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Star Trek Author's black list?

Michael Moorcock's having recently written a Doctor Who novel would probably be another exception.
The Moorcock book came about in a strange way. A distributor approached BBC Books and said, "There are all these famous authors who talk about how much they love Doctor Who, so why don't you publish a book by a famous author because it would have all sorts of marketable hooks in the book market?" BBC Books thought this was interesting, they approached Moorcock, he was game, and that's how The Coming of the Terraphiles came to be.

Since then, we've had Doctor Who novels by Jenny Colgan, Stephen Baxter, and (though actually written by Gareth Roberts) Douglas Adams, with a book by Alistair Reynolds on the way. (I'm discounting Dan Abnett's The Silent Stars Go By, because the sales kit on that book promoted it as a "the first Doctor Who Christmas novel," which was the angle BBC Books wanted to take with it.)

Interestingly, this got BBC Books what they wanted -- an American publisher. Ace Books picked up Roberts' Shada and Baxter's The Wheel of Ice for publication in North America. (I presume they're going to pick up Reynolds book as well.) This is something BBC Books has wanted since the mid-90s, someone to publish and distribute the books in North America rather than have to deal with an importer (which was a constant source of frustration for them even as late as a decade ago).
 
It's a shame that quality of the writing seems to be a secondary factor in deciding who gets to write tie-in fiction. Even more of a shame that how well you get along with somebody factors into that decision.

Well, having been an editor of a professional journal, I used to work with about ten writers at a time, most of them teachers. Some had many writing credits to their name, others had absolutely none. Some were very excited; others felt like they'd been forced into writing. Some contributors were professional writers, and had high (or low) expectations of working with an inexperienced editor. Every writer had their quirks and each editing experience would be quite different.

There was nothing worse than when an article would arrive that was nothing like what you were expecting. Or would need a huge overhaul. But certainly, when deadlines were looming, and advertisers were panicking that an issue might be delayed due to some complication with a lead article... it would become very obvious which writers you'd want to work with again, given the opportunity. But that could also be a very personal thing. Some people are destined to clash, no matter their respective skills, dilligence and talents.

"Quality of the writing" is just one of many, many factors.
 
Interestingly, this got BBC Books what they wanted -- an American publisher. Ace Books picked up Roberts' Shada and Baxter's The Wheel of Ice for publication in North America. (I presume they're going to pick up Reynolds book as well.) This is something BBC Books has wanted since the mid-90s, someone to publish and distribute the books in North America rather than have to deal with an importer (which was a constant source of frustration for them even as late as a decade ago).
They may have wanted it, but I sure didn't. I much preferred not having to wait four-plus months from the release date before the ebooks became available here... :p
 
How about the quality if the idea? The high mind concept seemed to be what the series thrived on and looked for where ever it came from as they can be few and far in between. it seems CLB was given Enterprise without even a story idea whereas people like the Reeves-Stevens team have a pretty cool idea with the Borg queen as a starfleet officer before she became that, or aren't they interested in good ideas, but just good solid writing like the movies are? I guess it's hard for anybody to know what a good Trek idea is anymore because the medium lends itself more to how well it is executed.
 
How about the quality if the idea? The high mind concept seemed to be what the series thrived on and looked for where ever it came from as they can be few and far in between. it seems CLB was given Enterprise without even a story idea whereas people like the Reeves-Stevens team have a pretty cool idea with the Borg queen as a starfleet officer before she became that, or aren't they interested in good ideas, but just good solid writing like the movies are? I guess it's hard for anybody to know what a good Trek idea is anymore because the medium lends itself more to how well it is executed.

Mostly these days we just blow up planets, kill and reanimiate characters at will and play continuity porn and try to explain 50 years of errors and then THE FEDERATION'S GREATEST ENEMIES SIGN A PACT OF EVILLLL.

I should just go read the new jedi order again.
 
THE FEDERATION'S GREATEST ENEMIES SIGN A PACT OF EVILLLL.

When did that happen?

[Typhon Pact]

You must have been reading a different set of Typhon Pact novels than I did. When I read A Singular Destiny, Zero Sum Game, Rough Beasts of Empire, The Struggle Within, Plagues of Night, and Raise the Dawn, I thought it was pretty clear that the Typhon Pact is not a "pact of evil," but is instead an alliance of states with their own internal divisions between hostility and peacefulness, and that the Pact itself as a unit is still evolving and may yet prompt its members to abandon their historical xenophobia.

Especially The Struggle Within and Plagues/Raise. The Typhon Pact is not the bad guy in those books -- hostile elements within the Pact are the bad guys.
 
After reading this thread I am going to purchase David Mack's The Calling.


It is a quality book and definitely worth reading. Hopefully he'll get the chance to develop that world further...there seemed to be a lot of onion left to peel.

I also recommend No Turning Back.
 
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