1000 STAR TREK BOOKS Which ones are worth reading?

[RCmodeler]

(see subject)

Some of the books like "Imzadi" and "Spock's World" stand out as the best. What other ones are worth reading?

Are the Final Frontier books any good? (i.e. better than the TV series)

[Dr Maturin]

Well, Final Frontier has gotten overall good to great reviews by readers, plus it's Peter David, so that's a shoo in for a book being good.

A Stitch in Time is about Garak, written by Andy Robinson, the actor who portrays Garak and is a must read about post-DS9 Cardassia.

Aside from those I haven't really read or looked into any ST in years. I did a few book reports on the old Star Trek books in the 80's, but those pretty much sucked. Not the authors' faults, though, as they had rigid ruled back then and didn't do the continuity-laced stories like they have begun doing recently.

I say go with Final Frontier.

[SpooRancher]

Trek books

I found the majority of the Trek books to be a waste of a good tree.

The main exceptions were the books by Peter David. He can write. Others who somehow get their books published, I wonder who they schmoozed to accomplish that.

One of the ones I wonder the most about also wrote B5 books, John Vornhalt. (In his first B5 book, he had the temperature on Mars being over 200 degrees Celsius? What kind of a fool writes a Sci-Fi book without a little bit of standard research, at least the kind you can get out of a 2 minute read in an encyclopedia article?)

It seems just about anybody can get a Trek book published. I would stick with authors that are known to do good work.

[colonyearth]

Re: 1000 STAR TREK BOOKS Which ones are worth reading?

Originally posted by RCmodeler
(see subject)

Some of the books like "Imzadi" and "Spock's World" stand out as the best. What other ones are worth reading?

Are the Final Frontier books any good? (i.e. better than the TV series)

RC,

If you really wanna read the best of all Trek novels, read the Shatner trilogies. He's very adept at interweeving stories and elements from OS through the latest moments. He writes each Trek character from Kirk to Janeway with passion and gives them a true excitement and third dimension that series writers seem completely incapable of doing. His novels read like great films and are what Trek should be today. He's also great at logically explaining and fixing Berman's timeline and continuity screw-ups in ways that will have you saying, "F*&cking cool!"

He writes each character with true Trek spirit, from wonderful humor to absolute intrigue and excitement. He expands the Trek universe wonderfully while expounding on moments in Trek history and giving greater insight into events. They're books I simply can't put down.

The first one is Ashes of Eden...it's probably the slowest one, but it's very much like B5 S1, it's setting up a lot for the other books.

After that is The Return, which I literally read in one night...I couldn't put it down. From there, they should have them listed in order in the jacket cover...I can't recall right off.

He's in his fourth trilogy now I think and it's wonderful!

They are IMHO the only truly must-read Trek novels out there, since none of them are considered cannon. Although, again IMO, Shatner's novels should be.

CE

[OmahaStar]

CE, you do know Shatner doesn't actually write the books, right? It's Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens; the Shatner name is on the cover to sell copies, and it works for them.

Now, on to best ... Anything by Jean Lorrah, A. C. Crispin, Keith R. A. DeCandido, or S. D. Perry will be top notch and well worth your time.

[colonyearth]

Originally posted by OmahaStar
CE, you do know Shatner doesn't actually write the books, right? It's Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens; the Shatner name is on the cover to sell copies, and it works for them.

Now, on to best ... Anything by Jean Lorrah, A. C. Crispin, Keith R. A. DeCandido, or S. D. Perry will be top notch and well worth your time.

You do know Shatner is an acclaimed author right? They co-author with him, but he stories and the majority of the manuscript is his.

Either way, they're the best Trek novels ever written.

[OmahaStar]

Originally posted by colonyearth
You do know Shatner is an acclaimed author right? They co-author with him, but he stories and the majority of the manuscript is his.

Either way, they're the best Trek novels ever written.

No, he's not. Shatner has not written any of the books credited to him. His name is used as a marketing tool, and he gets a percentage of the profits. He didn't write the TekWar books, his "autobiographies", the Get a Life book, or the Trek books ... It's all "ghost writers", although in recent years, the actual writers have been given credit on the cover ... You will notice J&GR-S's names on the books have been getting bigger.

[colonyearth]

Just curious...how do you know this?

[OmahaStar]

Originally posted by colonyearth
Just curious...how do you know this?

spend enough time on the TrekLit section of www.trekbbs.com and you'll learn too.

[OmahaStar]

Oh and your mailbox is full.

Clean out your closet already!

[colonyearth]

Originally posted by OmahaStar
spend enough time on the TrekLit section of www.trekbbs.com and you'll learn too.

A co-worker of mine has a friend who used to be Shatner's assistant and says he had some assistance, as most writer's do, but he wrote it all.

[OmahaStar]

Originally posted by colonyearth
A co-worker of mine has a friend who used to be Shatner's assistant and says he had some assistance, as most writer's do, but he wrote it all.

My sister's father's brother's cousin's neighbor's grandma's dog says all the Nancy Drew books are written by the same person. Does that make it true?

[iamsheridan]

Originally posted by OmahaStar
My sister's father's brother's cousin's neighbor's grandma's dog says all the Nancy Drew books are written by the same person. Does that make it true?

No, I don't trust dogs.



/IaS

[colonyearth]

Originally posted by OmahaStar
My sister's father's brother's cousin's neighbor's grandma's dog says all the Nancy Drew books are written by the same person. Does that make it true?

Don't be a mean queen now OS.

The person I'm using as a source is someone I trust deeply, really.

He's a very good friend, co-worker, and fellow filmmaker.

[RCmodeler]

Shatner created/wrote the Tekwar novels. It seems logical that he could write Trek novels too.