Does anyone know who the Anonymous writer is in the anthology? Was it ever revealed? And why would he/she want it a secret?
I thought for a long time that Anonymous was Marco. But something Christopher Bennett said a few years ago suggested a possibility I hadn't considered -- Kevin J. Anderson. Ultimately, I don't know myself. *shrug*
Sometimes professional authors have a story they're burning to tell, but don't necessarily want it appearing on resumes, etc. Or they are contracted to write exclusively, elsewhere. Or they are part of the editorial team and don't want to be listed with the other writers. Hence pen names, pseudonyms and the use of "Anonymous". Sometimes an author will write for different audiences under different names. Peter David has written as David Peters when he was doing a different series. Theodor Geisel wrote for children as Dr Seuss, Theo LeSieg and Rosetta Stone.
Christopher said something about KJA having written Star Trek short fiction. I suppose his DS9 Young Adult novel could count, and Gorn Crisis probably wouldn't. But if Christopher wasn't referring to the YA novel, then KJA would have had to have written a Star Trek short story pseudonymously. Which suggested, to my mind, the Anon stories in P&C. So it wasn't that Christopher said that KJA was Anon, it was that something he said started my thinking toward that.
Huh? I don't recall ever saying that Kevin J. Anderson wrote ST short fiction, unless it was in reference to The Gorn Crisis. And I didn't even know he's written a DS9 YA novel until just now. So maybe you're confusing me with someone else. Or maybe you're confusing Kevin J. Anderson with whoever I was talking about. And I certainly don't know who "Anonymous" was. I once asked Marco if he was "Anonymous," and he told me to stop fishing. That's the extent of my knowledge on the subject.
It was sometime before August 2008, probably within a month, as I referenced it elsewhere on August 6th in a discussion as to whether or not Olivia Woods, having just published at the time Fearful Symmetry, was a real person or a pseudonym. Now you do. No. And no. Hypothetically speaking, it's generally considered poor form for an editor to commission work from himself, which could be why Marco was cautioning you that it was best not to know. Or, perhaps Anonymous was your mortal enemy, who would go all Super Saiyan on you or something if you knew his secret.
^ Considering the workload he had (I saw his office once...there weren't two consecutive inches of desk or shelf space anywhere in that hole), I find it highly unlikely that Marco had anywhere near the time which would've been necessary to write that story. I'm going with the mortal enemy theory.
Unless he pulled it out of a bottom drawer, like John Ordover and Paula Block did for the first volume of "Strange New Worlds". Mmmm. Steve Roby's site says: Antilles, Kem (pseudonym for Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta) (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine young adult novel 8) Highest Score
^ He had a story in a drawer that was just perfect as the wraparound segment for a particular anthology? As unlikely as that sounds, it also smacks of being even more self-serving than what Allyn already suggested, and certainly doesn't sound like Marco. We're talking about a guy who used to try to talk people out of even mentioning him in acknowledgments sections or dedication pages, and even expressed discomfort at having his name on the covers of the anthologies he edited. I'm not saying it's impossible...just saying it doesn't pass my particular smell test.
I specifically said it's not impossible. I said unlikely, and I base that solely on firsthand personal knowledge and observation of the parties involved, so obviously I could be wrong. I'd still take the bet.
So no speculation to whom it might be? I'm gonna guess Margret wrote it maybe even Marco and they would deny it.