Trek Litverse is Intimidating!

[kkozoriz1]

That's why I suggested some of the stand alones. That's one problem with tying the various series together, it gets complicated. The books usually do a good job bringing you up to speed but not as well as if you read all the interconnected novels beforehand. I'm not saying that it's the best way, simply an option.

 

[CorporalClegg]

^ I used to, too... I got over it. Shrug. A Stitch In Time, for the record, was the book that finally tipped the scale for me.

But I get the collector's impulse too. Just be aware, especially in DS9, there are some books that are really irritating to get ahold of.

Speaking of which. Did they not make a hardcover of the TUC novelization?

I've looked everywhere for it. I have all the others, but for that one all I ever see is PB.

 

[Thrawn]

I don't know the answer, but the website to use to find out is:

http://www.well.com/~sjroby/lcars/

If you're collecting Trek books, bookmark it. You'll be back often.

 

[Steve Roby]

I'm not aware of a Star Trek VI hardcover, but then I'm not aware of a Star Trek V hardcover, either. SFBC (the Science Fiction Book Club) may have done them, but Pocket didn't.

Getting into something like Trek can be intimidating, but it can also be fun. I've been buying Trek books since the early '70s, when there were very few Trek books to track down, but getting into Doctor Who more recently has been a challenge. I had to give up on the idea of being a completist for DW pretty early on.

 

[langdonboom]

Hey, I'll just chime in and say -- you shouldn't feel intimidated you should be excited! So much great stuff ahead of you!

I only got into TrekLit really 'seriously' (ie reading the novels in order -- as I, too, have that terrible personality trait of wanting to know every reference and connection -- but I love it, and am rewarded constantly by TrekLit!) a few years ago, and I was sad when I finally 'caught up' to the published order....

I started with the DS9 relaunch, did all that in order, then went back to the post-Nemesis stuff like Thrawn so nicely laid out (though I read ALL the time to's....Not all were great but it was a pleasure just to spend time in the TNG universe even if the adventures weren't all top notch - and I paid dearly on Amazon for a few of those!)

And then I picked up on the VOY relaunch (including the awesome in-series set String Theory) and while the Spirit Walk books were the weakest of almost all the TrekLit I've read, they still held a few pleasures for a long-time VOY and Trek fan in general.

Also in this time I read the ENT relaunch books which were great (but I'm among those who actually greatly enjoyed the TV show, despite its flaws).

And finally I started with the Titan series before I picked up Destiny, and I can't tell you how happy those made me. I was a bit 'anal' about the orders (also read Articles of the Federation, which was cool but like some other books it takes place before, during and after some of the other books -- so unless you want to put one book down in the middle and pick another up [and to be honest I wouldn't even know for sure how to do this, timeline wise, properly!] you're going to have a few skips-ahead but nothing that spoils anything too greatly if you basically stick to the order Thrawn suggested.

DEFINITELY do not read Destiny if you haven't read the preceding Borg-related books (and as mentioned, Enterprise books!)

Also somewhere in there I read the Myriad Universes books which are great and totally non-continuous so no stress there.

This took me about 2 years, but it wasn't a race and as I said, I'm sorry its all over now (of course I greatly look forward to the upcoming books...)

I envy all the great reading you have ahead of you! Don't look at it like something you have to dash through to catch up -- savor your time, and you will see its like having 5 or 6 (at least) full extra seasons of these Trek Series

 

[Daddy Todd]

I'm not aware of a Star Trek VI hardcover, but then I'm not aware of a Star Trek V hardcover, either. SFBC (the Science Fiction Book Club) may have done them, but Pocket didn't.

ST:TMP was done in hardcover by Simon & Schuster, in two states: A trade version and a signed/limited edition. It was also done in HC by the SFBC. The hardcovers started coming out a couple of months after the paperback.

ST II was reprinted in hardcover by Gregg Press and the SFBC months after the MMPB came out, as was ST III..

ST IV and ST V were reprinted by the SFBC in HC. Gregg Press was acquired by another publisher in 1985, and their program that reprinted SF paperback originals in hardcover had been terminated.

ST VI wasn't picked up by even the SFBC, so, as far as I know, there is no HC edition of that book.

Pocket did HC first editions of all the TNG movies (Generations, First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis.) Generations was reprinted as a mass marked paperback later, but the other three never had a paperback reprint in the USA (they were reprinted in MMPB for the "export" market, however. These editions are tough to come by in the USA.)

ST '09 was a Trade Paper original. It was subsequently reprinted in HC by Pocket Books and the SFBC (with different covers.) It is also scheduled for a MMPB reprint in a couple of months.

There may be additional or variant editions of some of these books in the UK, but I'm not aware of them.

 

[CorporalClegg]

^
Well, I have hc of all except TUC. The novelizations are the one things I had read prior to thread--as I pretty much found them all to be superior to their cinematic counterparts.

I do have the PD of TUC, but I would have liked a HC for aesthetic purposes (As I keep the HCs and PDs on separate shelves.

Anyhoo, I got TNG books 1-7 the other day. The first three were so-so--minus the inconsistencies. I'm about halfway through Survivors now. It's really, really good.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Generations was reprinted as a mass market paperback later

Note that the Kirk death scene is different. The hardcover novelization has the version now only seen in the bonus features section of the DVD, while the MMPB reprint has a revised version featuring the death the same as we saw it theatrically.

 

[terpette]

I don't get all this "Don't read the Destiny Trilogy until you read a bunch of others stuff first!" thing.

I read Destiny without reading a lot of the other 24th century stuff first (I have most of it, but the damn books are all over the house and I can't find them) and I think Dave Mack did a very good job of putting together a trilogy that works without having to know everything that's gone on recently. I didn't feel lost at all.

Maybe I'll go back sometime and read them in their "proper place" in the 24th c. chronology, but I probably won't. I have so much other good stuff to read. It would be nice to take books to be autographed that I've actually read first for a change.

Karen

 

[ryan123450]

It's just fun to experience the adventures in the correct order, just as if it were another season of the respective series that we are watching each week. You could understand the finale arc of DS9 without having watched any of the series beforehand, but the experience is so much richer and fullfilling if you understand the emotion and history behind it all.

 

[Deks]

I have read "Resistance", "Before Dishonor" and "Greater Than the Sum" before reading the Destiny Trilogy, because I considered it a sort of a prequel to Destiny (which it sort of is since it continues directly onto those 3 novels).

I found the 6 novels to be really good.

As for Voyager relaunch novels, the "Full Circle" and "Unworthy novels" are really top notch.
I enjoyed virtually all Voyager novels and the comeback ones (right after the ship returned to the AQ), but I gotta say that Full Circle and Unworthy take it to the next level.

 

[Xenu Cruise]

As for Voyager relaunch novels, the "Full Circle" and "Unworthy novels" are really top notch.
I enjoyed virtually all Voyager novels and the comeback ones (right after the ship returned to the AQ), but I gotta say that Full Circle and Unworthy take it to the next level.

I agree. Full Circle and Unworthy were great. I'm a really big fan of what Kirsten Beyer is doing with the series. It will be a long wait until May 2011 for the next Voyager book from her.

 

[CorporalClegg]

My strategy to deal with the excessive used book prices for highly-sought-after old Trek books was to buy a Kindle. I highly recommend it; they're pretty much all available now.

I've been looking more into buying one--I'm looking more into a nook since it reads more file types.

But I have to say, it seems to be that some of the Trek books are kind of a ripoff.

I suppose the argument could be made "Well, they're just the same prices as a new PB", but I would think that their production costs are virtually zero where as a PB has the cost of paper, printing, etc.

I don't see how that's fair.

 

[KimMH]

I read them as I find them - S&S's schedule does affect some of my new purchases. I don't really worry about reading them in order these days - I like to think of TrekLit as a giant playground - sometimes I just like to try differenct corners and different toys.

 

[Thrawn]

My strategy to deal with the excessive used book prices for highly-sought-after old Trek books was to buy a Kindle. I highly recommend it; they're pretty much all available now.

I've been looking more into buying one--I'm looking more into a nook since it reads more file types.

But I have to say, it seems to be that some of the Trek books are kind of a ripoff.

I suppose the argument could be made "Well, they're just the same prices as a new PB", but I would think that their production costs are virtually zero where as a PB has the cost of paper, printing, etc.

I don't see how that's fair.

I hear you. When I picked up a Kindle, the pricing was done differently, and they were a lot cheaper. Since then, it's been renegotiated so that Simon & Schuster sets the prices instead of amazon.com, and they've gotten a lot more expensive.

But I live in LA, where there are NO used bookstores, and so with shipping costs it's still cheaper than ordering used copies on Amazon a lot of the time.

I do see your point though.

 

[captcalhoun]

well, the author and editor still have to be paid... and then some poor schmuck's gotta do all the file formatting and stuff to get it into the e-book format...

 

[CorporalClegg]

well, the author and editor still have to be paid... and then some poor schmuck's gotta do all the file formatting and stuff to get it into the e-book format...

But even with that, as in any form of digital media, one is as good as infinity. Whereas, with physical copies, each one has to be assembled ( use resources) individually. Obviously, I'm not suggesting they be free, but to price them the same as a physical/produced copy is a bit absurd.

 

[Thrawn]

^ There've been a lot of discussions on this since the Kindle came out, on various author and publisher blogs I read, and the bottom line is that you'd be really amazed how little of a MMPB's price actually goes to production costs. It's like 60c. Hardcovers it's more, but still not nearly as much as you'd think; on a $25 hardcover, maybe $3.

Though I suppose that doesn't apply to out of print books.

 

[CorporalClegg]

I guess I'm not surprised by that seeing as how the average CD costs even less to make and is usually 2-3x more than a paperback. Ah, capitalism.

 

[Greg Cox]

well, the author and editor still have to be paid... and then some poor schmuck's gotta do all the file formatting and stuff to get it into the e-book format...

But even with that, as in any form of digital media, one is as good as infinity. Whereas, with physical copies, each one has to be assembled ( use resources) individually. Obviously, I'm not suggesting they be free, but to price them the same as a physical/produced copy is a bit absurd.

This is a common misperception. When you buy a paperback book, you're not paying for just the paper and glue. The PP&B (paper, printing, and binding) is not the major cost of producing a book. You're paying for the writing, the editing, the copyediting, the proofreading, the interior page design, the cover art, the cover design, the publicity and advertising budget, maybe even a legal read, etc. The PP&B is really not what determines the pricing of a book.

When, as an editor, I'm crunching the numbers for some new media tie-in project, I'm worrying about the licensing fees, the royalty rates, the authors' advances, the legal fees, and so on. Those are the kind of expenses that run up the prices, not the PP&B.