TrekLit Authors' greatest novels

[RonG]

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now, and I wanted to hear your views and thoughts on this subject:

Suppose for a second, that each TrekLit author has one magnum opus, one TrekLit masterpiece, one great Trek story that shines above all his other works (and above most other Trek novels) - what would your choices for these novels be?

My "list" as it were is as follows:
Diane Duane - Spock's World
Diane Carey - Final Frontier
Peter David - Imzadi
Judith and Gar Reeves-Stevens - Millennium trilogy
David Mack - Destiny trilogy
Keith R. A. DeCandido - Lost Era: The Art of the Impossible (with Articles of the Federation a very close second)
David R. George III- Crucible trilogy
Greg Cox - Eugenics Wars duology
Margaret Wander Bonanno - Strangers from the Sky

This of course doesn't mean that these authors' future works won't be able to compare or even surpass the above-mentioned novels. The list above shows IMO these authors' best TrekLit work to date, and some of the best Trek novels ever.

Also, the authors mentioned above are those that have a considerable body of TrekLit work to choose from.

Last, there are other frequent Trek novelists who IMO, while quite good, have not yet given us their THE Trek novel:
Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore - whose greatest Trek work so far has been Vangurd: Summon the Thunder
Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin - whose strongest work thus far has been Titan's opeoning duology (but perhaps Martin's Romulan War novel will be his greatest one yet?)
Christopher L. Bennett - this is quite tricky, as I feel he is one of the best Trek novelists today. Personally, I think his strongest Trek works thus far have been The Buried Age and Orion's Hounds. I just don't think he's shown us his his greatest Trek work yet, but it's sure to be on the way!

Comments?

 

[Dayton Ward]

Last, there are other frequent Trek novelists who IMO, while quite good, have not yet given us their THE Trek novel

Well, now I have a goal.

 

[Sci]

I don't accept your premise that the authors you listed have already given us their magnum opi and that their future works will not meet or exceed what they've already produced. Your next work could always be your best yet (unless you're dead).

In any event, my list of authors and their best Trek works so far would be:

Diane Duane - Spock's World
Peter David - Q Squared or Vendetta
Judith and Gar Reeves-Stevens - Prime Directie
David Mack - Reap the Whirlwind or Wildfire, with The Sorrows of Empire, a masterpiece of concise and deep storytelling, coming up closely after
Keith R. A. DeCandido - Articles of the Federation
David R. George III- Crucible: McCoy - Provenance of Shadows
Margaret Wander Bonanno - Strangers from the Sky or Burning Dreams
Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels (as a team) - The Good That Men Do
Una McCormack - Hollow Men
James Swallow - Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers
Christopher L. Bennett - Orion's Hounds
John M. Ford - The Final Reflection
Allyn Gibson - "Make-Believe"
S.D. Perry - Section 31: Cloak
Jeffrey Lang - Immortal Coil
J.G. Hertzler - The Left Hand of Destiny
Andrew J. Robinson - A Stitch in Time
Heather Jarman - Andor: Paradigm
Kevin Ryan - Errand of Fury
Josepha Sherman and Susan Schwartz - Vulcan's Forge
Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore - Summon the Thunder

 

[Cicero]

Keith R. A. DeCandido - Articles of the Federation
Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward - Summon the Thunder
Diane Duane - The Romulan Way
Julia Ecklar - Kobayashi Maru
David R. George III - Twilight
Heather Jarman - Andor: Paradigm
David Mack - A Time To Heal (I love Reap the Whirlwind, which is much more skillfully executed, but A Time To Heal perfectly encapsulated its time)
Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels - The Good That Men Do
Una McCormack - Hollow Men
S.D. Perry - Rising Son
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens - Federation
Andrew J. Robinson - A Stitch in Time
William Shatner, et al. - The Return
James Swallow - Day of the Vipers
Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore - Summon the Thunder

 

[RoB]

magnum opi

If you mean the plural to "magnum opus", it must be "magna opera".

 

[RonG]

Last, there are other frequent Trek novelists who IMO, while quite good, have not yet given us their THE Trek novel

Well, now I have a goal.

no hard feelings, right?

I just can't wait for that Ward (or Wardilmore) Trek masterpiece that I knw is just around the corner!

 

[RonG]

This of course doesn't mean that these authors' future works won't be able to compare or even surpass the above-mentioned novels. The list above shows IMO these authors' best TrekLit work to date, and some of the best Trek novels ever.

I don't accept your premise that the authors you listed have already given us their magnum opi and that their future works will not meet or exceed what they've already produced. Your next work could always be your best yet (unless you're dead).

Exactly what I said in my original post

 

[Sci]

This of course doesn't mean that these authors' future works won't be able to compare or even surpass the above-mentioned novels. The list above shows IMO these authors' best TrekLit work to date, and some of the best Trek novels ever.

I don't accept your premise that the authors you listed have already given us their magnum opi and that their future works will not meet or exceed what they've already produced. Your next work could always be your best yet (unless you're dead).

Exactly what I said in my original post

Well, yeah, but the you went and gave us this:

Last, there are other frequent Trek novelists who IMO, while quite good, have not yet given us their THE Trek novel:

Which certainly sounds like you're trying to say that the ones above had given us the best works we could expect, but not the ones below.

 

[JD]

I know you said to pick one book that Peter David:Q-Squared/Imzadi
KRAD: Articles of Federation/Art of the Impossible
David Mack: Destiny
Wardimore: Summon the Thunder
M&M: The Good That Men Do
Christopher L. Bennett: The Buried Age/Orion's Hounds
SD Perry: Unity
David R. George III: Twilight/Serpents Among the Ruins (I haven't read the Cruicible books, so this might change)
Jeffrey Lang (and JG Hertzler): The Left Hand of Destiny (I haven't read Immortal Coil, so this might change)

I know you said to only pick one book for each of these writers, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not narrow the list down any more.

 

[RonG]

[
Well, yeah, but the you went and gave us this:

Last, there are other frequent Trek novelists who IMO, while quite good, have not yet given us their THE Trek novel:

Which certainly sounds like you're trying to say that the ones above had given us the best works we could expect, but not the ones below.

what I meant (and haven't conveyed very efficiently ), was that the second list of authors have not yet had (IMO only) a novel one (namely - me) could point at and consider it a bona-fide Trek "masterpiece", and that their future work is sure to include one.

the first list have (again, IMO) produced such work in the (recent and not so recent) past, about which I'd stated my opinion. Again, this does not mean that THEIR future work won't be better. In fact, I think part of the reader anticipation is to wait for the writer to top his previous work.

Therefore, my answer / picks may very well change over time.

Hope I mad it any clearer

 

[The Grim Ghost]

Just listing my favorite Trek writers:

Keith R.A. Decandido - Tie between Articles and a lot of his S.C.E. work

Christopher L. Bennett- The Buried Age

David R. George - Crucible Trilogy (I consider the Spock and McCoy books
to be the two finest Trek books ever written)

James Swallow - Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers

Dayton Ward/Kevin Dilmore - Summon the Thunder

David Mack - Tie between Reap the Whirlwind and Wildfire

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

Sure, I'll bite...

Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore - Summon the Thunder
Christopher L. Bennett - Orion's Hounds
Peter David - Stone and Anvil
Keith R. A. DeCandido - Articles of the Federation
David Mack - Destiny trilogy

 

[Man of Steel]

Do the authors have favorites of their collegues?

 

[Jim Johnson]

Do the authors have favorites of their collegues?

We may, but those hacks, our egos are overinflated already.

 

[foravalon]

I quite agree with a lot of the heavyweights listed here Like KRAD, Mack, Duane, Ward/Dilmore, DRGIII, Cox, and Jarman.

But you guys are missing one of the finest, AC Crispen's "Sarek", simply one of the best.

I also think that one of the most overlooked works of M&M is the Lost Era book The Sundered. I found it to be fast paced, epic, and concise in its narrative in a way that many of M&M's later novels haven't necessarily been. With its tidbits about early and mid-21st century Earth, the first real "look" at the Tholians, and the inclusion of young Tuvok and LJ Akaar, it's one of my favorites.

But, on another note, I'm a little perplexed by people's choices regarding Christopher L. Bennett's work. I've read a number of his stories now, mostly confined to those which are installments in larger ongoing series, and they've been okay. But for those posters who seem to really gravitate towards Christopher's style, isn't the book that usually gets the most praise Ex Machina? I'm surprised it hasn't gained more mention here.

Given some posters' compliments in other threads, and since I hadn't read it, I'd just assumed that it must have been one of his best. But looking at the picks mentioned by posters in this thread I'm beginning to have my doubts. I guess my question is: Would you guys say that Ex Machina is a particularly better story than anything else Christopher has written, or is it pretty much on par with the rest of his work?

 

[Sci]

I quite agree with a lot of the heavyweights listed here Like KRAD, Mack, Duane, Ward/Dilmore, DRGIII, Cox, and Jarman.

But you guys are missing one of the finest, AC Crispen's "Sarek", simply one of the best.

I also think that one of the most overlooked works of M&M is the Lost Era book The Sundered. I found it to be fast paced, epic, and concise in its narrative in a way that many of M&M's later novels haven't necessarily been. With its tidbits about early and mid-21st century Earth, the first real "look" at the Tholians, and the inclusion of young Tuvok and LJ Akaar, it's one of my favorites.

But, on another note, I'm a little perplexed by people's choices regarding Christopher L. Bennett's work. I've read a number of his stories now, mostly confined to those which are installments in larger ongoing series, and they've been okay. But for those posters who seem to really gravitate towards Christopher's style, isn't the book that usually gets the most praise Ex Machina? I'm surprised it hasn't gained more mention here.

Given some posters' compliments in other threads, and since I hadn't read it, I'd just assumed that it must have been one of his best. But looking at the picks mentioned by posters in this thread I'm beginning to have my doubts. I guess my question is: Would you guys say that Ex Machina is a particularly better story than anything else Christopher has written, or is it pretty much on par with the rest of his work?

Ex Machina is a fun book, but I'd say that his best work so far is either Orion's Hounds or Places of Exile

 

[Thrawn]

Sure, I'll bite...

Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore - Summon the Thunder
Christopher L. Bennett - Orion's Hounds
Peter David - Stone and Anvil
Keith R. A. DeCandido - Articles of the Federation
David Mack - Destiny trilogy

I haven't read Destiny, and I'd substitute Buried Age for Orion's Hounds, but otherwise

So far, I'd say Reap The Whirlwind is Mack's best, but from what I hear, Destiny will likely dethrone it.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

Sure, I'll bite...

Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore - Summon the Thunder
Christopher L. Bennett - Orion's Hounds
Peter David - Stone and Anvil
Keith R. A. DeCandido - Articles of the Federation
David Mack - Destiny trilogy

I haven't read Destiny, and I'd substitute Buried Age for Orion's Hounds, but otherwise

So far, I'd say Reap The Whirlwind is Mack's best, but from what I hear, Destiny will likely dethrone it.

Sweet.

Reap the Whirlwind is a great book, and I would have put it down as well had it not been for Destiny.

 

[RonG]

Christopher L. Bennett - this is quite tricky, as I feel he is one of the best Trek novelists today. Personally, I think his strongest Trek works thus far have been The Buried Age and Orion's Hounds. I just don't think he's shown us his his greatest Trek work yet, but it's sure to be on the way!

Comments?

I would like to correct my OP, as after reading Ex Machina for the last couple of days, I have to say that it is one of the deepest and overall best Trek novels I'd read.

I'm thinking about posting a thread about this book, but for now I'll just say that the level of character development for all the TOS cast - their development on each personal journey and the insights to their characters - put CLB (IMO) in the uper echelon of Trek novelists.

It's also quite ironic that CLB's first Trek novel is also his best and a true Trek masterpiece... maybe this has to do with Ex Machina being a "dream novel" for CLB (as I remember reading about, and also touched upon in the Acknowledgements section)?

 

[foravalon]

Now that's interesting, the plot thickens. Since you've read Ex Machina now, and it seems that you have really enjoyed it, how would you rate it among his other books?

This seems to fall in line with what I've heard elsewhere; that Ex Machina, in addition to being his first novel, has also been the best he's done. If that is the case, what would you say particularly sets it apart from the rest of his work?