What are your favorite stand-alone stories?

[SpaceLama]

Please name which stand-alone Star Trek novels you enjoyed, and why

And by stand-alone, I mean stories that are like original SF novels, but set in Star Trek's universe. So for example, stories that have a planet of the week, or alien of the week, or uncover an artefact of the week, or deal with a famine or military coup on some obscure colony. Anything like that.

 

[Paris]

I think my choice fits your criteria...

I really dug Christopher L. Bennett's Titan novel, Over a Torrent Sea. The book had a little bit of universe building stuff in it (post-Destiny and all that), but it was mainly about the Titan going to a very interesting unexplored planet, dealing with an alien race that had developed some amazing bio-technology, and had some really cool science based facts to make the story that much more enjoyable. Like in many of his books, Christopher mixes tons of real science with his science-fiction, and makes you believe that the Trek-Universe could actually be a real place. If you haven't read it, you should give it a try. Science fiction of this caliber is not always the norm in trek-lit

 

[SpaceLama]

That one is on my reading list, for sure

 

[Geoff Thorne]

IMMORTAL COIL leaps to mind. I'm not a big Data fan and this book just sucked me in and wouldn't let me go.

BURNING DREAMS too. I AM a huge Chris Pike fan and this book is not only definitive on the character but just a damned fine read.

 

[Paris]

IMMORTAL COIL leaps to mind. I'm not a big Data fan and this book just sucked me in and wouldn't let me go.

BURNING DREAMS too. I AM a huge Chris Pike fan and this book is not only definitive on the character but just a damned fine read.

I'm also a Pike fan. I recently acquired a copy of Burning Dreams, but haven't got to it yet. I was thinking of holding off until the end of the year and then reading it before the new 2010 Pike book comes out. Maybe I won't wait so long...

 

[Therin of Andor]

"The Entropy Effect" - read it when it first came out, after following the controversy in "Starlog" magazine. Didn't disappoint; couldn't put it down. No comparison with anything from Bantam.

"Uhura's Song" - a solid first contact story, for its time a "giant" of a ST novel - in fact, in the UK it was released as an unnumbered "giant novel" following Titan UK's reprints of the first three Pocket USA's "giant" TOS MMPBs!

"The Captain's Table: New Frontier: Once Burned" - sooooooo good. Hinted at in numerous previous NF booksand finally, here it was! And a guest Andorian to boot!

"TNG: Metamorphosis" - as a Data fan from TNG's premiere, this was such a fanwanky, self-indulgent book for me, and I loved it. Too bad the guest Andorian character had to be rewritten as a different alien!

"TNG: Immortal Coil" - this really appealed for similar reasons, I guess. Data indulgence - and clever cameos by every AI every to have been mentioned in TOS and TNG.

"Ex Machina" - although does it get discounted because it's a sequel/follow-up to ST:TMP?

"Strangers From the Sky" and "Final Frontier" - both fast-moving "giant" novels and excellent value for money, and self-contained even though they draw lots of threads from TOS (and TAS).

 

[SpaceLama]

Nice reccomendations.

I would add:

A Stitch in Time: the classic novel of Cardassian culture, written from the perspective of Garak, by Andrew J Robinson (Garak).

Orion's Hounds: the only Titan novel I have read so far, an interesting exploration of space based life forms, and containing good characterisation.

In the Name of Honor: set between Star Trek V and VI, it deals with the secret detention of Federation prisoners by the Klingon Empire.

The Final Relfection: it introduced a lot of the lore that would later be regarded as essential to Klingon culture, in TNG, DS9, etc.

Prime Directive: considered a bit of a classic, and apparently loved by the writers of the new movie.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Q-Squared, Dark Mirror

 

[TGTheodore]

I've always liked the ORIGINAL Kobayashi Maru (almost an anthology, but it answered a number of questions I had about some of the TOS characters' approach to the test since I first saw it in ST II).

And How Much for Just the Planet? It's just plain out there. I love humor and absurdity in Trek when used judiciously and properly. And since I write and compose musical theater, there was that aspect, too.

--Ted

 

[JD]

My favorites are, in no order:
Orion's Hounds: Technically it's part of Titan, but most the story is pretty much standalone. It has great characterisations, an intersting new race, and some wonderful science.
Serpents Among the Ruins: One of my favorite novels.
The Art of the Impossible: I love the way that KRAD was able to tie in so many different events, and characters into one outstanding story.
The Buried Age: Another CLB classic, with outstanding science, and a great look at Picard.

 

[seigezunt]

"The Entropy Effect" - read it when it first came out, after following the controversy in "Starlog" magazine.

What was that? I don't recall.

 

[SpaceLama]

My favorites are, in no order:
Orion's Hounds: Technically it's part of Titan, but most the story is pretty much standalone. It has great characterisations, an intersting new race, and some wonderful science.
Serpents Among the Ruins: One of my favorite novels.
The Art of the Impossible: I love the way that KRAD was able to tie in so many different events, and characters into one outstanding story.
The Buried Age: Another CLB classic, with outstanding science, and a great look at Picard.

Yeah the Lost Era ones are good.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Yep. KRAD loves to hear me tell this story, in fact: I read The Art Of The Impossible in one sitting, while in Washington Square Park in New York City. I was so engrossed in it that I almost failed to notice the bum who was trying to steal my shoes.

 

[JD]

Oh, that was you. I remembered someone talking about that, but I couldn't remember who it was, or which book they were reading.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Diane Duane's TOS novels, above all.

Also,

Uhura's Song
The Three Minute Universe
Troublesome Minds

Masks
Gulliver's Fugitives

Betrayal
Fallen Heroes
A Stitch in Time
The 34th Rule

The Murdered Sun
Echoes

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Oh, that was you. I remembered someone talking about that, but I couldn't remember who it was, or which book they were reading.

And - I swear I am not making this up - the bum had what sounded like a French accent. I felt like I was being accosted by the Gimme-The-Cash guy from The Fifth Element.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re "The Entropy Effect" controversy in "Starlog" magazine.

What was that? I don't recall.

Fans heard that Vonda McIntyre was killing off Kirk in the first original ST novel from Pocket Books - and they were up in arms! "How dare she kill off Kirk!" "Who does she think she is?"

Even when it was explained that the book's action took place before the events of TMP, and involved time travel, the fans were angry and inconsolable. Hilarious.

And a few months later, the "Save Spock" campaign was hotting up.

 

[Paris]

Another "stand alone" I liked a lot was KRAD's Q & A. It is part of the TNG relaunch, but it occurs in the midst of the TNG Borg-arc (in between Resistance & Before Dishonor) as, seemingly, a kind of aside. I read this book in two sittings over a weekend, and I can't praise it enough. I especially love the hops in between the various universes. Captain Wesley Crusher indeed .

 

[Dayton Ward]

"The Entropy Effect" - read it when it first came out, after following the controversy in "Starlog" magazine.

What was that? I don't recall.

Starlog essentially jumped to the worst possible conclusion based on little to no actual information, and "panic" ensued among some segments of fandom.

Don't worry though; stuff like that could never happen today, what with the internet and message boards and all...............................

 

[UncleRogi]

First Frontier was an excellent read, though It has the Guardian in it. I'm a big fan of all stories with the Guardian. It's just such an awesome concept. Hat's off to Mr. Ellison.