10. Mission To Horatius - Mack Reynolds (1968)
Although the first original written story may be an obvious milestone, it is one that is perhaps often overlooked. These days novelisations are far and away the minority when it comes to Star Trek fiction, as only episodes of the later series that truly stood out received this honour. As well as this though, Mission To Horatius is also overlooked in favour of James Blish's Spock Must Die! Much like Kirk and Uhura sharing an interracial kiss on Television, deciding which is the first example depends entirely on what criteria you are using. Just as they only shared the first kiss on American TV, Spock Must Die! was only the first original adult novel. Mission To Horatius was a young adult novel aimed at teenage readers, but was still the first overall and deserves to be recognised for it. Trying to locate and answer a distress call, Kirk must deal with three separate planets and mysterious space raiders, while McCoy tries to help the Enterprise crew who are suffering from low supplies and the effects of long distance space travel. Nothing over the top, but it did make sure Star Trek novels got off to a flying start.