Subjective aesthetics as to what Trek lit should be all about, mm. Do the editors themselves have readers like the tv show did? who provide them with help sorting it all out. I vote for Dayton for this exhaulted position.
Gosh,
what did Dayton ever do to you?
When the annual "Strange New Worlds" contest was running, Dean Wesley Smith often spoke about the chore of reading through the piles and piles of open fan submissions. They were only whole
short stories, but if DWS didn't make it through the first paragraph, they were usually cast aside.
Now the "slush pile" of proposals-and-sample-chapters of
ST novels you talk about
have to, since the late 80s or so, be submitted by a recognised
literary agent. You'd assume that manuscripts sent by agents are already of much higher quality than novels sent in by individual wanna-be writers in the bad ol' days of open submissions.
My literary agent has already offered to send in a proposal-and-sample-chapters on my behalf. But, so far, I haven't ever come up with something that fits the submission guidelines that reads well to
me, let alone me risking embarrassing my agent by asking her to submit something. She won't be sending anything that she thinks isn't worth her time. I've already decided, I'd rather my first book deal should be non-Star Trek, to give me a much better chance of selling it when/if it gets rejected by Pocket (or CBS Licensing). But the "slush pile" you complain about may not be too slushy. Agents have already refused to submit the crappy stuff. We would hope.
It seems like you're trying to say that you don't trust Ed Schlesinger's judgment. Or perhaps that his "subjective aesthetics" are not to your liking? Ed's been at Pocket a loooong time. I've read numerous ST books and non ST books that I know he's edited,
and loved them. Unless you've had private dealings with the guy, why do you presume that he needs help sorting out Pocket's slush pile?
Maybe this kind of wild speculation is why Ed prefers not to associate with fans here on TrekBBS? Or because he's simply busy doing his main job: editing.
It'll be a paying position, sort of like an adjunct delegate overseeing all Star Trek submissions and materials. He would decide which what series get made and what direction the franchise should take...
Hey, Richard Arnold used to have that job. Almost. Between the premiere of ST IV and Gene R's death in 1991.
