Did they ever release The God Thing?

[Greg Cox]

Well, I've only written in two licensed universes to date, Trek and Marvel, and only twice in the latter. Although I have two ongoing original-fiction universes and a smattering of standalone original stories.

Meanwhile, I'm determined to leave no universe untouched by my grubby little hands.

Without naming names, I was actually approached once about finishing a book by a dead author, but the money being offered wasn't worth the amount of work required, and it wasn't a series I was dying to write in, so I passed on the project.

 

[Christopher]

Meanwhile, I'm determined to leave no universe untouched by my grubby little hands.

I would like to diversify into more tie-in universes, but I'm not sure how, or who's hiring. Oh, I wish I had an agent...

 

[tomswift2002]

You’ve got to wonder just how far along Friedman’s manuscript was in the 90’s? Considering that they had full-color artwork of not just the front but also back and side flaps of a dust jacket released and an audio book version in pre-production (and the artwork for that was similar but with a hyphen and in b&w), it had to have been at a level where the Koenig and Sackett versions never got.

 

[Christopher]

You’ve got to wonder just how far along Friedman’s manuscript was in the 90’s? Considering that they had full-color artwork of not just the front but also back and side flaps of a dust jacket released and an audio book version in pre-production (and the artwork for that was similar but with a hyphen and in b&w), it had to have been at a level where the Koenig and Sackett versions never got.

Maybe not as far as you'd think, though. Cover art is often finished before the manuscript is finished. I was actually able to revise my manuscripts to TNG: The Buried Age and Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder based on getting to see the cover art while I was still writing.

 

[Greg Cox]

Maybe not as far as you'd think, though. Cover art is often finished before the manuscript is finished. I was actually able to revise my manuscripts to TNG: The Buried Age and Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder based on getting to see the cover art while I was still writing.

Exactly. The cover art is often finished long before the manuscript. Heck, the main reason Dr. Crusher ends up saving the day in DRAGON'S HONOR is because I knew she was going to be one of the floating heads on the cover.

Another true story: I once got a call from John Ordover when I was working on the first Khan book:

"Um, Greg. Is there going to be a helicopter in the book?"
"I don't know. Why?"
"'Cause there's a helicopter on the cover."
"Okay, okay, I'll make sure there's a helicopter in the book somewhere."

This happens more often than you might think.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Exactly. The cover art is often finished long before the manuscript. Heck, the main reason Dr. Crusher ends up saving the day in DRAGON'S HONOR is because I knew she was going to be one of the floating heads on the cover.

Another true story: I once got a call from John Ordover when I was working on the first Khan book:

"Um, Greg. Is there going to be a helicopter in the book?"
"I don't know. Why?"
"'Cause there's a helicopter on the cover."
"Okay, okay, I'll make sure there's a helicopter in the book somewhere."

This happens more often than you might think.

I love little tidbits like this. Thanks Greg!

 

[Greg Cox]

One more example, outside Star Trek. When I got a sneak peak at the cover paintings of my old X-Men trilogy, I called my editor in confusion. "These are fantastic, but why is Iceman on the cover of Book Two?"

"He's in the trilogy, isn't he?"
"Nope."
"Well, we can't afford to repaint the covers, Greg."

And that's why Iceman joins the story in the middle of Book 2.

 

[David cgc]

For the first line of Babylon 5 novels (the numbered ones), they decided that to save money, they'd use the sample painting from the artist for one of the actual books, so G'Kar appears prominantly on the second novel's cover, despite not actually being in it. This is doubly bizarre, because the third novel does feature the same three characters on the cover (because they're actually in the story this time). I guess they decided not to use it for that one because G'Kar fakes his own death early on, so they ordered a new cover where they could have G'Kar painted all spectral and ghosty instead of normally.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

For the first line of Babylon 5 novels (the numbered ones), they decided that to save money, they'd use the sample painting from the artist for one of the actual books, so G'Kar appears prominantly on the second novel's cover, despite not actually being in it. This is doubly bizarre, because the third novel does feature the same three characters on the cover (because they're actually in the story this time). I guess they decided not to use it for that one because G'Kar fakes his own death early on, so they ordered a new cover where they could have G'Kar painted all spectral and ghosty instead of normally.

Those early Dell Babylon 5 novels were a mixed bag until JMS got more involved in crafting the novel stories. The first three or so are Babylon 5 through a Gold Key lens.

 

[Christopher]

Those early Dell Babylon 5 novels were a mixed bag until JMS got more involved in crafting the novel stories. The first three or so are Babylon 5 through a Gold Key lens.

JMS intended to oversee the entire line, but he underestimated how hard it would be to check everything for authenticity while he was busy writing the show. So really only two of the Dell novels, #7 The Shadow Within and #9 To Dream in the City of Sorrows, ended up being counted as canonical (and I think TSW is only "90% canonical" or something). It wasn't until the show had ended that he was able to ride closer herd on the Del Rey novels.

 

[EnriqueH]

Has Friedman ever spoken of how far he got?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The cover art is often finished long before the manuscript. Heck, the main reason Dr. Crusher ends up saving the day in DRAGON'S HONOR is because I knew she was going to be one of the floating heads on the cover.

Another true story: I once got a call from John Ordover when I was working on the first Khan book:

"Um, Greg. Is there going to be a helicopter in the book?"
"I don't know. Why?"
"'Cause there's a helicopter on the cover."
"Okay, okay, I'll make sure there's a helicopter in the book somewhere."

This happens more often than you might think.

One more example, outside Star Trek. When I got a sneak peak at the cover paintings of my old X-Men trilogy, I called my editor in confusion. "These are fantastic, but why is Iceman on the cover of Book Two?"

"He's in the trilogy, isn't he?"
"Nope."
"Well, we can't afford to repaint the covers, Greg."

And that's why Iceman joins the story in the middle of Book 2.

I can relate to these stories. I freelance for BACK ISSUE magazine from TwoMorrows Publishing, and my editor Michael Eury works WAY ahead. A few times I've seen the cover of the issue I'm featured in up on the website before I'm finished writing the article! That'll light a fire under your ass if you're behind on your deadline.

 

[David cgc]

Those early Dell Babylon 5 novels were a mixed bag until JMS got more involved in crafting the novel stories. The first three or so are Babylon 5 through a Gold Key lens.

The fifth one has the truly legendary invention that Lyta Alexander had been born deaf, and merely appeared to be hearing because she was constantly using her telepathic powers to know what people around her were saying, which is a fun idea that falls apart in thirty seconds if you consider if she'd ever reacted to any kind of non-speech noise, or spoken to anyone who wasn't in the same room through a communications device.

 

[Thrawn]

That's amazing!

 

[Greg Cox]

I can relate to these stories. I freelance for BACK ISSUE magazine from TwoMorrows Publishing, and my editor Michael Eury works WAY ahead. A few times I've seen the cover of the issue I'm featured in up on the website before I'm finished writing the article! That'll light a fire under your ass if you're behind on your deadline.

Been there, done that. Nothing is more terrifying than to see an Amazon listing, complete with cover art, for a book that you're nowhere near done finishing yet.

Meanwhile, many is the time I've written jacket copy for books that weren't even written yet, based on an outline or synopsis or whatever.

 

[tomswift2002]

Maybe not as far as you'd think, though. Cover art is often finished before the manuscript is finished. I was actually able to revise my manuscripts to TNG: The Buried Age and Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder based on getting to see the cover art while I was still writing.

But would they do 2 covers even before the story was finished? I’ve heard of placeholder mockups, but would they spend time and money to even redo the fonts and getting the Enterprise’s saucer up on top of the “R” & “T” in ‘Star Trek’ for a book with such a troubled history as this one if there wasn’t even a couple of chapters?

 

[Christopher]

But would they do 2 covers even before the story was finished? I’ve heard of placeholder mockups, but would they spend time and money to even redo the fonts and getting the Enterprise’s saucer up on top of the “R” & “T” in ‘Star Trek’ for a book with such a troubled history as this one if there wasn’t even a couple of chapters?

What 2 covers? If you mean the black-and-white and color images on the Starfleet Library page Keith linked to, they only have a slight difference the title text, in that one has a hyphen. Changing the text on a cover isn't that big a deal; it's certainly simpler than repainting an image. And any cover goes through multiple drafts, like any other creative work. Sometimes early drafts are used in advance publicity because they're all that's available.

 

[tomswift2002]

What 2 covers? If you mean the black-and-white and color images on the Starfleet Library page Keith linked to, they only have a slight difference the title text, in that one has a hyphen. Changing the text on a cover isn't that big a deal; it's certainly simpler than repainting an image. And any cover goes through multiple drafts, like any other creative work. Sometimes early drafts are used in advance publicity because they're all that's available.

if you look closer, the Enterprise saucer is over more of the Star Trek logo on the b&w cover (look at the “R” in Star and the “R” in Trek; on the color cover there is more space between the saucer and the letters) and seems to be slightly different on the b&w cover vs the color cover.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Considering how high-profile even the announcement of such a book would be, it makes sense they'd have some kind of preliminary cover to accompany press releases and such, and then refine it later on depending on any number of factors. I've seen covers for several of my books months ahead of my delivering the manuscript, and like Greg I've gone in on a couple of occasions to modify the story because even though the cover featured something I didn't have in my outline (and hence my manuscript), I liked the art enough to find a way to have that scene in the book.

 

[Christopher]

if you look closer, the Enterprise saucer is over more of the Star Trek logo on the b&w cover (look at the “R” in Star and the “R” in Trek; on the color cover there is more space between the saucer and the letters) and seems to be slightly different on the b&w cover vs the color cover.

First off, I'm not convinced that's a real difference rather than an illusion created by the different image sizes and resolutions. Second, even if it is real, it's still no big deal. As I said, every creative work goes through multiple drafts, and changing the text between cover drafts is routine and trivial. Even before this stuff was all done digitally, I'm sure it was common for cover designers to mock up multiple different potential text treatments and placements to show to their bosses for approval.