Suggestions for a Newbie

[bajorangirl]

Hiya,

I've never read any Star Trek Lit. before but have been looking at a few books on Amazon for a while. There are that many I don't know where to start. Which books would you suggest to start with? I'd prefer to read something tied in with the DS9 or TNG.

Thanks

 

[ItIsGreen]

I don't have a huge amount of experience with Trek Lit, though I had a pile of old TOS books I got from my uncle when I was a kid, and I did read a few of the very early TNG novels way back when. Ones that stick in my head that I particularly enjoyed were The Children of Hamlin and Gulliver's Fugitives. The second one particularly stood out to me as it's about a world where imagination and creativity are outlawed. I am looking back at a hazy memory through a child's eyes though, so no promises.

Another good one that is slightly more recent (though still over 20 years old) was Dark Mirror, which had the Ent-D crew meeting their mirror universe counterparts. This was published before DS9's take on the mirror universe, so the Terran Empire is very much intact here, and we get a 'proper' MU story with another Enterprise and everything.

As I say though, I'm sure the others can recommend much better books to read as my experience is really limited to a handful of books that were published over 20 years ago. Though generally I'd say if there's ones you're looking at, read the blurb on the back and if it sounds interesting, buy it. I don't think you'll be missing very much if you just pick ones you like the sound of, and any that are part of bigger arcs or series usually tell you they're 'Book X of Y' so if you start with book 1 you should be good

 

[Paris]

If you love DS9, then the DS9 relaunch is where you should start. Avatar Book 1, and then follow memory beta or the flow chart made by some of the people from around here. Welcome to our community @bajorangirl

 

[ryan123450]

Hey bajorangirl, you sure came to the right place for suggestions. You'll probably be flooded with ideas soon. I'll add my two cents...

Do you feel like you'd want to read the first book in a series that you would then want to continue if you like it, or do you just want a few standalone novels and then you'll have had your Trek fix and be ready to move on to something else?

If you want a standalone related to DS9 or TNG here are a handful of suggestions:

• DS9: A Stitch in Time- A kind of biography of Garak actually written by the actor who played him. This is one of the best DS9 books.
• DS9: Prophecy and Chance- This is a short story anthology with many interesting stories that take place over the entire seven year run of the show.
• DS9-The 34th Rule- A very interesting Quark tale. Also actually written by the actor who played Quark.
• DS9: The Lives of Dax- Another short story anthology. A bit about each of Dax's hosts.
• Tales of the Dominion War- Yet another short story anthology. The title says it all. Has stories from DS9, TNG, and alot more.
• TNG: The Sky's the Limit- TNG's short story anthology. Some pretty good tales from Season 1 all the way out to around Nemesis.
• TNG: Imzadi- An awesome time travel related tale which also tells Troi and Riker's backstory. One of the best.
• TNG: Immortal Coil- An amazing Data related story set on the Enterprise-E.
  
• TNG: Q&A- Some might not call it standalone, since it takes place after Star Trek: Nemesis, but really it is. And it's my favorite of several which might lay claim to the title of "the definitive Q story".

Now if you are willing to read "Book 1" in a series which could lead you into a rabbit hole of going through dozens of other books here are a few places to start.

• DS9- Avatar, Book 1- The "season premiere" of "season 8". After "What You Leave Behind" things continue in what many of us call the DS9 Relaunch. Many books follow and the whole series is really one of the highest points in Star Trek Literature.
  
• Titan- Taking Wing- After Star Trek: Nemesis Captain Riker heads out on his own.
  
• TNG- Death in Winter- Again, after Star Trek: Nemesis things continue. And if you're willing to go back a little further...
• TNG- A Time To...- In the year before Star Trek: Nemesis. Many people will tell you to skip to the final three novels, which are the best and explain some of the oddities of that film. But if you want to skip ahead to what many consider the crowning achievement of TrekLit...
• Destiny- An epic trilogy which deals with the Borg and is basically a team up of TNG, Titan, some elements from DS9 and ENT. This is eventually a must read for you, but you have to decide if you want to go right into it, or read the books that lead up to it.
• VOY- Full Circle- I know you didn't mention VOY but so many people think the series of books that starts here is far better than the show and actually makes the show better.

And if you get started on any of these series and want to know where to go from there, check out my website www.startreklitverse.yolasite.com.

Happy reading!

 

[JD]

I'd second the vote for the DS9 Relaunch for DS9. It starts right after the end of the TV series and continues the story on from there, introducing a great new group of character to replace the people who left.
For TNG the A Time To... books would be good place to start. They fill in the gap between Insurrection and Nemesis, and along the way set up some plot points that go on to have a pretty big role in the overall story for quite a while afterwards.

 

[Thrawn]

Most of the Star Trek novels since 2001 or so have formed an interconnected continuity that we call the LitVerse; the flowchart in my signature is how it all fits together. Start at the top of something that sounds interesting. Avatar, as has been mentioned, will TOTALLY hook you. Then the flowchart can help you see where to go from there. Destiny and Full Circle are also great choices.

Don't be intimidated; you can really skip anything or start anywhere. The novels are pretty friendly, and good at recapping stories that came before when necessary. And most of them are totally fantastic. The flowchart is more about what to read next than it is about creating a giant list of prerequisites.

 

[Vnix]

I would suggest you start at Death before Dishonour, before jumping into either Greater than the Sum before jumping into the Destiny books. This opens up all of the LitVerse and is mostly based around TNG and DS9.

A good flowchart can be found here: http://shastrix.com/books/star-trek-reading-order.php

Though most of the DS9 books are not on this.

 

[borgboy]

The DS9 relaunch is really great.
I also love the Millennium trilogy, set in late season 6 and involved the DS9 main cast being thrown thirty or so years into the future into a darker troubled Federation where old friends and enemies are much changed.

 

[Destructor]

Honestly the best, simplest advice I can give is to pick up 'Avatar', the DS9 relaunch novel, and go from there.

 

[Thrawn]

Avatar certainly hooked me. And here I am 298 Star Trek novels later...

 

[JD]

Me too. I'd already read a new Trek books, but the DS9 was what really got me into Trek Lit.
As for reading order lists, I'd stick to either Thrawn's list on The Trek Collective, and Ryan123450's, they are by far two of the best I've come across. Memory Beta, the wiki for non-canon Star Trek is a pretty good resource too, but you run a pretty good chance of coming across spoilers there, so I hesitate to recommend it to a newbie.

 

[Vnix]

Me too. I'd already read a new Trek books, but the DS9 was what really got me into Trek Lit.
As for reading order lists, I'd stick to either Thrawn's list on The Trek Collective, and Ryan123450's, they are by far two of the best I've come across. Memory Beta, the wiki for non-canon Star Trek is a pretty good resource too, but you run a pretty good chance of coming across spoilers there, so I hesitate to recommend it to a newbie.

I understand your hesitation with this in mind, but to be fair, as a newby, a new reader, myself, I found that just reading the blurbs of the books to see if one interested me and use that to get into trek lit required me to check up on beta to see just what was going on.

I mean I started reading the first of the Typhon pact books, couldn't get the rest in the series and then went to Losing the peace followed by Before dishonour. I loved them books, yes they were hard to follow in the sense that I didn't have the backstory, but on the other hand, having a general trek knowledge (being an avid series and film watcher) allowed me to still mightilly enjoy the books.

All in all, while I would still say start with Before dishonour, I would also state, just go to the bookstore, get the book there is and if it suits your fancy go and have fun reading it. Then fill in the blanks with Beta and start collecting.

 

[Jinn]

I understand your hesitation with this in mind, but to be fair, as a newby, a new reader, myself, I found that just reading the blurbs of the books to see if one interested me and use that to get into trek lit required me to check up on beta to see just what was going on.

I mean I started reading the first of the Typhon pact books, couldn't get the rest in the series and then went to Losing the peace followed by Before dishonour. I loved them books, yes they were hard to follow in the sense that I didn't have the backstory, but on the other hand, having a general trek knowledge (being an avid series and film watcher) allowed me to still mightilly enjoy the books.

All in all, while I would still say start with Before dishonour, I would also state, just go to the bookstore, get the book there is and if it suits your fancy go and have fun reading it. Then fill in the blanks with Beta and start collecting.

While this is only my opinion, I think that the early DS9 relaunch novels were far better than the early TNG relaunch novels. I basically loved everything from Avatar to Warpath (except the Andor Worlds of DS9 installment) while I only found Q & A and Greater than the Sum from the post Nemesis/pre-Destiny time relly good (with Before Dishonor on 3rd place and Death in Winter and Resistance sharing 4th place.) At least for me that are 16 out of 17 above average+ novels against 2/5 above average+ novels. Now that I think about it though, maybe you should start with the not soooo great ones and then preceed to the really really great ones. Or just go with the relaunch novels timeline on Memory Beta. Most of them are at least above average and you'll read them in chronological order, so the lack of background information will be minimised.

 

[Vnix]

While this is only my opinion, I think that the early DS9 relaunch novels were far better than the early TNG relaunch novels. I basically loved everything from Avatar to Warpath (except the Andor Worlds of DS9 installment) while I only found Q & A and Greater than the Sum from the post Nemesis/pre-Destiny time relly good (with Before Dishonor on 3rd place and Death in Winter and Resistance sharing 4th place.) At least for me that are 16 out of 17 above average+ novels against 2/5 above average+ novels. Now that I think about it though, maybe you should start with the not soooo great ones and then preceed to the really really great ones. Or just go with the relaunch novels timeline on Memory Beta. Most of them are at least above average and you'll read them in chronological order, so the lack of background information will be minimised.

Havent been able to get my hands on the DS9 relaunch books myself since they are "too old". So I can unfortunately not say anything on it

 

[Jinn]

Havent been able to get my hands on the DS9 relaunch books myself since they are "too old". So I can unfortunately not say anything on it

Yeah, it's a shame they are (according to google translate) Publisher Out (That doens't seem right at all...).. Aren't available at Cross Cult anymore.

 

[Vnix]

Yeah, it's a shame they are (according to google translate) Publisher Out (That doens't seem right at all...).. Aren't available at Cross Cult anymore.

I'd translate it as "out of stock at the publisher and will not be reprinted". I have tried to get them in English and cannot either, though since I started collecting in German I wish to have that be the bulk of my collection. THough eventually I want them in all in English also, especially since neither English nor German are my native tongue.

 

[Jinn]

I'd translate it as "out of stock at the publisher and will not be reprinted". I have tried to get them in English and cannot either, though since I started collecting in German I wish to have that be the bulk of my collection. THough eventually I want them in all in English also, especially since neither English nor German are my native tongue.

I think they are still available as eBooks, but that wouldn't really add to you physical collection.

 

[borgboy]

The books are easily available used.

 

[Jinn]

The books are easily available used.

Not the German versions, or at least not all of them. Avatar 1 as used is still available for 9,41 €. Avatar 2 (used) however is available for the low low price of 128 € (and 3€ for shipping). I myself got lucky when I found a forty something used copy of the german version of The Good That Men Do. That is pretty insane.

 

[Vnix]

I don't really mind getting them in English but still need to find them and have them shipped to the Netherlands. Also international payments aren't the easiest