My First Star Trek Tie-in Novel

[kingstoken]

So, I read my first Star Trek tie-in novel, it was Dreams of Ravens by Carmen Carter, and have to say I really enjoyed it. It was very character driven with spurts of action, plus a bit of a mystery mixed in. It was focused on McCoy, who was one of my faves from the original series, and on the Kirk-McCoy friendship. There was also an original character, Dr Diana Dyson, which I really liked, but I checked the wiki and this is the only novel she appears in, which is too bad, she had a great relationship with McCoy.

I have heard the tie-in novels can be hit or miss, have you read any of the other tie-in novels? Any you can recommend?  I am familiar with TOS, TNG and VOY.

Comments

[sixbeforelunch]

(Here via my network page. Please excuse my rambling, but Star Trek novels are my happy place, and I have read a lot of them.)

So, Diane Duane is generally always good. She wrote 2 TNG novels and 6 or 7 TOS ones. Her Rihannsu series has amazing Romulan worldbuilding. Sadly, it was almost all Jossed when TNG came along, but it's still worth a read, IMO. (Around 2000 she wrote a novel 5th novel for the series that sort of brought it all into line with TNG-era continuity. It's fine, but the first two novels in the series are by far the best.)

Ishmael is cracky fun, and also a stealth crossover that somehow became pro fic. Spock goes back in time, and hangs out in the Old West for a while. Very ficcy, and a lot of fun.

The Galactic Whirlpool by David Gerrold might be hard to track down because it's an old Bantam book that I don't believe was ever reprinted, but it's absolutely worth a read. It feels like a lost episode of TOS, probably because Gerrold worked on the series (IIRC, the novel was based on a story he actually did pitch, which was rejected for budget reasons.)

The Entropy Effect by Vonda McIntyre is very thinky about the implications of time travel, and does really interesting things with Spock's character.

The Final Reflection by John Ford does a deep dive into Klingon culture. Sadly, it too was Jossed by the later TOS movies and TNG, but it's still fascinating. (You should know that the canon characters are only in a small part of the story, and it mostly centers on a Klingon OC.)

As a rule, the books from the 80s and early 90s are better than the later stuff, but Dave Galanter's relatively recent TOS novels, Crisis of Consciousness and Troublesome Minds, are good. Galanter and I have a similar id, and he likes making Spock wrestle with huge ethical dilemmas, which I am here for.

I like all of Howard Weinstein's TNG novels, especially Exiles.

I have a soft spot for Here There Be Dragons by John Peel because it has Picard fight a literal dragon (sort of), and is just generally weird fun.

I could go on, but I should probably stop here. If you want to know about books that highlight a particular character or hit on a specific trope, lmk. I primarily read TOS and TNG, though. I will be of much less help with DS9/Voyager.

[kingstoken]

I checked the Wikipedia page for Ishmael, and you weren't kidding about it being a crossover, that is just so wacky and unexpected. Here There Be Dragons seems like the TNG crew get to play real life dungeons and dragons, which is sounds like fun. Thank you for all these great recs, you've given me a lot of books to check out.

[senmut]

I love several of them but they don't always hold up to later canon?

Black Fire is Pirate!Spock.

Yesterday's Son is an episode tag to the Zarabeth episode. It has a sequel with Yesterday in the title but I am losing it right now in memory.

Battlestations and Dreadnought are a female Kirk-esque character with her own Spock-esque character and they are GREAT episodes in book form.

The Final Reflection tried to make sense of Klingon society. Pawns and Symbols goes in a different direction for the same.

How Much For Just the Planet is absolute fun crack like "Shore Leave" episode.

Killing Time is trope-tastic Romulans. Dwellers in the Crucible is very hard reading for subject matter, kind of a whump novel, but has a female Spock-esque character with a fanon!Kirk-esque woman and it is slashy.

There's other stuff but those are re-reads for me.

[kingstoken]

Wow, so many to choose from. I don't really care if they fit into canon per se, as long as they are a fun or interesting read. How Much For Just the Planet sounds wacky as all get out. I have heard of Killing Time it is pretty famous, plus I am pretty sure I have also heard of Pawns and Symbols. Thank you for all the great recs!

[senmut]

No problem. Those old paperbacks got me through a lot of bad times, so I may have more nostalgia attached to them than some warrant.

[oldtoadwoman]

I don't remember any titles, but I read so many of these books as a teenager. I'd go through a couple of books a week. I loved most of them, a few were merely okay. I don't remember disliking any of them. But maybe I was less fussy when I was young?

[kingstoken]

Well that is a good sign, because negative things usually tend to stick in your mind, so that means most of the these books will probably be enjoyable.

[oldtoadwoman]

I generally remember loving most of them, but I'm also pretty sure I had terrible taste as a teenager when I was doing the bulk of my reading. (i.e. the first time you read an overused cliche, it seems brilliant)

[meridian_rose]

I've read several but can't remember them all right now. I do remember I enjoyed Q in Law and Masks, both ST:TNG novel but I haven't re-read them in years so nostalgia could be colouring my memories!

[kingstoken]

Thank you for the recs, they both sound great.

[stellar_dust]

Oh my goodness, I used to LOVE the Star Trek tie-in novels, but I haven't read any in ages so I can't vouch for how well they stand up, or whether anything much written since about 2000 is actually any good.

Along with the ones already listed, you should read Doctor's Orders and Shadows on the Sun - both are very Bones-centric and I loved him so much.

Most of the non-numbered books from the Pocket Books run were good. I remember liking -- oh, can't remember what it was called, but a Kirk-centric one by Diane Carey, that had some stuff about his childhood in it. I also remember liking at least the first few of the ones that Shatner co-authored, but I might be the only one who felt that way, lol.

I mean, in general, they are mostly pretty decent. There are some less-than-great ones, but the same goes for episodes of the show, and none of them are all that long.

[kingstoken]

Thank you for the recs. I am reading Doctor's Orders right now, I mentioned in another community that McCoy was one of my favourite characters from TOS and Doctor's Orders was one of the first recommendations. I am about half way through and I am really enjoying it so far, it is very interesting to see McCoy in a leadership position outside of a medical situation, I just finished the chapter where the Klingons show up and McCoy bluffs and pretends he so confident, and he is totally not. I just read the blurb for Shadows on the Sun, it sounds interesting, I'll have to put it on by TBR