Just curious what was your first Trek novel to read?

[Christopher]

By Robert Vardeman, if I remember correctly. Not sure if I ever read it, because his earlier novel, The Klingon Gambit, was a first for me -- the first time in my life I threw a book across the room in disgust. A truly awful story that put me off Vardeman's work for good. I still shudder, 35 years later...

Here's what got me about Vardeman's books. In The Klingon Gambit, the characters seemed like exaggerated caricatures of themselves -- e.g. McCoy was much more fanatically anti-technology than he ever was in the show -- but the plot involved a device that altered the characters' minds and made them act in extreme ways, so I figured, okay, it's just the result of the device. But then, in Mutiny on the Enterprise, the characters were under no such mental influence, and yet they were just as caricatured and out of character as they had been in the previous book. So much for that idea, then.

The other thing that really startled me was when I learned, many years after the fact, that some people considered The Klingon Gambit a comedy. If it was trying to be funny, I certainly couldn't tell from reading it.

 

[DrCorby]

Here's what got me about Vardeman's books. In The Klingon Gambit, the characters seemed like exaggerated caricatures of themselves -- e.g. McCoy was much more fanatically anti-technology than he ever was in the show -- but the plot involved a device that altered the characters' minds and made them act in extreme ways, so I figured, okay, it's just the result of the device. But then, in Mutiny on the Enterprise, the characters were under no such mental influence, and yet they were just as caricatured and out of character as they had been in the previous book. So much for that idea, then.

The other thing that really startled me was when I learned, many years after the fact, that some people considered The Klingon Gambit a comedy. If it was trying to be funny, I certainly couldn't tell from reading it.

I could go along with the characters not being themselves due to the influence of the alien device. What really annoyed me was that the effect stopped, not because of any heroic action on the part of the Enterprise crew, but because the alien machine just broke. Both crews then just shrugged and went on their ways. I hated that I slogged all the way through the book for nothing. And yeah, if it was supposed to be a comedy, i wasn't laughing... AT ALL.

 

[Saga]

By Robert Vardeman, if I remember correctly. Not sure if I ever read it, because his earlier novel, The Klingon Gambit, was a first for me -- the first time in my life I threw a book across the room in disgust. A truly awful story that put me off Vardeman's work for good. I still shudder, 35 years later...

i know i read it back then, i just don't remember anything about it. it does seem to be one of the most common Trek novels at flea markets or second hand stores.

 

[Galileo7]

Star Trek:The Motion Picture novelization.

 

[Stephen!]

Hi all. I'm just curious, what was the first Trek novel you read?

I forget exactly. It was either the Deep Space Nine Captain's Table Novel, The Romulan Stratagem or The Dominion War book 1

 

[tomswift2002]

Ha!
My teacher wasn't usually all that picky; she just didn't think Sherlock Holmes counted as real literature. (What would Data say?!?!) But she was cool otherwise (and still is - she's the only one of my high school teachers I'm still in touch with, almost 30 years later...)

I remember one English teacher who thought that only Fantasy, Romance, Historical and some Western books were "True" fiction. Anything from Sci-Fi or Detective or Action-Adventure or even a cross between Sci-Fi and Fantasy or Sci-Fi and Romance in her books would an automatic fail, even if you followed the criteria for the assignment. I remember one of the assignments said to pick a book that actually had printed on it that the book was a New York Time's/USA Today/another-list Bestseller, and she had not specified what genre. So I went with "Imzadi", and I didn't tell her till I had to give the book report to the class. And she failed me because she didn't think that it was true fiction (or a "true book" as she told me) even though it followed all the criteria for the report. She kind of thought Trek books were a half-breed of book not to be taken seriously.


But back to the original question, the first Star Trek book I read, seems to me to have been TNG's "Grounded" when I was on summer vacation between grades 4 & 5. Saw the book in the library, not to far from The Hardy Boys section and it sounded rather interesting for a kid of my age. But I think the first book I owned was "Capture The Flag" which Santa left for me in my stocking that year and started to read before everyone else in my house was up on Christmas morning.

 

[Nyotarules]

Your teacher made us much sense as people denouncing 'At home with the Kardashians' as not real T.V even though its on T.V and someone, somewhere watches the programme. lol

 

[Leathco]

My first book was Balance of Power. It was decent, a Wesley story, about replicating latinum with an auction for technology at stake. Not a bad read.

My second was Vendetta, and is still one of my favorite books in the Trek universe.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Mine was either Assignment: Eternity by Greg Cox, or STDS9: Vengeance by Dafydd ab Hugh. I read them both countless times before I had disposable income and could buy new ones on a regular basis.

 

[Upper pylon 3]

Imzadi by Peter David. Still my favorite author.

 

[Louigi Verona]

My first ever Star Trek book I've read was TOS: Ghost-Walker and even did a report on it in school, but barely remember what it was about.

My more conscious first book and still among one of my favourites is Peter David' "A rock and a hard place", #10. Really-really deep story. Love it and recommend to all people who love Star Trek.

 

[Lunarflower]

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: War Child by Esther Friesner.

 

[stardream]

The Murdered Sun, which was one of the numbered Voyager novels. I loved that book. I was 14 when it came out and I can't count how many times i read it.

That was probably the first book in the numbered Voyager series that portrayed the characters 'in character'. I think up to that point some of the writers hadn't even had a chance to see the show yet. Reading it now though I have to laugh about Paris' phobia concerning the lizard people.

But it's a good story. Christie Golden did a good job with that one.

 

[Klaus]

James Blish, Spock Must Die!

 

[ZappaDanMan]

Ship of the Line - Diane Carey

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Spock's World - Diane Duane

 

[Nate]

The novelization of Encounter at Farpoint

 

[ClayinCA]

I grew up in the Seventies and only got into Star Trek about a year or two before The Motion Picture came out, so there wasn't much in the way of novels, and even less in the small town I lived in. The first original Trek I read (meaning, not a novelization) was Star Trek: The New Voyages, followed extremely shortly thereafter by Spock Must Die! After that I'm not sure, but I did polish off most of the Bantams before Pocket released The Entropy Effect a year or so later. There are still some Bantams I've never read, but from what I gather I'm not missing a whole lot....

 

[Christopher]

There are still some Bantams I've never read, but from what I gather I'm not missing a whole lot....

The high points are Planet of Judgment and The Galactic Whirlpool.

 

[ClayinCA]

Ah, I've read those. That's good to know--thanks!