SF Books
My first three books I self-published fall into the category of thrillers. However, years ago I wrote several non-published books in a SF series and my three most recent adventures are all set in the future or have futuristic elements in them.
When it comes to reading SF, I recall reading some when I was younger but not as much as you’d think. I read a little Heinlein, the Foundation trilogy (which was over my head), and tried many other books that looked interesting but left me unsatisfied. I did read a lot of Star Terk books, though.
When the first Star Trek movie came out I was right in that stage of entering adolescence. The only books in circulation were a series of twelve, written by James Blish, that adapted several of the original series episodes into multiple short stories per book. Another set in the same vein gave a similar treatment to episodes from the Animated Series. And finally, a smattering of original books lurked out there in some publisher’s backlist and if you wanted one you had to be lucky enough to find it in a store or know the title so you could order it from your local bookseller, who might or might not be able to get it.
I had that frame of mind to constantly search for new titles, whether it was the library, a bookstore, or a convenience store. We had no way of knowing when something new or different was coming out - yes, it was a tough life without the Internet.
After Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out things changed. I still remember the first time I found a new ST book in a convenience store near my grandparents’ house. The paperback was The Entropy Effect by Vonda S. McIntyre. The cover was clean and modern, and Sulu had a mustache and long hair! It was unexpected and sooooo cool. That was just the beginning.
For better or worse, I read most of the Star Trek books that came out over the next couple of decades. Was it great literature? See my entry on comic books. Whatever the quality, the stories were about characters I knew and liked and they piqued my imagination.