Book reading timeline

[mindx2]

Hello everyone,
I've been reading these boards for many years and finally decided to join. I especially enjoy and respect the fact that many of the authors take the time to join in on discussions and patiently answer readers questions or comments.

I've enjoyed the direction of Trek Lit since I began reading the DS9 re-launch. Previous to that I had read different and scattered bits of Trek Lit mainly focused on TOS/TNG with Yesterday's Son being my first Trek novel all those years ago . The direction Star Trek books have taken has really drawn me back into this wonderful universe. I am one of those who loves the idea of a "shared universe" that effects all the other novels. This makes me feel like the story doesn't end when I've finished one novel and that the "next chapter" is the book coming out next.

I am very grateful for the Charting the Novel-verse created by Turtletrekker and am using it to complete a collection of Trek books based off of it. I am trying to purchase and track down only those novels that effect or are referenced in another book. Some of the DS9 books are harder to come by but I'm making steady progress.

I do have a question however: Is there a reading timeline for the TNG era of books (TNG, CoE, Titan, Voyager, DS9) listed on the web somewhere based on Turtletrekker's list? One that shows which story (novel) comes 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. regardless of which series? I thought I might ask before I tried to figure it out myself (selfishly using the hard work done by others ).

Thank you very much for any help and I'm glad to have finally joined this most excellent board !!

 

[Thrawn]

These are the important ones.

First is the whole DS9 Relaunch. Publication order from Memory Beta, just search "DS9 Relaunch". You can skip The Left Hand of Destiny and all the comics. Typhon Pact comes later.

Then, skip a year, and:

VOY: Homecoming
VOY: The Farther shore
VOY: Old Wounds
VOY: Enemy of My Enemy

Then, skip a year (I think? More or less?) and the rest all flows from there:

TNG: A Time to Be Born
TNG: A Time to Die
TNG: A Time to Sow
TNG: A Time to Harvest
TNG: A Time to Love
TNG: A Time to Hate
TNG: A Time to Kill
TNG: A Time to Heal
TNG: A Time for War, a Time for Peace
TNG: Death in Winter
TTN: Taking Wing
TTN: The Red King
TNG: Articles of the Federation
TTN: Orion's Hounds
TNG: Resistance
TNG: Q & A
TNG: Before Dishonor
TTN: The Sword of Damocles
TNG: Greater Than The Sum
Destiny: Gods of Night
Destiny: Mere Mortals
Destiny: Lost Souls
TNG: Losing The Peace
A Singular Destiny
VOY: Full Circle
VOY: Unworthy
VOY: Children Of The Storm
TTN: Over a Torrent Sea
TTN: Synthesis
Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game
Typhon Pact: Seize the Fire
Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire
Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony
TNG: Indistinguishable From Magic

There's also DTI: Watching The Clock, which you can read at any point after A Singular Destiny, really.

That's pretty much it.

Oh, also: feel free to skip the first 4 Voyager books and the first 6 A Time To... books.

 

[mindx2]

Thanks Thrawn. That helps quite a bit. However, what about all the "un-officiallly" connected books to the relaunches such as Vendetta, Q-books, Gemworld, etc.? The Charting the Novel-verse connects many more previous books that have certain characters or events that are later referenced in the relaunch books. Does anyone have a working reading order for these?

I know some will say just read whichever ones you want in whatever order but I'm a bit anal about these things. Plus I want to order all the book chronologically on my bookshelf !

 

[Deranged Nasat]

You want an exhaustive list?

Okay, here's a possible answer to your questions above. Thrawn gave you the most important, but if you want to know what else is connected, I'll give a list of most of the post-series stories that form part of, or tie into, the mainstream continuity. This is deliberately extensive, basically overkill. Keep in mind you don't have to read anything (well, starting a particular series half way might be a bad idea . If you want to know what in particular to read, the others can give pointers. But here's the big one. In more-or-less in-universe chronological order:

The Battle of Betazed
Tales of the Dominion War
Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliances
The Left Hand of Destiny, book one
The Left Hand of Destiny, book two
Gemworld, book one
Gemworld, book two
Diplomatic Implausibility
A Stitch in Time
SCE omnibus: Have Tech, Will Travel
Avatar, book one
Avatar, book two
SCE omnibus: Miracle Workers
Section 31: Abyss
Demons of Air and Darkness
SCE omnibus: Some Assembly Required
Twilight
The Brave and the Bold, book two
SCE omnibus: No Surrender
SCE omnibus: Foundations
SCE omnibus: Wildfire
This Gray Spirit
Cathedral
A Good Day to Die
SCE omnibus: Breakdowns
Lesser Evil
Honour Bound
Rising Son
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Aftermath
Unity
Enemy Territory
Worlds of DS9: Trill: Unjoined
Worlds of DS9: Bajor: Fragments and Omens
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Grand Designs
Worlds of DS9: Andor: Paradigm
A Burning House
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Creative Couplings
Worlds of DS9: Ferenginar: Satisfaction Is Not Guaranteed
Mirror Universe anthology: Shards and Shadows
Worlds of DS9: Cardassia: The Lotus Flower
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Wounds
The Genesis Wave, book one
The Genesis Wave, book two
Worlds of DS9: Dominion: Olympus Descending
Genesis Force
Warpath
Fearful Symmetry
Vulcan's Soul: Exodus
The Soul Key
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Out of the Cocoon
Vulcan’s Soul: Exiles
Vulcan’s Soul: Epiphany
Corps of Engineers omnibus: What’s Past
Voyager: Homecoming
Voyager: The Father Shore
The Never-Ending Sacrifice
Voyager: Old Wounds
Voyager: Enemy of my Enemy
A Time to Be Born
A Time to Die
A Time to Sow
A Time to Harvest
A Time to Love
A Time to Hate
A Time To Kill
A Time to Heal
A Time For War/A Time for Peace
Death in Winter
Titan: Taking Wing
Titan: The Red King
Resistance
Titan: Orion’s Hounds
Q and A
Titan: Sword of Damocles
Before Dishonour
Articles of the Federation
Greater Than the Sum
Destiny: Gods of Night
Destiny: Mere Mortals
Destiny: Lost Souls
A Singular Destiny
Losing the Peace
Voyager: Full Circle
Titan: Over a Torrent Sea
Voyager: Unworthy
Titan: Synthesis
Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions
Voyager: Children of the Storm
Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire
DTI: Watching the Clock
Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game
Typhon Pact: Seize the Fire
Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony
Indistinguishable From Magic

If you want to be even more exhaustive, the above books sometimes reference the events of novels set earlier than the series. You might, if you're being a completist here, want to get the Lost Era series and a few books set alongside it:

The Sundered
Serpents Among the Ruins
Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers
The Art of the Impossible
Well of Souls
Vulcan's Heart
Terok Nor: Night of the Wolves
Deny Thy Father
Catalyst of Sorrows
The Buried Age
Terok Nor: Dawn of the Eagles.

And you might want the Vanguard series too, set before the above novels, during the TOS series.

I think that's more or less an exhaustive list....

 

[F. King Daniel]

Lists like this are why I just pick books at random

 

[mindx2]

You want an exhaustive list?
[snip]
I think that's more or less an exhaustive list....

Thank you! Thank you! That is certainly what I was looking for as well as the Lost Era, etc. pieces. I am a completest to the detriment of my wife who has to put up with me !

Can you expand this list to also include pre-continuity books that are referenced in main continuity such as Vendetta, Gemworld, Section 31, and all those others mentioned in the Charting the Novel-verse thread? ... not that I'm not extremely grateful for your list as is !

As I stated I want to try and gather all these book into one collection. I've actually already read many of the "main-continuity" books from DS9 through A Singular Destiny. On the 2nd Beyer Voyager book and started the Titan series but was a little overwhelmed with the amount of VERY different species that make up the crew. Had a hard time getting into the first book for that reason.

 

[Thrawn]

^ Most of those are in there, actually. You can read the rest of the Section 31 and Gateways books where the DS9 entries appear on Nasat's list.

And yes, VERY MUCH YES, read Vanguard first if you're planning on being completist, because it's AWESOME.

And while you're at it, add Forged In Fire before The Sundered.

 

[Thrawn]

Actually, if you give me until this weekend, I can make a list that has absolutely everything. We're most of the way there already; I think it would sort of be fun to throw in there absolutely everything important. I've read almost all of it in the last two years; it'd be fun to get it all sorted out.

 

[Plaristes]

By "everything," will you include the comics and games that have been referenced as well?

 

[SPCTRE]

Hello everyone,
I've been reading these boards for many years and finally decided to join. I especially enjoy and respect the fact that many of the authors take the time to join in on discussions and patiently answer readers questions or comments.

Welcome to the board

 

[JD]

By "everything," will you include the comics and games that have been referenced as well?

Other than the STO novel, Starfleet Academy, and Klingon novelisations , I don't think any of the games have ever had anything to do with the books. Those three are not part of the novelverse.

 

[mindx2]

Actually, if you give me until this weekend, I can make a list that has absolutely everything. We're most of the way there already; I think it would sort of be fun to throw in there absolutely everything important. I've read almost all of it in the last two years; it'd be fun to get it all sorted out.

I patiently await this list ! I also love these type of list and it will help me sort out and find everything I need. Now it might take me a bit longer to actually read it all but that is the fun part!! Everything from Vanguard on would be awesome! I also think that the comics mentioned in the Charting the Novel-verse thread would be a nice bonus...?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Okay, hold on to your sombreros, here's the really big version (hopefully saving Thrawn some work). All of these fit together, most link in with each other to some degree (minor or otherwise) and I've included a few that have no real overt connection but still fit comfortably in there. I've also included most of the New Frontier books, but I've underlined them - events and characters from that series are frequently referenced in the "mainstream" but it tends to do its own thing. So they're sort of blurred when it comes to linking in but worth including in a super-expanded list. Again, this is moving more or less chronologically from an in-universe perspective:

Enterprise (22nd century):

Rosetta (not of major importance, but fits fine and gets a reference or two elsewhere)
The Good That Men Do
Kobayashi Maru
The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptors Wing
(The second Romulan War book isn't out yet but it'll go here, of course).

Original Series and Movie (23rd century):

Vanguard: Harbinger
Vanguard: Summon the Thunder
Vanguard: Reap the Whirlwind
Vanguard: Open Secrets
Vanguard: Precipice
Vanguard: Declassified
(Final two Vanguard books to come within next 12 months)
(You might want to include the Errand of Vengeance and Errand of Fury trilogies; six books that are rather stand-alone but make a few references to aspects of Klingoness that feature in the mainstream, and are given a nod or two in the Vanguard series. Not by any means essential, but you did say you're a total completist...)
(Maybe the two Eugenics Wars books, which have inspired a few later stories)
Section 31: Cloak (Not important but gets a reference or two later, like in "Ex Machina").
Troublesome Minds (No real continuity references, but nothing that contradicts; fits in fine)
Ex Machina
Unspoken Truth
(To Reign In Hell, if you included the Eugenics Wars books)
Forged In Fire
The Last Roundup (Not important, but works fine and introduces a (very) minor race that show up elsewhere)
The Captain's Daughter
Mirror Universe: The Sorrows of Empire
The Sundered
Mere Anarchy series (available as an omnibus)

pre-TNG 24th century:

Cast No Shadow (which is out either this month or next)
Serpents Among the Ruins
Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers
The Art of the Impossible
Well of Souls
Vulcan's Heart
Terok Nor: Night of the Wolves
Deny Thy Father
Catalyst of Sorrows
The Buried Age
Terok Nor: Dawn of the Eagles.

Post-TNG, last few seasons of DS9, mid-Voyager:

The 34th Rule
Section 31: Rogue
NF: House of Cards
NF: Into the Void
NF: The Two-Front War
NF: End Game
NF: Once Burned
Immortal Coil (Not important, but fits in nicely)
Hollow Men (Ditto)
NF: Martyr
NF: Fire on High
Voyager: Cohesion (This Voyager trilogy isn't important but fits in fine):
Voyager: Fusion
Voyager: Evolution
The Battle of Betazed
Tales of the Dominion War
Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliances

Post-DS9, late Voyager:

The Left Hand of Destiny, book one
The Left Hand of Destiny, book two
Gemworld, book one
Gemworld, book two (These two aren't essential but do get referenced later, worth including).
Diplomatic Implausibility
A Stitch in Time
NF: The Quiet Place
NF: Dark Allies
SCE omnibus: Have Tech, Will Travel
NF: Requiem
NF: Renaissance
NF: Restoration
(There's a New Frontier anthology, "No Limits", which offers links to the rest of the list in a few places as well as to New Frontier. The last story is set here on the timeline, so if you include the anthology you might read them all here)
Avatar, book one
Avatar, book two
SCE omnibus: Miracle Workers
Section 31: Abyss
Demons of Air and Darkness
NF: Cold Wars
SCE omnibus: Some Assembly Required
Twilight
The Brave and the Bold (Two books, with four stories set in various series - this is the chronological position of the last of the four; you can read them all at once here).
SCE omnibus: No Surrender
SCE omnibus: Foundations
SCE omnibus: Wildfire
This Gray Spirit
NF: Being Human
NF: Gods Above
NF: Stone and Anvil
Cathedral
A Good Day to Die
SCE omnibus: Breakdowns
Lesser Evil
Honour Bound
Rising Son
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Aftermath
Unity
Enemy Territory
Worlds of DS9: Trill: Unjoined
Worlds of DS9: Bajor: Fragments and Omens
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Grand Designs
Worlds of DS9: Andor: Paradigm
A Burning House
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Creative Couplings
Worlds of DS9: Ferenginar: Satisfaction Is Not Guaranteed
Mirror Universe anthology: Shards and Shadows
Worlds of DS9: Cardassia: The Lotus Flower
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Wounds
The Genesis Wave, book one
The Genesis Wave, book two
Worlds of DS9: Dominion: Olympus Descending
Genesis Force
Warpath
Fearful Symmetry
Vulcan's Soul: Exodus
The Soul Key
Corps of Engineers omnibus: Out of the Cocoon
Vulcan’s Soul: Exiles
Vulcan’s Soul: Epiphany
Corps of Engineers omnibus: What’s Past

Post-Voyager:

Voyager: Homecoming
Voyager: The Farther Shore
The Never-Ending Sacrifice
Voyager: Old Wounds
Voyager: Enemy of my Enemy
A Time to Be Born
A Time to Die
A Time to Sow
A Time to Harvest
A Time to Love
A Time to Hate
A Time To Kill
A Time to Heal
A Time For War/A Time for Peace
NF: After the Fall

Post-Nemesis:

Nf: Missing In Action
Tales From the Captain's Table (For the Riker story, though most of the others (set at earlier points) tie in to the mainstream too, and you can just read them all here)
Death in Winter
Titan: Taking Wing
Titan: The Red King
Resistance
Titan: Orion’s Hounds
Q and A
Titan: Sword of Damocles
Before Dishonour
Articles of the Federation
Greater Than the Sum
Destiny: Gods of Night
Destiny: Mere Mortals
Destiny: Lost Souls
A Singular Destiny
Losing the Peace
Voyager: Full Circle
Titan: Over a Torrent Sea
Voyager: Unworthy
Titan: Synthesis
Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions
Voyager: Children of the Storm
Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire
DTI: Watching the Clock
Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game
Typhon Pact: Seize the Fire
Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony
Indistinguishable From Magic

 

[mindx2]

Okay, hold on to your sombreros, here's the really big version (hopefully saving Thrawn some work).

Now that's what I'm talking about!!!!!!!

I really do appreciate the time you took to compile this list (and to Thrawn and Turtletrekker as well). Thank you very much.

edit: Looking at the Charting the Novel-verse thread again where do you think all the Q books go (David and Cox), Vendetta, the comics, Ship of the line, and others mentioned?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

The trilogy of The Q Continuum would slot in on that list around the time of New Frontier: Martyr and Fire on High, more or less. It's recently become a little bit iffy with the mainstream, mind.

Vendetta you can place between Dawn of the Eagles and The 34th Rule.

PS: I didn't mention the Stargazer series, which is only loosely linked in but, as with New Frontier, the characters and races it introduces are mentioned quite a few times.

If you want to include them, put The Valiant, Gauntlet, Progenitor, Three, Enigma and Maker after Serpents Among the Ruins, put The First Virtue after Night of the Wolves and Reunion after Vendetta/before The 34th Rule.

PPS: One of the stories in the Seven Deadly Sins anthology ties in to the Vanguard series. Most of the other stories work fine with the list, too. I think I'm more or less done...

 

[ryan123450]

Damn, I wish my site was ready to unveil. It is exactly what the original poster was wanting, a chronological reading list for each series, and for the entire Lit-verse. Can't wait til I get done with it. I'm about 1/2 done. TOS is so massive I've been stuck on it for a couple months. Plus my super slow work pace, what with real life and all getting in the way. The lists provided here so far aren't as complete as mine, which even has several stories not mentioned in the Charting the Novelverse thread.

<Runs away to work on the site more.>

 

[Thrawn]

^ Looking forward to it

And, Nasat, that's pretty fantastic; I still see a few I want to add, though, some in-series novels that are either in-continuity or worthwhile for other reasons.

But at a certain point, I think everyone makes their own decisions about stuff like that, and yours are certainly valid. Great list.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Well, I forgot the Prophecy and Change and Distant Shores anthologies (though The Calling in the former is probably best considered an alternate reality). Actually, there's several other entries I forgot - at least half the stories from Constellations and The Sky's The Limit, if not the whole volumes. Where Sea Meets Sky and Burning Dreams for some Pike goodness. Lives of Dax (oops!) Then there's the Voyager Gateways book No Man's Land, the Voyager Section 31 book Shadow, The Nanotech War (sorry, Voyager! You were neglected it seems...). Probably still a few more.

For what it's worth, I personally consider all the "maybes" on my list to be "yeses", but I wanted to leave it a bit less absolute for the OP.

And of course, Myriad Universes is an odd case by the very nature of the series - it's definitely not part of the continuity, yet it still draws on that continuity's bank of contents and is perfectly compatible in its way by virtue of its setting(s). So it's basically part of the idea of the modern shared 'verse even as it exists deliberately outside it.

 

[mindx2]

For what it's worth, I personally consider all the "maybes" on my list to be "yeses", but I wanted to leave it a bit less absolute for the OP.

Nasat, I'm looking for an "as complete as possible" list so throw in as many as make sense ! I'm actually less interested in any TOS stuff and looking mainly at Vanguard and everything in TNG timeline that fits the current continuity. I'll try and go back to TOS later but am enjoying the novel continuity quite a bit and want to get any novels (or comics) that are referenced in, and don't contradict, this new novel continuity.

 

[JWolf]

Damn, I wish my site was ready to unveil. It is exactly what the original poster was wanting, a chronological reading list for each series, and for the entire Lit-verse. Can't wait til I get done with it. I'm about 1/2 done. TOS is so massive I've been stuck on it for a couple months. Plus my super slow work pace, what with real life and all getting in the way. The lists provided here so far aren't as complete as mine, which even has several stories not mentioned in the Charting the Novelverse thread.

<Runs away to work on the site more.>

I look forwarded to it. The site based on the timeline in Voyages of Imagination came to a sudden halt.

http://sites.google.com/site/stvoti/Home/
http://sites.google.com/site/stvotitimeline/Home

I think those are different versions of the same site.