Star Trek Novels

[Rendclaw]

Okay, since it was suggested that Star Trek talk be put into another thread, I made one.

 

I bought the first four books of the SCE series, and its good stuff. Of course the stories are basically novelizations of stories put on I think the Pocket Book website. Its a good example of creating a "new" set of characters (even though a few of them were throwaways from the different Star Trek series), giving them their own personalities and stories to tell. Another developing series is Vanguard, which makes the cast of the original series secondary, though they have their moments of couse, and supportive of the crew of a space station out in the middle of nowhere. The second book comes out next month I think, and I am looking forward to it.

 

I want to get the New Frontier series now, even though back in the day I turned my nose up at it, thinking that it was rather stupid not to write about the main characters from the various series. More fool me, I suppose.

[starvenger]

To be honest, I've only read a couple of the Trek novels, due to their "not in continuity" nature. PAD's New Frontier series was decent though, and I liked the concepts in Diane Duane's "Dark Mirror".

 

...and that's about it.

[Masked Man of Mystery]

I used to love Star Trek books, but around 2000 or so they weren't as good in my opinion

[Anakin Flair]

I stopped reading the Star Trek books a while ago, but I did have most of the New Fronteir series. All of the books were excellent, and I would highly recomend them.

[LessonInMachismo]

A good 99% of ST novels are garbage, but there are some gems in there, such as The Final Reflection and My Enemy, My Ally, which, not coincidentally, are not about the main characters. Shocking that the authors wrote better when they didn't have so many constraints. There was a set of guidelines for ST novel submissions, the core of which was "don't do anything to change the characters."

[SuperJerk]

That whole "this isn't canon but you can't do anything outside what we say" rule helps absolutely no one.

 

I tried the New Frontier books when they first came out, but didn't like them.

[LessonInMachismo]

I tried the New Frontier books when they first came out, but didn't like them.

 

Elucidate, please.

[SuperJerk]

I didn't like the characters. It was a long time ago, but I think it was mainly because the author spent too much time using recycled guest-stars from TNG episodes as the main characters. I was also annoyed because the captain was supposed to be an alien, but they went out of their way to make him as human as possible.

[starvenger]

I didn't like the characters. It was a long time ago, but I think it was mainly because the author spent too much time using recycled guest-stars from TNG episodes as the main characters. I was also annoyed because the captain was supposed to be an alien, but they went out of their way to make him as human as possible.

I think that was the "hook" for the series. Take a bunch of characters the TV show is never going to use again, like Shelby, and give them their own stories.

[MrRant]

Too bad Shelby fucking sucked.

[ChrisMWaters]

A good 99% of ST novels are garbage, but there are some gems in there, such as The Final Reflection and My Enemy, My Ally, which, not coincidentally, are not about the main characters. Shocking that the authors wrote better when they didn't have so many constraints. There was a set of guidelines for ST novel submissions, the core of which was "don't do anything to change the characters."

Or, if you do, have them reverted back at the end.

 

Like the TNG book "Metamorphosis"...where Data was turned human.

 

This was set almost immediately after the TNG ep "Measure of a Man".

[SuperJerk]

Too bad Shelby fucking sucked.

Yes. I watched "Best of Both Worlds" again recently and I just wanted to slap the shit out of her the entire time.

 

And I think Selar and Lefler were only note-worthy because of the actresses who played them. Selar because the actress came back a couple of times as different people, and Lefler because the actress later achieved chick-flick stardom.