Why do we buy/collect Star Trek books?

[Ktrek]

I was wondering why we fans even buy Star Trek books? What makes us keep coming back to the well?

Is it because we love a particular series and cast of characters that we cannot let them go?

Is it the search for the holy grail of Star Trek storytelling? That elusive story that we hope will be the one story so good nothing could ever surpass it? Kind of like that next high?

Is it that the writers provide enough to keep us entertained when we can't watch the show?

Is it because there is no current Star Trek for us to watch and thus we turn to books to satisfy that desire and inner longing/thirst?

Maybe we like to have a hobby and this seems like a harmless one? I know for myself my wife says "at least you're not doing drugs!" lol She'd much rather put up with my Star Trek than that problem.

Anyway, I got thinking about this tonight and thought it might provide some interesting fodder for discussion.

Kevin

 

[Harvey]

I send most of them right back to the used book store where I found them. I only keep the ones I really like, and expect to read again (eventually), like the Deep Space Nine Relaunch books and a few others.

 

[DeVario]

For me, it's all about keeping up with the characters of my favorite series (DS9). I've been following the post-"WYLB" books almost right from the start and have every one so far. Before this year, I was strictly DS9-R, but I've just recently started collecting the post-Nemesis TNG novels, so I could familiarize myself with the new TNG crew before reading "Destiny." I also bought "Kobayashi Maru" for the same reason, so I could get familiar with Captain Hernandez and the Columbia crew. Now, in addition to DS9, I plan to continue with all the post-Destiny novels.

 

[Sci]

Same reason I buy any other book:

I like reading 'em, and don't feel like returning it to the library.

 

[PaulSimpson]

I've been collecting them since 1971 and even when I fell out of love with them for a time in the 1990s, still collected them. I guess it's now engraved in my DNA! (Same applies with the Doctor Who novels that I started getting in 1973 when the first ones were reprinted byTarget in paperback and new stories started.) My attic has storage boxes of the different series!

Paul

 

[Therin of Andor]

Is it because we love a particular series and cast of characters that we cannot let them go?

I cannot bear to know there's a licensed adventure of the ST gang that I haven't yet read. I never got this intense completist buzz from fanfic or fanfilms, because they are so hit or miss, I guess, but at least with the editorial/vetting procedures, most of the licensed tie-ins have a higher level of authentication.

That's not to say that I have enjoyed every licensed ST novel or comic, or that I haven't enjoyed some fan stuff that people recommended.

 

[BrotherBenny]

I collect stuff. I love Trek novels. Ergo I collect Trek novels.

 

[adamczar]

I cannot bear to know there's a licensed adventure of the ST gang that I haven't yet read. I never got this intense completist buzz from fanfic or fanfilms, because they are so hit or miss, I guess, but at least with the editorial/vetting procedures, most of the licensed tie-ins have a higher level of authentication.

That's not to say that I have enjoyed every licensed ST novel or comic, or that I haven't enjoyed some fan stuff that people recommended.

That hits the nail on the head for me.

I started buying them in the mid 90s when I was in middle/high school. I'd take them to school and read during downtime, and I quickly found that they were able to tell stories that may not necessarily work on the show. Nowadays, they continue the story beyond what we've seen, with a talent that sometimes surpasses the show itself at times.

In short, I collect them because I'm not done watching Star Trek.

 

[Steve Roby]

I grew up at a time without VCRs or DVDs or home computers, and TV shows and movies were ephemeral. You watch it when it comes on or you might never have a chance to see it again. And when you do watch it, if you like it, you don't know if you'll have the chance to see it again.

That's why I loved tie-in books. There's the movie or TV episode there on my bookshelf, ready to be revisited any time I want. I might even have a whole new story that was never actually on TV. It's a way of having a piece of that otherwise ephemeral movie/show. Plus, you interact with it in a different way from watching it. That's why they're still worthwhile now that you can buy more TV series and movies on DVD than you could ever actually watch.

I've bought probably a thousand Star Trek books in the last 35 years or so, and maybe five hundred Doctor Who-related books in the last eight. It's a more committed kind of fandom, and it's fun. What I don't get are people who consider themselves serious fans but don't have any interest in the books. How can you not?

 

[PaulSimpson]

What I don't get are people who consider themselves serious fans but don't have any interest in the books. How can you not?

Horses for courses, Steve; for a lot of people a TV show is an immersive experience, which reading isn't (and there are those for whom reading isn't the pleasure it is for a lot of us!)

It can work the other way round too. I loved the Quantum Leap novels, but could never get into the TV series.

P

 

[Christopher]

Horses for courses, Steve;

I've never heard that expression. A British idiom? Something like "Different strokes for different folks?"

 

[elaithin]

Same reason I buy any other book:

I like reading 'em, and don't feel like returning it to the library.

What he said. Plus, the libraries in most of the places I've lived have had horrible science fiction selections. I'm better off keeping them.

 

[PaulSimpson]

Horses for courses, Steve;

I've never heard that expression. A British idiom? Something like "Different strokes for different folks?"

You really must expand your reading Christopher <ducks rapidly> I guess it is an English idiom - but yes, means the same thing as "Different Strokes" except you don't automatically think someone is going to yell "Willis!!!" when you hear it.

 

[Marie1]

I came into DS9 "late" so when it was over on TV, I wanted more, and wanted to know what was happening in the GQ with Odo- and of course the Jem'Hadar. I was walking through a grocery store and saw a book on sale with a Jem'Hadar on the cover (!!!)- Avatar book 2. It was the first I'd heard of the series continuing in novel form... possibly the first Trek book I've encountered- all other memories escape me (Trek book wise).

I've hoared them ever since, and read them in a slightly OCD fashion as I await new ones. Tho I took a bit of a break when FS was pushed back. Then someone pointed me in the direction of SCE, and since I think there are over 70 of them, I'll have new material for quite some time...

They're just good- I find myself keeping them even if I don't like the way the plot goes, or even if I'm upset a character dies (to a point!). I just read the parts I like when rereading them. If I like something, I'll read/watch it again, so once I've paid for it, its easier to keep it than go through the nuisance of trying to get it again if I want to reread something.

I even hate loaning them- but thats cuz people keep them for months without bothering to read them! *shakes fist*

 

[Ktrek]

I even hate loaning them- but thats cuz people keep them for months without bothering to read them! *shakes fist*

I learned long ago never loan what I collect. It may piss friends off but I have invested a lot of money in my collection over the years and whenever I have lent something to friends in the past it 1) never gets returned or 2) never returns in the condition it left. So, now I just don't do it.

Kevin

 

[PaulSimpson]

^QFT... sadly

 

[Thrawn]

My copy of A Stitch In Time wandered off that way, and it kills me because the cheapest you can find it now in print is like $30. Part of the reason I bought my Kindle was so I could read that particular book again.

 

[JD]

I read the Star Trek books because I enjoy reading and I like getting new Star Trek stories. And because they are really good books written by a talented group of authors, who at times write stories that are even better than some of the TV episodes.

Yeah, I don't loan anything I'm over attatched to anymore for pretty much the same reason you guys don't. I tend to be very OCD about the condition of my books, so the only people I would loan stuff out to are people who I either trust 100% (like my older sister, who I picked up the book condtion OCD from) or who live with me. To give you an idea how OCD I am, I will actually go through every copy of a book in store just to find the one in as close to perfect condidtion as I possibly can.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

For me, it's because I love a particular cast / series. I like being able to pick out a book and revisit a particular adventure. This is particularly for Vanguard and Titan, which are about people out beyond the frontier, alone and dealing with discovery, but in different ways.

 

[captcalhoun]

because if i didn't about 60% of my reading material would evaporate.