boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (08/15/85)
> From: ucdavis!ccrrick (rick heli) > You misconstrue the issue. It is not that Paramount would seek to > prevent writers from writing non-Star Trek related materials, only > that their restrictions are so bad that no writer would want to > write for them. Is that right? Well, how about I re-quote your first posting back at you: [Capitalization is mine and used to indicate italics] > > I have been told by a fairly knowledgable source that anyone who > > writes Star Trek novels has basically sold out and PROBABLY CAN'T > > SELL NON-STAR TREK MATERIAL. Apparently Paramount holds all the > > rights to Star Trek stories and pretty much has such writers at > > their mercy. If I misunderstood, it was because you you didn't express yourself well. > So who does? Simply those who can't write anywhere > else... in general, anyway... if not in every particular... Really? Let's break this down into particulars: (1) Bantam --- of all of the Trek novels they published, only 1-1/2 bylines never sold anything other than Trek material. Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath is one, and Charles Spano is the 1/2 (his collabor- ator, Ted Cogswell, has been writing sf since the 50's). *Every other* Trek novel author was an established sf writer who has written non-Trek material before and since their Trek novels. J. A. Lawrence, who is James Blish's widow has not written an overwhelming amount of other material, but then, she has never really attempted to be a writer by profession. Her Trek books were done mostly to complete Blish's unfin- ished work. (2) Pocket --- Unfortunately, I don't have a list of their Trek novels, but as a quick guess, I would say that easily *half* of the 20+ Trek novels they've published have been by authors who've sold non-Trek books before and since. For every Sonni Cooper, there's a Robert Vardeman; for every Della Van Hise, there's a Greg Bear; and so on. Even with all of the Pocket Trek novels that *were* by first (and possibly only) time authors, the percentage doesn't reflect your contention that Trek authors can't get work elsewhere. Sorry, but numbers don't lie. If you insist, I can fairly quickly give you bibliographies of non-Trek material published by Trek novel authors. I can guarantee that the list would be longer than you ever thought possible. > And, PUHleeze, don't hold up Vonda McIntyre as an example of good > SF writing... or even good Star Trek writing... not to me at any > rate... Whether you think McIntyre is good or not is irrelevant. She's published a good amount of non-Trek material, and that's what is being questioned here. As for the quality of her work, I can't argue opinion, but I'll point out: (1) Most folks that I know who have read the Trek novels rate hers among the highest. I confess that I haven't read any Trek novels other than the novelizations, two of which were by McIntyre. I thought both were very well written. (2) Her non-Trek material is highly thought of in the sf community. Some of her work has been nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards, and a couple she has won. Even those stories and novels that weren't so honored have been well-praised by the reviewers and critics. (3) *I* will hold her up as an example of a fine sf writer --- DREAMSNAKE alone (at the very least, the first section, which was published earlier as "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand") makes her such, in my eyes. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA