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New to Trek and TrekLit

cdgodin

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Red Shirt
Hi. I'm new to Star Trek and its literature, and have been slowly working through the series on Netflix for a couple of weeks now. So I was wondering, what are the best books and authors in TrekLit? Much appreciated.
 
Which Star Trek series are you watching? The original one, with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy?

Also, are you looking for fiction or non-fiction?
 
Welcome. It would be helpful if we got a little more information, there are a ton of styles and approaches to Trek Lit. There are also stories taking place all over the franchise, from before any of the series started, to almost 10 years after the last The Next Generation movie, Nemesis. So it would also be helpful to know how far into the series you are, so we can avoid anything too spoilery.
 

Non-fiction would be reference books like the Technical Manuals, the Star Charts, or episode guides.

There's even a wonderful non-fiction tome cataloging the fiction ones, "Voyages of the Imagination".
 
Like, is he looking for in-universe Trek stories, or is he looking for stuff like The Star Trek Chronology or Encyclopedia or any of the Companions, technical manuals or memoirs?

Haha, I can see how that would look totally ridiculous, though... :lol:

(Basically rhetorical ide question: how would we classify David Mack's Starfleet Survival Guide... I mean, obviously, it's fiction, but you have to think about it for a minute...)

EDIT: Ah, Sho beat me to it.
 
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well welcome to the boards...

there's tons of great Trek books out there, spanning every series and more... it just depends what you're looking for and what sort of books interest you...

my personal favorites are the Destiny series and the Typhon Pact series, but everyone here will tell you a different favorite of theirs... some from the original series, with Kirk at the helm, others love the Q-Space books, others stick with TNG books... there's plenty to go through :)

M
 
If you like The Original Series, look on eBay or Amazon and get yourself a used, cheap copy of "Prime Directive", one of the best Trek novels ever.
 
Well, I try to watch a few episodes from each series a week, but I'm tending to focus more on Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. I'm on Season 1 on all shows, except for Enterprise, where I am on Season 3. And I'm looking for fiction books. I also really enjoy Q from the few episodes where I've seen him. I'd also like to read stories about the Klingons because their culture fascinates me.
 
if you enjoy Q episodes then the Q-space trilogy is a must... also Spock Vs Q is pretty funny...

The DS9 set Typhon Pact is one i highly recommend, most of the Mission Gamma series are damn good reads as well

M
 
^ With the caviat that you shouldn't read any DS9 books set post-series until you finish the tv show.
 
The really great stuff in TrekLit is the big interconnected continuity taking place after all the shows are over. The link in my signature is a big flowchart of all of it, and nearly every book on that chart is certified awesome.

If you're looking for some standalones to read during the shows, since you like Q, http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Q go here (don't read the article just scroll down), go down to "Appearances", and any TNG book in that list is gonna be pretty great. The Peter David ones, "Q-In-Law", "Q Squared", and "I, Q" are all fantastic, for instance.

The best Klingon Empire stuff takes place after DS9 is over, and is in the top right on my fantastic flowchart. ;)

But one last recommendation - Vanguard is a series that takes place alongside The Original Series but involves mostly original characters on a space station in a totally original storyline. It's absolutely freaking outstanding, ungodly awesome, even if you're not too hot on TOS. It's one of TrekLit's very best series, and you can read it without finishing any of the 24th century shows. That's where I'd start. (The list of titles is in the bottom left of the flowchart.)
 
I'd be cautious of anything written in this millenium, the majority of it is set after the series ended. If you find anything interesting, just ask us, we can tell you if it's spoiler free.
 
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