Enterprise--The First Aventure (Secondary Characters)

[Rush Limborg]

Let's face it.

Vonda packed this book with quite a few secondary characters--and they were all SO well characterized that I can't help but wonder if she intended to write a sequal?

The rogue Klingon with the monkey, for one. The fact that she ESCAPES in the end just.... (shrugs)

Then...there's Roswind.

For those of you who haven't read the book, Roswind is a crewmember, presumably a Yeoman, who (off-camera) went out of her way to give her roomate (one Janice Rand), a hard time--which got worse when Kirk promoted Rand!

When we get into Roswind's head, we discover that her motive was pure jelousy. See, she's a few year's older than Rand, and sees her as...a wimp. She feels that it was she who should've been promoted.

Well, suffice it to say...Roswind gets hers, thanks to Rand's new friend, Uhura.

But anyway...did Vonda ever give any indication that she was going to use any of these characters again? or was she just leaving room for other writers to pick up after her?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Wasn't this the one with the bridge being invaded by poodles?

 

[JD]

Since the book was written 23 years ago, and Ms. McIntyre hasn't written a Trek book in that much time, I doubt she'd suddenly do a sequel now.

 

[FredH]

Wasn't Stephen, the cast-out Vulcan experimenting with emotions, in this novel?

Don't know if McIntyre planned sequels, but certainly it's a retroactive prequel to some of her other Trek work. IIRC, Spock receives a (shirt? sweater?) in this book that he later has in The Entropy Effect; and her version of Klingon culture--birdlike crests, a multi-layer language, and tension between two major ethnic groups--is the same one she uses in the novelizations of The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Wasn't Stephen, the cast-out Vulcan experimenting with emotions, in this novel?

Yep.

Thought: Perhaps he was a V'tosh Ka'tur (I...think that's how you spell it)--that is, a member of the not-so-secret society of "Vulcans without logic". Maybe this guy was one of the inspirations for this concept?

Now...I find it amazing that Vonda created all those "loose ends", and apparently never intended to pick them up....

Anyone know if Vonda's still alive?

 

[Therin of Andor]

I find it amazing that Vonda created all those "loose ends", and apparently never intended to pick them up....

Anyone know if Vonda's still alive?

Of course she is. She's a science fiction writer, who won some awards and gained notoriety not long before ST II and Pocket wisely tapped her for the first Pocket ST novel after TMP, and then the next three novelizations of the movies, based on that success. After writing "Enterprise: The First Adventure" for the 20th anniversary celebrations, she went to work on the ST IV novelization, and she started running into problems with Richard Arnold's notes on her work. She decided she didn't care for being told how to write a novelization, and went back to her original SF work and a few "Star Wars" tie-ins.

So, when writing E:TFA, she may have intended revisiting those new characters, but swore of ST, seemingly forever.

 

[Kirk1980]

What was Richard Arnold's deal? I've heard him mentioned a few times as being a pain in the ass....

 

[Therin of Andor]

What was Richard Arnold's deal? I've heard him mentioned a few times as being a pain in the ass....

I believe a simple Google search will supply you with plenty of information and misinformation, or buy Peter David's hilarious "But I Digress...", a collection of his comics industry newspaper columns.

Essentially, RA took over vetting the licensed tie-in proposals and manuscripts from Susan Sackett, when Gene Roddenberry's assistants got more and more to do during TNG's run. RA did his job very... enthusiastically, but managed to tread on many authors' and readers' toes.

 

[JD]

Here's his Memory Alpha page: Richard Arnold.

 

[Rush Limborg]

But...Richard Arnold's GONE.

Can't Vonda come back now? Or is she stuck on "no more forever means no more forever, regardless of my reasons"?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Can't Vonda come back now? Or is she stuck on "no more forever means no more forever, regardless of my reasons"?

It always strikes me that Vonda prefers doing her own original worldbuilding. The success of "The Entropy Effect" probably took her by surprise, and by ST IV you could kinda tell her enthusiasm for ST tie-ins had run out. After her reveal that the Golden Gate Park trash collectors were actually writing a screenplay, the rest of the ST IV novelization is quite color-by-numbers.

She declined to be interviewed by Jeff Ayers for his 2006 "Voyages of Imagination" ST fiction companion, nor did she want to do a new forward for the re-release of "The Entropy Effect" or the ST II/III/IV Signature Edition omnibus.

Send her an email:
http://www.vondanmcintyre.com/

 

[Kirk1980]

Sure...I could've done a search but you guys strike me as being more knowledgeable than a Google search could ever be

But I shall do so now!

 

[Therin of Andor]

Sure...I could've done a search but you guys strike me as being more knowledgeable than a Google search could ever be

There's a lot to tell, I guess, and everyone has different attitudes as to what went on during that period. So I'd rather you don't get only one or two perspectives from here, when others have done it more thoroughly and eloquently.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Sure...I could've done a search but you guys strike me as being more knowledgeable than a Google search could ever be

Dang right, we are!

After all, a Google search mistakenly told me that Vonda's book says that Rand is a teen by the time she's on the show (it doesn't--a look at Kirk's age in the book (29) tells us that it takes place at around...late 2262--which means that, if Rand was "almost 17" in the book, she's 20 or 21 in the show).

Memory Beta, for the longest time, claimed that Rand was 13 when her family ship had to land on Sawoure...even though in the book, Janice clearly says it was when she was LITTLE.

I joined the editing team, and changed it.

Ah, the joys of nitpicking....



Back on topic...so, if one wanted to use Vonda's characters (and character backstories)...how would one get it authorized? Should one go to her for permission, or would a mention of her in the "Aknowledgments" suffice?

 

[KRAD]

^ Uhm, huh? Every character used in a Star Trek book is owned -- lock, stock, and phaser banks -- by CBS/Paramount. If you want to use those characters, the authorization comes from the same place as it does for Kirk, Spock, Picard, Calhoun, Gomez, Kira, Neelix, Phlox, and that redshirt who died in "Friday's Child," to wit, CBS/Paramount.

Also, there's a C in "acknowledgments."

 

[Rush Limborg]

Also, there's a C in "acknowledgments."

Dang. Did it again.

This is what happens...when you get addicted to an MS-Word spell checker....

^ Uhm, huh? Every character used in a Star Trek book is owned -- lock, stock, and phaser banks -- by CBS/Paramount. If you want to use those characters, the authorization comes from the same place as it does for Kirk, Spock, Picard, Calhoun, Gomez, Kira, Neelix, Phlox, and that redshirt who died in "Friday's Child," to wit, CBS/Paramount.

Glad to hear it.

Hear it and weep, Harlan Ellison....

So...that apply to character backstories, too?

 

[KRAD]

^ Of course.

 

[Rush Limborg]

^ Of course.

Glad to hear it.

Thanks, mate!

(Jots furiously in notebook)

 

[Piper]

I read Enterprise must have been close to twenty years ago, and don't really remember much about it, but do remember really enjoying it at the time. What kind of reputation does it have these days - I don't see it mentioned very much.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Back on topic...so, if one wanted to use Vonda's characters (and character backstories)...how would one get it authorized? Should one go to her for permission, or would a mention of her in the "Aknowledgments" suffice?

If you mean, in that ST novel proposal you once said you were writing, then remember that the online author guidelines stipulate that your outline and three sample chapters must be for a standalone novel that does not use pre-existing original characters from other tie-ins, nor can it be a sequel or prequel to other tie-ins. Only canonical characters and your own original characters.

The guidelines also warn you not to write the whole novel, but to wait for the feedback since, in the slim chance the proposal is accepted, it may well be reshaped beyond what enables you to make use of all those other chapters you wrote after sending off the samples.

The guidelines are a test to see how well you write, how well you write Star Trek, and how well you can follow rules.

If you mean fanfic, just acknowledge Vonda and don't make any money off the work.