KRAD's Inaccurate Guide to Life - Ron Moore on Enterprise's cancellation and what I do for a living

11:50 am February 7th, 2005




			KRAD's Inaccurate Guide to Life - Ron Moore on Enterprise's cancellation and what I do for a living ramblings from a mad fedora'd writer

kradical


	Ron Moore on Enterprise's cancellation and what I do for a living
	Ronald D. Moore has posted his ruminations on the Star Trek franchise on his Battlestar Galactica blog, and it's all well and good until we get here: Star Trek now returns to the care of its fans and its fans can decide for themselves what kind of experience they want to have during this next interregnum. They can consume the seemingly endless licensed products available to them from the Franchise, everything from barware to shower curtains, and read only the mainstream, officially licensed and sanctioned books, or they can go their own way. The very strong implication in this paragraph and what follows is that the Pocket Books novels are bland fare not produced by fans of the show. Speaking as someone who's made most of his living writing those things since 1999, and someone who works with and is friends with a good chunk of the other people who do likewise, I take serious offense at this on behalf of myself and my colleagues. You want to see the biggest, geekiest, most joyous group of Star Trek fans in one place? Go to the Shore Leave convention in July and find the corner of the bar where the authors are. You'll see over a dozen of the regular Trek novelists participating in in-depth discussions, crazed ideas, rampant speculations, radical story notions, and more. Hell, one of those bar discussions prompted a major development in the Star Trek: S.C.E. series of eBooks featuring the Starfleet Corps of Engineers that have been published monthly for over four years. I'm sure that Moore is wholly unfamiliar with the novel line, as I'm sure he doesn't have time to read the novels based on a TV show that he pretty publicly divorced himself from, and what with Roswell, the abortive Pern series, Carnivale, and Battlestar Galactica, he's been a little busy since he left Voyager in a huff anyhow. In fact, he likely stopped reading the novels after he joined the Next Generation writing staff in 1990. If that's the case, his last memory of the novel program is during The Dark Times when Richard Arnold pretended to speak for Gene Roddenberry and ordered all the novels to be homogenous and uninteresting and hew to a formula. Those days, however, are loooooong gone. Moore probably hasn't read The Lost Era series that ambitiously filled in the 70 years between TOS and TNG; or the post-finale DS9 novels that have moved the Deep Space Nine saga forward beyond "What You Leave Behind" in the tradition of the series; or the post-finale Voyager novels that have done likewise in the wake of "Endgame"; or the New Frontier, Stargazer, I.K.S. Gorkon, and S.C.E. series that have given us new crews not based on any specific show, and succeeded quite admirably (the Gorkon series in particular building on the fine work Moore did with the Klingon species on TNG and DS9); or the impossible-to-do-on-TV crossovers like Invasion!, Day of Honor, Captain's Table, Double Helix, Gateways, The Brave and the Bold, and Section 31; or the big-ass A Time to... nine-book miniseries that set up Nemesis; or the short-story anthologies like Prophecy and Change, The Lives of Dax, Enterprise Logs, and Tales of the Dominion War that have expanded the Trek universe; or the extensive world-building going on in novels ranging from Spock's World and The Final Reflection to the current Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine miniseries and A Stitch in Time; or the nontraditional narratives like The Case of the Colonist's Corpse (a Perry Masonesque novel featuring "Court Martial"'s Sam Cogley, down to the red dye on the spine and the 60s-style cover), A Hard Rain (a Dixon Hill story done like an old-fashioned Ellery Queen serial), The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh (the full story of one of Trek's best villains, taking place almost entirely in the 20th century), and the upcoming Articles of the Federation (a Star Trek version of The West Wing). I'm also sure that Moore didn't mean to demean, insult, and denigrate the legion of Trek authors who are very much fans of the material, who grew up with the show just like he did, who read the fanzines and bought all the merchandise when they were kids just like he did, and who are thrilled to be working on Trek now, just like he was in 1990 when they bought "The Bonding" and put him on staff. But by putting us in the same sentence with the shower curtains, he did just that. And I find that disappointing from a writer whose work I have been admiring since "The Bonding" hit the airwaves fifteen years ago. We're fans, too, Ron. Just because you went the TV route and we went the prose route doesn't make your fandom more real than ours. And for those of you who think that the novels are the same as the shower curtains, I urge you to sample a Trek book. Pick up one of the Worlds of Deep Space Nine books or my next I.K.S. Gorkon book, or Greg Cox's To Reign in Hell, which details Khan's time on Ceti Alpha V between "Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan, or the DS9 novel Unity by S.D. Perry that was as powerful as any two-part episode of the show (and I don't say that lightly), or the short-story anthology Tales of the Dominion War that showed what the rest of the Trek universe was doing during the final two seasons of DS9. You'll be pleasantly surprised. I'm also posting this to the Galactica BBoard. Be curious to see the response..... Oh, and read terri_osborne and bill_leisner's LJs to see that I'm not alone in this. wry grin Current Mood: grumpy Current Music: "The Work Song" by Kate & Anna McGarrigle

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	Comments

	From: girasole	Date: February 7th, 2005 06:14 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Elegantly argued. I hope he gets to read it, because what he wrote is just stupid.

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	From: kradical	Date: February 7th, 2005 06:25 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Well, I posted it in the part of the Galactica BBoard where questions are to be posted to him, and he's taken questions from that topic before. So he'll likely read it.

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	From: djonn	Date: February 7th, 2005 06:20 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Amen, says this member of the choir. Time constraints have kept me from reading as much Trek fiction as I once did, but I do keep my eye on the books, and there is Good Stuff going on in the prose franchise these days (and indeed, for quite some time back). I have recommended Trek novels for Nebulae in the not-so-distant past, and I think deservedly so; we've also tagged a Trek book -- one of the Worlds of Deep Space Nine group -- for the March selection of an SF book group I co-moderate locally.

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	From: yahtzee63	Date: February 7th, 2005 06:20 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I may be reading him wrong, but I may not be, but what I took from the Moore comment was less "everything licensed sucks" and more "fandom should be active and not passive." I also took it as being more nostalgic for the 1970s, where if you wanted some Spock ears, you had to learn something about plastics, dammit; those have to have been fun days. But, OTOH, I don't know much about Moore or his general attitudes these days.

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	From: kradical	Date: February 7th, 2005 06:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

It was the dismissive nature of just tossing the novels in with the shower curtains that got my back up. And I know of at least three other Trek prose folk who similarly got their backs up, so I don't think I'm entirely overreacting here.

When I reposted this in the Galactica BBoard, I put the subject line: "an open letter to RDM from a shower curtain maker."

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	From: terri_osborne	Date: February 7th, 2005 07:25 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Oh, it didn't get my back up, per se, but it did irritate me for a moment or two. Then I actually sat down and gave it some thought, and realized what was probably the case.

I just respect the man too much to not give him the benefit of the doubt.

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	From: bill_leisner	Date: February 7th, 2005 08:03 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I don't believe that Ron truly intended any insult to anyone. But he really could have taken more care in making his point and not tarring so many with the same broad brush.

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	From: kradical	Date: February 7th, 2005 06:28 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Here's the rest of the paragraph:

Some of the most daring and creatively challenging Star Trek material has been created not by Paramount, but by amateurs, who simply had an idea for an interesting twist on the Trek universe. Think Kirk and Spock were secret lovers? Wonder about the social and cultural history of the planet Vulcan? Believe the Mirror Universe is more fascinating than our own? All these topics and many others were, and are, tackled by fans in their own fiction, their own stories, their own dreams.

Well, if I wonder about the social and cultural history of the planet Vulcan, I might read Spock's World by Diane Duane or Vulcan's Forge by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz. If I believe the Mirror Universe is more fascinating than our own, I might read Dark Passions by Susan Wright. For that matter, if I want a more in-depth look at Klingon culture that builds on Moore's own work on the TV shows, I might read my I.K.S. Gorkon series.

Again, there's an implication here that the novelists aren't fans, that we're just official crap churned out by Paramount (never mind the fact that it isn't directed by Paramount, but licensed by Paramount to Pocket).

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	From: neadods	Date: February 7th, 2005 06:32 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Part applause, part devil's advocate.

First, you're right. The books are a labor of love by people who know and adore the show. Also, they are edited, spell-checked, and plotted, which beats out a hell of a lot of fanfic.

But they are also regulated by Paramount. I have Jean Lorrah's Trekfic both fan and pro. And of the two, I prefer her fanfic precisely because she was unfettered by the "you must"s and the "you can't"s that come with official licensing and sanctioning. It's not a question of devotion to the show, it's a question of how liberal that creative license is allowed to be.

I'm not even saying that her official stuff is "worse" than her unofficial stuff. But I am sticking with the point that her unofficial writings are more interesting to me because in that case she can break "the rules."

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	From: kradical	Date: February 7th, 2005 06:36 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Jean also wrote most of her profic at a time when the novels were much more restrained -- the Richard Arnold era I referred to in my original post. "The rules" are much more lax, and there are many more things the profic can do now -- and have done, which was my point.

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From: (Anonymous)	Date: February 9th, 2005 10:28 pm (UTC)		(Link)
Edited

Profic is 'edited, spell-checked and plotted'? Not the last time I looked, when the synopsis on the back of the book didn't even match the story inside. I'm sorry, but for about the last four years, profic has been too bland to buy. I like interesting ideas. I was delighted when Robert Sheckley (I don't care if he's a fan, he's usually a hell of a writer) wrote a DS9 novel... until I read it. Now, I no longer even browse the bookshops. For that matter the bookshops no longer seem to stock the novels. Need I say more?

Skazki

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	From: psiphiorg	Date: February 7th, 2005 07:09 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Are you trying to insult the shower curtain makers, who surely put as much effort into their creations as you put into yours, and as Ron puts into his? Before you bash the Star Trek shower curtains, I urge you to sample them. You may be pleasantly surprised.

(Oh no! I can't seem to get my tongue dislodged from my cheek.)

davidh

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	From: kradical	Date: February 7th, 2005 07:15 pm (UTC)		(Link)

*snarfs coffee*

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	From: scarlettina	Date: February 7th, 2005 07:51 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Well said, krad! I look forward to hearing about Moore's response. And I'd bet good money he'll make one.

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	From: greeneyedkzin	Date: February 7th, 2005 08:51 pm (UTC)		(Link)

RDM put Vulcan's Forge into an episode of DS9 as a possible honeymoon site (swiftly dismissed) for Jadzia and Worf.

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	From: cruisedirector	Date: February 10th, 2005 02:37 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I think part of Moore's point is that fans don't have to put money into officially licensed Star Trek products to enjoy Star Trek. Ever multiplied out how much a complete yearly collection of Pocket's Trek books would cost?

You had me until the comment about the pro novels being properly edited etc. Pocket's Trek novels are more poorly proofread than most of the fan fiction I've read and make Harper's mediocre X-Files publications look spectacular by comparison. I don't fault the writers for this, but if Pocket wants me to spend money on their books, they're going to have to be a lot less shoddy in their production values.

And let's face it, I'm not going to get any decent Garak/Bashir slash from Pocket Books, even set in the Mirror universe. Nor do fans have to follow Dean Smith's SNW rules to write interesting, creative short Star Trek fiction.

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	From: kradical	Date: February 10th, 2005 04:12 pm (UTC)		(Link)

You had me until the comment about the pro novels being properly edited etc. Pocket's Trek novels are more poorly proofread than most of the fan fiction I've read

You had me until your ridiculous leap in logic that the only thing editors do is proofread.

I also never said that fanfic was inherently bad. I just had a problem with the dismissal of the Pocket novels as not being places where interesting stories could be told, especially since, of the three examples he gave, two of them were covered by the novels (exploration of the planet Vulcan, exploration of the Mirror Universe).

The third, of course, was slash fiction, and no, the profic doesn't cover that, with good reason. Slash fiction aficionados make up a miniscule portion of the fan base, and there's no way a mass-market publisher would be able to continue to publish Trek novels if they did Garak/Bashir slash or Kirk/Spock slash or Kim/Paris slash or Archer/Tucker slash. Let's leave aside the fact that (aside from Garak) the entire notion is completely out of character for any of them, the audience for such fiction is, in essence, the equivalent of that of a small press. Which makes fanfic the perfect outlet for it.

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	From: cruisedirector	Date: February 10th, 2005 04:34 pm (UTC)		(Link)

You had me until your ridiculous leap in logic that the only thing editors do is proofread.

I never said nor meant to imply that that was the only thing, though in fairness I want to point out that a decent amount of fan fiction is edited -- and moreover that some of the best fan editors are professional writers and editors who simply enjoy reading fan fiction on the side, something that's obviously not going to come up during their day jobs.

My point was that I'm not going to pay $6.99 for a book whose publisher was too lazy to find out the canonical spellings of certain character names from the show, or to double-check the use of "who's" versus "whose" more carefully than MSWord does automatically (and not very well). I can't remember now which Voyager novel had Seska's name spelled wrong twice, but I can tell you that a fan writer of any note who did such a thing in a posted/published story would have been blasted for failing to have a beta reader. You aren't really going to argue that that wasn't unprofessional on Pocket's part, are you?

As for slash fan fiction, I should get into a debate about why Mirror universe women are allowed in commercial fiction to sleep with each other while Garak and Bashir are not, but that's a matter of how conservative publishing is as a whole rather than just for the Star Trek audience. I'd be curious to see the sales figures for the Dark Mirror series -- did those do well? How come Pocket didn't fret about a marginalized lesbian audience?

But as to "the entire notion is completely out of character for any of them," quite apart from the commercial concerns which I do understand -- why would it be a bigger change of attitude for Kirk to sleep with Spock than it was for Kira (a woman who once said she couldn't tolerate the idea of Dax being with someone with a transparent skull) to sleep with Odo? It's the oldest cliche in the slash book, but do you really think that, if it was the only way to save Spock during pon farr, Kirk would even hesitate?

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User: kradical Name: Keith R.A. DeCandido Website: DeCandido.net

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