Book Recommendations for Newbie?

[wall0645]

Hi all!

I've been a fan of the Star Trek TV shows for a long time. Recently I saw the new Star Trek movie with my girlfriend, and it was really awesome. She also liked it a lot, so she wanted to watch the show with Kirk, Spock, and the gang to see more. However, she didn't like how "old" TOS is compared to the new movie.

So I had this idea: For Christmas this year, I could get her a Star Trek novel, so she can use her imagination to make TOS into something more like the new movie.

I am completely unfamiliar with the Star Trek novels, so I was wondering, are there books that deal with the Kirk/Spock crew? It would be nice if there was a good "starting point" book, something that you don't need to watch any of the shows to understand. What would be a good one to get her?

Thanks a lot, hopefully this question isn't against the rules. I looked in the FAQ and it wasn't in there

 

[mattburgess]

Yes - you can start by reading one of the other hundreds of threads asking what book first-timers should read.

 

[Thrawn]

Whoa - chill with the hostility. We're an online community dedicated to something; of course a million people are going to come and ask us questions. We make more fans by being welcoming, not jerks.

To the original poster - a recent, highly recommended TOS novel that I thought worked well imagining the new voices from the film was Troublesome Minds, by Dave Galanter. Coming next year, there will be 4 books actually set in the movie's version of the Trek universe.

Others are more knowledgeable than me about TOS novels though, so hopefully you'll get some more comprehensive responses.

 

[Greg Cox]

Another option would be to check out Jeff Ayer's book, VOYAGES OF THE IMAGINATION, which is a comprehensive guide to STAR TREK novels.

But, yeah, there are literally hundreds of TOS novels to choose from . . . .

 

[snakespeare]

I would nix the TOS novel as a Christmas gift idea, unless she reads Stargate or Star Wars or something like that. Probably better to just get her the Blu-Ray DVD.

If you want to read books that are more like the "new" Star Trek, I would suggest ... I don't know ... Henry Miller? Maybe Chicken Soup for the Juvenile Delinquent Soul?

*snakes ducks (for the second time in one day)

Seriously, though, there won't be any novels set in the alternate timeline known as nuTrek for a few months yet.

 

[JD]

Whoa - chill with the hostility. We're an online community dedicated to something; of course a million people are going to come and ask us questions. We make more fans by being welcoming, not jerks.

To the original poster - a recent, highly recommended TOS novel that I thought worked well imagining the new voices from the film was Troublesome Minds, by Dave Galanter. Coming next year, there will be 4 books actually set in the movie's version of the Trek universe.

Others are more knowledgeable than me about TOS novels though, so hopefully you'll get some more comprehensive responses.

I'd second this, it was only the second or third TOS book I've ever read and I had no problem with it. It doesn't really refer back to any of the episodes either (that I can remember) so she would probably be ok without having seen any episodes.

 

[seigezunt]

Definitely start with Vulcan Love Slave.





seriously, it depends on which series and era she likes best. Check out Voyages of the Imagination, it's pretty cheap on Amazon, for some ideas.

 

[Thrawn]

I think it's a little unreasonable to buy a $12 reference book so that you can capably buy an $8 novel.

Seriously - just go with Troublesome Minds, or wait until next year when the nuTrek/Abrams-verse books actually come out.

 

[Rush Limborg]

^Assuming you're starting with TOS (That's fan shorthand for the original Kirk-Spock series, BTW), I highly recommend Prime Directive. It's one of the first Trek books I've ever read.

But seriously, most of the older "Classic Trek" books (and a lot of the new ones) are pure stand-alones. I'd think...any one of them would be good.

Diane Carey's very Kirk-centric, so her books might be good for first timers, too.

 

[Timewalker]

Diane Carey is a terrible writer, period, never mind that she can't do credible Star Trek.

My suggestion is to get the novelized version of the movie. It was written by Alan Dean Foster, who has written lots of terrific Star Trek novelizations (the Animated Series), and he's a great science fiction/fantasy author in his own right. I haven't seen the movie myself, but plan to get the book.

 

[Thrawn]

^ Well, except that I thought the novelization was terrible, and a total waste of money

Apparently, there's some disagreement in this fanbase. Who'd have thought?

 

[Kibbin]

^ Well, except that I thought the novelization was terrible, and a total waste of money

Apparently, there's some disagreement in this fanbase. Who'd have thought?

Okay don't agree with this I thought that the novel was pretty good and helped flesh out a lot of what the movie was missing (granted I get the impression a bit of this was from the script and was simply not filmed or added to the movie) but still

 

[Timewalker]

^ Well, except that I thought the novelization was terrible, and a total waste of money

Apparently, there's some disagreement in this fanbase. Who'd have thought?

Okay don't agree with this I thought that the novel was pretty good and helped flesh out a lot of what the movie was missing (granted I get the impression a bit of this was from the script and was simply not filmed or added to the movie) but still

Alan Dean Foster does not write terrible books. He just doesn't.

What he does do, is make the film/TV show more understandable, more accessible, for people who want more of the story than mere eye candy. That's what he did for Star Wars (ghost wrote the novelized version for George Lucas).

 

[Kibbin]

Alan Dean Foster does not write terrible books. He just doesn't.

What he does do, is make the film/TV show more understandable, more accessible, for people who want more of the story than mere eye candy. That's what he did for Star Wars (ghost wrote the novelized version for George Lucas).

Still not got around to reading that, got the OT sat on my self, mostly hand me downs from my father.

 

[Rosalind]

Whoa - chill with the hostility. We're an online community dedicated to something; of course a million people are going to come and ask us questions. We make more fans by being welcoming, not jerks.

well said.

wall0645, I second Thrawn's recommendation of Troublesome Minds, it's a short book which captures the feel of the original series very well.

Another recommendation nobody has made is David R George III's Crucible trilogy. They were published to celebrate the 40th anniversary of TOS. Each of the book in the trilogy is independent of the other, so you don't need to read them in order or read them all. However, for your GF, I'd recommend against getting the book on Kirk, because it would be confusing for someone who hasn't watched Generations. Both the McCoy book and the Spock book are excellent, the McCoy book is also the longest Trek novel ever published. These books might be slightly confusing for someone who hasn't watched City on the Edge of Forever, but she can easily read the synopsis online and then read the book. These books are definite character studies of the three main characters of TOS, so if she liked the movie for the characters, these are definitely the ones to get.

I just thought of another one, Burning Dreams by Margret Wander Bonanno is an excellent book on Captain Pike. Another character study book, if that's the sort of thing she likes.

And another one: Mere Anarchy. It is an anthology of 6 novellas, so it's trade paperback in size and more expensive than the normal paperback books. It tell the story of Enterprise's involvement with one planet over the 30 years that spanned the whole original crew's years. So it's a good one to get for getting a feel of the whole TOS + movies years.

 

[Timewalker]

Another recommendation nobody has made is David R George III's Crucible trilogy. They were published to celebrate the 40th anniversary of TOS. Each of the book in the trilogy is independent of the other, so you don't need to read them in order or read them all. However, for your GF, I'd recommend against getting the book on Kirk, because it would be confusing for someone who hasn't watched Generations. Both the McCoy book and the Spock book are excellent, the McCoy book is also the longest Trek novel ever published. These books might be slightly confusing for someone who hasn't watched City on the Edge of Forever, but she can easily read the synopsis online and then read the book. These books are definite character studies of the three main characters of TOS, so if she liked the movie for the characters, these are definitely the ones to get.

I've only read the McCoy one of these, and found it to be absolutely wonderful! There just aren't enough good McCoy-centric stories or Guardian of Forever stories, and this combines the best of both.

I just thought of another one, Burning Dreams by Margret Wander Bonanno is an excellent book on Captain Pike. Another character study book, if that's the sort of thing she likes.

I loved this book. I found the science a little implausible and the stepfather's characterization a bit over-the-top, but the way Pike was handled was perfect. I will never view "The Menagerie" or "The Cage" again without thinking of this novel, which should be considered canon, in my opinion.

 

[NurseChapel39]

The Kirk trilogy book makes more sense if you read the McCoy and Spock stories first. The Kirk volume was my least favorite. Although the McCoy book was very long, it gave me a whole new appreciation for the McCoy character. Very enjoyable.

 

[Christopher]

It sounds like the original poster's goal is to find books that could be imagined as Abramsverse tales. So we should be focusing on books that are just standalone adventures without a lot of grounding in backstory from the original series. That doesn't apply to Crucible or Burning Dreams; they're highly worth reading if you're looking for TOS-Prime material, but as ersatz-Abramsverse material, they wouldn't work, since they rely heavily on Prime continuity.

So mostly we'd be looking for older books, stories that don't depend heavily on series references. Some thoughts:

The Entropy Effect by Vonda McIntyre: Some of its concepts don't quite fit the Trek universe as we know it today, but don't clash too much with what little we know of the Abramsverse (though it's hard to reconcile Spock's time studying at the Makropyrios with his history in the movie).

The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane: Depicts an experienced Enterprise crew with a lot of history and maturity, so it doesn't fit too soon after the film, but I don't think it relies too heavily on specific TOS backstory, and it's a good fit to the more advanced ship and multispecies crew of the new film. Also Doctor's Orders by Duane is probably standalone enough to make the cut. As for Duane's most famous works, the Rihannsu books, I think they're a bit too continuity-connected for the purposes of this thread. And Spock's World is set largely on Vulcan, so it's right out.

Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan: A good Uhura-centric novel, also great for cat-lovers. The main problem reconciling it with Abramsverse is that Uhura and Spock aren't an item, though there is a certain nonromantic affinity between them, so it's in the neighborhood of the ballpark.

Crisis on Centaurus by Brad Ferguson, Dreams of the Raven by Carmen Carter: Both books dealing with McCoy's backstory, something alluded to in the film. I don't recall any major continuity refs beyond that, though it's been a long time since I read Crisis.

The Three-Minute Universe by Barbara Paul: I recall this as a pretty interesting standalone.

Twilight's End by Jerry Oltion: Ditto. Some of the tech seems a bit too advanced for TOS, but that's not a problem where the Abramsverse is concerned.

Gemini by Mike W. Barr: A fairly recent, self-contained story, as far as I recall.

And Troublesome Minds as mentioned above would probably work too, as would many of the stories in the Constellations anthology.

Again, the inclusion of books on this list doesn't mean they're better than the ones I left out, just that I think they're more suitable for someone who's trying to imagine them as Abramsverse tales. So I've left out a lot of terrific books that had continuity elements that wouldn't fit in the Abramsverse. And there are other standalone TOS books I didn't mention, but these are the ones that stand out most in my memory.

Of course, this would just be to tide wall0645's girlfriend over until the actual Abramsverse novels start coming out in June: Refugees by Alan Dean Foster, Seek a Newer World by me, More Beautiful than Death by David Mack, and The Hazard of Concealing by Greg Cox.

 

[Timewalker]

Is nuMcCoy older than Kirk by about 10 years, as in TOS? If so, no problem. If not, Crisis on Centaurus wouldn't work, because it features a very definitely adult Joanna.

 

[Christopher]

Both McCoys have the same birthdate, since McCoy was born before the timeline divergence. (The only character whose birthdate is unambiguously different is Chekov.) Officially, McCoy is 6 years older than Kirk. (Which is lower than it should be, since DeForest Kelley was 11 years older than William Shatner, but unfortunately "Encounter at Farpoint" established his age as 137 before the respective calendar years of TOS and TNG had been definitively locked down, so it came out a bit lower than it should've.)

And naturally Crisis would have to take place at least a decade after the movie, but the same goes for most of these books. Really, I don't think there are any extant TOS books that can fit effortlessly into the Abramsverse; these suggested titles could only be approximately fit to it at best. Which is why we're doing a separate line of books that are actually set in the Abramsverse to begin with.