Ship Based novels

[DeepSpaceYorks]

I'm looking for reccomendations for Star Trek books there are wholly, or very nearly, ship based. I mean the kind of deep space exploration kinds of stories. My interests mainly lie in TOS and DS9 but if it sounds interesting I'm not hard and fast. Throw em out there and let's see if anything sticks.

 

[TheUsualSuspect]

Chain of Attack, one of the old TOS numbered novels by Gene DeWeese, might fit your order. It involves the Enterprise investigating some deep-space rifts of some kind. There was also a sequel, The Final Nexus, but it wasn't as good as I recall. And the nexus in the title has nothing to do with the nexus seen in "Generations."

 

[Bibliomike]

I was just going to suggest those! Also maybe The Three-Minute Universe? It's been decades since I read it. But if you're looking for novels that take place entirely aboard the ship, I think those are fairly few and far between - strange new worlds, and whatnot Although Dayton Ward's TNG novel from last year, Armageddon's Arrow, might fit the bill - it is based only the 1701-E and an alien ship it encounters in deep space.

 

[DeepSpaceYorks]

I guess it's the 'seek out' part that interests me more. My fav TOS episodes are the ones like Blance of Terror, Changeling, Immunity Syndrome, Doomsday Machine etc.

 

[tomswift2002]

A few ship board stories I can think of are:

The Haunted Starship (TNG-SA #13, Geordi LaForge adventure)
The Children of Hamlin (I don't recall this one taking place on planet, but on a rather strange ship and the Enterprise-D: but watch out the book was an early TNG novel)
Incident At Arbuk (Voyager)
Ragnarok (Voyager)
The Mystery of the Missing Crew (TNG-YA - Data story)
Flashback (Voyager)
Day Of Honor (novelization) (Voyager)
The Long Night (DS9)
Capture The Flag (TNG-YA, LaForge story that is mostly ship based, but the planet stuff is not search and explore in the usual sense)

 

[JD]

I don't think there are many books that take place entirely on the ships. Most of books end up with the characters on a planet somewhere along the line.

 

[Thrawn]

As a kid I thought Ragnarok, the Voyager book, was ridiculously awesome. Haven't read it since it was published, though, I have no idea if I'd still think so.

 

[Christopher]

As a kid I thought Ragnarok, the Voyager book, was ridiculously awesome. Haven't read it since it was published, though, I have no idea if I'd still think so.

Was that the one where they found the remains of a First Federation ship in the Delta Quadrant? That's all I remember about it.

 

[Thrawn]

I remember it being little more than a 300 page long space battle, which I was quite enthralled by.

I also remember Janeway adamantly refusing to use any photon torpedoes, because (I can only assume) that would've contradicted the show, which started by stating that they only had 40 and wouldn't be replaced. That was eventually ignored, as they ended up using much more than 40, and it's an easy retcon, but that must have been One Of The Rules at the beginning for tie-in writers.

 

[Greg Cox]

Seems to me that it would be a challenge to write a novel-length story that never left the ship, particularly since there's not much need to describe so familiar a setting in any sort of detail. After awhile, you'd get very tired of people running up and down sterile steel corridors and all the usual settings: the bridge, sickbay, engineering, etc. You'd want to throw in some different environments and conditions--weather, nightfall, deserts, oceans, heat, cold, whatever--if only for variety's sake.

True, the original show got away with it in episodes like "Journey to Babel" or "The Doomsday Machine," but those were only about fifty minutes long. A novel typically needs a lot more plot--and can afford a lot more sets.

 

[20fridge]

Seems to me that it would be a challenge to write a novel-length story that never left the ship, particularly since there's not much need to describe so familiar a setting in any sort of detail. After awhile, you'd get very tired of people running up and down sterile steel corridors and all the usual settings: the bridge, sickbay, engineering, etc. You'd want to throw in some different environments and conditions--weather, nightfall, deserts, oceans, heat, cold, whatever--if only for variety's sake.

Isn't that what the holodeck is for? Having an infinite number of environments and situations you could experience without leaving the ship.
In the same vein, technically the TNG novel A Hard Rain takes place entirely on the Enterprise but since it's a novel-length holodeck story I'm pretty sure it's not the sort of story the OP had in mind.

On the topic of actually ship-based books: I'd say DS9's Rising Son takes place, mostly, on the Even Odds. It's kind of a trade/smuggling ship not unlike the Serenity. It's an interesting ship with a unique crew.

 

[JD]

I thought they stopped on one or two planets?

 

[20fridge]

I thought they stopped on one or two planets?

They do but IIRC the majority of the story takes place on the ship.

 

[TheUsualSuspect]

I think 20fridge is right, much of the story is set on the ship. It isn't really exploration though, since it's a merchant ship, but since the OP is interested in DS9, Rising Son could be a good entry point to the relaunch for them. I remember really liking that book.

 

[Christopher]

Seems to me that it would be a challenge to write a novel-length story that never left the ship, particularly since there's not much need to describe so familiar a setting in any sort of detail. After awhile, you'd get very tired of people running up and down sterile steel corridors and all the usual settings: the bridge, sickbay, engineering, etc. You'd want to throw in some different environments and conditions--weather, nightfall, deserts, oceans, heat, cold, whatever--if only for variety's sake.

They could go to an alien ship that had an interestingly different environment. Or a space station/habitat.

Or you could explore parts of the ship that were never seen onscreen or only implied -- the bowels of the engineering section, the science lab complex, the bowling alley, things like that. That's what I tried to do in Ex Machina and Forgotten History (bowling alley not included).

 

[Greg Cox]

They could go to an alien ship that had an interestingly different environment. Or a space station/habitat.

Or you could explore parts of the ship that were never seen onscreen or only implied -- the bowels of the engineering section, the science lab complex, the bowling alley, things like that. That's what I tried to do in Ex Machina and Forgotten History (bowling alley not included).

I managed to work the swimming pool in once. That was fun.

And the holodeck does allow for some variety of environments aboard the ship, although that's not really an option when it comes to TOS books.

 

[Stevil2001]

Isn't The Wounded Sky almost entirely ship-based? I think the same goes for Duane's Intellivore.

 

[Christopher]

And the holodeck does allow for some variety of environments aboard the ship, although that's not really an option when it comes to TOS books.

Unless they're during TAS, because then you have the "rec room" from "The Practical Joker."

 

[tomswift2002]

It's been years since I read it, but I seem to recall that the Voyager novel "Battle Lines" was also ship based, plus I think the Captain's Table "Fire Ship" may've been ship based, with Janeway working from the lowliest crew member up, with the ship either having no ports of call, or if they did go planet-side it was only for brief periods, otherwise I think that was a ship-based book.

Plus "Death Of A Neutron Star" might've been a ship based book as well. While I'm at it, I might as well mention "Echoes", since while the characters do go to the planet, there other Voyagers where there is no planet, and yet they need to rescue billions of people who suddenly appear in deep space.

 

[Galileo7]

Star Trek:The Motion Picture novelization