How did you get into reading Trek novels?

[Kilana2]

Were you introduced by friends?
Did you buy the novels on your own initiative?

Considering the new upcoming Picard show: is it still possible to win new readers over for the existing novels (TNG, DS9, Voyager)? Or will new readers only be interested in books of current shows like Discovery?

I was introduced in TOS and the movies by a friend. I was a TNG fan at that time. The friend (with the nickname T'Pesh, a Vulcan fan) introduced me to the novels, at that time published by Heyne in Germany. I didn't read the novels in English at that time.
I never saw DS9, only a few episodes. I started to read DS9 novels without knowing the show. Characters like Kira fascinated me. I bought the DVDs and really got into DS9. Followed with the DS9 Relaunch, the best decision in my life.
Voyager was always more present on German TV than DS9. I started reading English novels when Heyne stopped publishing Trek novels. Sometimes later on German Publisher Cross Cult translated and published Trek novels again. Alas there are so many untranslated novels, they can't catch up on everything.
Something like the A time to.... series will remain untranslated, they don't have slots for it and it is economically risky. Sales numbers are low. The first two Seekers novels were published, but didn't sell well enough for the other two books to be translated.

 

[Amaris]

I was in elementary school, and one of my teachers owned several of the James Blish adaptations. I read those with religious fervor. A few years later, a friend let me borrow the newly printed Star Trek: Vendetta. I must have read it dozens of times, and I'm pretty sure I never returned it (not on purpose, he moved away not long after). The clincher came when I was in middle school and became very ill. While I was recuperating, my parents bought me my very first Star Trek novel: Sarek. I still have it, and I keep it in a lockbox (I have long since bought another copy so I can read it to death while keeping the original safe). From there, I purchased well over a hundred Star Trek novels, mostly TOS and TNG. I love a good Star Trek book.

 

[Kilana2]

I know what you mean. I've read several books to death. They look extremely worn. One of them is The Three-Minute-Universe by Barbara Paul.

 

[Amaris]

I know what you mean. I've read several books to death. They look extremely worn. One of them is The Three-Minute-Universe by Barbara Paul.

Three Minute Universe is a great story. For me, among the older novels, Mutiny on the Enterprise by Robert Vardeman stands out, too.

 

[Damian]

I was a newbie fan way back in 1986. I became a Trekkie after watching TMP, then I rewatched TWOK and TSFS. Then I went to see TVH (the only reason I remember the year is because it was a short time before TVH was released).

Then I started renting the TV series videos from the rental stores (they only had the first maybe 10 episodes of the 2nd season, but it was a start).

Then I saw that there were Star Trek novels. My very first novel was "Battlestations". I was so naïve at the time I thought it was based off an episode of the TV series. But I quickly found out these were original novels. Of course once I found out that was a sequel to "Dreadnought" I had to pick up that book and read it.

Up until I went to college I was pretty consistent with picking up Star Trek novels, including TNG books that started coming out when that show started, and some older novels from before I was a Trekkie. Then I went to college in 1993 and I only picked up a few books during that period and read even less. Needless to say I got significantly behind, esp. once Pocketbooks started doing 2 books a month. I'm still playing catch up on those today (though I am all caught up on the current novels and relaunches).

 

[Kilana2]

There are so many novels I like that were never translated: The Neverending Sacrifice and the Millenium Trilogy by Reeves-Stevens for instance. Jake was a bit annoying in the Millenium Trilogy, but I loved it nonetheless.

As I'm a slow reader in English I'm also behind and have several novels on my to-read list.

 

[David Weller]

I’m old enough to have watched TOS in its first run in the UK which was in 1969.

Some of the Bantam Books made their way over the Atlantic and I got them when I could.

When a British publisher (Titan) started reprinting the Pocket novels in the 80s and 90s, I got them. In fact I had a standing order with a bookshop and they would send me each new novel as it came out.

Then in the late 90s, for reasons I no longer remember, I got rid of them all.

Fast forward to 2016.

I had just finished Kevin J Anderson’s Saga of Seven Suns and was looking for a new space based SF series.

‘Something a bit like Star Trek’ I said to myself and realised I had it .

Since then I haven’t looked back.

 

[marlboro]

The Show:

I was born in 81. TOS reruns weren't consistently aired in my area, but I do remember watching it when I could. It played past my bedtime, but I remember watching parts of The Naked Time and Operation Annihilate on my brothers tiny b&w tv.

TNG aired here, and I started watching it almost from the start. The Last Outpost is the first episode that I can remember watching. I distinctly remember thinking it sucked and eventually I turned it off and popped in a Betamax home video of Dudley Moore's "Wholly Moses." Which also kinda sucked, but I loved it as a kid for some reason.Despite the poor first episode mpression, I continued to watch. It aired on Sundays at a reasonable time so I was always able to catch it. I was a big fan by the time "Clues" aired.

The Books:

In the early 90s I picked up "Strangers from the Sky" at a used book store. I enjoyed it even though I didn't know a lot about TOS. Then I bought a hardcover copy of "Shadows on the Sun" followed by the novelization of "Descent" and then "The Fearful Summons." Then I stopped buying the books.

Sometime in the mid to late 2000s I decided to give the books another shot. The library had some Peter David books, 3 of the Genesis Wave books, and some MJF books. I wasn't crazy about them, to be honest. So I gave up again.

Finally, about two years ago, I ordered a copy of Gods of Night and was blown away. I couldn't wait to read part two. While I was waiting for Amazon to ship Mere Mortals, I went to the library and found a copy of Unity. While perusing the opening timeline I quickly realized that I was exposing myself to a lot of (interesting!) spoilers. Luckily, a used bookstore had just opened up nearby and I was able to snag copies of Avatar and The Lives of Dax.

Between the three week span when I started Gods of Night and finished Lost Souls, I had read Avatar, LoD, and the Left Hand of Destiny duology. I was hooked. I've probably read 200 Trek books since then.

 

[Amaris]

"Strangers from the Sky" is still one of my favorite novels. Margaret Wander Bonanno weaves together a great story.

 

[JD]

I was pretty much born a Trekkie, I was born two weeks before TNG premiere, and my family watched it from the start. The rest of my eventually stopped, but I stuck with it all the way up to the first or second season of Enterprise. I lost interest in that ENT at that point, but not the whole franchise, and went back to ENT when I heard about season 4. I loved Season 4, it's actually one of my absolute favorite Trek seasons.
As for the books, my parents actually read the TNG, Voyager, and TOS Starfleet Academy and DS9 middle grade books to me before I was able to read on my own. I stuck with them once I was able to read on my own, but I didn't start reading the adult books until I was old enough to read the NF books. I didn't expand out into the other books until I found out about the DS9 Relaunch, I was really excited at the thought of books that continued the story after the show ended. I then slowly spread out to the other series, and have now read at least one or two books in every series except Stargazer, Seekers, and Discovery. I've also gone back and read a few of the older TNG and TOS books that came out before the relaunch era.

 

[Damian]

I was pretty much born a Trekkie, I was born two weeks before TNG premiere, and my family watched it from the start. The rest of my eventually stopped, but I stuck with it all the way up to the first or second season of Enterprise. I lost interest in that ENT at that point, but not the whole franchise, and went back to ENT when I heard about season 4. I loved Season 4, it's actually one of my absolute favorite Trek seasons.
As for the books, my parents actually read the TNG, Voyager, and TOS Starfleet Academy and DS9 middle grade books to me before I was able to read on my own. I stuck with them once I was able to read on my own, but I didn't start reading the adult books until I was old enough to read the NF books. I didn't expand out into the other books until I found out about the DS9 Relaunch, I was really excited at the thought of books that continued the story after the show ended. I then slowly spread out to the other series, and have now read at least one or two books in every series except Stargazer, Seekers, and Discovery. I've also gone back and read a few of the older TNG and TOS books that came out before the relaunch era.

Boy now I feel old I was starting 7th grade when TNG started.

Yeah I love the idea of the relaunches too. It was pretty revolutionary for Star Trek novels at the time, having a continuing story that would continue into future novels.

 

[Kilana2]

Boy now I feel old I was starting 7th grade when TNG started.

I'm 40 now. I was 12 when I started watching TNG. And about 15 when I started reading my first novels. One of the first novels was Bloodthirst by J.M. Dillard.

 

[John Clark]

I'd always been a reader, but for Star Trek novels, it was probably when I was given a hardback novel containing The Wrath of Khan (That book also had Close Encounters, Star Wars and ET). After that, I managed to pick up some of the Blish ones. I think The Motion Picture was one of the next ones before I really started collecting them.

 

[Damian]

I'm 40 now. I was 12 when I started watching TNG. And about 15 when I started reading my first novels. One of the first novels was Bloodthirst by J.M. Dillard.

The TNG was still a year away from starting when I became a fan.

But I was already deep into the original series and movies at that point. And I'll admit I was one of those "how can you have Star Trek without Kirk and Spock, that's crazy". Yep, already as a fan of 1 year I was already crying wolf. But I watched the show, got through the hiccups of the first season and by the 2nd season I was looking forward to the next episode.

 

[Kilana2]

Speaking of collections: I guess I have more than 500 Trek books. Some of them both in English and German. And my collection is definitively not the biggest here.....

 

[marlboro]

Speaking of collections: I guess I have more than 500 Trek books. Some of them both in English and German. And my collection is definitively not the biggest here.....

Very impressive. I rarely read books a second time, so I usually trade my paperbacks back in to my local bookstores. I do hang on to a few of them though.


I wonder how many Discovery fans are aware of the books?

 

[Kilana2]

I wonder how many Discovery fans are aware of the books?

It depends. I don't think that all of the Discovery fans want to read the Discovery books. Not to mention the books of other shows. Fans who usually love to read books of their favorite shows will be aware of the novels. Fans who are not into reading anything at all won't care about the books.

 

[Kilana2]

Very impressive. I rarely read books a second time, so I usually trade my paperbacks back in to my local bookstores. I do hang on to a few of them though.

You're not the only one who reads the books but gives them away. Despite the fact there a ebooks today, some prefer paperbacks. And it is a matter of space that you have at your disposal. I'd like to have a bigger apartment one day to accommodate all those books.

 

[Night Shade]

My mom has always been a Star Trek fan, and she collects as many of the books as she can. I learned to like the show from her, but I never really read any of the books until one day I took a look at "Mind Meld" by John Vornholt, and said, Ok, this looks interesting, and decided to try it out. I fell in love with it, and have been reading Trek books (on and off, admittedly) ever since.

 

[Desert Kris]

Boy now I feel old I was starting 7th grade when TNG started.

Yeah I love the idea of the relaunches too. It was pretty revolutionary for Star Trek novels at the time, having a continuing story that would continue into future novels.

I'm 40 now. I was 12 when I started watching TNG. And about 15 when I started reading my first novels. One of the first novels was Bloodthirst by J.M. Dillard.

This is me, too. TNG was starting when I was in 6th grade, but I liked and was familiar with TOS and the movies and already into it.