Non-star Trek books for Star Trek fans

[The Wormhole]

What Sawyer was trying to say was in reference to many sci-fi authors "of his generation" always felt a need to do their own take on "Star Trek done right" of which Starplex was his. Specifically, he always disapproved o the military side of Starfleet* and wanted to depict his own take on an actually non-militaristic civilian space exploration starship.

*Yes, Sawyer considers Starfleet military. No, this should not be an excuse to engage in That Argument.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

For anyone interested, the first four chapters and the outline of his proposed Star Trek novel, Armada (which obviously never came to pass), are available on his website.

And apparently a fifth, as of 2014 (in addition to the outline ).

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

Another story I’d like to toss out is The Last Planet by Andre Norton. It’s about a ship of explorers that crash land on an alien world in the midst of a dying star empire (a la foundation). It’s very much of its era with ray guns, evil telepaths, and androids. Still if you like pulp sci fi it’s pretty good.

The Star Trek element is that the explorers are a diverse crew of aliens and humans and there is a strong subplot about bigotry towards aliens. I think TOS fans will enjoy the classic sci fi action mixed with social commentary.

 

[Greg Cox]

This is where I shamelessly cite Only Superhuman by fellow Trek novelist Christopher Bennett, which features lots of colorful characters and cool world-building throughout Earth's solar system.

(Full disclosure: I edited that novel for Tor.)

 

[Christopher]

This is where I shamelessly cite Only Superhuman by fellow Trek novelist Christopher Bennett, which features lots of colorful characters and cool world-building throughout Earth's solar system.

(Full disclosure: I edited that novel for Tor.)

I appreciate the nod. I was tempted to tout my novels, but while my SF universe started out in my teens as my version of "doing Star Trek right," I ended up deciding it was better to make it distinct from Trek and avoid the "starship exploring alien worlds" format, unless I did it in a very different way, as in my Arachne novels. Still, my original work pretty much shares the same values and philosophy as Trek.

 

[Greg Cox]

At this point, Star Trek is to futuristic space exploration what Dracula is to vampire stories. You're either writing toward it or away from it, but you're almost always in conversation with it.

 

[Zarm]

At this point, Star Trek is to futuristic space exploration what Dracula is to vampire stories. You're either writing toward it or away from it, but you're almost always in conversation with it.

It reminds me of the Terry Pratchett quote on Tolkien...

“J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.”