Less known star trek books

[danielsf]

When I am reading the threads asking for recommendations, I am always seeing people saying "I'm glad you mentioned that one, no one ever seems to talk about it" and other things a long those lines. So, maybe we could give each other recommendations for not very well known star trek books that are hardly ever talked about but are a great read.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

Ship of the Line was a good book, but contradicts canon.

 

[Thrawn]

Here are a few that I personally LOVED but I don't see mentioned much:

TOS: The Pandora Principle (Saavik's backstory)
TOS: Burning Dreams (Pike's backstory)
DS9: The Lives of Dax (everyone knows what it is, but you don't see it recommended much)
DS9: Station Rage (imagine a fight between Sisko and an ancient Cardassian retold as Greek myth)
VOY: Captain's Table: Fire Ship (there was just a discussion about this in another thread, but it doesn't come up that often)

 

[Greg Cox]

I've always had a soft spot for "Ishmael" by Barbara Hambly. I mean, it's a STAR TREK/HERE COMES THE BRIDE crossover. How great is that?

Plus, it's a fun time-travel yarn in its own right.

 

[SchwEnt]

The Spaceflight Chronology.

Or are you interested in novels only?

 

[Mysterion]

Rules of Engagement by Peter Morwood.

 

[PaulSimpson]

I've always had a soft spot for "Ishmael" by Barbara Hambly. I mean, it's a STAR TREK/HERE COMES THE BRIDE crossover. How great is that?

Plus, it's a fun time-travel yarn in its own right.

I loved that book long long long before I had even heard of Here Comes The Bride!

 

[Greg Cox]

I've always had a soft spot for "Ishmael" by Barbara Hambly. I mean, it's a STAR TREK/HERE COMES THE BRIDE crossover. How great is that?

Plus, it's a fun time-travel yarn in its own right.

I loved that book long long long before I had even heard of Here Comes The Bride!

Trust me, growing up in Seattle in the '70s, there was no way you could avoid Here Comes the Brides.

"The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle, and the hills the greenest green in Seattle . . . ."

 

[toughlittleship]

The DS9 novel Devil in the Sky, which features a Horta.

 

[Greg Cox]

The DS9 novel Devil in the Sky, which features a Horta.

Thanks! That was actually my very first Trek book (co-written with John Gregory Betancourt, of course).

 

[Defcon]

I've always had a soft spot for "Ishmael" by Barbara Hambly. I mean, it's a STAR TREK/HERE COMES THE BRIDE crossover. How great is that?

Plus, it's a fun time-travel yarn in its own right.

I loved that book long long long before I had even heard of Here Comes The Bride!

Yeah, loved the book although I didn't know much about Here come the Brides - I actually heard about the series in the book for the first time, since their was a foreword (or afterword, not sure atm) by the translator in the German version explaining it (and the Mark Lenard connection), since the show never aired here I think.

Another early TOS novel I really liked was The Covenant of the Crown by Howard Weinstein. In the Name of Honor by Dayton Ward is another TOS novel that doesn't get the recognition it deserves in my opinion.

 

[Christopher]

^Yes, Covenant of the Crown remains one of my favorites to this day. (And my copy of it is the second-oldest Pocket Trek novel I still have, the TMP novelization being the oldest.)

I'm also quite fond of TNG: Gulliver's Fugitives by Keith Sharee, who unfortunately never wrote another Trek novel. And I'm surprised we don't hear more about TOS: First Frontier by Diane Carey and Dr. James I. Kirkland. Star Trek and dinosaurs? Who can resist?

 

[danielsf]

One book that I have a soft spot for is rogue saucer by John Vornholt, even though it did seem patronising at times with its suggestions of the enterprise needing this new saucer capable of with standing a uncontrolled planetary re-entry in the near future (star trek generations). Overall I really liked this book, and I don't really see it being mentioned.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Yeah, loved the book although I didn't know much about Here come the Brides - I actually heard about the series in the book for the first time, since their was a foreword (or afterword, not sure atm) by the translator in the German version explaining it (and the Mark Lenard connection), since the show never aired here I think.

What happened to me was that I easily identified the "Bonanza" brothers' bar fight cameo and eagerly rang an avid "Bonanza" (and "Star Trek") fan, at that mid point, to tell her to pick up the novel. It was while I was explaining the plot of the novel that she realized the major "Here Come the Brides" connection. And then we found all the other Western and "Doctor Who" cameos.

"Windows on a Lost World" is quite underrated (or hated), but I really enjoyed it. "Dreams of the Raven" and "Pawns and Symbols" don't get mentioned very often and are solid, quirky reads.

 

[PaulSimpson]

And I'm surprised we don't hear more about TOS: First Frontier by Diane Carey and Dr. James I. Kirkland. Star Trek and dinosaurs? Who can resist?

Me. As I remember, it was pretty appalling - I recall having serious problems getting through that one!

 

[bullethead]

Blaze of Glory and The Romulan Prize are pretty good TNG novels that feature Romulans as the antagonists. Sadly, since the author only did three Trek novels, including those two, they get lost in the mix of the early Trek tie-ins, before the editors made everything into one continuity.

Michael Jan Friedman's Crossover was pretty good book too, especially since it seemed to be a more fitting story for Generations.

I don't know if this counts as "less known," but I've always felt the New Earth/Challenger series is pretty under the radar, despite the fact that it seems quite popular with libraries.

The Brave and The Bold was a nice little minseries that fleshed out some of the characters that had been mere guest stars in the show, plus it was my first introduction to the IKS Gorkon cast, which is another novel series that seems to be under the radar.

 

[Christopher]

...before the editors made everything into one continuity.

Rather, the editors and authors mutually developed a continuity that included most, but not all, Trek literature. Some things like the Shatner novels and the Crucible trilogy were deliberately kept separate from the main continuity and other novels were standalones that had no specific links to it.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

Blaze of Glory and The Romulan Prize are pretty good TNG novels that feature Romulans as the antagonists. Sadly, since the author only did three Trek novels, including those two, they get lost in the mix of the early Trek tie-ins, before the editors made everything into one continuity.

Michael Jan Friedman's Crossover was pretty good book too, especially since it seemed to be a more fitting story for Generations.

I don't know if this counts as "less known," but I've always felt the New Earth/Challenger series is pretty under the radar, despite the fact that it seems quite popular with libraries.

The Brave and The Bold was a nice little minseries that fleshed out some of the characters that had been mere guest stars in the show, plus it was my first introduction to the IKS Gorkon cast, which is another novel series that seems to be under the radar.

You forgot to mention that it also involves Constitution class ship

I think Romulan Strategem was also a good novel about Romulans.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Chain of Attack/The Final Nexus. These two TOS adventures were epic in scope....

Spoiler: gateways

Gateways crossing infinitely vast distances, and then we learn all the exit apertures are in whole other universes too!

The Starless World. The Dyson Sphere the TOS crew discovered. Meet Uhura's father!

 

[OverlordSpock]

Chain of Attack/The Final Nexus. These two TOS adventures were epic in scope....

Spoiler: gateways

Gateways crossing infinitely vast distances, and then we learn all the exit apertures are in whole other universes too!

An earlier novel that these two may or may not actually be a sequel of sorts of was The Abode of Life by Lee Correy. I found this book to be utterly fascinating when I first read it (back sometime in the mid-80s). I've read it a few times since then and, although it doesn't really hold up to cannon anymore, it holds up as a good Star Trek story in its own right. I know it will never happen, but I would love to return to Mercan one day.