Name the first ST novel you read

[DorkBoy [TM]]

"Price of the Phoenix" was my first Trek book, in the mid-80s. My dad had that and a few of the Blish novelizations in a pile of really old books.

The first one that was actually mine, that began my Trek collecting obsession, was "Deep Domain" - also my first Pocket Trek book. Unlike "Price of the Phoenix," Deep Domain was actually a new book at the time.

I still have both of them, and several hundred more.

Several hundred, how do you keep track of your collection of books?

James

Well, I have a large bookshelf in my bedroom. I used to have two bookshelves, in the guest bedroom. But when our kids were born, my wife made me consolidate them onto one bookshelf in our bedroom.

So they are two deep on one bookshelf. Since they are mostly mass market paperbacks (which are short) I was able to order about 4 extra shelves and put the shelves closer together. I have a few shelves that are taller and have hardcovers.

They are organized roughly by series in numerical order (where appropriate). The newer serieses are just in order in their respective series.

My single, double-deep bookshelf with extra shelves is mostly full, there is still some room left but in a few years it'll probably be full. Two shelves of it are Star Wars novels, and there is some other stuff on there too, that I can eventually move to make room for more Trek.

I also have a shelf in another bookshelf (that I've also had to go two deep on) that is my to-be-read pile. Hopefully I can clear some of those out and catch up some with the reduced schedule this year. It is so hard to keep up, as many great books as pocket keeps putting out.

That is 25 years worth of pathetic, obsessive collecting. I am sure most of the people on here who have been at it as long as I have (or longer) have similar stories.

 

[ICW]

I was about 14 or 15 years old and I was browsing Barnes and Noble (well, I was basically killing time while my parents browsed the bookstore). I stumbled upon the sci-fi section and was shocked at how many Star Trek novels there was. I then saw Planet-X (the Star Trek/X-Men cross over novel) and I felt the urge to buy it. After that, I never looked back.

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ Welcome to the Dark Side.

 

[JD]

Hey, wrong franchise!

 

[Blamo]

I think it was the hardback novelisation of Star Trek IV, which I borrowed from a library. After that, I think it was "Dreadnought!"

 

[DaveyNY]

Spock Must Die!... Got it from Santa for Christmas in 1970.
(Read it twice by the 4th of July and twice more since then.)

I then picked up the first three Bantam Episode Adaptations (1967,68,69) by the end of the school year in 1971.

From that point on I acquired first editions of every single Trek book as soon as it hit my local bookstore up to the second Vanguard book. (I guess I'm getting too old to try to get into a whole new batch of characters)

I even have all twelve of the TOS FotoNovels.

Nowadays I kinda pick and choose which ones I get, and haven't even read all the eBook SCE's yet.

And I must admit I never developed an interest in the Young Adult books, though I do have two of them.

BTW: I still have every Trek book I ever aquired (including my comics).
Most of them are packed away in keeper boxes snuggled in ziplock bags.
(I'm very anal about my Trek collection, go figure...)

 

[Captain Robert April]

YA Star Trek books always confused me.

Aren't they all kind of in that category?

 

[Steve Roby]

YA Star Trek books always confused me.

Perhaps these would be less confusing:

Aren't they all kind of in that category?

Oh, that's what you meant. No, they aren't.

 

[JD]

YA Star Trek books always confused me.

Aren't they all kind of in that category?

Maybe a few years ago, but I not anymore. I'm pretty sure alot of the recent books have too much adult content in them to be considered YA. IMO when characters start dropping the F-Bomb it's pretty clear they're not YA books.

 

[Steve Roby]

No. "Young adult" fiction has a specific meaning in the publishing biz, and the average Star Trek novel, whether the f-bomb appears or not, does not fit in that category.

 

[Christopher]

"Young adult" fiction really means fiction for teenagers, material at a high-school reading level. It's probably called "young adult" to appeal to teens' desire to feel grown up, but the label is misleading.

YA fiction has its own specific format and style, generally shorter, larger in page size, and smaller in print than standard fiction (though there are exceptions such as Harry Potter and the Diane Duane Young Wizards series, which are quite ample tomes).

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

The DS9 novel Fallen Heroes. I was enthralled by the concept as a teenager, and devoured it. Still wasn't the spark to get me reading Trek books regularly... I would say New Frontier and the DS9 relaunch did that.

 

[SpyOne]

The first Star Trek novel I ever read was The Romulan Way. For a long time it was the only one. I never intentionall parted with it, but I have not seen it in years (some of my paperbacks are still in boxes from the last 2 times I moved, but some of my stuff has gone missing every time I have moved, so maybe I don't own it anymore.)

In a used book store, I picked up Peacekeepers, a TNG novel from the first season. It was enjoyable, but suffered from the limits the publisher imposed on the writers (main characters only, no character development, etc.). I still own it, and re-read it recently.
Writing under those kinds of restrictions is kind of like juggling while wearing a straight-jacket: it's not going to be beautiful or skillful, but it's kind of amazing you can do it at all.
When New Frontier was announce, I was very interested, as the publisher was lifting many of the restrictions. New Captain, new ship, characters allowed to develop, and formerly minor characters put into major roles. I enjoyed it for a while, but .... the author and I grew apart.

I enjoy the SCE books, and the first 2 of the DS9 relaunch.

 

[Christopher]

In a used book store, I picked up Peacekeepers, a TNG novel from the first season. It was enjoyable, but suffered from the limits the publisher imposed on the writers (main characters only, no character development, etc.). I still own it, and re-read it recently.
Writing under those kinds of restrictions is kind of like juggling while wearing a straight-jacket: it's not going to be beautiful or skillful, but it's kind of amazing you can do it at all.

Oh, on the contrary. It's possible to bring great skill and beauty to a work created within such a set of restrictions. There are plenty of classic Trek novels that fit the bill, like The Wounded Sky and Federation.

The limitations The Peacekeeper faced had more to do with being only the second book written, and thus having to be written before the show had aired, based on scripts and the series bible. But given that, I felt it turned out pretty well.

 

[dstyer]

My first Trek novel was the "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" adaptation followed closely by the first original Pocket book "The Entropy Effect." After a few years of getting the new books from Pocket I found out about the previous series from Bantam and collected all those as well. Like some others posters, I have all the novels since then but have them mostly stored in boxes since I now have three daughters and almost no bookshelves in the house. Someday ...

 

[A J]

The first Trek novel I read was probably The Covenant of the Crown by Howard Weinstein which I picked up in the mid 80s.

 

[pymfan2000]

"Truth Machine" and "prisoner of Vega" which my dad got for me when i was young. Then I think "Dreadnought" and "Battlestations", maybe "Vulcan Academy Murders". I started reading the paperbacks from the local public library, mostly Classic Trek stuff then moved on to TNG books in high school (I had a buddy whose mom was a huge trekkie so I borrowed/read most of the TNG book run). After that I pretty much only read stuff in college that was by authors I liked (Diane Duane, Peter David, Michael Jan Freedman, Diane Carey, etc) or that friends recommended.

Getting back into the novels with some of the income tax refund money.

 

[TenLubak]

Star Trek Deep Space Nine : The Big Game when I was 12 ish as well. Soon after DS9 The Seige and TNG Balance of Power and I was an addict.
addicted to good things before bad things. now they tell its because I have ocd. but no insurance to pay for medicine anymore.

When i first read The Big Game I had seen one DS9 episode - the one where 'they put Sisko and Miles in the box', but loved the "new Star Trek" TNG was the "old one" and "the original" i d only seen "Wink of an eye" and the movies.

 

[Davros]

Log 9

 

[Lee T]

A Stitch in Time followed by the Millennium trilogy. A few years later I read Avatar and the first SCE compilation, those were the ones who made me buy Trek books faster than I could read them.