• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

What are you least favorite Star Trek novels?

I'm suprised nobody has brought up Garth of Izar yet. Even if you ignore the idiotic editing mistake that watches the Klingons become Romulans and then go back to being Klingons again (it may be the other way around, but I'm not about to re-read it to find out), it has absolutely nothing of interest to say about the title character. Even the twist (Garth is evil, nah, just kidding, he was only pretending to be back to his old ways) is far too telegraphed to offer anything of interest.
I forgot how horrid that one was.
 
Re. the origins of TANSTAAFL, according to "The Phrase Finder":

The phrase appears to have come about in response to the libertarian views of Henry Wallace, the US Vice President between 1941 and 1945. He wrote an article which was originally published by The Atlantic Monthly in which he suggested a post-WWII worldwide economic regime offering "minimum standards of food, clothing and shelter" for people throughout the world and offering the opinion that "If we can afford tremendous sums of money to win the war, we can afford to invest whatever amount it takes to win the peace".

The first record I can find of the precise phrase there's no such thing as a free lunch, comes...in an editorial in The Long Beach Independent, October 1943, again referring to Wallace:
"Some people say there is no such thing as a free lunch, but you listen to a fireside chat from Washington, and the voice will tell you all about it, and how you can make something for nothing."
The 'there ain't no such thing as a free lunch' version of the phrase is often reduced to the acronym TANSTAAFL. This is widely associated with the science fiction writer Robert Heinlein. he did used the term several times in his 1966 novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but the coinage of the acronym pre-dates that by at least a quarter of a century. The earliest citation I can find for tanstaafl is from October 1949, when it appeared in a book review published in several US newspapers, including The Independent Record:
Now, our secret: Tanstaafl is mnemonic for "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/tanstaafl.html
 
I've also been looking forward to reading the Millennium trilogy (what's all this about a fourth entry?)

There's no fourth entry; I think Therin must've been thinking of something else, probably Mission: Gamma.

Is it possible people are thinking of a four book series (The Dominion War) based on the DS9 episodes A Call to Arms and onwards? I have often confused these with the Millenium trilogy (both of which I have not read, but would like to).
 
Last edited:
Is it possible people are thinking of a four book series (The Dominion War) based on the DS9 episodes A Call to Arms and onwards? I have often confused these with the Millenium trilogy (both of which I have not read, but would like to).

That seems unlikely, since only two of those books are adapting the DS9 episodes; the other two are an original TNG adventure. Besides, Therin's comments -- "The fourth one was bitsy, and very short for the conclusion of a mini-series with three previous, chunky volumes" -- are consistent with Mission: Gamma but not with the Dominion War books you're referring to.
 
Triangle, by Marshak and Culbreath. Oh, dear.

I adore How Much Just For The Planet? Just typing or saying the title gets David Lee Roth's "Just a Gigolo" stuck in my head for days.

Most of the ENT books are middling to not very good, but Surak's Soul is awful. I haven't liked a Mangels and Martin one yet, and as someone upthread said, TGTMD takes a ridiculous season finale and, by trying to "fix" it, makes it even stupider.
 
^ Funny how much reactions to books can vary. I enjoyed TGTMD and absolutely hated some of the ones that people constantly refer to as among the best Trek novels (though I know at least one person here disliked Millennium as much as I did).
 
I love how people can passionately differ their opinions on the same books. Especially how two people can love or hate the same books, but differ greatly on others.
Star Trek is one of those rare series (the only?) that is so huge as to be able to provide this opportunity to examine peoples likes and dislikes within it.
It shows us just how diverse an audience can be.
You might even say that Star Trek is a social experiment ;)
 
I like the Good That men do but I have to say 2 books I don't like are Before Dishonor and Windows to a lost world.People turning into alien crabs is just plain silly.
 
Is it possible people are thinking of a four book series (The Dominion War) based on the DS9 episodes A Call to Arms and onwards?

No, as already explained, it was late and I read in the post the word "Millennium" but was thinking "Mission: Gamma".

Windows to a lost world.People turning into alien crabs is just plain silly.

You know, I quite liked the originality of "Windows..." It was bizarre, but seemed to have some great SF concepts. And we've seen Star Trek characters turned into many other creatures before. Why not alien crabs?
 
Indeed. There's plenty of other things in Star Trek than can be described as "just plain silly". I suppose the perceived quality of the overall story affects how tolerant we are.
 
Well, I just finished the slashy edition of Killing Time, and I have to say it is indeed the worst TOS novel I've read, although its badness was amusing at times. But not towards the end, long in coming.
 
There isn't an official best books thread, these kind of threads just pop up from time to time.

I think the most recent fitting the bill would be this one.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top