The Prometheus Design was second after TCotC. Then Triangle. The next one after those that I'm sure of, kind of, is the frame sequence to The Final Reflection, which is said to be 10 years after the Organian Peace Treaty and so would have to be movie era, though the text is otherwise ambiguous about that. Plus the Diane Duane books, which are ambiguous, though they're now interpreted as post-movie. Then nothing until Dwellers in the Crucible, Pawns and Symbols, and Deep Domain.

Pretty much, you could count on Marshak & Culbreath, Howard Weinstein, Diane Duane (sort of), and later the members of L.A. Graf to consistently give you movie-era novels; to this day, I don't think Howie's written any 5-year-mission fiction since "The Pirates of Orion." No, wait, his Constellations story is 5YM, but that's it.

I'm honestly surprised that over the years, there haven't been more post-TMP novels to fill up that second, 5YM. Any chance that we'll get another one from you in the future? (hint, hint).

I've always found that surprising. As for myself, I'd love to do more, but there doesn't seem to be sufficient audience interest to warrant it (which may be why there haven't been more over the years).

 

[highlander]

My first novel was Mutiny on the Enterprise. I bought it on vacation with my parents at a five and dime type store. The cover was ripped off (sorry authors). My parents were so glad I was reading they bought me Spock's World, The Lost Years, and Probe. Those were in hardcover. And ever since I have just bought titles that caught my eye.

 

[Procutus]

I think that most of them 'pretended' to be, by utilizing TMP-influenced cover art; The Entropy Effect is a good example of that. I think the first two that actually were post-TMP were The Covenant of the Crown and Triangle.

No, The Prometheus Design was second after TCotC. Then Triangle.

I stand corrected. I completely forgot about Prometheus Design. That was the one made a connection between the UFO phenomenon in our time with the 23rd century, am I right?

Or has my memory totally gone to hell?

 

[Christopher]

I completely forgot about Prometheus Design. That was the one made a connection between the UFO phenomenon in our time with the 23rd century, am I right?

Yeah, basically.

 

[Yojimbo28]

My first Trek novel was The Peacekeepers, by Gene DeWeese. I was in middle school when I read this (1991-92?) I don't remember much about this one to be honest, but it must have been halfway decent, because a couple hundred books later, I'm still reading Star Trek novels. I just might have to grab this one off the top left corner of the bookshelf and take it for a spin again.