A novel newbie seeks assistance.

[Penta]

Oh, how the little things make me...want to blow my head off.

Let me sit down for a second and describe my taste in novels...As I'm looking to get into Trek novels, but am lost in the sheer abundance.

Generally: My favorite Trek is DS9 - for a lot of reasons, but mostly I just like the more realistic, darker tone compared to TOS or TNG.

I like exploring the "harder" sci-fi edges of Trek - my reading tastes outside of Trek run from Ender's Game (only the first novel, though) through to the Honor Harrington series (which I'm lightly addicted to). So, MilSF, I guess. (I've also read all of the Harry Potter books, but I fail to see the relevance of that.)

On my shelves somewhere likes a hardcover of the novel "Federation", which I admit to liking less for its story than its glimpses of Trek history.

I'm also, weirdly, a politics geek - not quite a CSPAN junkie, but I used to be.

With all that said, could someone help me find Trek novel series that would be good to put on my Amazon wish list?

(If said books are available in Microsoft Reader format, that's a tasty, but not essential, bonus - I've come to love the format.)

 

[casey]

Based on your post, I would suggest the DS9 Relaunch books, things by Christopher Bennett such as Ex Machina and Buried Age, and Articles of the Federation by Keith R. A. DeCandido.

Also, the Destiny books by David Mack are excellent.

 

[William Leisner]

Sounds like you'd enjoy the Vanguard series.

 

[JD]

I'd like to second the recommendation for Vangaurd, which is darker, with fascinating characters, and alot of political stuff thrown in there too. There's also the DS9 Relaunch, which continues the story of the series past the finale, with some great new characters who came in the replace the people who left. There's also the Titan books, which have some deeper sci-fi stuff in the second two books. These are my three favorite Trek Lit series right now, so I really can't help but reccommend them when people ask for ideas.

 

[Penta]

Oh, if only Amazon made searching for series easier...Links to the first-in-series, guys?

I'm lost.

 

[JD]

The links I put in will take you to a list of the books in each series.

 

[Penta]

Oh, just saw that post. Thanks.

 

[JD]

Not a problem.

 

[ryan123450]

Oh, how the little things make me...want to blow my head off.

Let me sit down for a second and describe my taste in novels...As I'm looking to get into Trek novels, but am lost in the sheer abundance.

Generally: My favorite Trek is DS9 - for a lot of reasons, but mostly I just like the more realistic, darker tone compared to TOS or TNG.

I like exploring the "harder" sci-fi edges of Trek - my reading tastes outside of Trek run from Ender's Game (only the first novel, though) through to the Honor Harrington series (which I'm lightly addicted to). So, MilSF, I guess. (I've also read all of the Harry Potter books, but I fail to see the relevance of that.)

On my shelves somewhere likes a hardcover of the novel "Federation", which I admit to liking less for its story than its glimpses of Trek history.

I'm also, weirdly, a politics geek - not quite a CSPAN junkie, but I used to be.

With all that said, could someone help me find Trek novel series that would be good to put on my Amazon wish list?

(If said books are available in Microsoft Reader format, that's a tasty, but not essential, bonus - I've come to love the format.)

I'd also recommend the Lost Era and Terok Nor miniseries. Some good sci-fi, history of Trek, politics, and DS9 related stuff in The Lost Era, and tons of history, and politics in the Terok Nor series, which is a prequel to DS9 and the DS9 Relaunch.

 

[captcalhoun]

someone should've mentioned "A Time to Kill" and "A Time to Heal" and "A Time for War, A Time for Peace"

these are political, action-packed and the most DS9-like TNG novels.

 

[jgdst]

Would the SCE series count on the "sci-fi" front? With it being from an engineering point of view, you tend to get a little glimpse into how that ship works, or why that computer doesn't, or just how that machinery's gone beserk and tried to kill a planet, but without insane monologues of Voyager-esque technobabble Plus they still manage to throw in the odd anomaly and other 'space stuff', so there's still exploring going on...

I find the series is quite fun in general, likable characters and has a pretty decent pace on account of each book containing around 4 stories.

Am I fair in saying though it's probably not as dark as DS9-R, Terok Nor or Vanguard on the whole, it does have some good dark moments? Definitely worth picking up the first book though, just to dip your toe in the water

 

[Christopher]

^^For the most part, I wouldn't call SCE hard SF. It had some stories that were, but mostly it was more character-driven -- and frankly, in some stories, the science and tech were extremely fanciful.

 

[jgdst]

^^For the most part, I wouldn't call SCE hard SF. It had some stories that were, but mostly it was more character-driven -- and frankly, in some stories, the science and tech were extremely fanciful.

DAMN!

Can't blame a guy for trying

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Based on what you describe, I would definitely go for the Terok Nor series. You really get the feeling you're reading history as you go through it--but with a great take on the characters as well.

 

[EmperorKalan]

Aside from seconding, thirding, etc., the things mentioned above, Titan: Orion's Hounds had a good hard-SF edge, with it's exploration of various types of cosmozoans (space-dwelling life forms).

 

[Christopher]

^^I should make it clear, though, that though my books such as Ex Machina and Orion's Hounds are pretty much "hard SF" (as much as you can get in Trek, anyway), they definitely aren't military SF, which the original poster expressed an interest in. So I don't want the OP to get the wrong impression.

 

[Penta]

So much info...including author commentary! Thanks.

Now, however, for the key question: What's still in print? I'm trying to order through Amazon, and not finding some of these books available new.

 

[Jaron]

Now, however, for the key question: What's still in print? I'm trying to order through Amazon, and not finding some of these books available new.

I couldn't tell you offhand which books are in print, but as far as the DS9 relaunch is concerned, look for Twist of Faith and These Haunted Seas which are omnibus collections of the first several books in the series. They should be easier to find new.

 

[JD]

I'm pretty sure that the Vanguard and Titan books are still in print. As for the other series, I'm not sure about the Lost Era books (which I'll also add a recommendation for) and the Terok Nor trilogy just came out a few months ago, so they should be easy to find.

 

[foravalon]

Based on the OP, I'd have to agree with Christopher's comments in that regard. I also agree with many of the previous posters with regards to the DS9 Relaunch, the Lost Era, and Vanguard.

I'd also like to add my enthusiastic support for the Tales of the Dominion War anthology as well as anything written by David Mack, whom I can't recommend enough and who sounds right up your alley. For rollicking good romps I also highly recommend anything by Keith R.A. DeCandido. There are many excellent trek authors both past and present but with those two especially you pretty much can't go wrong.