Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalones

[CaptainHollister]

Hey all,

Long time member who has been away for aaaaagees. (Joined 10 years ago... whoa.)

I haven't read any TrekLit for years and I'm looking to get back into it. I want to start with some standalones (when I last read, the DS9 relaunch was new...)

Any recommendations? I'm a fan of all series, and enjoy exploration/archaeology/techy stories -- although recommendations of any type are welcome, since I really ready everything.

Cheers!

 

[Darth Porthos]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

The Buried Age is worth checking out. It focuses on Picard between the loss of the Star Gazer and his command of the Enterprise-D. It has some good exploration and archeology stuff and you don't need to have read any other Trek books to understand everything that's going on.

Some other good novels off the top of my head that work as standalones are The Sundered, Serpents Among the Ruins, and The Art of the Impossible. They (like The Buried Age) are part of the Lost Era series, but all the Lost Era Books work as standalone stories as well as part of a larger series.

 

[Rosalind]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Off the top of my head:

- The buried age by Christopher Bennett, the story of Picard between the Stargazer and Enterprise years, lots of exploration and archaeology stuff.

- Destiny by David Mack, it's 3 books, the most epic Trek story written in the past 10 years, the real game changer. After Destiny, there's a whole new dynamics in the Trek universe. So if you plan to read anything in the 24th century from the last 3 years (?), you should start with these books.

- Indistinguishable from Magic by David McIntee, it's the latest TNG book, so it's a new crew, which you may or may not mind. But the story mostly take place on Challenger and involves Geordi, Scotty, and a few more familiar faces. It will spoil Destiny for you, so it really depends on how you read your books.

- Crucible by David R. George III, another 3 book trilogy, but these ones are independent of each other. Those were written for Trek's 40th anniversary, and featured McCoy, Spock, and Kirk as the main focus of each of the book. They are not so much exploration of space, but exploration of the characters.

- Any of the Titan books, Riker's new ship, a Luna class exploration vessel which goes outside the Federation and 'seek out new life and civilization'. If you plan to read them all, then start from the beginning, otherwise each is pretty stand alone. The first two books are generally considered the weakest on this forum though.

That's probably plenty to start with.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

I can "third" The Buried Age.

 

[CaptainHollister]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Cool! Thanks, folks. I'll start with Buried Age.

Keep 'em coming, I'm starting a list

 

[ryan123450]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Burning Dreams by Margaret Wander Bonanno: The definative Captain Pike story. Great read.

Excelsior: Forged in Fire by Martin and Mangels: Sulu's first missions as captain and loads of Klingon goodness.

Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock by Christopher L. Bennett: The ultimate Trek time travel novel.

Even though you asked for stand alones, you really should read Destiny. If you want a slight prologue, read TNG: Greater Than the Sum. Then if you like Voyager in the slightest, you will love Voyager: Full Circle. Two books follow it. All of these are must reads.

 

[CaptainHollister]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Ooh, "Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock" sounds great. Do I need to know anything from the recent novels to read it and/or does it spoil anything?

And yeah, while I only want standalones now, I plan to progress back into the epic arc/chronology dependent stuff. I just feel like starting with standalones so I don't give up

 

[ryan123450]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

I'm not sure if it spoils Destiny, but it very well may. I'm gonna read it in a few days, but I'm sure someone will come along who knows the answer. As far as needing to read anything else, I almost positive it's completely stand alone.

 

[OverlordSpock]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Two of the best TrekLit books ever written are both standalones (and both have already been mentioned): Serpent Among the Ruins and Crucible: Providence of Shadows (the McCoy entry in the series). Incidentally, both books were written by the same author—David R. George III.

Be aware that Serpent Among the Ruins takes place after the prologue of Star Trek: Generations and features Captain Harriman and Demora Sulu on the Enterprise-B, so it doesn't really have any of the big name characters from mainstream Trek.

 

[Darth Porthos]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Watching The Clock does give away the end of Destiny a bit. I absolutely recommend it, but read it after Destiny.

A really good duology is The Eugenics Wars. They're a bit different from most other Trek books, dealing with mostly Khan and Gary Seven. (Though Kirk and company are featured in the framing story). But they are really entertaining and don't need any prior book knowledge to enjoy.

 

[BillJ]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Troublesome Minds
The Children of Kings

 

[JD]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

The Buried Age is worth checking out. It focuses on Picard between the loss of the Star Gazer and his command of the Enterprise-D. It has some good exploration and archeology stuff and you don't need to have read any other Trek books to understand everything that's going on.

Some other good novels off the top of my head that work as standalones are The Sundered, Serpents Among the Ruins, and The Art of the Impossible. They (like The Buried Age) are part of the Lost Era series, but all the Lost Era Books work as standalone stories as well as part of a larger series.

If you want to see what modern Trek Lit is like through some standalones, then I'd go with any of these books.

 

[Sci]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

If you're looking for something a bit different, I'd recommend Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido -- a year in the life of the Federation President.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

If it's standalones you're looking for, then The Buried Age and the Crucible trilogy are the way to go.

The Destiny trilogy is too much grounded in ongoing TNG/DS9/Titan continuity to be considered standalone, and the Department of Temporal Investigations novel gives away too many plot points of Destiny. Spoilers abound.

All of those are very good, though. If you like the standalones, and if you're serious about getting back into Trek books, then you should plunge headfirst into all of the relaunch stuff.

 

[Paris]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Articles of the Federation by KRAD is a fantastic stand-alone and I can't recommend it enough. I'd also like to throw my hat in for Watching the Clock, The Buried Age, Ex Machina, and Serpents Among the Ruins.

oh...and welcome back to the wonderful world of treklit

 

[Levir]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

I second Forged in Fire.

I would also recommend The Return, by William Shatner. The story is fine, but it's the character depth that makes it worth reading.

 

[JeremyWWoolward]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

As a stand-alone, I'm going to go out on a wild limb here, and I'd actually recommend "Unity" and "Rising Son", both from the DS9 Post-Finale fiction line. "Rising Son" is a Jake Sisko story that takes place on a merchant/trading ship called the "Even Odds", and it's a story of Jake coming to terms with his father's ascension to the Celestial Temple, and while it does set up several plotlines that follow the book, it's a great read on its own, as everything's well explained and understood. "Unity" I would call the sister piece to "Rising Son", as both were written by S.D Perry (and both carried the 'Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Deep Space Nine' on the cover, and at the beginning of "Unity", there's a chronology and a basically 'Previously on DS9' recap of all the books that came before it, thus allowing you to jump right in and enjoy the stories.

I'd also recommend 'Destiny', 'Crucible' (especially the McCoy tale), 'Articles of the Federation', and 'Star Trek: Terok Nor', a three-parter set on Bajor/Terok Nor from 2318-2369. 'Terok Nor' is the story of the Occupation. Although the books have built on themes/elements and whatnot established in other stories, in a chronological sense, they happened here first, and there's an extensive who's who at the end of all three books.

 

[JustKate]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Greg Cox's Q trilogy (Q-Space, Q-Zone and Q-Strike) is really good, and it has a bit of archeology in it as well. It's been out a while, but I just reread it, and I enjoyed it as much this time as I did the first time.

 

[JD]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

I'd like to add another vote for Articles of the Federation, and Terok Nor. As for the Terok Nor trilogy, you could easily read the just the first book IMO. It takes place quite a while before the other two and tells a pretty much self contained story all about how The Cardassian Occupation of Bajor began. It is actually one of my favorite books of any sort, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Sadly the quality goes down with the other two, they're still worth reading IMO, but they're only OK, where the first one is incredible.

 

[Kopernikus]

Re: Haven't read anything for a while; looking for some good standalon

Some additional suggestions, though I concur with most of the suggestions so far:

Mirror Universe - The Sorrows of Empire by David Mack (The Reign of Emperor Spock)

The Myriad Universes-Anthologies "Infinity's Prism", "Echoes and Refractions" and "Shattered Lights" (Novella-Length "What if...." type stories)

The Gorkon/Klingon-Empire Mini-Series by Keith R.A. daCandido (Book 1 is "A good Day to die", the series consists of 4 rather short, but very entertaining and funny novels about the Klingon Ship I.K.S. Gorkon)

The Khan-Trilogy by Greg Cox (Eugenic Wars Book 1 & 2, followed by "To Reign in Hell", an epic trilogy about the life, exile and death of Khan Noonien Singh)

Not exactly "Standalones" but also not endless Series with feet-high Book-piles like the "DS9-Relaunch" or "New Frontier"