Old Treklit vs. new Treklit.

[Greg Cox]

I'm always puzzled by the assumption that just because continuity exists among different works, it makes each individual story incomprehensible on its own.

I think this mostly comes from people having bad experiences with other works in the past that do get so bad they are incomprehensible on their own.

Using comic books as an example, if you are a fan of the Batman tv series and then jumped in during a random point in the middle of a major 90s arc like Knightfall it would have been horribly confusing. Some, though certainly not all, of the Star Wars novels have had this problem. Jumping into the middle of a major epic fantasy series like the Wheel of Time or A Song of Ice and Fire would not be a fun experience either, nor starting Lost at season 3 or the recent Battlestar Galactica at season 4 or a season of 24 at episode

You can avoid confusion these days by using the Internet.

Not really the same thing. You can get a "just-the-facts" synopsis of the story so far, I suppose, but you're not really going to appreciate the emotional impact of the story if you haven't fully experienced the previous chapters. "Oh, so this character died and this other character, that I read about on the internet, was finally reunited with his long-lost love, who betrayed him before. Yeah, this really means a lot to me without having actually watched (or read) the earlier installments."

The plot is just the bare bones of any story. It's the flesh and blood that gives it feeling.

(Besides, you shouldn't have to do homework just to enjoy a comic book or Star Trek novel . . . .)

 

[BillJ]

(Besides, you shouldn't have to do homework just to enjoy a comic book or Star Trek novel . . . .)

 

[kirk55555]

My introduction to Star trek books were the Pocket Numbered books. They're still the majority of my collection (probably 80+ ST books). Both old and new have hit and misses. While I'm a big fan of continuity, sometimes having books that don't change everything are nice, and the old had some great ones (Vulcan Academy Murder i9s still one of my favorite Original Series stories, period). Plus, they seemed to be able to get away with more sometimesm like TOS crew vs. a scientifically created vampire (who actually drank blood and was sensitive to light) or books that didn't even focus on the main crew much (like the Dreadnought and battleship...duology? Is that the right word). The new has some great stuff, too (Cold Equations that just finished was an amazing trilogy). I don't think either era is better than the other (although the pre pocket books stuff is pretty hit or miss). They both have flaws and highlights. If you put a gun to my head, I'd say pre relaunch stuff was a bit better because a lot of my favorite books (Vulcan Academy Murders, Q-Continuum Trilogy, The Captain's Daughter, TOS Dreadnought/Battleships, Q-Squared and I,Q, to name just a few) were before the relaunch. But, the post relauch still has the DS9 Typhon Pact books, Cold Equations Trilogy, and The Department of Temporal Investigations books, all of which are on the level of the best of the pocket books. So, I'd say people who like Star Trek books should read both old and new books, there is a lot of great stuff. There is also some bad stuff, but any series like this is bound to have some.

 

[Lt. Cheka Wey]

I think this mostly comes from people having bad experiences with other works in the past that do get so bad they are incomprehensible on their own.

Using comic books as an example, if you are a fan of the Batman tv series and then jumped in during a random point in the middle of a major 90s arc like Knightfall it would have been horribly confusing. Some, though certainly not all, of the Star Wars novels have had this problem. Jumping into the middle of a major epic fantasy series like the Wheel of Time or A Song of Ice and Fire would not be a fun experience either, nor starting Lost at season 3 or the recent Battlestar Galactica at season 4 or a season of 24 at episode

You can avoid confusion these days by using the Internet.

Not really the same thing. You can get a "just-the-facts" synopsis of the story so far, I suppose, but you're not really going to appreciate the emotional impact of the story if you haven't fully experienced the previous chapters. "Oh, so this character died and this other character, that I read about on the internet, was finally reunited with his long-lost love, who betrayed him before. Yeah, this really means a lot to me without having actually watched (or read) the earlier installments."

The plot is just the bare bones of any story. It's the flesh and blood that gives it feeling.

(Besides, you shouldn't have to do homework just to enjoy a comic book or Star Trek novel . . . .)

I am talking about finding a story that does not require too much lore awarness.

 

[bullethead]

I am talking about finding a story that does not require too much lore awarness.

Well, the standalone series like Myriad Universes and Mirror Universes were pretty easy to figure out, but you wouldn't know that IKS Gorkon is pretty isolated from the rest of TrekLit without reading the books (including the ones leading up to the series proper). Memory Beta isn't developed enough for it to be as useful as it could be and Memory Alpha's coverage of the novels is lacking as well.

 

[donners22]

I have the opposite view to the OP. I have a shelf stacked with the books from the 90s, and pretty much stopped buying after 2000 (the Millennium trilogy was the turning point - I found that utterly awful).

I've picked up quite a few of the recent ones from my library and some have been good, but most have been utterly forgettable and a few have been unbearable (just last month I returned one unfinished, which I've never done before).

None of the relaunches other than Enterprise captured my attention, and even then I wouldn't rate them among my favourite Trek books.

Each to their own, but I'd take the "old Treklit" any day.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I am talking about finding a story that does not require too much lore awarness.

Yeah, he was a badass android. Bad Robot!