i need to know if this is the correct reading order for the new reluanch of kirk's era books.
1) the janus gate trilogy
2) errand of vengence trilogy
3) gemini
4) garth of izar
5) the case ofthe colonist corpse
6) engines of destiny
7) errand of fury trilogy
8) burning dreams
9) constellations anthologies
10) crucible trilogy
11) excelsior : forged in fire
12) troublesome minds
13) inception
14) unspoken truth
15) the children of kings
16) a choice of catastrophes forthcoming**
17) castno shadow forthcoming**
is this the correct reading order or am i missing something.
As stated, most of those are completely independent of one another. The only ones that are directly connected to one another are the two
Errand of... trilogies.
There's no necessary reading order, since they're separate standalones, but to give a rough idea of when they each take place, in very rough chronological order where applicable:
The Children of Kings: Takes place sometime during Pike's command, evidently before "The Cage." However, it's not exactly in the standard Trek timeline.
Inception: Takes place in 2261, when Spock first meets Leila Kalomi and Kirk is involved with Carol Marcus.
Constellations: Various stories taking place throughout the 5-year mission.
The Janus Gate: takes place in the early first season, immediately after "The Naked Time."
Errand of Vengeance/Fury: takes place interspersed with much of the first season, serving as prequels to "Errand of Mercy," as the titles suggest.
Gemini: evidently second season, since it refers to "Amok Time" as somewhat recent.
The Case of the Colonist's Corpse: Second season, concurrent with "The Trouble with Tribbles." This is basically a Perry Mason mystery starring Samuel T. Cogley in Mason's role.
A Choice of Catastrophes: Reportedly in the second season, shortly after "Return to Tomorrow."
Garth of Izar: toward the end of the 5-year mission, allegedly 2 years after "Whom Gods Destroy."
Troublesome Minds: takes place late in the 5-year mission.
Unspoken Truth: spans years of Saavik's life, but the main storyline covers about a year following
The Voyage Home.
Excelsior: Forged in Fire: Captain Sulu's first mission, starting in late 2289, three years before
The Undiscovered Country.
Cast No Shadow: I don't know why this is listed as a TOS novel, since it's mainly a story about Valeris and novel character Elias Vaughn. It's set in 2300.
Engines of Destiny: Not a TOS-era novel at all, since it deals with Scotty in the 24th century going back in time to prevent Kirk's "death" aboard the
Enterprise-B and thus changing history, and working with Guinan to fix the timeline. It basically goes in 2369, soon after TNG: "Relics."
These are harder to place in a timeline:
Burning Dreams: Essentially a biography of Christopher Pike, spanning his lifetime and having frame sequences both shortly after "The Menagerie" and decades later in 2320.
Crucible trilogy: Each book spans decades, covering events throughout the lives of McCoy, Spock, and Kirk, though they all pretty much use "City on the Edge of Forever" as their launching point.
If I remember correctly, The Janus Gate trilogy was suppose to be a 'relaunch' of sorts for The Original Series literature... but it seemed to fizzle out pretty quick.
IIRC It was supposed to show the TOS era from the perspective of lower deck personell, and thus was called some kind of reboot by ORdover IIRC, but I don't think it was ever planned to be an ongoing narrative.
It wasn't meant to be a "reboot" in the sense of replacing regular TOS novels, but it was meant to be ongoing, running parallel with the regular books. And it was the exact opposite of the post-series novels that are popularly called "relaunches," because it took place
during TOS whereas the majority of TOS novels take place afterward. The idea was to bring a modern serial sensibility to TOS, to take the one-shot guest stars and casualties from TOS episodes and develop them as ongoing characters so that their onscreen appearances/demises would have more meaning.
But it didn't work out as planned. IIRC, the actual books ended up not being distinct enough from regular TOS books, the "lower decks" continuity element not as prominent as it was supposed to be, so the idea of continuing it as a distinct subset of TOS fiction was dropped.
