Relaunch Novels?

[schattenstern]

I just started making a list of what to throw away and what to keep when I move house, and guess what I stumbled upon? The published fanfictions... excuse me, the "tie-in novels" of DS9 and Voyager I used to read as an internet-less teen. Awww. But anyway, to cut a long story short, I also remembered someone telling me about the "DS9 relaunch" books a couple years ago, a series of apparently connected stories taking place after the series finale.

"Oh," I said to myself, "That sounds actually interesting!" So I went on a research spree yesterday evening and figured out that by now, DS9 isn't the only series that has "relaunch" novels - VOY and TNG at least have them too, and apparently by now their continuities are all somewhat connected to each other and... completely original ships and crews created for book series only? And here I am, with a huge list of books and no idea where to start reading.

Any pointers? (Does anyone here even read these books? Are they worth reading or should I just stick to fanfic-on-the-net instead of professionally published fanfic? ^.~) I already have "A Stitch in Time" (and plan to read it soon; I remember reading the first fifty or so pages back when I bought it and liking them), mostly because Andrew Robinson wrote it about "his" character, but other than that, I'll gladly take any recs.

Comments

[sineala]

I've enjoyed a few of the Titan (TNG) books, mostly because there's a gay couple! Right there, in the books! In Star Trek! (It makes my inner 13-year-old emo lesbian self very happy.)

Haven't read any of the others, though.

[schattenstern]

Ooooh. That is very shiny. (Tell that to my teenage self who watched DS9's "Rejoined" over and over again.)
Hmmm, Memory Beta tells me that it's Riker's ship after his promotion in Nemesis, so maybe that's the extra bit of motivation I need to finally watch the movie; it's the only one I've never seen. *coughs*

Thank you!

[sineala]

I actually never watched DS9 beyond the first season... is it gay? (Given the remarkable amounts of fail displayed by TNG in, um, that episode with the androgynous people, and the one where Dr. Crusher falls in love with a Trill but breaks up when the Trill gets a female host, and the one with Data's android daughter getting told by Guinan about the joys of heterosexuality (where Whoopi Goldberg said that it was stupid and they needed gay people in the future too, and TPTB wouldn't let her) -- uh, anyway, Trek has a lot to make up for.)

But, yes, there are gay characters in the Titan series, or at least in the first two books (Taking Wing and The Red King). They don't actually do anything beyond UST at each other, but there's definite... interest. And there was a TNG book (Section 31: Rogue) about one of the Titan guys' exes, a lieutenant who got flattened by the Borg or something in one of the movies. I actually liked that book better than the Titan books, which have the annoying tendency to try to hit you over the head with how Wonderfully Diverse they are like they want a big shiny medal for being even a bit less human-centric than most of Starfleet.

[schattenstern]

Well... "Rejoined" is the DS9 episode where Jadzia Dax meets Lenara Khan (no, she doesn't have anything to do with *the* Khan ^.~), and the two (both of them are Trill) were happily married in a past live until, I think, Khan's host died. Now that they're working together on some project, they're all over each other. ^.^
Unfortunately, there's a Trill taboo about not being allowed to continue a relationship from a past live and it doesn't end well (they go their separate ways), but the episode is pretty good with the gay aspect in that it isn't even an issue. (Teenage!me sat in front of the TV starry eyed and dreamed of such a future.) I remember a scene in which Kira and Bashir give some exposition about the Trill taboo and one of them says that Jadzia and Lenara aren't allowed to be together, to which the other reacts with complete and utter bewilderment. And again, teenage!me cheered. Heck, I'm still cheering today.

... even if, today, I see that the show definitely had its issues.
There's the bit with Bashir and Garak. When Garak first shows up in episode two, he is so very definitely flirting with Bashir, and the actors of both characters (but especially Andrew Robinson) have stated in interviews that they've played the two as interested in each other, but The Powers That Be interfered and nothing ever happened. *sighs* But at least there's tons of not-so-subtle subtext. And Keiko O'Brien thinking that her husband loves Bashir more than he loves her. *coughs*

And then we have Odo, another male other shapeshifter and a whole lot of Unfortunate Implications. *sighs more* By the way, have I mentioned the mirror universe counterparts of certain characters? Later on, we get another lesbian kiss from evil!Kira and evil!Ezri.

But as a whole, I think DS9 is at least better about it than TNG was, not that that's a terribly remarkable accomplishment. And if you ask me, DS9 in general is a series that got better with each season and really came into its own in seasons three or four (and six is my personal favourite), so if you ever feel like watching more of it...