Newbie

[Relayer1]

Lemurette - Star Trek on TV was a huge phenomenon that lost popularity over its last decade, but there is still a hard core of fans supporting the novels. Since the TV shows were cancelled the novels have got rather more engrossing as the authors can take the show in new directions and effect real change.

And we have some VERY good authors. Two of them have already responded to you.

I would suggest that your familiarity with the revitalised original crew of Kirk, Spock and co. would make the 'The Original Series' novels a good starting point. Just dive in - there is a lot less continuity to worry about with TOS novels. You could do a lot worse than picking up Greg's latest 'The Weight Of Worlds'.

You've got a lot of pleasure to look forward to with the later shows too - The Next Generation is fantastic, Deep Space 9 is my personal choice, Voyager although not my favourite show has some superb recent novels by Kirsten Beyer, and Christopher (see above) is about to present us with his hugely anticipated relaunch of the prequel series Enterprise - Rise of the Federation.

Feel free to ask questions - most of us fans are pretty friendly, and how often do you get to converse with the authors you are reading ? That's a bit special !

 

[Greg Cox]

I would suggest that your familiarity with the revitalised original crew of Kirk, Spock and co. would make the 'The Original Series' novels a good starting point. Just dive in - there is a lot less continuity to worry about with TOS novels. You could do a lot worse than picking up Greg's latest 'The Weight Of Worlds'.

Thanks for the kind words. In all modesty, I do like to think that THE WEIGHT OF WORLDS would be fairly accessible to a self-described "newbie." It's a largely standalone adventure focusing on Kirk, Spock, Sulu, and Uhura.

 

[MacLeod]

I have several dozen Trek books, stored up in the loft. From memory like with everything there where some good some not so bad, and some bad ones. Was there a particular type of adventure you where interested in, Action, suspense, comedy etc... It might help us to suggest some to you.

 

[Relayer1]

I would suggest that your familiarity with the revitalised original crew of Kirk, Spock and co. would make the 'The Original Series' novels a good starting point. Just dive in - there is a lot less continuity to worry about with TOS novels. You could do a lot worse than picking up Greg's latest 'The Weight Of Worlds'.

Thanks for the kind words. In all modesty, I do like to think that THE WEIGHT OF WORLDS would be fairly accessible to a self-described "newbie." It's a largely standalone adventure focusing on Kirk, Spock, Sulu, and Uhura.

Credit where its due - I prefer other eras (even for Kirk and Co.) but your novels are always enjoyable.

 

[Lemurette]

I had no idea I was casually chating with big names of the Star Trek Literature! I agree with you Relayer1, this is pretty uncommon...
I checked Christopher & Greg's bibliographies; they're quite impressive indeed
I'll be following those advices all the more trustily, actually I just ordered a half dozen TOS books, among which 'The weight of worlds' - I'll soon see if I side with you about Greg being a VERY good author ;> (kidding)

In any case, thanks everybody for the advices and precise explanations!
Universe here I come *dramatic music playing*

 

[Greg Cox]

Thanks Relayer, Lemurette! I appreciate the support.

And, just to tease, can I mention that I've already delivered my next TOS novel to Pocket Books? (I'm waiting for CBS's comments on the book now.)

 

[Relayer1]

You're welcome !

 

[Stoek]

Lemurette,

A small list of recommendations for you along with an explanation as to why,

Spock's World - In your earliest posts you mention a specific interest in novels focusing on Kirk and Spock if my recollection is correct. Spock's World is one of the best Vulcan centered novels ever, and it dovetails nicely with the idea presented in the movies you've seen, that Vulcan's have emotions, very strong emotions, which they manage very carefully.

Best Destiny - While I have not heard any confirmation of this theory, given that this novel involves a troubled headstrong young man named Jim Kirk, I would not be surprised in the least to learn that it was an influence on the way that Nu-Kirk was written.

Ex-Machina - You will already have encountered the title when you looked up Mr. Bennett's bibliography. I can tell you that it was one of the novels that the creators of Nu-Trek looked at to inform their portrayal of the characters (this was confirmed by Mr. Bennett in another thread) and I can tell you that it stands in my collection right next to Spock's World as one of the best in depth looks at both Spock and the Vulcan people ever.

Doctor's Orders - Another novel from the author of Spock's World. To put it simply, Kirk gets tired of McCoy's bitching and moaning and decides to give him a taste of command. It being Trek, needless to say unexpected circumstances develop.

Anyway, the above list is needless to say not exhaustive, but I hope it will give you a place to start. Ultimately wherever your literary wanderings take you, you are in for some fun times. Given how interconnected Trek is I hope you will in time explore the wider range available.

After all it ranges from decades before TOS (and Nu-Trek) with Enterprise and novels bridging the gap between it and TOS, to decades afterwards with The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager.

Happy Reading.

 

[Christopher]

Ex-Machina - You will already have encountered the title when you looked up Mr. Bennett's bibliography. I can tell you that it was one of the novels that the creators of Nu-Trek looked at to inform their portrayal of the characters (this was confirmed by Mr. Bennett in another thread)

Well, we don't really know that. All we know is that screenwriters Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci listed it along with Best Destiny, Prime Directive, and Spock's World among their favorite Trek novels:

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/uncategorized/star-trek-screenwriters-pick-their-fave-trek-novels/

They never specifically said that they used those books as influences on their script, just that they liked them.

 

[Desert Kris]

One possible approach you might take is to look into elements that you particularly liked from the Abrams movies. Keeping in mind that the novels show a possible version of the characters and situations, of course.

If you are interested in understanding a version of the history of the ship itself, Diane Carey's book The Final Frontier gives a story of what her maiden voyage was like, as she was originally in service long before Jim Kirk even entered Starfleet. And for a possible version of the TOS character's first adventure assembled together on the Enterprise there's Vonda McCintyre's Enterprise The First Voyage.

If you're interested in Spock and Vulcans, perhaps Spock's World and Vulcan Academy Murders.

The writers of the Abrams movies took inspiration from some of the novels, myself and someone else already mentioned Spock's World; and Best Destiny shows Kirk as someone speeding for a life of crime, with his father figure (his actual dad, George Kirk, briefly seen in the first Abrams movie) guiding him to a life were he realizes he could fulfill his potential better. This might make the experience of the Abrams movie more satisfying as you come back to them and watch Christopher Pike become a the father figure that Kirk needed to help guide him.

Judith and Garfield Reeve-Steven's novel, Prime Directive, was also cited as inspiration for the writing of the Abrams movies, and I thought for a time, based on the teaser synopsis and trailers for ST Into Darkness that the new movie was going to echo Prime Directives storyline. At the end of the day, Prime Directive demonstrates how serious an issue the Prime Directive can be, and what sort of trouble a starship captain can bring down on themselves if they play too fast and loose with it.

I get the impression ST Into Darkness took strong inspiration from elements of the novel Dreadnaught!, particularly note how the Vengence is identified as a Dreadnaught-class starship. You could look at the book as an explanation for how the Dreadnaught-class starship development program played out the first time for Starfleet and the Federation.

There's a novel called Kobayashi Maru, which you could take as a version of how Kirk beat the test in the original version of ST.

If you're interested in Khan, you can always give Greg Cox's Eugenics Wars books a try, for a possible explanation of where the character is coming from.

There are a number of comics that tell different versions of the stories as well.

And of course, if you can give details on what aspects of the new movies you liked in particular, there are plenty of posters on here who can guide you to books that will at least offer a version of how those details and elements are fleshed out in the original version of TOS's unfolding narrative.

Hope that helps.

 

[Christopher]

^As I said, they never explicitly said they used ideas from those novels as a basis for writing the movie, at least not in the interview I'm aware of and that I linked to above; they just said they liked those novels. Certainly there is some sign of novel influence in their use of novel-coined first names for Kirk's parents and Uhura, but beyond that we can't be sure.

 

[Desert Kris]

Crud, my post was the last on the previous page. To the OP, an important point I wanted to make was that if there are any particularly elements from the Abrams movies that you are curious about, people on here can guide you to books that offer variations on the story material you are interested in exploring.

^As I said, they never explicitly said they used ideas from those novels as a basis for writing the movie, at least not in the interview I'm aware of and that I linked to above; they just said they liked those novels. Certainly there is some sign of novel influence in their use of novel-coined first names for Kirk's parents and Uhura, but beyond that we can't be sure.

I was writing out my post before I saw that. What can you do?

 

[tomswift2002]

I had no idea I was casually chating with big names of the Star Trek Literature! I agree with you Relayer1, this is pretty uncommon...
I checked Christopher & Greg's bibliographies; they're quite impressive indeed
I'll be following those advices all the more trustily, actually I just ordered a half dozen TOS books, among which 'The weight of worlds' - I'll soon see if I side with you about Greg being a VERY good author ;> (kidding)

In any case, thanks everybody for the advices and precise explanations!
Universe here I come *dramatic music playing*

If you want to check out a good Voyager book set during the series, check out Greg Cox's "The Black Shore". It's from the Kes era (that's the first three season's) of the show, which was the best era for Voyager.

 

[Greg Cox]

I had no idea I was casually chating with big names of the Star Trek Literature! I agree with you Relayer1, this is pretty uncommon...
I checked Christopher & Greg's bibliographies; they're quite impressive indeed
I'll be following those advices all the more trustily, actually I just ordered a half dozen TOS books, among which 'The weight of worlds' - I'll soon see if I side with you about Greg being a VERY good author ;> (kidding)

In any case, thanks everybody for the advices and precise explanations!
Universe here I come *dramatic music playing*

If you want to check out a good Voyager book set during the series, check out Greg Cox's "The Black Shore". It's from the Kes era (that's the first three season's) of the show, which was the best era for Voyager.

Wow. Thanks again.

It seems like such a long time ago that I wrote that book . . ..

 

[Relayer1]

It was...