My top four personal favorties representing
each series are as follows:
TOS:MUDD IN YOUR EYE,'cause everyone's favorite
intergalactic con man Harcourt Fenton "Harry"
Mudd is featured at his old antics.

STNG:FORTUNE'S LIGHT:Great mystery featuring Riker
plus the B storyline is about Data learning about
the game of baseball

DS9:OBJECTIVE BAJOR:The image of the Defiant
flying into the Hive is worth the price of admission(even though it has to be in your head)

VOY:SEVEN OF NINE:GREAT COVER,and a tremendous
story featuring telepathic aliens that use their
powers to seduce the Voyager crew into helping
them against a tyrant who betrayed them to the
Borg.This will remind readers of the episode
INFINITE REGRESS in some places as Seven once
more shows off the different personalities the
Borg assimilated.Also look for the part where
Annika(the grown up Annika)emerges for a short
while.This would make an excellent episode for
Voyager.Would love to see Jeri wear THAT red dress
that Annika puts on.But I digress since this IS
my all time favorite Star Trek novel.:)

Funny, you just named four of the ones on my "worst" list. My favorites are:

TOS: Uhura's Song, as you've all heard many times before. i don't believe I need to say why!

TNG: Vendetta. This is the way the Borg should be. Relentless. Perfect. Machines. NOT AOTW!!!!!!!!

DS9: Time's Enemy. This is the only DS9 novel that I felt was well-written. And it had a great story, even though it did have nits.

VOY: The Final Fury, but only because I like Dafyyd ab Hugh (who assures his readers that he is not, nore has he ever been, Peter David.) None of the Voyager novels are that great.

New Frontier: Once Burned, the Captain's Table book. Great plot, great writing, and great cheat by Captain Calhoun!

Well, here we go again...

TOS: "Tears of the Singers." There needs to be more Janet Kagan!

TNG: "Imzadi." No more needs to be said.

DS9: "Valhalla." Great last line!

VOY: er....I guess "Pathways." ?

NF: "House of Cards." A great introduction! I just wish it hadn't been so short!

I'm glad that the Other Novels section is back! I'm assuming all of the previous posts are gone? Perhaps everyone could repost? Please?

Wasn't Valhallathe one that had the line about people who had a heaven, but no hell?

I'm changing my DS9 to Fallen Heroes, just for the shock value. And I like Dafyyd ab Hugh's sense of humor.

That was the last line, Matthew! Now you've gone and spoiled it for everyone! <g>

I agree with the "Fallen Heroes" thing. And Daffyd ab Hugh. He's definitely not Peter David, you know.

Did you notice that Dafydd ab hugh changed the spelling of his name? I have a copy of Voyager's The Final Fury,"where it's spelled "Dafydd." I also have DS9's Rebels,where it is spelled "Daffyd." What gives? Of course, any way you put it, it still makes no sense.

Didn't one of the books say that it was supposed to be pronounced "Dah-veth"?
And I'm pretty sure I read in the "About the Author" section thingy on ab Hugh that he has written an Arthurian Fantasy trilogy. So has Peter David!
Odd that. Almost X-Filish.

"Federation" is the best Trek novel. I re-read it every year. Usually I just read a ST novel twice but this one I read every year.

Oh, Lord no! First Contact is a much better story of First Contact and the first warp flight.

I agree with Dave; 'Federation' is the best ST book I've read.

Federation is one of the best, but that isn't saying very much- the quality of Trek novels is pretty low.

Oh come on Doc, you know Dark Mirror was good.

MPatterson, as much as I liked Fallen Heroes, I hated the way the author names things. O'Brien was always referred to as "Master"-Chief Miles O'Brien. Quark's bar was always called "Quark's Place" even when Quark speaks of his place. O'Brien's grenades were never simply reffered to as grenades but "O'Brien's Specials". The Tractor Beam was the tractor "bat" in ops known as the "batter's box".
I know it's Dafydd's story and he can write it any way he wants. Seems he went a little nuts on labeling things his way.

Well… O'Brien is technically Master Chief Petty Officer O'Brien. And How do we know that the
name of the bar isn't really Quark's Place? I still liked his warped sense of humor. Not to
mention the bits with Quark in Ops at the end.

line eate

No arguement from me there. I just didn't like the way the author chose his pronouns unwaiveringly. A good writer IMHO uses the added titles maybe once at the beginning, once in the middle, maybe even once in the end, but more than that is so cumbersome, monotonous(sp?) and tiring. Don't do it ALL the time! Call him O'brien, for short or "the bar", "my bar", "my place". Quark seems to speak of himself in the third person (Quark, "We'll meet at Quark's Place"). Seems just too weird. No offense Matthew. It's just me.

I've read some non-ST books that said a person's first and last name every single time that person had a scene! That's totally unnecessary and very annoying. I know who the person is, stop reminding me! Otherwise, staying on the subject at hand, some of my fave ST books in no particular order (though any order they're put in makes it a particular order, I guess) are:

Vendetta
Imzadi--Can't wait to read the sequel.
How Much Just for the Planet?
Tears of the Singers
Ship of the Line--Just read it. (But Diane Carey stole my idea of doing a Bozeman storyline about what it was doing right before entering the time distortion thingie, but I still love her stories anyway.)
Ashes of Eden
The Return (Gotta get Avenger but I've got Spectre)
Ishmael--Loved the Here Comes the Brides crossover! Or was it an homage? Hmm.
Best Destiny
Probe

So many good ST books, so little time to list all the ones I like.

Man, Rodnberry, I do not think I could disagree more with some of those! I mean, "How Much for Just the Planet?" Are you kidding me? Also "Ishmael"...grrr! Now you just need to nominate "Black Fire" and "The Joy Machine", and you will have my all time least favourite TOS novels!
However, you are not alone in this. Weirddave tells me that he likes books that I entirely disapprove of...just no accounting for tastes, I guess.
Out of curiosity, though, exactly what kind of redeeming virtues did you find in "How Much...?"? What am I missing, here?

And what are your worsts? I bet I liked 'em!

(Replying by e-mail is an option, if you'd prefer to keep it all a secret! :-)

Addendum to my first favourite list: I meant "Uhura's Song", by Janet Kagan, as fave TOS novel! I also liked "Tears of the Singers", yes, and it was a good Uhura story (why aren't there more of them?) but, no, it's "Uhura's Song" all the way!

Are you kidding me? How Much for Just the Planetis hilarious! I laughed all the way through! It's a refreshing change from novels like Windows On a Lost World.That was just awful.

"Vendetta" is my favourite. I cried buckets at the end - such a brilliant unusual last page.

By the way, Matthew, "Daffyd" (or however he or the publishers spell it - I suspect a misprunt somewhere along the line) is Welsh for David! I wouldn't recommend that you ever visit Wales - I don't think you'll be very welcome! ;)

Anyone noticed the new book out that's sort of a colection of excerpts and commentary on Trek novels? I forget what it's called. It's really huge and it has all four captains on the cover. What I was wondering was, does anyone know what novels the pictures of the captains come off of? I know that Janeway holding a phaser is from Voyager #9 The Final Furyand Sisko was from Deep Space Nine #15 Objective: Bajor, but I'm clueless as to Kirk and Picard. (Picard was maybe from Q-in-Law,which they refer to as the funniest Star Trek novel. They got that one right.)

It managed to include almost all of my favorites, but curiously omitted was Vendettaor anything pertaining to the Borg. I think it would have been great to have the first Doomsday machine scene in there, with Delcara's rebuttal of the standard Borg speech. Or the scene with Daimon Turane speaking to the Borg. Or the very last pages of the book. Or all three. I wonder why they didn't include Vendetta, though. I guess they had already used two of Peter David's works and so couldn't use any more.

I wouldn't advise buying the thing I've been talking about (whatever it might be called,) but it was fun to flip through.

I currently have 66 Star Trek novels (Obviously I need to get a life ;-) ), and I would have to agree with Vendetta being the best written of the novels. Peter David's writing has never been better, and he wrote the best Geordi that I've read in any of the novels. If you like Peter David's writing, pick up either Supergirl or Young Justice from DC-they're interesting reads (an unsolicited plug-if Peter David reads this, he can send me an autographed Incredible Hulk 425 as thanks).
I would have to list Ship of the Line as the second best. I think Riker and Scotty are very well written, and Morgan Batesman is given a very good backstory.
Now, onto the worst-any of Shatner's books. I'm sorry, but everyone I know who read the books laughed when he outfought Worf, out-thought Data, and was a greater tactical genius than Picard. I like the original series, but come on.

My favorite novels TOS: Vulcan's Forge, TNG: The Children of Hamlin, DS9: The Big Game, Voyager: The Garden, The New Frontier: The Captain's Table Once Burned.
Fred 66 is not a lot of books my current count of Star Trek only is 263. Up to and including the Double Helix series 1-6.

I've got and read mostly TOS novels, and rachqd, I was only going by what I could remember since I don't recall most of the stories too much, really. I also had to look inside Ship of the Line to help me remember some of the ones I liked, but there are now so many listed there that I didn't have time to list all the ones I liked. Fred, I didn't mind Shatner's first two Trek books. I thought they were pretty good, but then I'm getting old and suffer selective memory. haha!

Ishmael was a kick to me cuz I immediately got the inside joke there, if indeed it was an inside joke putting the story in the Here Come the Brides settings. I've only read one or two Voyager books, like the one in the Invasion crossover.

I've got the Captain's Tables, all 6, but not read any yet. Are they any good?

NO!!!

Sorry, to anyone who liked the Captains Tables, but...it was the dumbest concept ever. I couldn't even finish the Michael Jan Freidman nightmare, and even Peter David's superlative abilities couldn't overcome the fact the whole idea sucked!
Besides, I am rapidly becoming frustrated with this series thing that they keep doing. While it pretty much worked with some of the early ones ("The Furies", and "The Dominion War" - and hey, hands up who had to pay a couple of extra dollars for those DW books? Maybe the two covers made them have to up the price?) I would like a return to single adventure, stand-alones that you can either picture in an alternate reality, or try to fit into the Trek universe as best you can.
But enough with the sagas, already!
Please?
I mean, have we learned nothing from the "Day of Honor" fiasco?

I think that only the Mackenzie Calhoun Captain's Table was any good, but I've not read the Picard one or the Sisko one all the way through (I have a moral objection to reading Michael Jan Friedman. Too bad he's one of the most prolific Trek writers out there. And I haven't had time to finish the Sisko one yet.) And to get into the Calhoun one, you really have to be a fan of the New Frontier and have read the other books first, otherwise parts of them will be lost on you.

I thought the Invasion! idea was pretty dumb, but at least it was original and the DS9 and Voyager books were pretty good. The Day of Honor was bad. I have yet to see a Double Helix book written by someone I haven't sworn off of reading. The Dominion War I only read because I had lots of time to kill waiting for my turn in a band contest, and it was only good cause I like Ro.

Oh, I have another question. Anyone remember the DS9 book Wrath of the Prophets? Remember how they sort of challenged the reader to guess who wrote what? What do you think? My guess is that Peter David did all the scenes on Bajor, because I recognized some of the jokes he would use, Michael Jan Friedman did the scenes on the station because I recognized his most annoying repeating phrases (note to Friedman: You can only use "for that matter" or "In fact" so many times before it gets old. It got old by the hundredth page.), and Bob Greenberger did the rest of the scenes by process of elimination. Anyone think differently?

I want to get a copy of PATHWAYS one of these
days and read it as I understand that it involves
Janeway getting seriously injured and all the
main characters including both Kes and Seven tell
how she changed their lives.:)

As far as my choices,I stand by them.:)

On the whole though I really think TOS and
VOYAGER are the ones that are the best written.
I have only one NEW FRONTIER and none of THE
CAPTAIN'S TABLE so can't really discuss them.

The reason why I love the VOYAGER novels is because they are so much easier to imagine in my
mind.They are more like watching VOYAGER on tv,
which I guess is why you dissers don't like them.

I have about 60 Star Trek books total,including
nonfic.Can't wait for them to come out with the
DS9 Companion,if they ever do.:)

BTW:Just reread the novelization of FLASHBACK,
really great the way they tied everything together.:)

Pathways in no way involves the captain getting injured. Pathways involves the crew getting put in a prison camp on some planet and telling stories about their past. Seven doesn't tell because we already know everything important. Kes only tells Neelix. Several of the stories contradict what is seen in the show, although the book is supposed to be canon. And this book features the first ever male/male homosexual relationship in any version of Trek. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

I don't like the Voyager books because I don't like the show. I don't like the Voyager novels because they're badly written and not worth an hour and a half.

This is an interesting thread for me. My favorites include "Federation", "Prime Directive", "The Great Starship Race". One of the very worst is "Angel of Death" which was an OK premise and some of the aliens were fairly well conceived. But the author did not understand Kirk at all. I'm afraid there is little nice to say about it.

I've always enjoyed Diane Carey's work, and the Reeves-Stevens seem to work very well together. And with Shatner. One of my friends doesn't like the way "Prime Directive" ends, with those aliens on the planet's moon. I see his point but liked the book.

Anyway, I read a Trek novel to have fun and it is so easy to see and hear the characters so it is much easier reading than many other works where you don't understand anything at the beginning.

I like all of the audiobooks, especially those with full cast recordings, even though they're abridged! When stories aren't illustrated, I'd rather hear them! I'd love to see some of these stories on TV, even as cartoons.

I can't understand why these stories aren't cannon! In SPOCK'S WORLD, Dr. McCoy's middle name is Edward!

By the way, my favorite stories are the crossover stories, like most of VULCAN'S HEART, Shatner's stories, NEW FRONTIER, RELICS, SHIP OF THE LINE, FEDERATION, & Q-SQUARED.

Besides, you refer to books by underlining or italicizing, not by quoting.

I don't think I've read a DS9 book, and I didn't care much for the novelization of Caretaker. I like Sarek and The Return and Avenger. And Shadows On the Sun. I also liked Uhura's Song...and Imzadi (and I ain't much of a romantic). Dark Mirror is kind of spooky, but a good look at the "flip" side of people. Federation isn't that bad...nor is Vendetta. I even like Metamorphosis. And whatever the name was of the book that's supposed to take place right before and right after "Skin Of Evil".

The last book you referred to was Legacy.As for DS9 books, the only two good ones are Fallen Heroesand Time's Enemy.Stay far, far away from Warped.You need an advanced physics degree and at least two readings before you can make sense of what's going on. And Wrath of the Prophetsis unforgivable. I feel like launching into a Sailor Moon speech. ("For mutilating characterization and writing bad dialogue, I cannot forgive you. I am the pretty sailor suited soldier, Sailor Moon! In place of the Moon, I'l punish you!") Even Peter David's efforts couldn't save that book.

To Matthew Patterson:

Some of us don't want to waste time on the net typing formatting, and you can't always use formatting anyway, so writing "the book" is pretty standard.

UHURA'S SONG, all the way. It is a joy to read and reread.

I used to buy only Original series books, then crossovers, and since DS9 went off I missed it so much I've been going to used bookstores to try to purchase those. I have been very disappointed with the DS9 books so far. They are all so violent & dark, bordering on gruesome. I did not like Fallen Heroes at all. Each body Quark & Odo found was killed in a more gruesome way than the one before. Also, you knew that they had to get back & change history or ... poof! No more DS9! Warped was awful too. (and I don't know how to underline or italicize on line - sorry!) Valhalla was ok but not great. The Tempest was good but the ending was unsatisfying. I am not sure if I should continue my quest for the rest of the DS9 books. My favorite Original Series book is Ishmael. I also liked Prime Directive, Federation, Shadows on the Sun, and My Enemy, My Ally. I liked the DS9 Captain's Table the best of the Captain's Table series - it was light and funny. I don't mind crossovers and - I know this is a terrible thing to say - I even like Shatner's books - although they are not the best, I find them readable and somewhat interesting (unlike these DS9 books I've been reading lately...) I guess I just love the Original series characters & enjoy reading about them. (but I agree that Black Fire and Windows on a Lost World are both horrible books.) (and I like Michael Jan Friedman's books.....)
I think when you ask 50 people for the best and worst Star Trek Episodes, you end up with fairly consistent lists, but when you ask 50 people for best and worst Star Trek Novels, you have wild diversity of opinion. Maybe people look for different things in novels - I don't have an explanation. Does anyone else?

I just re-read my message & the book I meant to say had an unsatisfying ending was Warchild, not The Tempest. The Tempest was ok (although part of it seemed like a psycho-analysis of Keiko & Miles' marriage.)

I don't think it's necessarily true that people read Star Trek novels INSTEAD OF pure science fiction novels. A lot of people read both.

But as for me, I know Star Trek novels are not usually centered on science fiction. I read them because I like the TV show. I enjoy seeing how different authors portray the characters I'm familiar with (if they write them well). Novels allow different plots and storytelling techniques from the television show.

So, at least for me, I don't expect to see a pure science fiction story in a Star Trek novel (though a well thought-out science fiction concept can never hurt). I expect to see a new story about the characters and settings I know from TV. If I want to read a science fiction story, I read a science fiction novel.

I hope that helps to explain it.

Who says I read Star Trek instead of regular science fiction? I like the Trek novels because at least some of them are well-written and regardless of what they're about, they're good stories.

To: mpatterson
RE: Dafydd ab Hugh
If his name is pronounced Dah-vuth, then this is the proper spelling. It's Welsh. One f is prononced as a v sound, sort of, and ff is pronounced as f. And the double d is pronounced as th.

Page 238 of PATHWAYS Jeri Taylor has the phrase
"her Gaelic invective" this should actually read
"her Gallic invective".

Gaelic refers to anyone of Celtic from Ireland,
Scotland or the Isle of Man.
Gallic refers to the French,and it was Paris'
French girlfriend who was being referred to here.

While we are at it it is fiancee when referring
to the WOMAN,and fiance when referring to the
MAN.

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I actually like Shatner's books. I think they allow a nice way of all the crews coming together (even if Kirk always seems to save the day and the plot devices are contrived).
Anyway, my fave books are
1)Mosaic -jeri Taylor
2)Pathways - jeri Taylor (Doesn't matter that these contradict the show...so do most other trek books)
3)The 34th Rule - Armin Shimmerman
4)Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah
5)Imzadi (of course)
Does any one have any info on The Garak book that is supposedly coming out by Andrew Robinson.

It's called Garak's Diary, that's about all I know.

I totally forgot about Metamorphosis!I loved that one! I thought it was written fairly well and seemed like a good description of what would happen if Data really became human. And I loved the parts with the Quest and Mystery the cat.

I'm popping in late here, so several threads at once:

I definitely liked Metamorphosis.

My biggest problem with reading the DS9 books so long after they came out (I just got them) is reading things, especially descriptions, that we already know. Especially the description of Dax and her friendship with Sisko, and Nog and Jake. The tenth time I read about that "no-good Ferengi" Nog, I start to get annoyed. Not to mention that one book treated Rom kindly (as intelligent), and a later one acted like he was an idiot.

As for Star Trek vs. Sci Fi: I expect Star Trek books to have good science in them. My least favorite are the ones that mess up the science, or the ones that forget that what is science fact to Star Trek may be science fiction to someone else - y'know, like another character in the same story!
Star Trek gives us a chance to look beyond our world and see something worth working for. Now if we could just convince people to start working for it again.

Love Q-Squared and Imzadi oh and also Q-In-Law I was laughing so hard by the end of that book.....Peter David is a great author!!!!

Worst Hard Covers(too many BAD paperbacks to even Begin):Dark Mirror: just Dull , Best Destiny: same, DS9 Warped, Warped is whoever said OK to publish this. I,Q, Probably the Only Peter David book I haven't LOL while reading, & overpriced for such a skimpy Novel. BEST hardcovers!!!!!! All the Vulcan Books, Spock's World, SAREK, Vulcan's Forge & Heart, I have also enjoyed Shatner's(I know , just his name on em) books, even tho they cannot possibly fit in the ongoing continuity. This is just from memory, I have been reading these books since Spock Must Die!! & still own abot 80% of Star Trek Books ever published, the other 20% were lost , or borrowed from The Public Library :=) Oh, Imzadi, & Imzadi II, David just does wonders with continuity, makes it almost make sence, and almost always makes me Laugh Out Loud. From what I have seen Comic books he has written have also been as entertaining!

Q-IN-Law is hysterical! The chase scene practically had me rolling on the floor. Not to mention Worf's priceless line when Picard wondered what they should do about the chase. Worf's reply: "Sell tickets."

And when Q2 showed up and mentioned that he had taken pictures....

Oh how I wish they could have made this into a special movie presentation.

That's what I would do if I were a Q. Transform Q-in-Law and Q-Squared into movies. (That, and rebuild the music program at my school from the ground up. Hell, just move back to my old school.)

Who was asking about the Garak diary? It's called "A Stitch in Time," and you can read an excerpt here:

http://www.psiphi.org/cgi/upc-db/excerpt/0671038850

Now, I don't think I've read a Trek book in five years, but I'm definitely going to read this one, because it looks pretty awesome. Really, this little excerpt is about as well-written as anything I can remember in a Trek novel...

Lea, I agree, the excerpt looks excellent. Even that little bit reminds me of the way Garak sounded on the series. Really looking forward to it.
Since I last wrote in about how disappointed I was in DS9 novels, I read "Saratoga" which I thought was very good (the best DS9 novel I read so far) and "Proud Helios" which I didn't think was too bad either.

Vendetta was great, as was Federation and several Peter David novels. I also enjoyed the new series by William Shatner with Spectre and Dark Victory, and the Q-Continuum books (#47-49). The story wasn't that great, but Q has always been a personal favorite.

To Locutus ofborg: Allow me to join your minority, I too loved the Shatner books. I agree, it does allow the nice blend of the mixing of characters from each series. I think it's natural for Shatner to write a trek book, cause he would know the TOS characters, and I think he does a pretty good job of the TNG and DS9 characters. I have to admit, I haven't read the one, that has the Voyager characters, but the storyline has me intriqued! I probably will in the future!

To Nathan K: You couldn't of said it better. Thanks for posting it!

Now I don't know if this book was posted and talked about, and I don't find any mentioning of it yet, I don't think, but I would like to know anyone's musings on "The Lives Of Dax". I bought it a couple of days ago, and so far, I'm on Curzon's story. I think this is a very well written story, and I love the little anctidotes(SP?) in it. Very fascinating. Interesting there are alot of familiar characters in it. I hope I haven't said too much.

Shatner's books aren't as bad as they made them out to be...

I also liked "Ship of the Line".

SlinkyFrog: I, too, saw The Lives of Dax.Interesting. I liked the Torias, Tobin, Audrid, and Lela stories, didn't read the Joran story, thought the Ezri and Jadzia ones were okay (at least Verad got a mention again,) and wondered why the Curzon one was mostly about Sisko. Not too bad, but not worth the cost.

I thought so, than I was enlightend with the different ways of thinking concerning different races and how one deals with regret. I just read some interesting thought processes here. I found it interesting that Lela's and Tobin's story were third person in thier point of view, but Emony's was third person in McCoy's point of view, yet Audrid's was a letter, Curzon's was in Fist person
in sisco's mind, and Joran's was half and half, his and the joined detective. Very interesting, IMHO.

Hi!
Doesn't look like i'm about to add anything new here, but i have read and enjoyed 'Dark Mirror', 'Q-in-Law', 'Dragon's Honor' and (especially) 'Uhura's Song' over and over again. I love it when the authors take the time to create an original, imaginative NOVEL -- most of the time (especially in the case of the NextGen series) i can practically hear the closing-credits theme music when i'm through.
BTW, anybody else remember the James Blish short stories based on the Classic series? Great stuff!

Of course we do... I also had "Spock Must Die!"

Not to mention 'Spock, Messiah!', wherein our beloved Vulcan decides to resign in order to lead a planet of primitives to the Promised Land... or somewhere...(sorry, long time since i read this one -- but i DO remember the scene where a female crewmember confesses she messed with Spock's mind because she wanted him to be more, uh, receptive to her advances.) Some of those early Bantam novels are REALLY peculiar.

Perry`s Planet by Joe Haldemann was good, though, but they all suffer from being nothing but elongated episodes. Not that there`s anything wrong with that, though.

My favorite novel is Q-In-Law by Peter David. It is very funny. The best part was when Lwaxana Troi took her revenge on Q after he told her that he was only pretending to care about her. I bet there are many women who would like to do the same thing to their ex-husbands and ex-boyfriends.

Agreed...I especially liked Worf's response when Picard asks him what they can do about the rampage -'Sell tickets.' But the single funniest moment in that whole book has GOT to be Data's line at the very end: 'Should there be any children, we will very strongly consider naming them after you, Mrs. Troi...Mom.' Oh, man, I almost got kicked off the subway for laughing at that one.

I loved First Contact as a film but does anyone else think that they should have filmed Federation. That was a great book. I suppose it wuld have caused problems with the crew of the original series being blended with the Next Gen crew but they probably could have modified it. What books does any one else think should be adapted to the series. Imzadi is another one.

Hmmmm...How 'bout NextGen's 'Dragon's Honor', just for the visuals? Or maybe the DS9 thriller 'Antimatter' -- great pulp action/adventure possibilities there, as long as someone OTHER than John Vornholt writes the script. I agree, 'Federation' would have filmed beautifully (although --speaking as a HUGE fan of the Classic episode it's party based on -- I found it really depressing.)

Hands down, Q-SQUARED!

Ok...Im a bookworm, i admit it, ive got all the Trek books except for those published the last 3 months. Loved almost all of them. Warped was hard to get through and was deeply disturbing. I enjoyed the Animated Series novelizations. Also, Ship of the Line was good. Has anyone actually SEEN Mr. AbHugh and Mr. David together? Vendetta was good also, and the first time I saw Generations, I looked at the refugees beamed aboard the Enterprise B to see if she was there. I enjoy pretty much anything by Peter David and the first few novels of TOS, its fun seeing just how MUCH the early views of post-TOS were different than TNG. Nautilus left me confused, as it was writen after TNG premired. The future show in that book is WAY off. Anyway, there are many different types of Trek books and different types of readers, so lets not bash anyone, ok? Thanks.

Actually, Merat, i think you'll find this a pretty civil board, as these things go. It's precisely BECAUSE there are so many different styles of Trek novels (and readers) out there that a discussion like this is so interesting.
I agree that comparing earlier novels in the various series to the current state of the Trek universe is a hoot. How about the first NextGen tie-in, 'Ghost Ship'? I always thought the TV series would have been a LOT more interesting if they'd picked up on Carey's characterizations.

One of the classic examples of novels written before the series addressed an issue is "Dark Mirror". The evolution of the Mirror Universe in that novel is radically different from the way it played out in DS9.

I myself like the books that explain things that the show never addressed... like Shadows on the Sun. It had a good story, great background on McCoy and that cool assassin culture. (I tried to write and produce a school play based on the book but it didn't work out... it was too violent.) However, I don't like much of Friedman's other work. Kahless just sucked. It was a fantasy novel (not that there's anything wrong with that) with Klingons in it but I really didn't like it because it was totally contradicted by the show. Same with Dark Mirror. Same with any Voyager book.
I liked almost all of Peter David's work. Imzadi was great, Imzadi II was pretty good as well IIRC. Vendetta was awesome, with great Borg in it. I always thought the story of Reannon's de-assimilation was much closer to "reality" than Seven's instant de-Borgifying. I also liked the DS9 novel that PD did... the second one of the series. It had great characters in it and it was very very close to how the show was being done at the time.
Best Destiny was a favorite of mine, for the teen angst thing.
I liked Shatner's books, with Avenger being my favorite. And I agree with most everyone... they're horribly contrived. But if you think they're bad, try reading J+G RS's other novels like Icefire and Quicksilver. Great adventure but contrived beyond all possible belief- terrorists managing to smuggle crates of weapons into the PENTAGON by disguising them as soup (I'm not kidding!). Forty NATO special forces types sneaking in by posing as Navy cadets. A fuel-air explosive that can kill forty people without destroying the enclosed space that they sit in... et cetera. And that's just Quicksilver. Still, I couldn't put either of those books down, even if I did find them horribly depressing, especially Icefire.
I did not like Vulcan's Forge or Vulcan's Heart. I thought Spock's world was pretty good. Sarek was depressing.
I'm probably the only one who will say this, but I did like Warped. It was really creepy and it was intelligently written. There's nothing I hate more than a Star Trek novel that reads like it was written for a 12-year old!
Rogue Saucer was horrible. Do not spend any money on it unless you're a hardcore collector. I bought it at the library for 25 cents and I think I overpaid.
Federation was good but depressing. I loved the way the Enterprise-D killed the Romulan ship. I was very unhappy with Cochrane's wife dying and I though Thorsen wasn't a well-rounded villain. I don't like the plot device of a villain who destroys half the universe so he can get his hands on a weapon that will destroy the other half. The one thing in this novel that I would MAKE canon if I could is the warp speed power explanation, which brilliantly illustrates where the original Enterprise insignia came from (anyone who's read the book will understand).
I thought the Lost Years series could have been a lot better, especially the last book. I shuddered through all of Recovery.
Prime Directive wasn't particularly memorable. Neither was Probe. Reunion was alright but could have been better. The Devil's Heart was good but somewhat contradicted by the show. Not only that, the names of the Iconian offshoot races were ALL spelled wrong, ruining it for me completely!
I didn't like Mosaic but I'm not a big Janeway fan. Pathways was interesting at times but I wasn't really in suspense with the prison camp story. It probably weighs in as the longest Star Trek novel though, being an oversized hardcover. Strange how it's the only one that's like that.
I would have to say that there's more bad Star Trek fiction than good but that's just my opinion.

I read Rogue Saucer. Fortunately, I got it before the latest rise in paperback prices ($6.50 US per book is outrageous). I didn't think it was that bad. It's a good book to read if you just want to turn your mind off for a few hours.

Now, Dyson Sphere is, was, and will be the most awful Trek novel ever. The thing was a whole bunch of nothing. I think the authors were just trying to write a generic sci-fi novel and change the names of the characters to the Enterprise crew. Unfortunately, the generic sci-fi plot sucked as well. I'd have tried to return it, but I doubt that Wal-Mart would have appreciated that.

And what do you mean by the names of the Iconian offshoot races were ALL spelled wrong, ruining it for me completely!? How could they be spelled wrong? The author just made them up, didn't she? Shouldn't the spelling be her say?

I totally agree with Matthew about Rogue Saucer and Dyson Sphere. The former was pretty good, but the latter was just bad. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

I also liked Q-Squared and Federation.

I don't even know what the point of the story was. It was just a horrible book. The only one that equals it was the Guises of the Mind which was so predictable it was disgusting.

I actually enjoyed Guises of the Mind.Plot was pretty lame, and some big nits, but this is the first time that mainstream religion was ever mentioned in any form of Trek, which makes it special to me.

In the original episode with the Iconian gateway in it, three races that were offshoots of the Iconians were mentioned. According to the Encyclopedia (which is canon) they are:

Dewan
Dinasian
Iccobar

But according to Carmen Carter they are:

DiWahn
Dynasian
Ikkabar

Okay, perhaps they don't translate into English that well and the above examples are just phonetic spellings. But it still bugged me to see something misspelled hundreds of times over! (However, it does happen to the best of us- our chief misspelled Jem'Hadar about a billion times in the DS9 nitpicker's guide)

Actually, that was more of a production problem... he caught it, but the publisher didn't get it fixed before publication.

Besides, I think Carmen Carter came up with those names before the Encyclopedia was published. Her novel is copyrighted 1993, which means that she'd been writing it for some time before that. I think the Encyclopedia came out in 1993 or 1994, meaning that, in all likelihood, she wouldn't have had it around to look up stuff. Besides, I like her spellings better, and it's a great story anyway. And you're really overreacting to this.

D.W. March: About Probe.... did you like it better than the plot for Star Trek V? 'Cause, from what ive heard it was going to be Star Trek V, but, since Shatner had clout and he helped write what we saw in the theater.... By the way, I enjoyed Probe, especially with Jimmy Doohan reading it. :-)

He helped write what we saw, because he *DIRECTED* the film. As the director, he got final say on pretty much everything.

I'll have to read it again, since it's been so long. But since I don't remember anything specific, I don't think I liked it that much. I didn't mind Star Trek 5 all that much because I could imagine myself doing the same thing if I met God. "You're God?! You are the Big G, the man upstairs? Prove it! What's the answer to life, the universe and everything?!"
I don't think I'm overreacting to the blatant repeated mistakes of the Devil's Heart. I have an eye for detail. If I didn't, I wouldn't be a nitpicker. If Carmen Carter really wanted to, she could have gotten a hold of the Contagion script to find out the proper way to spell the names. Overreacting would be demanding that the publisher do a general recall of all copies of The Devil's Heart, so they could reprint them all with the proper spellings. Overreacting would be selling my copy on Ebay for $1000 because it has mistakes in it (apparently mistakes on sports cards make them more valuable, God only knows why). Overreacting would be writing a very nasty letter to the author, demanding that she do better research in the future. Believe me, I overreact with the best of them and I haven't overreacted yet.
If it's any consolation, I did enjoy the novel, spelling mistakes and all.

I dunno -- i kinda liked 'Guises of the Mind'. Granted, it's not exactly heavy-duty sci-fi -- it's more of a fairy-tale, and they're supposed to be predictable, after all.
Also, i'm glad somebody (D.W. March) agrees with me about 'Federation' being depressing. Couldn't they have done a crossover without spoiling one of the best Classic episodes?
On the subject of Michael Jan Friedman...anybody else notice that 'Reunion' (NextGen) and 'Saratoga' (DS9) are THE SAME BOOK WITH A FEW CHARACTER NAMES CHANGED!?!...Ahem. Sorry -- i'm still smarting over paying seven dollars for what i THOUGHT would be an intriguing look into Sisko's past.

What does anyone think of Peter David's series "New Frontier". I really enjoy it. I like the way the stories crossover each novel and I think Calhoun is a great captain. When I read the novels I keep hearing Captain Calhouns voice as that of Bruce Boxleitner. I particularly enjoyed Once Burned and Double or Nothing.
I got the Garak story the other day but I'd just started reading the last book in the Double Helix series so I want to finish that first.

I like the way he's brought back the characters from his 'Starfleet Academy' books (the kids' series). The man definitely has a way with eccentricity.

My favorites are:
TOS: How Much for Just the Planet? Possibly my most favorite ST book of all time. It's just...different and so funny. Say all you want, rachgd! I'll never stop loving this book! It's pure genius!
I also liked Prime Directive; I don't know why, it was just interesting.
TNG: I'd have to say Gemworld. I've read all of Part 1 so far and am ready to start Part 2, which I'm hoping is as good as the first one.
For Voyager and DS9, I haven't read any of those novels yet. I'm getting to them!

Trekker, i'd agree with you on 'How Much for Just the Planet' if you'd kindly tell me what the heck was going on on said planet. Two readings later, i still don't get it. I mean, by the second reading i was beginning to think it was kinda funny, but...I tend to enjoy the comic Trek novels more when they stay within the sci-fi framework.

Well in HMFJTP the Klingons and Federation discover a major source of dilithium on this planet that has been colonized by a group of vaudvillian comedians,actors and other entertainors who don't want the klingons or federation coming in and messing with their retirement home/planet. So they use their talents and drive the two parties crazy and kill them with humor. Of course there are several plot holes big enough to drive a galxy class through but hey.

Oh, sure, that makes PERFECT sense...Seriously, thanks for clearing that up -- it actually sounds really funny, put that way. (Sort of a reverse 'Day of the Dove', no?) I may just go back and reread my old copy. (And i should add that, given more time to think about it, i did enjoy the bit with Uhura and the movie-loving Klingon. Every now and then it's fun to encounter Klingons who don't fit the grim warrior mode.)

Yes indeed it is a good day to......Dance!

Ok Klingon Lords of the Dance. I'd hate to see what kind of taps they wear on their shoes. Anyhow no problem about it. I would love to see it as an episode or movie. Given the right treatment the visuals alone would be hillarious. Set phasers on custard.

Anybody remember an eminently forgettable Classic novel that featured the Enterprise stumbling thru some sort of mad scientist's experiment and ending up in a universe where Earth didn't support life? (I think the bad guy's ship was called 'Erehwon', if that helps.)
Reason i ask is that the single memorable scene, set in the alt-universe, featured a Bird-of-Prey captained by a guy dressed up in lace, silk and jewels and calling himself a 'Klingee'. When Kirk refuses to stick around and be captured, the Klingee throws a complete hissy fit. Funny stuff -- wish they'd kept him around for the rest of the book.

I've hacked my way through at least 20 star trek novels now, and i've found only a small porportion of them are any good. "probe" and "mosaic" are the only that come instantly to mind as being both well written and a good story. Some are either/or in that repect. The remainder are pretty poor. In fact some are laughably bad. "the wounded sun" STV novel was appaling. I'm thinking that it would almost certainly not have been published had the same premise been based around non-trek characters. I'm amazed the author could be published at all. Certainly not beyond anything published in paper back with a hairy bloke with a buckler, ug boots and a leather thong, and a half-naked woman, on the cover.

kerriem, the novel was called "The Starship Trap," by Mel Gilden, I believe. (•••• memory.)

Iarwain, read "Vendetta," "Imzadi," "Q-Squared," "Q-in-Law," "The Wounded Sky," "Doctor's Orders," "Fallen Heroes," "Once Burned," "Time's Enemy," and last, but best, "Uhura's Song." Then stop, because you'll have read a large proportion of the truly great Trek novels, and anything else will be a downer. (Especially after "Uhura's Song.")

Hear, hear. Well put -- altho I'd add the James Blish stories to the list of essentials, too. (And thanks -- remembering 'Starship Trap' was beginning to cause me WAY more mental pain than the book deserved.)

Honestly, I didn't like the Blish stories that much. One in particular, his version of "Operation- Annihilate!" was almost totally different from the actual episode. You could read that story and still have no clue what the episode was actually about.

On the other hand, "Spock Must Die" was pretty good. But that's just me. (It also holds the distinction of being one of about three novels that remembers that the Organians were put there for a reason.)

The thing with the Blish stories was, he was working from a FIRST-DRAFT script, not the one for the finished episode. You can see another example of this in the novelized 'Trouble With Tribbles', which features Sulu...before George Takei decided to go off and do 'The Green Berets' instead. (Now THERE'S a career decision to kick yourself over, huh?)
Anyway, I agree that from one angle the discrepancy can be annoying. But if you take the stories on their own merits, they're beautifully written 'serious' sci-fi, and as such really - IMHO - set the tone for Star Trek fiction. (Check out the Whitman kiddy adventure, 'Mission to Horatius', to see -- and shudder over -- what might have been.)

before George Takei decided to go off and do 'The Green Berets' instead. (Now THERE'S a career decision to kick yourself over, huh?)

That's not exactly fair to Mr. Takei. He would have been back before they started shooting the second season if it hadn't been for the fact that hostile weather conditions caused filming delays with his movie. Therefore, his parts were mostly given to Chekov. (Too bad. They were some good parts.)

Oh. Guess i neglected to get the whole story before going for the cheap laugh. Sorry about that.
Ah, well - at least Sulu's second-season parts survive in the novelizations. And BTW, what did everybody think of 'The Captain's Daughter' (by P.David i think)?

I liked it pretty well, I guess. Don't remember much about it. Need to read it again. I seem to recall most of the thing being held together by a running gag about the Blumbergs.

Kidding aside, I really did like the look at what happened to the rest of the Federation while the Enterprise crew was off on their little adventures in the movies.

Sulu was in lots of season 2 episodes! He was up to I, Mudd (except for The Apple, for some reason) and after Return to Tomorrow. Remember production order is different from airing order.

What`s wrong with Chekov? Sulu got to have some good scenes in season 1 (Shore Leave and The Naked Time come to mind), Chekovgets to have some glory (Especially with what happens to the poor guy throughout season 3!)

Hey, i like Chekov a lot, too. I thought his expanded screen time worked out great. But on the flip side, it was frustrating for George Takei - as he himself has admitted - to miss some of the 2nd-season's really juicy parts. (What would you rather be remembered for, 'The Green Berets' or 'The Trouble With Tribbles?')
Meanwhile. Back to the books. Anybody who wants a closer look at Chekov's early days on the Enterprise should check out 'The Disinherited', written by Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman and Robert Greenberger.
Besides the Chekov storyline, there's fair characterization, nifty alien races - and a chance to play Spot The Author. (Does anybody else think the Para'atha were pure David?)

OK.... I'm about to enter the abyss.... I picked up a copy of "How much..."

Don't listen to any of these people. It's a riot.

Out of the abyss...

I will admit it was funny, and caught the Shakespeare references in the Kaled/Rhis/Kirk/Sanchez farce at the end.

I find it hard to believe that the crew the Enterprise would be so buddy-buddy with the Klingons, even with the Organians.

Aside from the fact that everyone was completely out of character (except possibly for Scotty - he'll drink with anyone!), it was a riot! I was expecting Scotty to request claymores when he referred to the "Scottish National Weapon"!

I wonder what happened to the three surveyors when they got caught... or were they still wandering around the Enterprise when it got destroyed in ST III?

James Dixon has an enormous ST Timeline along with other ST essays here:

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Crater/2077/scifi.htm

The timeline downloads as a .zip file and expanded, it goes to 1200+ pages!

He includes ST novels, roleplaying games, blueprints, etc. And points out all the errors and inconsistencies. He doesn't like Okuda's version of the chronology. He has opinions on a lot of the novels.

To whomever said "Why read ST instead of pure sci-fi?" I don't appreciate that. I read both. Some of my fave books, beyond Trek, are "The Andromeda Strain," "Sphere," and countless others. But I also love "Silence of the Lambs," "The Shining," and others beyond sci-fi.


Getting back to books...I like a lot of the ones you all have already mentioned.


TOS: Kobayashi Maru, Traitor Winds, Fearful Summons, Twilight's End, Mind Meld

TNG: Imzadi series, Q-Squared, Q-in-Law, Balance of Power, Into the Nebula [I think], Q Continuum series, Gemworld series, and many others.

DS9: Station Rage, Saratoga, Tempest, Wrath of the Prophets, Betrayal, etc.

VOY: Violations, Mosaic, Pathways, Seven of Nine, and a few more.


Dominion War: All

Crossover: Spectre, Dark Victory, and more. See below.

Sorry, never read New Frontier.


I strongly recommend the DS9 "Millenium Trilogy."

Sorry, I can't think tonight. I just got back from my chorus concert [school-I'm 16], and I'm in pain from these ridiculous shoes we have to wear. Why do they make we altos sing the high notes they give us?? I'm way better at singing low. At least the swim season is over. I'm on the swim team, too. With this, my job, homework, my social life needing attention, I'm going to burnout totally.

I can't call this a "novel", but one of the best audio Trek tapes I've heard is "Spock versus Q", by Alien Voices. (Imagine cool, calculating, no-nonsense Spock matching wits with the "know-it-all-and-be-all" of the universe.) It is exactly what I would expect from such a pairing, and I highly recommend it. It's a hoot!

Any novel by Peter David. All of his novels that I have read have been excellent!! Of these, my favorite is Vendetta.

Imzadi and the entire New Frontier is his best work, in my opinion. Peter rocks!

I once bought a Peter David 4-book set of Vendetta, Strike Zone, The Rift and The Disinherited. They're great!

"Vendetta" was the first Star Trek novel I read. It's still the best.

"Q-In-Law" is a great novel, but it is even better once you have heard the audiobook. It is read by Majel Barret (Lwaxana) and John deLancie (Q).

I would love to see Q-In-Law turned into an episode as the mental images are just spectacular (Picard and Q taking their discussion outside:-) ) I have not heard the audiobook but I think that would be extraordianry with such two talented actors who really get into their roles. And speaking of comedy I was just reading my much thumbed copy of "How much for Just the planet" and that would be a great episode as our straight laced heros, and even straighter laced klingons, are taken for a ride down the vaudville road by a planet full of actors and comedians.

Oh and Vendetta was just plain chilling. I think if Janeway had had to face the Borg from this book she would have been taking a very short walk to a very big assimilation chamber.

Well, she did take a very short walk to a very big assimilation chamber. Unfortunately, the creators had her rescued.

I'd love to see Imzadi turned into a movie, but it'd be tough to do.

I just finished one I'd had sitting around for about 10 years. It's not even a Star Trek novel, but it's the most ST-like book I've ever read. Voyage of the Star Wolf by David Gerrold (OK, so there is an ST tie-in). There are many ST concepts here, but just as many original ones. I did wince when I realized main character's initials were "JTK" though.

It appears to be a standalone book, but for once here's a new novel about characters I'd like to read more about, instead of it being the "first in a trilogy" like so many others.

There is a sequal to Voyage of the Star Wolf. Don't read it. It's awful. I think Gerrold was really drunk the day he wrote it.
His War Against the Chtorr series is brillant though, if you liked Star Wolf, you'd love it.

I also really liked Fallen Heros. Another one of my favourites was "Blaze of Glory". Like Fallen Heros, it doesn't have a very good grasp on terminology, (The author is always referring to Federation "Light Crusiers") but it was still a very enjoying read.
Mostly though, I agree with Harlan Ellison when he talks about: "[T]he huge pseudo-book franchise of useless Star Trek novels written by a great many writers who cought to take up fly-speck analysis instead of litering the bestseller lists with their poor excuses for creative effort (not to mention the few really excellent writers who ought to know better, but have gulled themselves into believing they're writing those awful turd-tomes out of adolescent affection for nothing nobler than a goddamn tv show, when the truth is they're doing it for the money..."
A lot of st books are garbage. There's lots of great science fiction out there. Try some of it.

I've hardly read any ST books, but I do recognize some names here.

Like everyone who's mentioned it, I liked Fallen Heroes. Except a few parts...see what I wrote on the "All-Time Worst" board. But other than that it was a great book. I liked how the author would introduce a new character in one of the "present" scenes, then in the next future scene Odo and Quark would uncover that character's corpse, then in the next present scene that character would die.

And yes, Peter David wrote the best stuff. I liked his DS9 book The Siege. I was 12 when I first read that. Take a guess as to what scene I liked the most.

Everyone's mentioned Vendetta and Q-in-law, I've read these too and I think they are as good as everyone here says.

Anyone remember a TNG book where the Enterprise is looking for some lost ships, and they're all trapped around this weird artifact that drives people insane when they look at it? I can't remember the name or the author. And I can't go look at the cover because all these books are in my parents' house in Jersey and I'm in Texas.

The book your refering to is "The Eyes of the Beholders" by A. C. Crispin.

My personal favorites are Peter David's Imazadi and Triangle: Imazadi II.

I also love his New Frontier series and hope for more of them.

I personally like Julia Ecklar (or L.A. Graf). She's got a great writing style, and I like the way she uses the minor characters a lot. So, my favorite novels are Traitor Winds and Ice Trap, along with The Threee-Minute Universe by Barbara Paul.

Oh, and I really enjoyed Garth of Izar.

And ignore my mis-typed "Three" in the last post...

I can't believe I'm the only one who's read Dwellers in the Crucible. The regular cast are barely in it, and it still manages to be amazing.

Uhura's Song and Vendetta - which I just reread for the first time in a decade, easily - are also of the win.

I read Dwellers a long time ago. Is that the one with the ambassador's daughter being kidnapped by Klingons?

I wasn't particularly thrilled with it.

"I can't call this a "novel", but one of the best audio Trek tapes I've heard is "Spock versus Q", by Alien Voices. (Imagine cool, calculating, no-nonsense Spock matching wits with the "know-it-all-and-be-all" of the universe.) It is exactly what I would expect from such a pairing, and I highly recommend it. It's a hoot!"

Derf said this back in 2001. And I agree, this is really entertaining and well-done.

But I would think that Spock would be aware that Marie Curie *discovered* radium, she didn't *invent* it. That was a nit by somebody else on this site.

I have't listened to the whole think yet, but I will soon!

While I can't name a specific novel, I would recommend any written by Greg Cox. The man sure knows his Star Trek lore.

Aside from the latest one, the Rise of the Federation series has been pretty decent. I've only ready about a dozen ST books, but that series and the most recent Titan novel has been good IMHO.

I liked Diane Duane's 1997 TNG novel, Intellivore. Picard and Co. go up against a living planet that can drain minds.

This novel came from an idea Ms. Duane hinted at in her novel, The Romulan Way, ten years earlier.

AWhite, I've opened the New Frontier section for posting of new threads, and moved your latest post there into the New Frontier Omnibus thread.

The Captain's Table forum is also open to new threads now.

I was trying to find a section that just had the novels, perhaps one topic for one specific novel. I was looking for the VGR novel "The Escape".

On reading it, it seemed to me that the people of that planet set up people to break the law, and there was no legal process other than "presumed guilty". B'elanna, Neelix and whoever else was with the away team activated one of the time travel ships and it moved, not in their control, within a time period thus breaking the law. It was a set-up, however unintentional, and they should have realized it was an accident and taken them back to when they came from so they could leave, in peace.

Okay, the planet was Alcawell, the third crew member was Harry Kim. If intra-period travel was illegal, then the ships should not have been set up to do it, except by officials of the Mean Time center.

You can make a thread for a novel in the Other Novels section.