Someday, decades from now, someone's going to ask me why I decided to become a renowned novelist, and I'll explain it was a long con so that CBS/Paramount/Omnicorp would give me fifty million dollars to shoot my Star Trek fix-fic.
I love the theory the Remans are mutant Romulans turned into monsters by radiation and abuse. They have psychic powers because that's where the Romulans sent their psychics.
Thank you for your kind words about the book. I think the only reason is that we only had 100k words, and were covering so much already.
There you go, another reason to like Nemesis A movie I liked and to this day can't understand all the hate that movie gets. Is it the best, no, it's got some faults. But I liked it overall. I thought it was pretty decent, and along with First Contact for the most part, it actually "felt" like a Star Trek feature film, and not something that could have just been an episode of the TV series. Occasionally an episode of TNG or DS9 would give us a little something about a subject world of an empire. The Dominion was probably the best example of that, where we occasionally saw a subject of the Dominion. Enterprise sort of did that once or twice with the Klingons, but I guess that was more them harassing someone or bullying someon.
Ah, you just change the "proofing language" setting and it's all good... I did once have a fan tell me I shouldn't be writing Trek because it was an American show, as if me being British meant somehow I wouldn't "get it" - which is twaddle, of course, because even if the saga's roots are based in the American experience, Star Trek's themes are about the human adventure, and that transcends nationality. I like to think I take pride in all my work, but if I had to choose I'd say Day of the Vipers and my first thriller novel Nomad. There's a lot of franchises I'd love to write for - big ones like James Bond, Indiana Jones or the Marvel universe, and more cult/obscure stuff like Firefly, Star Cops or Buckaroo Banzai - and I still hold out hope that I might get the chance. But the one I regret the most not having a crack at is Star Wars; and not for want of trying too! But after over a decade of conversations, emails and meetings that went nowhere, I've kind of given up on that dream. Christine Vale, no question. Kathryn Janeway, Seven of Nine, Christopher Pike, Kelvin timeline James T. Kirk. Just to note - a Reman character (and some other Romulan subject species) appears in my Star Trek: Picard novel The Dark Veil...
Yeah, i read it and it's really great imho. What i especially like is the appearance of Christine Vale, Thaddius Riker and that the romulan crew had nonromulan members and the androids. Just wondering how the romulans actually treat their subjects and how many of these people have the opportunity for a career in the romulan fleet. And what exactly happened with these populations during the times shortly before the nova and after the destruction of Romulus?
Wow, that's not cool. Star Trek is a show about infinite diversity after all . I don't see why your nationality should matter, not matter where you are from. Star Trek's foundations are based on the United States, sure, probably because most of it's creators were American and it's what they knew best. But I don't think Roddenberry or anyone else would intend on that excluding people from other countries contributing. Sorry, but some people can be real assess. Bloody asses in fact
Day of the Vipers was a great beginning of the Terok Nor novels. At first it was a challange - reading in Englisch and more than 500 pages on top of that. But it was rewarding in the end, especially after finishing the other two books. And the last pages of Day of the Vipers were very moving. And books that provoke an emotion stick in my head - for a long time. It's a crying shame the Terok Nor novels weren't translated into German. I would re-read them gladly.
Yeah, I enjoyed the entire series but the first one was the best. I liked reading about how Bajor was just before the Occupation, and it really hits home how much damage the Cardassians really did. Also it was interesting to read that an attempt was made to add a certain legality to the occupation. I guess I always just assumed the Cardassians swooped in and took over. But they were more or less invited in, then manipulated events so that they were still in control, though they there was a puppet Bajoran government put in place to make it all seem legitimate. There's a lot of parallels to world history.
I could have sworn I saw your name in one of the author lists for one of the anniversary anthologies, guess I was mistaken.
Agreed, great books. I was so happy to see Darrah Hayn (grandson to Darrah Mace) in The Poisoned Chalice. The Darrah Mace character was crafted beautifully.
Q. It’s clear from your interactions with the fans that you are all massive fans of the shows/genres you write for as well as it being your profession. So what hobbies/interests do you have that are outside of this? What allows you to take a break and clear your head?
Enjoying my favourite TV shows and movies. Reading books and comics. Gaming (both analog and digital kinds). I love to travel and explore, especially to new cities. I enjoy good cheese, strong vodka and craft beer. I like history, mostly ancient and/or military. I collect old paperbacks (largely 80's technothrillers) and vintage toys. I'm a massive aviation and aerospace enthusiast (with a name like mine, how could I not love things that fly?) I like to zone out when I go swimming, practice archery or listen to rock music.
I'm a black belt in karate, and while I'm not sure it counts as a hobby anymore -- especially since I'm also paid to teach a weekly afterschool program to kids and I also sometimes teach in our dojo as well -- it definitely qualifies as something I use to take a break and clear my head. (Currently I'm a third-degree black belt, but I'm preparing to go for my fourth degree, starting on Wednesday the 10th of November. It's a five-day process, and pretty grueling, so please all wish me luck. ) I also follow baseball in general and my hometown New York Yankees in particular. And I'm a musician, though opportunities to play have been few and far between the last two years. I'm with a parody band called Boogie Knights, and we play at Farpoint and Shore Leave, with occasional other gigs.
For about a decade now, I've been part of a private wine-making group with some of my friends. We've made a number of good wines, and through the process I've learned a lot about wine, and how to pair wine with foods. As for "clearing my head," I like to read poetry. I tend to favor the 20th-century poets. Some of my favorites are W. S. Merwin, T. S. Eliot, Galway Kinnell, Ranier Rilke, and Philip Larkin. I also like to just kick back and listen to movie and TV soundtracks and daydream new stories; I've been collecting movie scores since I was about 10 years old. I have at least a couple of hundred by now, spanning a variety of genres and styles.