Please Recommend Books For Continuity Porn or Story Advancement.

Hello everyone,

When I go through a period of Trek interest, it only lasts for about 6-10 books before my interest lapses for another year. I want to make the most of those books, so I am asking for your recommendations. Please help a sapient out.

Typically, there are two things I enjoy the most in a Trek book:

1. Continuity Porn. At least, I think that's what it's called when an author takes concepts touched on in the shows and explores them in depth or ties them together. For example, DTI: Watching the Clock is my favorite Trek novel because it ties together so many disparate stories across all of the TV shows and creates an exciting story to connect them into something greater than the parts. I also loved Ex Machina because it touched on so many little bits of trivia from TMP, everything from why the ship looks the way it does when warping to the Federation pop culture response to V'Ger.

2. Story Advancement. I love finding out more about how the 'present' is unfolding in the novels. The Nan Bacco books were great for this. I still need to finish the Typhon Pact and The Fall books, but had to read Mack's Disavowed to find out the latest on what is happening. In that score, would Takedown or Armageddon's Arrow be the best book for me to tackle next?

I'm more of a TNG-and-beyond fan when it comes to the books, so I would prefer only to read a TOS book that kills with the Continuity Porn. Lost Era would be better than TOS, but I'm not really looking for character driven stories in those times so much as something to inspire me to pull out the micromachines or model kits. If it makes me a Philistine to care more about the ships or the overarching background of the setting than about the personal triumphs and tragedies of the crews, then that's what I am.

 

Glad to hear it! Thanks!

Takedown is set a couple of months before Disavowed. I'm not sure when Armageddon's Arrow takes place, except that it's the next TNG book after Takedown.

 

You deserve the praise. The other DTI book and novella were also great. Orion's Hounds was a treat for the cosmozoan ...er, porn. The Buried Age is on my list because I assume it will have a lot of that same great stuff. I've heard differing opinions about Greater Than the Sum, but will check it out if there's some neat Nemesis fluff-tie up. What else have you written that isn't in the Enterprise era?


As for Takedown vs Armageddon's Arrow, I was under the impression that Takedown has more to do with Federation politics post-The Fall, as well as updating us on Riker, Dax, and their crews, while AA is more of an adventure-of-the-week without any bigger picture stuff, starring Picard's crew only. Is that accurate?

 

It doesn't move the main 24th Century arc forward, since it takes place before TNG, but if you already plan on reading The Buried Age, then that would be a great choice. It does give lots of fun and interesting set up and background for TNG though, so if you like that kind of stuff you'll probably enjoy it.

 

https://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/about/bibliography/

 

Takedown's historian's note says late November 2385. Armageddon's Arrow's historian's note says early January 2386. Disavowed's historian's note says January 2386 and in the second chapter a character notes it to be January 7.

 

If you like continuity porn, you should also read Immortal Coil, by Jeffrey Lang, and the Cold Equations trilogy by David Mack. There's also continuity porn in the followup, Lang's The Light Fantastic, but I wasn't as impressed with that novel.

 

Thanks for the recommendations! The Cold Equations are going on my list. Immortal Coil is already on my shelf and bumped up the queue.

How are the Breyer Voyager books? I started Children of the Storm, but there was a scene where Neelix showed up and everyone was happy to see him that just pulled me right out of the story...

 

Kirsten Beyer's Voyager novels are great. The Voyager relaunch should be read chronologically. Kirsten mostly gets top ratings for her novels, I love them.

 

I know you said that you're not as into TOS, but if you're looking for continuity porn done really well, I would suggest From History's Shadow by Dayton Ward. It does an amazing job of tying together all of the 20th-century time travel incidents into a cohesive narrative from the perspective of 20th-century investigators, with the TOS crew thrown in too because, well, Star Trek.

 

That sounds pretty ambitious. Thanks! I'll check it out and add it to the list.

Does it work with the DTI novels' version of Trek time travel?

 

Yep, it even has some light ties into the specific events of Forgotten History. And it's not just 20th century time travel incidents that it ties into, but the general history of US government and military investigation into supposed alien encounters, Project Blue Book and all that.

 

I am sold.

 

If that interests you, you might also want to check out the Eugenics Wars books. They do have some stuff with the main TOS characters, but they mostly revolve around Gary Seven and Roberta Licoln dealing with Kahn in the late 20th Century. They include appearances by pretty much every character who could convcieveably be on Earth in the 20th Century, including characters who appeared in TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and The Voyage Home.

 

And there's a followup coming!

 

Those are the ones with Khan on the cover? By Greg Cox, right?

 

Thanks for the link. I'll add Only Superhuman and Hub Space to my wishlist. Only Superhuman sounds like it will work out great when I'm in a Peter F. Hamilton/Iain Banks sort of a mood.

 

The Eugenics Wars books? Yeah, those are them.

There's also a third volume, "To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh"; it's a good read too, but it doesn't really fall in the "continuity porn" category so it might not press the buttons you're looking for. It's strictly about what happened to Khan and his followers between "Space Seed" and "Wrath of Khan", set entirely on Ceti Alpha V.

 

OK, so I won't be reading that third one, then. Thanks for telling me about it, but I really don't need any more Ceti Alpha Eel in my life.

Does that mean I should start with Full Circle? I have Children of the Storm, and have started giving it a second chance--will I be lost the entire novel if I haven't read the earlier books?

If so, I'll just transition straight to Immortal Coil, then maybe Takedown if I acquire it. The sheer number of Voyager Relaunch books I'd need to buy to read them chronologically means I'll probably have to wait for the holidays.

 

Reading the Voyager novels chronologically is just my advise. Some people disliked Christie Golden's novels Homecoming/Farther Shore and Spirit Walk I and II. Starting with Full Circle you won't be lost, but you will likely ask yourself how certain things came to pass.

I don't understand why you tried to read Children of the Storm without knowing the other novels in the first place, though.

Reading order TNG: Immortal Coil - Cold Equations - Light Fantastic (if I'm not mistaken).