Recommendations?

[Mr Silver]

Hello,

I've been a fan of Star Trek, pretty much all of my life, however i've shy'd away from the various literature (because i've always been a supporter of Trek Canon), however i'm willing to give it a try, since asides from the latest movie, there has been no official productions in around 5 years

A few years back I thought i'd give the "Shatnerverse" series of books a try, it intrigued me because I always regarded the Shat as an actor who occasionly dabbled in music, opening up "The Ashes Of Eden" I was pleasantly suprised with Shatner's flair for writing, however I found the novel not really "Trek", I felt it was more about Kirk and his relationship with some chick called "Teilani" and this naturally put me off, not because of the romantic content, but because it seemed to completely revolve around Kirk, making other important characters such as Spock and Picard look reduntant

So my question is, What do you recommend for a "Treklature" noob, someone who is interested in Trek being Trek, perhaps books that attempt to tie up loose ends and cultural backgrounds while having an equal focus on major characters?

Thanks in advance

 

[kkozoriz1]

The Final Reflection. Most of the TOS characters only appear in the first and last chapters but it's a fascinating look at what the Klingons could have been. Spock makes a cameo though and McCoy is mentioned. Trust me, you'll want to read this book.

 

[Christopher]

I've been a fan of Star Trek, pretty much all of my life, however i've shy'd away from the various literature (because i've always been a supporter of Trek Canon)

Well, first off, you need to unlearn some false assumptions. Canon isn't something that needs "support," because it's not an ideology or a side in a debate. It's simply the core body of work in a fictional series or franchise. There's no conflict between canon and tie-ins, because tie-in fiction is required to follow the lead of the canon and to stay as consistent with it as is possible at the time of its release. It's the job of tie-ins to reinforce the canon, to celebrate it and explore its possibilities, not to undermine it. So there's no conflict between being a "supporter" of canonical Trek and being a supporter of the tie-in literature. Indeed, they're the same thing, because by buying the tie-ins, you're helping to (marginally) increase the profit that the studio makes from the Trek franchise, which certainly counts as support.

A few years back I thought i'd give the "Shatnerverse" series of books a try, it intrigued me because I always regarded the Shat as an actor who occasionly dabbled in music, opening up "The Ashes Of Eden" I was pleasantly suprised with Shatner's flair for writing...

Although the credit should be shared with his collaborators Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

 

[captcalhoun]

Recommendations?

i say we pull out and nuke the site from orbit. it's the only way to be sure.

oh...

sorry...

Prime Directive. it's awesome.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'd like to point out that as awesome as The Final Reflection is, if canon is really important to you you're probably not gonna like it. It's version of the Klingons were written well before TNG did their take on the Klingon Empire and it takes them in a different direction.

Many classic older novels made different assumptions about the Trek universe than the TV/film producers eventually did. In some novels you'll find Remus is a lush, green world. You'll read a few versions of pre-TOS eras that conflict with Star Trek Enterprise. You'll read a few stories where the characters you know only have bit parts, and about versions of Kirk's dad that range from a Starfleet security officer to a racist politician. Hell, there are even two or three old novels that imply Kirk and Spock were more than friends!

Of course, newer novels have more canon to build on, had less canon come after and thus make less invalidated (or simply alternate) assumptions about the Trek universe.

 

[Smiley]

Try the DS9 omnibus Twist of Faith. It continues on from the finale in a very organic way.

 

[Mr Silver]

Well, first off, you need to unlearn some false assumptions. Canon isn't something that needs "support," because it's not an ideology or a side in a debate. It's simply the core body of work in a fictional series or franchise. There's no conflict between canon and tie-ins, because tie-in fiction is required to follow the lead of the canon and to stay as consistent with it as is possible at the time of its release. It's the job of tie-ins to reinforce the canon, to celebrate it and explore its possibilities, not to undermine it. So there's no conflict between being a "supporter" of canonical Trek and being a supporter of the tie-in literature. Indeed, they're the same thing, because by buying the tie-ins, you're helping to (marginally) increase the profit that the studio makes from the Trek franchise, which certainly counts as support.

When I meant "Support" I meant that I standby what has been officially established on the show itself, As you've said,

"tie-in fiction is required to follow the lead of the canon and to stay as consistent with it as is possible at the time of its release"

And because of this and indeed, the quality of some of the tie-in novels i've been hearing about, i've decided to give the novels a read.

One thing i'm not keen on is novels that contradict previous events in the show (key ones, obviously not trivial things) Anything that goes on during the novels that either explains a subject that we haven't seen explained in the show (or indeed elaborates on vagueness) is fair game, as is "relaunch" material that occurs after NEM

A query for Christopher, what books have you written? And can you give examples of how you've worked in your premises while remaining true to what has happened in the show?

 

[Smiley]

Novels are not allowed to contradict events that have happened on the shows or in the movies up to the point of the book release date. For example, you won't see a book that purports to show Spock's first mind-meld with a Horta (except for Blish's novelization). There may be some creative interpretations of what is seen onscreen, but nothing blatantly contradicts the source material.

 

[Christopher]

One thing i'm not keen on is novels that contradict previous events in the show (key ones, obviously not trivial things)

There are no such novels, or at least there aren't supposed to be. As I said, all licensed tie-ins are required to remain consistent with the onscreen canon as it exists at the time the manuscript is written. When contradictions occur, it's because the show contradicted the book after the book was written. The only exceptions are occasional cases where errors slipped through (more common in the past, before there were home video and Memory Alpha to keep everyone current on the details), and sometimes cases where a new episode came along and contradicted a book before it was published but too late for it to be rewritten.

A query for Christopher, what books have you written?

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Christopher_L._Bennett

For my non-Trek bibliography, see here: http://home.fuse.net/ChristopherLBennett/

And can you give examples of how you've worked in your premises while remaining true to what has happened in the show?

I just do. I take what's been established, build on it, and fill in the gaps, just like you said. It's the same as when I'm working with a scientific concept or, say, the geography of a particular city. I do the research on the facts and I build the fiction around them. I'm not sure how else to explain it; it's just how it's done.

 

[Mr Silver]

Novels are not allowed to contradict events that have happened on the shows or in the movies up to the point of the book release date. For example, you won't see a book that purports to show Spock's first mind-meld with a Horta (except for Blish's novelization). There may be some creative interpretations of what is seen onscreen, but nothing blatantly contradicts the source material.

Thank You for clarifying that Smiley, this was one of my reservations for Tie-In material

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: i'm new...

I can't speak for others, but I'd call Trip not dying a "blatant contradiction".

If the OP dorsn't want anything that violates canon I suggest the DS9 relaunch, starting with Avatar. The Andorians aren't quite the same as the ones from Enterprise at first, but I'm told it gets "mostly" fixed up later on. Also Titan: Taking Wing for the first of Captain Riker's missions and then the epic Destiny trilogy.

And keep in mind if/when you notice something "wrong" that the canon Trek rarely gets it's continuity exactly right.

 

[Smiley]

Trip is one of those creative interpretations that I was talking about. The Good That Men Do could only get away with what it did because of the holodeck presentation of events in the episode.

 

[Christopher]

^Exactly. The Good That Men Do was perfectly consistent with what we were shown onscreen. It acknowledged the existence of the 24th-century holodeck program that depicted the alleged death of Charles Tucker III. It merely offered an alternative explanation for the truth behind the canonical facts. The outline would've never been approved otherwise! I mean, really, it's not like we get to write whatever we feel like. Every book proposal has to be approved before it gets written, and then every manuscript needs to be approved before it gets published. Something that blatantly and brazenly contradicted canonical information would never see print.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I am half way through Captain's Glory, which I started last week sitting next to the swimming pool at the Mandalay Bay. The plot is about as nutty as one of my own, but I like it because it is wanky. Janeway, Riker, Picard, Kirk and Spock and some crazy shapeshifting creature.

I have it on my NOOK. And, if you don't have one, a Nook or the other one out there, get one. They are easy to take with you and very easy to use.

Rob

 

[JD]

If you want to get a feel for what modern day Trek Lit is like, and also see events we heard referred to in the various shows, I would check out the Lot Era series. It starts off with The Sundered, which is pretty much just a mission of the week style Sulu story, then there is Serpents Among the Ruins, all featuring Capt. Harriman, and the Ent.-B and gives us the story of The Tomed Incident. The Art of the Impossible covers The Betreka Nebula Incident, and features Curzon Dax, Ian Troi, Eliaz Vaughn (a new character first introduced in the DS9Relaunch), Mogh, and lots of other familiar characters. I haven't read Well of Souls about the Ent. C, Deny Thy Father about Will and Kyle Riker or The Catalyst of Sorrows, which is about Sisko, Crusher, and Tuvok investigating a diseas effecting the Romulans, so I don't feel comfortable recommending them. But I have read The Buried Age, which is about Picard between the Stargazer and Ent.-D, and the Terok Nor trilogy, which is all about the Bajoran Occupation. Pretty all of the The Lost Era I've read I've absoultely loved, so I would wholehearted recommend them.

 

[Mr Silver]

I've heard a lot of good things said about the "Destiny Trilogy", does that perhaps sound like something I would enjoy (given what I have voiced in my previous posts)?

 

[mirsk1]

"I've heard a lot of good things said about the "Destiny Trilogy", does that perhaps sound like something I would enjoy (given what I have voiced in my previous posts)? "


I enjoyed that trilogy very much. I found it to be very exciting.

 

[JD]

Yeah, you probably would like the Destiny books. But you should be aware that it does build off of the Titan and TNG Relaunch series, although alot of people have read just Destiny without any of the previous books and followed it fine.

 

[F. King Daniel]

With no more prime-universe Trek forthcoming on TV or film, the books were free to make big, lasting changes to the Star Trek universe.

In Destiny, they did.

 

[JD]

Definitely. I really think Destiny is one of the biggest events in the entire franchise's history.