Arghhh

So hard to find the older novels now.

Unless you get lucky at a used book sale or store, ugh... and, even the library copies are now running out of borrows and the libraries aren't buying new copies. Doh!

Anyone have any hints for how they find their Star Trek novels, without having to do 20 cross country ILLs?

Do you attend SF conventions? Some have lots of used book sellers in the dealer's room and most have author's selling new books. Shore Leave (in the Baltimore MD area) has panels of Trek authors and Friday evening is always a Meet the Authors party and book launch.

Unfortunately, at this point they're just old; most of them haven't had reprints in 20+ years, and the paperback copies that exist are falling apart. I suspect when they do come into used bookstores, they get trashed on condition. (I have a near-complete collection of the old ones put together in the 90s, but even sitting well-stored and mostly unread in boxes, at this point a lot of them are in poor reading condition.)

They are findable in e-copies of various level of legality?

>2 SF_fan_mae: I do have a couple of big used book stores in my area. I went to one of them over the weekend and they did have some, which was cool. Not a humongous selection, but, ones that I didn't have/haven't read. So, awesome there. And, of course, I do go to the various Library book sales and such (whether they're permanent or once or twice a year) in the area. Last year at the library where I work I actually found a whole box of the Star Trek novels in good condition. It was heaven. But, less luck since then. :) Shouldn't be greedy.

I haven't been to conventions in a long time though, these days especially it sort of weirds me out, and, the comic book shop that I do frequent, unfortunately, stopped carrying used books (and even more sad, used movies/TV serieses)

My dream is to find A Stitch in Time (I know, everyone can stop laughing now, I know that I won't, but, I can dream can't I.... Heh....)

>3 melannen: I do own some of the eBooks, but, it's just not as convenient for me to read them. I do it on a Nook Simple (which I love), so I have to sideload everything (whether it's legal or not...), and, I hate reading on a screen (tablet/phone/computer). What can I say, I'm old enough that I really like reading the books (aside from the 1100 page tome Day of Honor Omnibus that I'm reading right now. *facepalm*

DS9 ones are recent enough they're more likely to be in okay condition! Unfortunately they never sold that many - even twenty years ago they weren't the easiest to find. Good luck? I'd love to read that one too.

>5 melannen: You can also sometimes get from 70-100+ dollars for selling a copy. :D So... definitely hard to find.

I've picked up a lot of the old TOS Pocket Books on Kindle when they go on sale a couple at a time for $1-2.

As a new book fan, this thread is sad. haha

>8 lalaithan: I'm unsure what you mean?

You mean new book, like, shiny and smells new and such?

Or a new Star Trek novel fan?

As I said, little confused.

Used books are a godsend not just for when I can't find it through ILL at the library, but, also, if one doesn't have easy access to a library, buying good (i.e. not musty or moldy or smelly) used books is amazing. You can get, sometimes, 25 books for the cost of one new one. I'd make that trade every single time and three times on Sunday.

>9 DanieXJ: I've just begun reading ST books.

>10 lalaithan: Cool. Still don't get why the thread was sad. But, I hope that you've found some good ones!

I see plenty of used vintage Star Trek for sale on eBay.

I would recommend looking for friends of the library book sales. Ours always has ST novels, often in mint or near mint condition.

I have a decent collection but at one point I moved and stopped keeping up with new releases. I pick up some at our thrift shops but now I don't know what I am missing. I also picked up a few on paperback swap.

I come across TOS, TNG, and others at thrift stores. My collection of the original series stopped about #100, but I may have some gaps. I haven't purchased any more because I'm not sure what I do/don't have. I need to log them into LibraryThing someday soon!

I am a MS/HS Librarian. My ST novels haven't been circulated in some time. I know I will be looking at weeding (discarding) my collection this winter. Perhaps you can check with your local schools to see what they have? I'm in Central Ohio if anyone is local enough to want to take a look at what I have!

Red Rocks Books in Ridgecrest, CA, has the biggest selection of Star Trek books that I have ever seen. (I was there in Feb. 2020. The store sells mostly used books.) I estimated 40 linear feet of Star Trek books!

>17 ETHPS: Whew... that's awesome.

Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near OH or CA :D

But, I have myself found some at used book fairs, and church fairs and library book sales.

And, as a librarian, I do understand why libraries have to get rid of them when they don't go out for so so long. Still, makes it hard when there's this book that I really want to read, and, I can't even get it from OCLC/WorldCat ILL... oof... Ah well... first world problem, I know.

And, I took the plunge last month and got some from eBay. (a physical lot of them all at once, not individually) I'm not sure I'll ever do that again because I was worried the whole time that they'd be horrible and smelly, but, it came out okay this time. They smell delightful (better than some of the ones that I've had for awhile, oops.... heh...)

From now on I will read what I have, and I will have patience. :) Thank you all for the good suggestions too.

Oh, and >15 lunarbuggy: I actually have a google sheet that I have 'saved' on my phone and alphabetical by title because I would try to use the LibraryThing App to make sure I didn't have one already, but, sometimes (well, usually) the WiFi or even Cell signal was just trash, and so... went for an even simpler solution.... heh...

Red Rocks Books does mail order, and will even send, upon request, photos of each shelf. Here is the response I received from the store yesterday:
"Yes, we still have a ton of Star Trek books and we can definitely fill mail order requests. We don't have an online catalog, but if you let me know what you are looking for, I can take a look see what we have. I can also send pictures of each shelf if you're wanting to browse what we have. Let me know what you'd like. Thanks! -Ann" The store's email address is redrockbooks1@verizon.net

>19 ETHPS: Cool!

I'm a super fan of used book stores (and not just the awesome library sales and church faires and stuff). I think that every area in the country should have at least one. Ooh, and I just went to their site, and I love the cat! :D

Use your right of First Sale people (i.e. once you buy it, it's yours to keep and do with whatever you want including resell it).... use it or lose it.... (as we are with all the ebooks. 'cause, you don't own ebooks you're basically renting them because they have been 'licensed' to you and most licensing agreements say that they can pull their book back at anytime for any reason (corporate CYA, I know, but, still....)