Sunday, October 9, 2011

Voyages of Imagination


Voyages of Imagination
by Jeff Ayers

This book is a massive trade-paperback volume that chronicles all of the professionally published Star Trek fiction from the very earliest novels (put out in the late 1960s) through 2004. Each book gets its own page, with a detailed plot description, and often interviews with the author, who recollects the experience of writing in the Star Trek universe. The depth of information here is impressive, but this book will primarily appeal to Star Trek collectors and Trek fans who are completists or continuity buffs. The behind-the-scenes interviews or author commentaries are priceless. A lot of readers probably look down on media tie-in novels as substandard, but you'll be astonished to see how many respected and established authors have contributed to make the pantheon of Star Trek fiction fairly high-class. Authors such as Greg Bear, Lee Correy, James Blish, Diane Duane, Vonda McIntyre and many more have gone on to become award-winning authors in the genre field -- some of these got their starts writing Star Trek novels, and some did Star Trek out of a love for the source material. Personally, I own a copy of this one, and take it with me to conventions, trying to collect as many signatures in it as possible. I consider this an absolutely essential reference work for Star Trek fiction fans! [Although the Lincoln City Libraries do not own this title, you can request it through InterLibrary Loan! -- A perfect book to read to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Star Trek, which occurred this past month!]

[You can check to see which Star Trek novels the libraries have on our giant Star Trek: The Reading List online booklist!]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

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