For the last few years it has been my custom, or at least habit, to do a “Blast from the Past” week in which I visit stories from my youth, ranging from the very early stuff –Henry Huggins, Boxcar Children, Matthew Martin — to teen series like California Diaries. I thought it might be fun to zip back to the late 1990s and early 2000s when the majority of my Star Trek lore came from…numbered novels I found at Walmart. I was exposed to Trek in 1992, when I was in the hospital for a month, and grew to love Star Trek and grudgingly tolerate The Next Generation. I didn’t have TV as a kid, so until middle school when I did get a set and could watch Deep Space Nine on late Saturday night, my experience with Trek was frustratingly intermittent: I’d watch an episode in motel rooms on vacation (my parents were tolerant of their son’s apparent eccentricities) from time to time, but until 2005 when I began working and buying DVDs, my primary experience with Trek was literary and then game-oriented. (Hence the title of this post, which comes from Star Trek: Elite Force. It was the first FPS I played, and it scared the ever-lovin’ Roddenberry out of me when I triggered some Borg drones and they stalked me down from my hiding spot).
So, I’m going to revisit some of those 1990s and early 2000s Trek books this week! ENGAGE!
Or if you want something newer…..something next generation…..
Reading Freely 
As you know, I grew up with Star Trek and fell totally in love with the Original Series when I watched it (repeats?) in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. I’ve been a fan of (most of) the franchise ever since… and have yet to read a SINGLE novel based in that Universe… Not ONE! I’m not 100% sure why not… but its definitely deliberate. I’m guessing that my subconscious doesn’t want to sully the original experience…?
Have been trying to respond to this all morning, but wordpress’ comments are not working on my home computer for some reason. The early numbered novels (TOS to VOY) are hit and miss…some of them are really good, others are derivative shlock written under assumed names that wouldn’t have been published were it not for the ST branding.
I have reviews schedule for today through Wednesday…working on Thursday’s book now. 😀
I think that the only franchise Universes I’ve read books in – post movies – (so far) is ‘Aliens/Predator’ and ‘Terminator’. These have been of *very* differing quality!
I’ve noticed that some authors will write genre/crossover fiction for multiple universes. Greg Cox did Star Trek and Roswell, John Jackson Miller has done Star Wars and Star Trek.
I haven’t read a single Star Trek book, I hadn’t realized you started with the books before the tv shows that’s interesting and now I’m wondering which if any I should try. My fantasy loving self saw the Here There Be Dragons title and got excited but is it a good place to start?
Also, the modern Data confused me for a bit at first I thought there was a new ST that had a new actor for Data…but no, old fan made video I get it now, that’s cool :D!! hahah