Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens

[Saul]

With the 50th Anniversary coming up I was wondering if we'll ever see another Star Trek Novel by them again?

I really enjoyed their work in the past. The stories they wrote were wildly entertaining and on a large scale.

I'm sure they'd have some ideas tying the prime and new universes together in some epic story.

 

[Idran]

I'm sure they'd have some ideas tying the prime and new universes together in some epic story.

That much, at least, is ruled out for now: there are no plans for prose works involving or tied in to the Abrams universe.

 

[Relayer1]

Aren't they off frying bigger fish in T.V. land now ?

 

[zarkon]

Would be nice. "Federation" in particular is an incredible story.

 

[Kilana2]

I'm sure they'd have some ideas tying the prime and new universes together in some epic story.

That much, at least, is ruled out for now: there are no plans for prose works involving or tied in to the Abrams universe.

I'd rather keep those universes seperated. So I can better avoid the nuTrek timeline.

As for the Reeves-Stevenses: I liked their Millenium trilogy. Their cooperation with Shatner was a different thing. Most of the stories were great. But Shatnerverse is Shatnerverse and some dislike it.

 

[Relayer1]

The last couple of entries on their Wiki page are :

In October, 2013, the IMDbPro site reported that the Reeves-Stevenses had written the screenplay for the movie adaptation of Jerry Pournelle's classic military science-fiction novel, Janissaries, also for the Goddard Film Group. The movie is listed as "In Development."

In addition to their ongoing work in television, the Reeves-Stevenses have also completed their newest novel, Wraith, scheduled to be published by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

 

[Defcon]

I always thought they were overrated.

Not bad, but not nearly as good as the overall opinion seems to indicate. So I'm not overly eager to see them return. YMMV

 

[UncleRogi]

I've really enjoyed all their novels, but my favorite I would say was Prime Directive.

 

[JD]

I read the first couple Millenium books back when I first started reading TrekLit, and I really enjoyed them. I don't know if I'd really want them back though. The only authors no longer writing for Trek Lit that I really miss are KRAD, David McIntee, and SD Perry.

 

[Stevil2001]

The Reeves-Stevens are swell- Memory Prime is one of the best adventure-of-the-week 5YM stories, I reckon, before you get to all their epic stuff (though I found their Shatner collaborations hit-and-miss).

 

[F. King Daniel]

Loved their work. It lost its sheen a bit in the post-Ashes of Eden Shatnerverse, but before the reboot movies, J+G R-S novels were as close to big budget action epics as Star Trek got.

Also, bring back the Grigari! These guys walked over the Dominion and laid waste to the Alpha Quadrant in the War of the Prophets timeline. And they're still out there, just waiting for someone to annoy them.

 

[tomswift2002]

Millennium was a great story. So to was their Mirror Universe trilogy with Shatner.

While I haven't read their Memory Prime novel, they only story that I can recall that I found was a mis-step for them was Ashes of Eden.

 

[UncleRogi]

I always thought that Prime Directive would make a good script for nu-Trek. They capture the tone of TOS very well.

Maybe it's because they write for television now, but I can SEE the scenes they write.
It SEEMS like an episode...I don't know.

Now I have to say that folk like Garamet, Bennet, Mack, David, KRAD, Cox, et al are no slouches in any way! I can SEE as I read there, too. The R-S's seem to construct their writing to the forms of TV, vs. prose-for-proses' sake.

Now I must admit that the Marshak-Culbreath novels captured my imagination when they came out (I was 14), and the character of Omne fascinated me. I was a little young to understand about slash fiction at the time. And the Phoenix duology ended on a cliff-hanger... they could probably do justice...OOOPS! Rule violation!

The Reeves-Stevens always bring the best of Trek. Including the Shatnerverse...

Bill chose his ghost-writers well. Would not ANY of us Trek-lit fans want to be a fly under the table at THOSE meetings?

(Yes, I know, but flies on the wall mostly get swatted into goo. How then could we report to TrekBBS?)

 

[Christopher]

^Well, they can't be called ghostwriters, since they're credited on every Shatner book except The Ashes of Eden (and they were credited on the DC Comics adaptation thereof). They're collaborators.

 

[UncleRogi]

^ I say "ghost-writers" mostly because the idea might have been Bill's, But the execution was theirs.

The plotting is way too familiar with Trek than Bill would admit or even knows.

case-in-point: Kirk can take a Klingon with a bat'leth? Really?

I dunno....

 

[Christopher]

^ I say "ghost-writers" mostly because the idea might have been Bill's, But the execution was theirs.

That's a myth. Their collaborative process has been discussed in detail. Shatner handled the plotting and dialogue for Kirk, the Reeves-Stevenses handled the rest, and then they passed it back and forth between them, revising each other's material, with Shatner having the final say on every word. Many collaborations work in similar ways.

It's not like TekWar, which actually was ghostwritten by Ron Goulart. I imagine the process was similar, with Shatner defining the story arc for the lead character and having final approval over the content, but I gather the overall product was mostly Goulart's ideas and writing, and since he was never credited, that made him a ghostwriter.

 

[Relayer1]

Their contributions to Enterprise season 4 helped make it the only season I really liked.

 

[Saul]

The last couple of entries on their Wiki page are :

In October, 2013, the IMDbPro site reported that the Reeves-Stevenses had written the screenplay for the movie adaptation of Jerry Pournelle's classic military science-fiction novel, Janissaries, also for the Goddard Film Group. The movie is listed as "In Development."

In addition to their ongoing work in television, the Reeves-Stevenses have also completed their newest novel, Wraith, scheduled to be published by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

I checked out their official site http://www.reeves-stevens.com/Welcome_to_Reeves-Stevens.com.html which is "getting ready to launch" but that's been the same status for a good while now.

Agree with UncleRogi. Reading their novels is like watching a TV show or movie with a large budget. It's no wonder as they wrote some fantastic episodes of 'Star Trek Enterprise' too.

 

[UncleRogi]

^ I say "ghost-writers" mostly because the idea might have been Bill's, But the execution was theirs.

That's a myth. Their collaborative process has been discussed in detail. Shatner handled the plotting and dialogue for Kirk, the Reeves-Stevenses handled the rest, and then they passed it back and forth between them, revising each other's material, with Shatner having the final say on every word. Many collaborations work in similar ways.

Well, you know the business much better than I.

The Shatnerverse seems to show what bill wanted for Kirk, and then the Reeves-Stevens' fit it into the cannon. Don't get me wrong, those are some good stories! Preserver was especially entertaining! But I have also read a few of TekWars books (not Many, as there are quite a few), and they are pulp-scifi lowbrow.

I just wanted to convey that Shatner, though very creative, is NOT a writer. The R-S's are high among the Trek Lit faithfull, a club to which you belong!

We Trek Lit plebes live on the dribblings of your word-processing magnificence!

And you have a PRODIGIOUS knowledge of Trek literature!

I honestly think you are among the few that can keep a coherent plot through many timelines.

So, if you hate me, I await the feathered T-Rex sniffing my car.

Otherwise I sign,

A fan (awaiting more DTI mental time paradox permutations.)

 

[Christopher]

I just wanted to convey that Shatner, though very creative, is NOT a writer.

Well, he is. He wrote Kirk's dialogue himself and plotted Kirk's story arcs himself. Maybe he's not a solo writer, but that doesn't mean he did no writing at all.

But the point is not about Shatner, it's about his collaborators. The definition of the word "ghostwriter" is someone who writes without credit on behalf of another person. Since the Reeves-Stevenses were credited on all but the first of their Shatner collaborations, it is simply wrong to call them ghostwriters on anything but The Ashes of Eden. That's a misuse of the word, plain and simple. And it's poor marksmanship to try to criticize Shatner by misrepresenting the nature of the work done by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens.