I honestly don't remember. I do recall thinking that the writing seemed a little clunkier than what I was used to from him even if the story and the characters were still top notch.
News Comic writer Peter David has passed away
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I honestly don't remember. I do recall thinking that the writing seemed a little clunkier than what I was used to from him even if the story and the characters were still top notch.
That is the story that's always told, including by PAD himself, though I've noticed several Trek novels of the time had that disclaimer. Prime Directive by the Reeves-Stevens has the exact same disclaimer that was in Vendetta.
It is true that the inclusion of a female Borg drone in Vendetta ruffled feathers, which is odd given a majority of Borg drones seen on TNG up to that point were played by women, including the specific drone who abducted Picard off the bridge in TBOBW.
I do remember that one as being particularly good.
Bleeding Cool has collected some responses from people in the comic book industry, including Scott Lobdell, Paul Levitz, James Gunn, Jimmy Palmiotti, Bill Mumy and Gail Simone.
It was such sad news to read this morning. By coincidence I had just gotten dressed and had put on a Spiderman 2099 T-shirt. He was one of Star Trek's greatest writers, way ahead of his time with New Frontier. His words in books, comics and onscreen fired my imagination like no other. I'm going to miss the excitement of seeing his name on comics and books.
I forgot he wrote Spider-Man 2099. That was probably the best out of the entire 2099 line.
PD autographed my copy of Imzadi.
No, there's a gist of truth in this, but it's not to do with the editing.
In 1990-1, the Star Trek Office at Paramount (ie., Richard Arnold) was taking longer than usual to approve his outlines and scripts, or giving him weird, nitpicky notes (like "Captain Kirk isn't interested in women"). On the Star Trek comic, as a test, they sent through a script as being by "Robert Bruce Banner" (ie., the Hulk), and it sailed through Arnold's office without a hitch. (The story in question was "Once a Hero," about a security guard who died on a landing party and no one knew anything about him.) PAD realized that, as much as he liked writing the comic, he wasn't doing DC and the artists any favors by writing it because of Arnold being Arnold, so he walked away.
His novels in 1991 had some different issues. Q-in-Law languished waiting for Arnold to approve it, until PAD, in desperation, gave Majel Barrett a copy of the manuscript to read at a convention. She read it and loved it and asked Gene when it was coming out. The book was approved.
For Vendetta, it was a book Pocket really wanted done, and Dave Stern flew out to Burbank and sat in Richard Arnold's office and waited for him to read and approve the outline. It did get a disclaimer that it wasn't really Star Trek, which a few book around that time got, because it had a female Borg.
Related to the Q-in-Law story, when Pocket Books did an audio book, they thought it would be a great idea to have John DeLancie and Majel Barrett do it together, with the two sparking off each other as Q and Lwaxana. Pocket had it recorded, sent it to Paramount for final approvals, and they said, "No, your license doesn't cover this. This is too much of an audio drama. You're going to have to cut one of the performers and rerecord." To which Pocket replied, "Well, which one of you is going to tell Mrs. Gene Roddenberry she doesn't get to be in this audio book?" And it was approved.
My favorite Richard Arnold story is the one where he showed up for work the day after Gene Roddenberry died and was immediately escorted off the lot.
To quote General Chang, "The quintessential devil in these matters--Richard Arnold, tyrant and fool." 
This news makes me so sad. I knew he was in poor health, but though he had been improving. I didn't realize that things had taken a turn for the worse again.
Vendetta remains one of my absolute favorite Trek books, even to this day. Q-in-Law is a delightful romp that is Peter David at his best. Q-Squared, of course, is something really special. And New Frontier... Wow. New Frontier added a whole other...er...sector to the Trek universe for me!
There are so many others as well!
The literary world (and the world as a whole) is diminished with his passing.
Vendetta remains one of my absolute favorite Trek books, even to this day. Q-in-Law is a delightful romp that is Peter David at his best. Q-Squared, of course, is something really special. And New Frontier... Wow. New Frontier added a whole other...er...sector to the Trek universe for me!
There are so many others as well!
The literary world (and the world as a whole) is diminished with his passing.
I remember back then that not too many folks had a high opinion of Arnold.
I’m pretty sure the only people who ever had a high opinion of Richard Arnold were Richard Arnold and Gene Roddenberry.
Gene loved his sycophants.
He was given the nick 'Melakon' (TOS Patterns of Force) because of his seemingly arbitrary way of approving Star Trek books and scripts for TNG.
https://fanlore.org/wiki/Richard_Arnold
Who is Peter David? Comic book legend dies at 68
Peter David passed away following struggles with a series of health care issues, leaving behind an incredible legacy of work.
www.newsweek.com
I liked the rather passive aggressive dedication to Richard Arnold Peter David included in Vendetta. I forget the exact wording, but David basically compares Arnold to a windmill one has to tilt at, like in Don Quixote. To make the comparison thematic, there's a chapter in the novel where Data and Geordi are playing Don Quixote on the holodeck.
