New Readers - Are we a dying breed?

[Therin of Andor]

You try one, you like it, you try another, you get more interested, you find information online to provide some context, you keep going... why not? It's fun.

A friend suddenly found herself hooked on biographies. About anybody. It became as much of a compulsion as her previous attraction to ST novels.

 

[JD]

You try one, you like it, you try another, you get more interested, you find information online to provide some context, you keep going... why not? It's fun.

A friend suddenly found herself hooked on biographies. About anybody. It became as much of a compulsion as her previous attraction to ST novels.

That was pretty much how I got into Trek Lit back in '01, and it's how I'm getting into urban fantasy right now. I tried The Dresden Files, and I really enjoyed it, so I decided to try The Rachel Morgan series, which I enjoyed just as much. Now I have several other series in the genre that I plan on checking out.

 

[Destructor]

Yeah, I agree with Relayer: the nerdy thing is a big influence.
Two examples:
My 16 yr old son wouldn't go and see the recent movie because ST is seen in such a bad light. Anyone saying anything positive is viewed as a complete loser at school. Most of his year missed a brilliant film because of this. He finally saw it in a hotel when we were on holiday and agreed it was excellent and not what he was expecting, but he would never convince any of his peers of that. Scratch that, he wouldn't even admit to having seen it. Funnily enough, he is now addicted to DS9, but refuses to watch Voyager or TNG as they are nerdy!! I have to keep my mouth shut when his friends come round so I don't drop him in it.
Second: I was in the staff room at work and one of the people asked what I was reading. "A Star Trek book", I replied.
Silence.
Embarrassed silence with a helping of pity.
More silence.
"I've read about 40 in a row", I said (why should I spare them).
Silence.
Lengthening silence.
"Who's that on the cover? "(an act of desperation oh his part there).
"Dr Julian Bashir of Deep Space Nine." I replied (getting into it now).
Silence.
Quite a long silence.
"Well best get back to work." Says one.
"Yes, been here too long as it is," said the other.
I was once more alone with Julian and Ro. (It was Abyss I was reading).

So nerdy,very nerdy at the moment in the UK.
I keep offering a book to my wife - she laughs.
So many people missing such great books.

We are not alone....we should start a support group !

The strange thing is, some of my friends are nerds anyway - they will read a Dr Who book but not Trek ! As our American cousins would say, 'Go figure...'

Most of my colleagues are total nerds who will happilly discuss Trek, BSG, GoT, whatever is going. And almost every single on of my friends are total nerds who will totally go to town on discussing any and all aspects of Trek. And this is the thing: nerd culture is the new pop culture. Everyone's a nerd, really. At least, people who aren't nerds are the fringe. If you aren't conversant in GoT at my work, you'll get quite the crash course in it if you come to the pub with us.

 

[Timewalker]

But how does someone start now? The TV shows are getting old and are not very popular these days.

...

Any people out there started reading the books without having seen anything on TV? And how did you get on?

Back in 1975, I watched a few episodes, and a week or so later found Star Trek 4 and Star Trek 6 (by James Blish) in a department store. I saw they were story versions of the episodes, and promptly bought them. I actually read all the Blish adaptations before I was able to see all the episodes (for some reason I kept missing the first half of "Conscience of the King").

I'm one of the lucky people who was able to snag the Bantam Star Trek books as they came out. Previous to those, there was "Mission to Horatius" (which I did not manage to acquire until sometime in the '80s), and the loads of fanfiction (again, I never got my mitts on any of that until the '80s).

I was able to get the first umpteen dozen Pocket ST books as they were published, but over the past 10 years or so I've missed a lot of books - either I was too broke to buy books, or couldn't find them once I did have money. I'm catching up a bit now, but have to be more choosy - no more getting all of them, since books are insanely expensive in Canada.

That's why I love eBay. I also collect Doctor Who books, and back in the '80s I managed to get most of the First-Fifth Doctors' adaptations through the local bookstores. I remember the independent bookstore manager looking at me and saying, "We won't order any unless we get a minimum of 25 titles." I told them to go ahead - I'd buy them. And I did.

Sadly it's nearly impossible now to find Doctor Who books in my city. There just aren't enough Who fans here, so now I do a lot of my book shopping online. I recently scored The Dalek Masterplan part 2 on eBay - which made me ecstatic, since at the time I finally found the first part and started hunting for the second part, I was told it was out of print (and it stayed out of print!).

And there's no shame in reading fanfic. Some of it is extremely well-written, and I'm glad to have it available. Between what's free on various websites and what I've tracked down on eBay, I'm having a grand time getting the best Star Trek fix I've had in decades!

 

[Anika Hanson]

I've been reading since the mid 90's. I'm in my late 20's. Not sure if i'd be classed as an old reader.