# Oh, my Star Trek geek heart just went pitter pat **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446 "2015-05-07T03:28:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/1 "2015-05-07T03:28:59Z")
I used to read Star Trek novels. Original series, mostly. I had a whole, whole lot of them, but I decided to downsize when I moved cross country, and I gave them away. Today, I discovered the LA library has over 100 TOS books on Kindle. And… I may have squeed. I may still be squeeing, if you can squee silently. I didn’t know I still loved them. I do! I DO! Ahem. _squee_ ---
**Author:** ![troubledwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/2 "2015-05-07T03:39:58Z")
Do they have Uhura’s Song (Janet Hagan) or Ishmael (Barbara Hambly)? Those were my all-time favorites - I haven’t read them for years, but kept them when I downsized my own TOS paperback library. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/3 "2015-05-07T03:50:22Z")
> [@troubledwater](#): > > Do they have Uhura’s Song (Janet Hagan) or Ishmael (Barbara Hambly)? Those were my all-time favorites - I haven’t read them for years, but kept them when I downsized my own TOS paperback library. They don’t have EITHER, the bastards. I almost mentioned _Ishmael_ in the OP, I was looking forward to reading it so much. They have 104 of them. Including the slashy _Killing Time_ (which I secretly love, even though it’s so overwrought). And some of the truly terrible early ones like _Black Fire_ (but not the ghastly Marshak-Culbreath monstrosities). ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/4 "2015-05-07T11:07:46Z")
i downsized mine as well. the one i miss, that i didn’t keep, was the one with dinosaurs being the dominate species. can’t remember the name of that one, it was a time story. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/5 "2015-05-07T11:23:13Z")
I remember it taking me about five minutes to finish the pie-fight scene from _How Much For Just The Planet?_ because I was laughing so hard. And doing a little squeeing of my own when I realized that the British soldier with the red disc in his beret (a one-scene throwaway character) was the Brigadier from _Doctor Who_. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/6 "2015-05-07T14:25:56Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > And some of the truly terrible early ones like _Black Fire_ (but not the ghastly Marshak-Culbreath monstrosities). It was Black Fire that got me away from ST novels. Simple child of nature I was at the time, I thought there was a controlling authority that only allowed competent authors to write good books, so as not to ruin the brand. That book disabused me of that notion. And the Price/Fate of the Phoenix thought me that authors can have their own agenda that can bleed through. Though I don’t think that was the authors’ intent. I didn’t know anyone else hated these as much as me. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/7 "2015-05-07T14:45:30Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Simple child of nature I was at the time, I thought there was a controlling authority that only allowed competent authors to write good books, so as not to ruin the brand. I read a TOS book about a Dyson sphere that appeared to have simply changed the character names to Star Trek characters. As Robert E. Howard, urged to produce more Conan books, edited some of his pirate stories into Conan stories, I believe that the author’s story wouldn’t sell until he turned it into Star Trek SUP[/SUP] ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/8 "2015-05-07T15:21:43Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > i downsized mine as well. the one i miss, that i didn’t keep, was the one with dinosaurs being the dominate species. can’t remember the name of that one, it was a time story. _First Frontier_! > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > It was Black Fire that got me away from ST novels. Simple child of nature I was at the time, I thought there was a controlling authority that only allowed competent authors to write good books, so as not to ruin the brand. That book disabused me of that notion. > > And the Price/Fate of the Phoenix thought me that authors can have their own agenda that can bleed through. Though I don’t think that was the authors’ intent. > > I didn’t know anyone else hated these as much as me. All I really remember about the M/C books is the super weird “Vulcan command mode” or whatever they dubbed it. I can like the ones that really go far afield, like _The Final Reflection_, or _Dwellers in the Crucible_. Just not the ones that go far afield and are just terrible. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/9 "2015-05-07T15:30:01Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I can like the ones that really go far afield, like _The Final Reflection_, or _Dwellers in the Crucible_. Just not the ones that go far afield and are just terrible. 😃 I may have to check those out. From the wikipedia on DitC: “… but by 1992 Paramount Pictures had introduced new standards for Star Trek tie-in novels, which outlawed extensive use of original characters.” So belatedly they did get a “controlling authority”. I guess there goes my novel about Ensign Marty Stu, the greatest starfleet officer ever! ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/10 "2015-05-07T15:31:37Z")
I was never a great reader of the Trek novels. The one I remember best, among the handful that I read, is _The Vulcan Academy Murders_. Featuring a “mystery” story that the average six-year old would have dismissed as insultingly obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/11 "2015-05-07T15:56:19Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > So belatedly they did get a “controlling authority”. I guess there goes my novel about Ensign Marty Stu, the greatest starfleet officer ever! Oh, there were Mary Sues aplenty. Diane Carey’s [Dreadnought!](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Dreadnought!)and [Battlestations!](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Battlestations!) were about the Mary Suest Mary Sue to have ever Mary Sued. More special than Kirk, with her own pet blond Vulcan who wuuves her. _And_ the author posed for the cover pic _as_ her Mary Sue character. actually… I kinda liked them in my less-discriminating, foolish younger days. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/12 "2015-05-07T15:58:49Z")
I really liked **Spock’s World**. We get a good backstory of Vulcan history, as well as the return of T’Pring. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/13 "2015-05-07T16:00:03Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I may have to check those out. > > From the wikipedia on DitC: “… but by 1992 Paramount Pictures had introduced new standards for Star Trek tie-in novels, which outlawed extensive use of original characters.” > > So belatedly they did get a “controlling authority”. I guess there goes my novel about Ensign Marty Stu, the greatest starfleet officer ever! Meet _Dreadnought!_ On preview: SONOFABITCH! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/14 "2015-05-07T16:08:24Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Oh, there were Mary Sues aplenty. Diane Carey’s [Dreadnought!](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Dreadnought!)and [Battlestations!](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Battlestations!) were about the Mary Suest Mary Sue to have ever Mary Sued. More special than Kirk, with her own pet blond Vulcan who wuuves her. > > _And_ the author posed for the cover pic _as_ her Mary Sue character. > > actually… I kinda liked them in my less-discriminating, foolish younger days. > [@jsgoddess](#): > > Meet _Dreadnought!_ > > On preview: SONOFABITCH! I thought books like that only got published as fan fiction. I didn’t know there were “real world” examples. Fascinating! I guess someone had to Mary Sue first so everyone else could use it as a bad example. And to have Borris Vallejo paint her on the cover! It doesn’t get any better that that! ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/15 "2015-05-07T16:19:44Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > On preview: SONOFABITCH! 😃 > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And to have Borris Vallejo paint her on the cover! It doesn’t get any better that that! It’s that little extra effort that makes it special, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/16 "2015-05-07T16:31:16Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > 😃 I had to pause to go look up whether Dreadnought! or Battlestations! was the first one, damn you. The question is why didn’t I just post both and win? _shakes fist_ ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/17 "2015-05-07T16:35:30Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I can like the ones that really go far afield, like _The Final Reflection_… It has been a _very_ long time, but I recall liking _The Final Reflection_ quite a bit. I was also fond of _Ishmael_ (so many references!), but never really got into the ST novels otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/18 "2015-05-07T20:58:44Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > I was also fond of _Ishmael_ (so many references!) Ah, yes. For those who never read it, _Ishmael_ was a _Star Trek_/_[Here Come the Brides](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Come_the_Brides)_ (Mark Lenard’s other TV series) time-travel crossover, with cameo appearances by characters from various other SF and Western shows: _Doctor Who_ (both Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker), _Battlestar Galactica_ (TOS), _Have Gun Will Travel_, _Bonanza_, and more. One of my favorites, even though the author did get the details of _HCtB_ wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/19 "2015-05-07T21:01:39Z")
> [@troubledwater](#): > > Do they have Uhura’s Song (Janet Hagan) or Ishmael (Barbara Hambly)? Those were my all-time favorites - I haven’t read them for years, but kept them when I downsized my own TOS paperback library. That’s Janet KAGEN, not Hagen. She’s dead now, sadly. Because that book is 20 pounds of awesome in a ten-pound bag. Ishmael is okay, but not nearly as good. But my favorites among the TOS novels are probably Diane Duane’s. And :: dons flame-proof outfit :: the Marshak-Culbreath series. Well, the ones with Omne, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446/20 "2015-05-07T21:07:59Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > But my favorites among the TOS novels are probably Diane Duane’s. And > > :: dons flame-proof outfit :: > > the Marshak-Culbreath series. Well, the ones with Omne, anyway. You make no damned sense! Up is down! 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-star-trek-geek-heart-just-went-pitter-pat/719446.md?page=2)