Star Trek: “Make-Believe”
In 2003 Pocket Books began a series of short-story anthologies commemorating the anniversaries of the various Star Trek series: Deep Space Nine's tenth anniversary in 2003, Voyager's tenth anniversary in 2005. The fall of 2006 would see the publication of an anthology celebrating the 40th-anniversary of the debut of the original Star Trek, and who wouldn't want to be a part of that? I approached Pocket editor Marco Palmieri in May 2005 in an unusual manner. I sent him a birthday card, a story pitch, and a note: "If you're taking pitches for the 40th-anniversary anthology would you consider ...
Star Trek Generations: The Decline and Fall
An analysis of Star Trek: Generations, the seventh Star Trek film; published in Star Trek Magazine #26 (US)/#153 (UK). How did the film come to be? Did it succeed? Did it fail? This article analyzes the film in the context of the Star Trek film series — and in the context of the times in which it was made.
Star Trek: Corps of Engineers: Grand Designs
A collection of six Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers stories, including my first novella, Ring Around the Sky. That story, published as an eBook in 2004, took the crew of the da Vinci to the world of Kharzh'ulla IV, a Tellarite colony world that suffered an attack on its system of orbital elevators during the Dominion War. There, second officer Tev had to confront his own personal demons while assisting the crew in fixing the unfixable.
Doctor Who: “The Spindle of Necessity”
One evening in November 2006, I received an e-mail from Keith DeCandido — he was putting together a Doctor Who anthology for Big Finish Productions, a small UK-based media (books, audios, that sort of thing) publisher. Would I be interested in pitching? Here's the pitch document. My first reaction was, "ZOMG!" My second reaction was, "Okay, what am I going to pitch?" The concept of the anthology was encapsulated in the title — "The Quality of Leadership." The time-traveling Gallifreyan was going to meet leaders throughout time and space. I pulled out a notepad, and I jotted down some ideas. ...
Star Trek: New Frontier: “Performance Appraisal”
Kat Mueller, introduced in Peter David's Once Burned, is featured in this story about her days aboard the USS Grissom. How did she decide to go into command? When the Grissom is confronted by an insane Romulan, Mueller's quick thinking saves the ship — and prevents an interstellar incident.
On the Radio Free Albemuth Kickstarter
When I was in college, I did a “binge read” of Philip K. Dick. A “binge read” involved taking an author and, for a semester, reading as much of his work as I could get my hands on. One semester I did a binge read of Larry Niven. The next semester was Orson Scott Card. And then there was the semester that I did a binge read of PKD. I don’t know how I settled... [Read more]
On Shamrock Fest 2013
To get to Shamrock Fest, I had to navigate a phalanx of Bible-thumpers. Shamrock Fest is an Irish and Celtic music festival held annually at RFK Stadium, and the organizers recommend that people take the DC Metro to reach the music festival. You take the Blue or Orange line, disembark at the Stadium-Armory stop, climb the steps, and walk about two blocks to reach Shamrock Fest. The past... [Read more]
On The House of Silk
Last weekend I picked up The House of Silk. I finished it Sunday night after Downton Abbey. Silk, for those unaware of it, is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel written by Foyle’s War‘s Anthony Horowitz that was published in late 2011 and was authorized by the Doyle estate. The latter point — the estate authorization — seemed to be a very big deal, as the book was... [Read more]
On the Revolutionary Time Lord
Today was Inauguration Day. Barack Obama, whose second term as President began yesterday, was administered a ceremonial oath of office this afternoon for a public inauguration ceremony. Obama’s inaugural speech was strongly progressive in its outlook, but some of the speech’s invocations of god irked me. I tweeted my irksomeness, and Stuart Ian Burns replied that when Obama... [Read more]
On a Casualty in FOX News’ War on the War on Christmas
Were it not for Talking Points Memo, I wouldn’t have known that FOX News’ war on the War on Christmas had begun. I guess if Black Friday can creep into Thursday, then the War on Christmas can creep into mid-November. And what did I learn? Atheists are attacking A Charlie Brown Christmas in an elementary school in Little Rock, Arkansas! Several Google searches brought up this article... [Read more]
Writing
On a Comic Book Script
Yesterday I wrote a comic book script. Totally random, that. The idea came to me a few days ago, and it was consuming many mental processing cycles. I clearned some time yesterday and knocked it out. I took another look at it this morning. I revised the staging in two panels, and rewrote the description for another panel to clarify something. I added a Cast of Characters. In... [Read more]
On Working on My NaNoWriMo Outline
Hello? Is this mic still on…? Ah, there it is. The squeal of feedback. I’ve been busy. And writing. But mostly busy. This happens to all of us from time to time, but it’s been especially bad of late. One thing I’ve been working on? I’m finally tackling a revision to the Merlin outline. Yes, the on-spec outline for a tie-in novel... [Read more]
Comic Books
On Things I’ve Been Reading
Doctor who: Prisoners of Time #1 IDW Publishing Written by Scott & David Tipton Artwork by Simon Fraser A month after the triumphant conclusion to Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2, the brothers Tipton return to the world of Doctor Who for the first chapter of IDW’s Doctor Who golden anniversary project, Prisoners of Time. When the project was announced a few months... [Read more]
On Things I’ve Been Reading
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #8 IDW Publishing Written by Scott & David Tipton Pencils by Gordon Purcell Watercolors by J.K. Woodward Ten months ago, IDW Publishing announced the comic book I’d waited most of my life to read — a Star Trek/Doctor Who crossover. Yesterday, I read the eighth and final issue. The best thing I can say? The damn thing... [Read more]
