Charting the Novel-verse
- Thread starter Turtletrekker
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure there were some plot threads that run through the first several books, that are easier to follow if you read them in order. But, if for some reason you can't read The Red King first, I don't think you'd miss anything major, other than the conclusion of the cliffhanger from the first book.
It's not essential. Since the first two books were basically wrapping up loose ends from Nemesis and The Sundered, that made Orion's Hounds the first book where they were on their proper mission, so I approached it as a "second pilot" of sorts, a fresh start. It does draw on some things from earlier books and episodes, but anything relevant, as always, is explained in the book itself.
I'm currently reading the Crucible series by David R. George III; I've never read a Star Trek book in my life up until now- it happened to be in our hotel room and thought I'd give it a shot.
I'm wondering if there are any other book series or authors that follow David's style of writing and fairly good respect to the ST canon?
Please forgive my questions, but this is my first time reading a Star Trek book. Thanks,
I'm wondering if there are any other book series or authors that follow David's style of writing and fairly good respect to the ST canon?
Please forgive my questions, but this is my first time reading a Star Trek book. Thanks,
Well, we've all got our own writing styles, but we're all obligated to respect the canon -- just part of the rules of writing tie-ins -- and a lot of us work tons of continuity references into our books. However, the majority of the novels published in the past decade have had a shared continuity that Crucible is not a part of, because the decision was made to ground that trilogy solely in the original (and animated) series.
Serpents Among the Ruins is an excellent standalone, also by David, with some small links to Crucible. It's probably my favorite DRG3 book after Provenance of Shadows.
Let's see, this thread is for listing connections between/among novels, right? Well, I just discovered a minor, unexpected one. In Howard Weinstein's first Trek novel, The Covenant of the Crown from 1981, there's a brief but memorable appearance by a security guard named Ensign Michael Howard (possibly a self-insertion, judging from the name). The same character (or a character with the same name, rank, and posting) reappears eleven years later in Ice Trap by L. A. Graf, and again in at least one other Graf novel, Firestorm. There's also a very brief mention of a security guard named Howard in my own Ex Machina, which I intended as an allusion to the Graf novels, but I'm pleased to discover that Ensign Howard originated in Covenant, one of my all-time favorite "oldies." And surprised to see that L. A. Graf were able to include that reference in a time when the books were supposed to avoid continuity and crossovers. I guess he's an obscure enough character that he slipped under the radar.
I've been reading excerpts from various Trek books and found that a lot of them have their own "canon" if you will that un-officially explains certain origins of various species, etc. For example the Borg.
What I'm looking to read are books based on canon; which I think is the reason why I like the Crucible series. I'm trying to keep all of the prime universe cannon in order and not get confused with the soft-canon stuff, if you can call it that. Are there other books out there similar to this? Perhaps ones that follow Star Trek series or episodes in this manor? I am going to look into David's other work as well.
Also, if I shouldn't be posting questions in this thread, please merge it off into a new thread.
Thanks again,
^ I'm not really sure that that's a distinction that will hold up. Destiny provides a noncanonical origin to the Borg, sure, but Provenance of Shadows, which you enjoyed, provides an entire noncanonical marriage for McCoy! There's no such thing as "soft canon"; the books just aren't canon.
The problem with what you're asking is that all of the books are "based off canon", so what you're asking is kind of confusing. I think what you might be looking for are stand alone books that aren't part of the modern continuity, and if that is the case then I'd second the recommendation for Serpents Among the Ruins. While it does use characters and elements who either came from or were later incorproated into the continity, it is fairly stand alone and could easily be picked up and read on it's own. Oh, and if you're afraid of the "novelverse" continuity, don't be, it's pretty easy to follow and has led to some of my favorite Trek stories ever, in any medium. Unlike alot of these kinds of things, you can pretty much pick and choose which books or series you want to read without any major issues.
That's some pretty good detective work, Christopher. I'll add that to my work-in-progress website.
the books are ALL based on 'canon'. but they're not canon themselves.
For the past few days I've been reading through Voyages of The Imagination, and when I was reading about Michael Jan Friedman's TNG novel Fortune's Light, I noticed that it has a character named Teller Conlon. So I was wondering, is there any intentional relationship between him and SCE/Voyager's Nancy Conlon, or is the shared surname purely coincidental?
Just found Ensign Howard in Death Count as well.
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