I was trying to come up with an author for an "autobiography" of Gul Dukat, but I'm stumped. Someone who can tell a tale with an extremely unreliable narrator.
Sun Tzu - The Art of War, Borg style Barbara Taylor Bradford - A Misunderstood woman, The Autobiography of Dr. Janice Lester J K Rowling - Harry Potter and the Masters of Gol Enid Blyton - Famous Five join Starfleet Barbara Cartland - Vulcan Love slave and the Ponn Farr syndrome Jackie Collins - Starfleet wives and husbands Moses - The Kir'Shara Chronicles William Shakespeare - The Taming of Dr Lester Alls warped that ends Warped Twelfth Night in Sickbay Captain Romeo of Earth and Commander Juliet of Kronos..a tragic Love story where the Commander does the honorable thing and kills Romeo Admiral Macbeth The Ion Storm and the Tempest The Merchant of Ferenghinar Much ado about nothing on gamma shift The Merry Partners of Cadet Gaila The two Captains of Alpha Centauri
There may be a lot of things you can say about Heinlein, but the man was NOT a fascist by any stretch of the imagination.
I think he is brilliant and one of my all time favourite writers, plus I have a lot of time for him in real life too. Have you read Bedlum or Places in the Darkness? They have a very Sci-Fi bent with his usual humour thrown in.
I would like to see what Stephen King would do making a horror based Star Trek novel. Wouldn't necessarily be another Borg book, or even another alien book, but a threat from within the ship. Maybe revisiting the idea of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" but this time with the ESPers getting control of a ship, than going to wreck havoc not just on Starfleet, but on planetary surfaces as well.
Please. Heinlein has been dogged by the fascist label for...well as long as he wrote kinda-fascist books. Emphasize the word "not" all you want, but it's a pretty common critique. It's probably *the* most common critique. Paul Verhoven calls him "fascistic and militaristic". Which is exactly why he made Starship Troopers a satire of the source material.
I agree. I think there is a lot of room for horror stories in TrekTrek. Cronenberg-esque body horror Borg tales. Species 8472 as a Lovecraftian horror instead of Ray Walston and Friends. Invasion of the Bodysnatchers level paranoia featuring the Founders or those critters from Conspiracy. Weretribbles.
I'll go all out and say I'd like to see an anthology of Trek Stories by established authors. Sort of "Strange New Worlds" by heavy hitters. Of deceased authors, Bradbury, and Clarke come to mind.
I've always thought a Trek/LOTR style fantasy story, with Elves and Dwarves, Orc, Wizards and all of that. As for who would write it, maybe someone like George RR Martin, or Brandon Sanderson, who have written both sci-fi and fantasy.
In my dreams, Sir Terry Pratchett has not yet met Death, so I'd like him to write a Trek novel. Perhaps an Enterprise-C Lost Years story in which the ship and crew discover something mysterious, or a long dead ancient civilisation with links to one of them (something in the vein of his early sci-fi novels The Dark Side of the Sun, or Strata)? Or, a character story by Becky Chambers (of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet fame) set on a small ship like Vanguard's/Seekers' USS Sagittarius? I think she'd be a fantastic Trek author as her Wayfarers novels are just so utopian and positive, with little conflict, but amazing world-building and character development.
Arthur C Clarke, with a story maybe reimagining Vger or something akin to that with something entering the federation and the TOS crew investigates its origin Cormac McCarthy with a story of a federation colony that has been conquered either in the dominion war or the Klingons, with some civilians trying to escape the city to find safety. John le Carré spy story about the obsidian order v tal shiar
Well, for one thing, the accusation that Heinlein believed that only military veterans should have the right to vote is inaccurate. Federal Service doesn't automatically mean front-line combat. Cooks, supply clerks, accountants, legal counsel, anything will do. There's plenty of room for conscientious objectors; you don't have to actually fight in a war. And Federal Service is required to accept everyone who wishes to apply. The government is strictly forbidden from rejecting anyone, for any reason. Even the most grossly incompetent applicant must be allowed in. If the applicant doesn't qualify for an existing position, one must be invented for them. So if everyone who wants to serve, can serve; and anyone who serves, can vote; then no one is really being disenfranchised here.
Another excellent point. That's just a novel. It's not Heinlein's dream for how the world should be. It's strictly a what-if thing. Indeed, how could any "fascist" also write something like For Us, The Living?
That's still fascist. I mean, that's literally the "mobilization of society" that the 20th century fascists proclaimed as ideal. The only difference is he dropped the eugenics. The state is still dictating terms of citizenship. Same way non-fascists can write Nazi biographies. People, especially good writers, can inhabit the mind of people unlike themselves. Which, sure, you can say that Heinlein himself wasn't a fascist even if his books may be. Sure. Fine. I wasn't really referring to "Heinlein" the person so much as "Heinlein" the collective works.