Rare Novels

[Methuselah Flint]

Hi all,

Apart from A Stitch In Time, are there any other novels that are considered rare and difficult to get hold of?

Many thanks,

MF

 

[Jinn]

I found the YA Starfleet Academy novels really hard to get a hold of.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The third Vanguard book. There was, IIRC, an error with the ISBN that prevented it from being reprinted. Pocket didn't know how well it sold or somesuch.

 

[ryan123450]

The rewritten as young adult versions of TNG: Contamination, TNG: Masks, TNG: Q-in-Law, TNG: Spartacus, TNG: War Drums, DS9: Betrayal, DS9: The Big Game, DS9: Bloodletter, and DS9: The Siege are so rare I had to dig hard to confirm they even exist.

 

[vandevere]

Nichelle Nichols actually wrote a Star Trek Short Story some time in the Seventies, called, Surprise!

I would give anything to read that again!

 

[Christopher]

Nichelle Nichols actually wrote a Star Trek Short Story some time in the Seventies, called, Surprise!

I would give anything to read that again!

It's in Bantam's STAR TREK: THE NEW VOYAGES 2, as I recall.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

And it's the very first story, too.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Apart from A Stitch In Time, are there any other novels that are considered rare and difficult to get hold of?

The first printing of "Killing Time", because it was quickly replaced by a slightly revised version.

"Vanguard #3: Reap the Whirlwind" is hard to find in MMPB. My local bookshop's restock of that title ended up being print-on-demand trade PBs (with extra-wide gutters).

Every copy of the first printing of "Stargazer: Oblivion" has several pages each with edges of missing text: a printing error. All corrected versions are second-printing or later. PDFs of the affected pages were put up on the Simon & Schuster website for a time.

The trade omnibus "DS9: Mission Gamma: These Haunted Seas" collected the first two MMPB novels ("Twilight" and "This Gray Spirit") in the "Mission Gamma" miniseries, which had fallen out of print and were becoming very hard for fans to find. But then no omnibus ever came out for the next two MMPB novels in that series, "Cathedral" and "Lesser Evil", so they, too, may also be hard to locate.

Several years before Pocket Books took over the Trek books licence from Bantam and Del Rey, they had published a MMPB collection called "Six Science Fiction Plays" (1975). One of the six plays was "The City on the Edge of Forever", the original unrevised teleplay by Harlan Ellison. Perhaps not that rare, but impossible to find in Australian second hand bookshops (and do you look in the play section, the SF section, the Trek section, or under "E" for editor Roger Elwood?) It was my Holy Grail - until Amazon introduced its keyword-searchable second hand market - and I found a copy for just a few dollars plus airmail postage.


Pocket Books' "Six Science Fiction Plays" containing "The City on the Edge of Forever" original teleplay by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Ellison later had a hardcover, slipcase version of his "The City on the Edge of Forever" unrevised teleplay (plus new commentaries) was announced, but Borderland Press (1995) fumbled its distribution. (Post edited for clarity). A more successful, further revised, trade PB version (and a hardcover?) finally came out a year later from White Wolf Publishing.


Proposed slipcase edition of "The City on the Edge of Forever" by Ian McLean, on Flickr

There are only 500 copies of the hardcover, slipcased edition of "The Motion Picture" novelization, signed by Gene Roddenberry. This (and the regular hardcover) edition has a dedication page: "... to Majel".


Star Trek: The Motion Picture slipcase dedication to Majel by Ian McLean, on Flickr


Star Trek: The Motion Picture slipcase spine by Ian McLean, on Flickr


Star Trek: The Motion Picture hardcover slipcase edition by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[Indysolo]

There are only 500 copies of the hardcover, slipcased edition of "The Motion Picture" novelization, signed by Gene Roddenberry. This is the only edition with a dedication page: "... to Majel".

I have a hardcover, non-slipcase edition of the TMP novelization and it has the dedication. It has a normal dustcover with the Bob Peak art on the front and a photo of Gene Roddenberry on the back.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I have a hardcover, non-slipcase edition of the TMP novelization and it has the dedication. It has a normal dustcover with the Bob Peak art on the front and a photo of Gene Roddenberry on the back.

Ah, thanks for that! I have never owned a version of the regular hardcover!

 

[captainmkb]

The first printing of "Killing Time", because it was quickly replaced by a slightly revised version.

One of the jewels of my collection.

Also, the hardcover book club editions of many of the 1980s numbered novels seem pretty rare. i got handed a few of them in 1988 or so as a gift and was surprised that i never saw one for sale ever again after that - Vulcan Academy Murders and Crisis On Centaurus were my originals i think. my first Pocket Books TREK novels were not "pocket books" lol

got a nice copy of How Much For Just the Planet? in this format too. i got a pile of them from a lot sale last year too, not sure if i feel guilty or getting them for $2 each. TWOK was in there.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Ellison later had a hardcover, slipcase version of his "The City on the Edge of Forever" unrevised teleplay (plus new commentaries) announced, but White Wolf Publishing (1995) fumbled it and, if any copies were released, it was very few. A more successful, further revised, trade PB version (and a hardcover?) finally came out a year later.


Proposed slipcase edition of "The City on the Edge of Forever" by Ian McLean, on Flickr

The slipcase edition was produced by Borderland Publishing and limited to 1,000 copies. I saw a few copies at the local indie SF bookstore in San Diego during a 1996 Ellison signing. He signed my copy of the White Wolf trade. I was in community college at the time so the $75 for the slipcase edition was beyond my price range.

You can occasionally find copies of the slipcase hardcover for sale on eBay.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The first printing of "Killing Time", because it was quickly replaced by a slightly revised version

One of the jewels of my collection

I had a mint condition first printing. It sat at the top of a box of books I was storing under my bed years ago. I pulled out the box one day, it snagged on the edge of the bed and the cover tore clean off

 

[Therin of Andor]

The slipcase edition was produced by Borderland Publishing and limited to 1,000 copies. I saw a few copies at the local indie SF bookstore in San Diego during a 1996 Ellison signing. He signed my copy of the White Wolf trade.

Ah, thanks! Amazon's second hand market is totally bamboozled over the variations, dates and formats. I had a pre-order for that slipcase (with my local comic shop) but none ever arrived.

the hardcover book club editions of many of the 1980s numbered novels seem pretty rare. i got handed a few of them in 1988 or so as a gift and was surprised that i never saw one for sale ever again after that - Vulcan Academy Murders and Crisis On Centaurus were my originals i think. my first Pocket Books TREK novels were not "pocket books" lol

Gregg Press hardcover editions were made mainly for public libraries, I think. My local bookshop had them at one point. Very tempting!
17 Trek titles listed here:
https://www.kathryncramer.com/gregg_update.html

There were also SFBC hardcover editions, some of which collected later duologies and trilogies.

 

[Daddy Todd]

The slipcase edition was produced by Borderland Publishing and limited to 1,000 copies. I saw a few copies at the local indie SF bookstore in San Diego during a 1996 Ellison signing. He signed my copy of the White Wolf trade. I was in community college at the time so the $75 for the slipcase edition was beyond my price range.

I picked up a copy of the $75 slipcased Borderlands edition around 2000 (#465 of 1000). The flyleaf claims there was also a "Trade Edition" for $25, but in a couple decades of searching, I've never seen a copy of the Borderlands edition that wasn't signed/numbered/slipcased. Every time I've seen one listed, it turns out to be the SFBC hardcover reprint of the White Wolf edition. It seems doubtful Borderlands ever published a Trade Edition back in 1995.

One big cause of confusion between the various editions is that the White Wolf trade paperback and the SFBC hardcover reprint of the White Wolf trade paperback both erroneously include the Borderlands ISBN (1-880-325-02-0) on the title page. The correct ISBN for the White Wolf edition (1-56504-964-0) is printed in the inside front cover and on the bottom of the back cover, where it appears above the bar code of the ISBN-13 version of the same number (9781565049642). And the SFBC reprint includes a bar code of the ISBN-13 version on its back cover as well, alongside the SFBC stock number, 15097, in a little white box.

So it's impossible to tell what edition you're buying over the internet if you try to rely on the ISBN. It's frustrating. If your hardcover edition has a photo of Harlan with Nimoy and Shatner on the dust jacket, that's the SFBC hardback. If it's a paperback, that's the White Wolf trade paperback. And if it has a painting of Edith Keeler on the dust jacket, that's the Borderlands edition. Flip it open, and if it DOES NOT have Harlan's signature on the limitation page, please sell it to me.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Ah, thanks! Amazon's second hand market is totally bamboozled over the variations, dates and formats. I had a pre-order for that slipcase (with my local comic shop) but none ever arrived.

I had also ordered the slipcased edition from my local comic shop, Ian, and never received it. My assumption always was that it was severely allocated. Possibly, Diamond may not have even received copies to distribute.

I had the White Wolf paperback, and later I acquired the SFBC hardcover (then gave away the paperback), and, honestly, that's fine for my needs.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I had the White Wolf paperback, and later I acquired the SFBC hardcover (then gave away the paperback), and, honestly, that's fine for my needs.

Yep. I remember reading a piece from Harlan, expressing his annoyance with the original slipcase edition's issues, and how he was making revisions for White Wolf's version. So I relaxed when I found the trade PB at retail.

 

[Corran Horn]

Every copy of the first printing of "Stargazer: Oblivion" has several pages each with edges of missing text: a printing error. All corrected versions are second-printing or later. PDFs of the affected pages were put up on the Simon & Schuster website for a time.

Heh. I'd forgotten about that.

Did the SNW book with the A-wings on the cover ever make it to print? Or was that just a pre-release cover pic?