Please Recommend Books For Continuity Porn or Story Advancement.

[JD]

The Kirsten Beyer Voyager Relaunch is pretty serialized, so it would be a good idea to star with Full Circle. They do continue from the previous Relaunch stories by Christie Golden, but I know a lot of people started with Full Circle. I started with Full Circle, but I did a lot of reading on Memory Beta (wiki for the books, games, comics, ect.), so I was pretty familiar with what had happened since the end of the TV series.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Expensive thread. Just bought Ex Machina and From History's Shadow based on the above.

not sure what to read next, one of them, or Atlantis book 2.

As for voyager, I started at Full Circle (after having read destiny), but it might be worthwhile reading homecoming and the second one before hand. Not convinced Spirit Walk adds much.

 

[Phantom]

It's in a lot of ways off your spec, but I'm going to recommend The Wounded Sky, Spock's World, and the Rihannsu 5-parter by Diane Duane. Great back-story on the Vulcans and Romulans and one of Trek Lit's most tightly written runs.

 

[Greg Cox]

OK, so I won't be reading that third one, then. Thanks for telling me about it, but I really don't need any more Ceti Alpha Eel in my life.

I can't lie. There's some serious eel action that book.

 

[Therin of Andor]

It's in a lot of ways off your spec, but I'm going to recommend The Wounded Sky, Spock's World, and the Rihannsu 5-parter by Diane Duane. Great back-story on the Vulcans and Romulans and one of Trek Lit's most tightly written runs.

The best internal "continuity porn" aspect of Duane's material is that her wonderful original characters pop up in novels, comics and even the computer game, "The Kobayashi Alternative".


Duane Trek by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Above: Naraht the horta; Harb Tanzer, Chief of Recreation; Nurse Lia Burke; linguist Janíce Kerasus; and Doctor Tom Krejci (DC Comics TOS Series I: the "Double Blind" two-parter, #24-25, and "The Last Word", #28). All of these characters have appeared in Diane Duane "Star Trek" novels, and most also in the old, text-based, computer game, "The Kobayashi Alternative". (Harb's hair is miscoloured; it should be silver/white.)

Other Duane novel/game characters who get mentioned by name in "The Last Word" comic include Athende (the tentacled Sulamid), and Avoca. In the omnibus of her first four "Rihannsu" novels, The Bloodwing Voyages, Diane Duane revealed that the transporter technician, Theresa Renner, is named for her former housemate.

 

[Phantom]

^Didn't she also do a graphic novel that was really good about Kirk getting involved over the years with an expy of Ael? I used to have it but I can't remember what it was called.

 

[stardream]

I found the Destiny Trilogy very helpful when it came to the Voyager Re-launch novels. Voyager and the crew was are mentioned but are mostly part of the background. You got to see their side of the story in Full Circle. I really liked how those parts of the two stories mirrored each other.

As far as the first Voyager Re-launch novel Homecoming is concerned I tell people to read up to the part where Kim is reunited with his parents. After that its up to you....I read all four of Golden's Books and they were ok but Voyager essentially became another version of the Enterprise in the Alpha Quadrant. Beyers managed to make the ship and its crew unique again.

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

The Kirsten Beyer Voyager Relaunch is pretty serialized, so it would be a good idea to star with Full Circle. They do continue from the previous Relaunch stories by Christie Golden, but I know a lot of people started with Full Circle. I started with Full Circle, but I did a lot of reading on Memory Beta (wiki for the books, games, comics, ect.), so I was pretty familiar with what had happened since the end of the TV series.

Well, I'll probably go back and read Full Circle, but having finished Children of the Storm I find I am much more invested in the new characters than the TV characters, so I won't be reading the pre-Beyer novels. In all honesty, I haven't seen much Voyager since Endgame and have become more familiar with the SF Debris version of the characters than whatever canon inspired their interactions in the novels. (Seriously, they were happy to see Neelix. Tom and Harry had more scenes than Seven and the Doctor. It was weird.)

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

It's in a lot of ways off your spec, but I'm going to recommend The Wounded Sky, Spock's World, and the Rihannsu 5-parter by Diane Duane. Great back-story on the Vulcans and Romulans and one of Trek Lit's most tightly written runs.

Thank you for the recommendation. I have the Rihannsu books somewhere, but I haven't pulled that trigger since I was so disappointed by The Final Reflection. I'll try to give them a chance once I finish some of the more current stories.

Plus TOS and all that.

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

I don't understand why you tried to read Children of the Storm without knowing the other novels in the first place, though.
.

When I am not in a Star Trek mood, I do not buy the books. When I get into a Star Trek mood, I buy new books at the big chains to support the authors, and buy the books that are no longer on the big store's shelves from local used book stores, which puts my options at the mercy of their stock.

 

[Phantom]

It's in a lot of ways off your spec, but I'm going to recommend The Wounded Sky, Spock's World, and the Rihannsu 5-parter by Diane Duane. Great back-story on the Vulcans and Romulans and one of Trek Lit's most tightly written runs.

Thank you for the recommendation. I have the Rihannsu books somewhere, but I haven't pulled that trigger since I was so disappointed by The Final Reflection. I'll try to give them a chance once I finish some of the more current stories.

Plus TOS and all that.

You'll want to read TheWounded Sky, and Spock's World first. There's a bit of a through line with certain characters and the Vulcan/Romulan backstory that starts with those two.

You were disappointed with The Final Reflection? It's considered one of the seminal early Trek Lit books. What bothered you about it?

 

[Kilana2]

Full Circle is a must-read IMO. Don't miss it. I've read it twice, both in English and German. The German edition has Tom Paris on its cover....

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

It's in a lot of ways off your spec, but I'm going to recommend The Wounded Sky, Spock's World, and the Rihannsu 5-parter by Diane Duane. Great back-story on the Vulcans and Romulans and one of Trek Lit's most tightly written runs.

Thank you for the recommendation. I have the Rihannsu books somewhere, but I haven't pulled that trigger since I was so disappointed by The Final Reflection. I'll try to give them a chance once I finish some of the more current stories.

Plus TOS and all that.

You'll want to read TheWounded Sky, and Spock's World first. There's a bit of a through line with certain characters and the Vulcan/Romulan backstory that starts with those two.

You were disappointed with The Final Reflection? It's considered one of the seminal early Trek Lit books. What bothered you about it?

The people who sold me on it went on and on, gushing about TFR and the Klingons as the book portrayed them, making me think it would be an amazing or even thought-provoking experience. The book was just alright and did nothing to change the way I feel about Star Trek or Klingons. Everything about the story was fairly ho-hum for me. It felt like I was reading just another late 70's/early 80's sci fi book, like something Pournelle would have pumped out between conventions. I guess the Klin-zha and the Endeer's Game stuff didn't resonate with me, and I've always had a problem with the early Star Trek lit. I tried to read Trek books back in the day and it just never gelled. Vendetta was the first Star Trek book that I read and actually enjoyed more than a weak (or even average) episode. Perhaps if I had appreciated TMP more when I read TFR, it would have meant more to me.

But then, I liked the Klingons from ST5, so what do I know?

 

[Therin of Andor]

^Didn't she also do a graphic novel that was really good about Kirk getting involved over the years with an expy of Ael? I used to have it but I can't remember what it was called.

Are you thinking of Chris Claremont's "Debt of Honor" hardcover graphic novel, which featured a lost Starfleet character named Diane Morwood (named for Duane, and Peter Morwood), which left lots of juicy hints as to Kirk's connection to Ael.

I have the Rihannsu books somewhere, but I haven't pulled that trigger since I was so disappointed by The Final Reflection.

Not too sure why doubts about "The Final Reflection" by John M. Ford led to reluctance to try Diane Duane's books?

 

[Phantom]

^Didn't she also do a graphic novel that was really good about Kirk getting involved over the years with an expy of Ael? I used to have it but I can't remember what it was called.

Are you thinking of Chris Claremont's "Debt of Honor" hardcover graphic novel, which featured a lost Starfleet character named Diane Morwood (named for Duane, and Peter Morwood), which left lots of juicy hints as to Kirk's connection to Ael.

DOH! I am indeed. And Claremount did indeed take Kirk's relationship with T'cel one step further than Duane did his with Ael...

 

[Idran]

I have the Rihannsu books somewhere, but I haven't pulled that trigger since I was so disappointed by The Final Reflection.

Not too sure why doubts about "The Final Reflection" by John M. Ford led to reluctance to try Diane Duane's books?

Seems fairly clear to me. Both Final Reflection and the Rihannsu series fit into the category of "<X> is the definitive presentation of the <Y> culture" among a lot of fans, so if you hear the same raving about both from the same people and you don't care for one, you'll be wary about the other as ending up not for you for similar reasons.

 

[Christopher]

Seems fairly clear to me. Both Final Reflection and the Rihannsu series fit into the category of "<X> is the definitive presentation of the <Y> culture" among a lot of fans, so if you hear the same raving about both from the same people and you don't care for one, you'll be wary about the other as ending up not for you for similar reasons.

I can understand someone unfamiliar with the books jumping to that conclusion for that reason, but it's still a false conclusion. They may both have been definitive for their respective cultures at the time, but that doesn't mean they had much else in common. They're very different in writing style and focus. Indeed, that was one of the best things about the early novels -- the Trek universe and continuity were so much less clearly defined back then that there was more room for authors to interpret it through their own individual imaginations and styles, and the larger contexts they invented around TOS could feel like wildly different realities. That is one of the things Ford and Duane had in common -- they both had their own vividly idiosyncratic versions of the Trek universe that stood out from the pack. But that "similarity" means their books are really, really different from each other, as well as from the rest of the early Pocket novels (at least until some of the later books started borrowing ideas from them both).

 

[Therin of Andor]

They may both have been definitive for their respective cultures at the time, but that doesn't mean they had much else in common. They're very different in writing style and focus.

Totally agree.

 

[Phantom]

Well, to be fair, I can see certain similarities as well. Both Ford and Duane spend a lot of time on he inner motivations of their lead characters. Both lead characters have things they need to prove, if only to themselves. And both writers spend a lot of time developing their respective chosen cultures well beyond that which they really needed to do for the story's sake. Duane, however, takes it much farther than Ford, with an effort that almost reaches Tolkein-ian proportions in places.

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

I have the Rihannsu books somewhere, but I haven't pulled that trigger since I was so disappointed by The Final Reflection.

Not too sure why doubts about "The Final Reflection" by John M. Ford led to reluctance to try Diane Duane's books?

It was recommended to me by the same people who recommended TFR. And they had pretty much the same things to say about it, but with "Romulan" instead of "Klingon".