Sally Kellerman was at Shore Leave this past July.
And was featured briefly in Shatner's "The Captains" video, made this year.
Preview--IDW's Star trek ongoing #1
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And was featured briefly in Shatner's "The Captains" video, made this year.
What a shame that the writers have to be so paranoid. I will certainly think more before posting my speculations in Trek-lit. Sounds like a great story. I might borrow it substituting the Mugato for Yoda and Barney Rubble.
The problem is that there are people out there who love to file nuisance plagiarism suits, and those can seriously damage the livelihood of writers and their publishers alike. Because of those few jerks out there, the rest of us are forced to be extremely cautious about these things. It's the same reason your car has an alarm. Sure, 99 percent of your neighbors wouldn't think of stealing your car, but because there are a few people out there who would, you still need to protect your car against anyone and everyone.
I have to say I was not enthused about this project (I don't read Trek comics in general, and while I enjoyed the movie and am excited about the sequel I have, as many fans do, some reservations about it), but after that interview I have to say that I am going to check out the first and second issues on my iPad with some interest, and the reason for that interest is the idea that they are revisiting the events of the classic episodes in the alternate timeline. That is very interesting to me, for some reason. I guess, seeing the alternate-timeline-Kirk react to situations I've already seen the more experienced Kirk take on will give me a better insight into his character. I think it dovetails nicely with the idea behind the film. If they are dull retreads I won't keep up with them, but if they are interesting alternate takes, that will say a lot about not only the new characters, but it might actually flesh out the episodes they're based on.
Me and Christopher have gone around Countdown more than once, so I'll just say that in my mind, while it is 'comic-bookish', it does recount the events that took place prior to the movie (in fact, without Countdown I'd have been a lot more upset about the 'destruction' of the Prime timeline), and if Trek Lit ever comes to a point where it must cover the period immediately prior to Romulus' destruction, I hope that it is at least compatible with that interpretation (although I concede, of course, that they don't have to- I just hope they do).
Me and Christopher have gone around Countdown more than once, so I'll just say that in my mind, while it is 'comic-bookish', it does recount the events that took place prior to the movie (in fact, without Countdown I'd have been a lot more upset about the 'destruction' of the Prime timeline), and if Trek Lit ever comes to a point where it must cover the period immediately prior to Romulus' destruction, I hope that it is at least compatible with that interpretation (although I concede, of course, that they don't have to- I just hope they do).
Let me tell you about paranoid. My very first piece of ST fanfic was published in an Australian fanzine that had a circulation of about 300 copies. Not long after it was published, along came the licensed ST novel, "Black Fire". Reading that book was eerie. The "B" story of that novel matched elements of my story on at least thirteen points, right down Spock's replacement by first officer Therin (in mine) and Thorin (in Sonni Cooper's novel).
I'm sure Ms Cooper's manuscript would have been submitted before my story was published - but, as my story had won an amateur writing contest before it was published, it was certainly in distribution beyond my control - and there's no way Sonni Cooper needed my help to pad out her novel. Even worse when I heard that Sonni Cooper had fannish connections; she used to run Bill Shatner's fan club, IIRC.
Had I been a vindictive little snit, I might have sent my story to Paramount and Pocket, throwing around enough accusations that the book might not have undergone subsequent printings. (Some would say that was a blessing.) I was young, and very new to fandom, but the coincidences were quite extraordinary.
It would seem that, at least at the time the Typhon Pact novels were written, that the possibility of fitting the novelverse and Countdown into one "vague history" was being considered or at least teased....Destructor said:
Picard contemplates becoming a Federation Ambassador in Paths of Disharmony, and in Rough Beasts of Empire, Spock becomes a legal resident of Romulus in 2382, five years prior to the supernova, the time he said he did in Countdown.
My solution would probably have been to write a fan story where Thorin and Therin meet, fight in a duel, and Thorin ends up permanently injured, dead, or court-martialled for treason.
Damn, I did it again. You can have that one for free.
We actually did have an incident here recently where someone posted a story idea, and one of the authors had to stop the project he was working on. So keep in mind when posting ideas, that you might be stopping an upcoming book. I don't remember which author it was or if it was a book we knew about at that point, but I just wanted to point out that this has happened recently.
I was on a Peter David listserv, which had the same "no story ideas" rule, when the NF novels were teasing us about Mark McHenry's mysterious powers. The books seemed to be suggesting that Mark was a Q. Someone posted a very elaborate argument as to why McHenry was an El-Aurian and PAD replied, "Thanks a lot. Now I have to toss out that idea and come up with something else."
We never knew if he was joking or not.
In the end, Mark was neither.
Seriously? That's like a 1 in a million chance to hit a story exactly. What happens if I officially pitch a story that matches a project another author works on?
Harlan Ellison would have done that.
^ Then that story will NEVER happen in trek lit.
Recently we had this copyright discussion. If I, as a tie in author, don't have any rights to the stuff I write, because everything belongs to Pocket/CBS, how can a FAN destroy a project by posting an story online? It doesn't belong to him anyway, doesn't it?
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Because if Pocket/CBS was to proceed with the official tie-in version of the same story, it leaves them wide open to:
1. being sued by the original fan, who claims the idea was lifted from an online post. (Even if he/she says they can "have the story for free", because maybe someone else originally wrote it.)
or
2. other readers accuse Pocket, or the tie-in author, of lifting a story from a fan. Bad public relations.
Either way opens Pocket/CBS to: legal fees, deadlines being missed, withdrawal of a book from stores, pulping books, or simply the possibility of future legal wrangling. Etc.
It's not about the fan or the author. It's about the people out there who file nuisance plagiarism lawsuits that cost authors and publishers a great deal of money to fight off. The damage that can cause is so great that authors and publishers can't afford to take the risk, can't let themselves listen to any unsolicited story ideas.
I made an analogy before with putting an alarm on your car. I'll make another one: teaching your kids not to talk to strangers. Probably 99 percent of the strangers out there are people who'd never consider harming your kids, and a lot of them would probably be quite friendly and caring toward them. But because of that very small number of people who would do very great harm to your kids if given the chance, you have to teach your kids to be wary of everyone they don't know. It's the same here, although the stakes are obviously lower. There are a few creeps who create problems that force us to be cautious with everyone.
I made an analogy before with putting an alarm on your car. I'll make another one: teaching your kids not to talk to strangers. Probably 99 percent of the strangers out there are people who'd never consider harming your kids, and a lot of them would probably be quite friendly and caring toward them. But because of that very small number of people who would do very great harm to your kids if given the chance, you have to teach your kids to be wary of everyone they don't know. It's the same here, although the stakes are obviously lower. There are a few creeps who create problems that force us to be cautious with everyone.
The added (off-topic, but interesting) complication: many child sexual assaults are perpetrated by a person known to the child. Not.Strangers.
Well, it depends on what state the other story is in, and which they like better, I would assume. I'm assuming if the other author has already gotten the outline and everything approved, they would just turn down that story and ask for another one. And if not then they would simply pick which one they liked better and then go with that one. I've never actually been involved with the books or anything, so that's simply the impression I've gotten from hanging out here, and reading interviews about how the Trek tie-in line works.
Don't forget- J.K. Rowling was sued for plagiarism because she used the term "muggles", which another person had used in some small, obscure book published before Harry Potter.
