I am Spartacus!

I am writing a book. There’s a scene in That Thing You Do when the Wonders are about to perform on television, and Lenny asks Skitch, “How did we get here?” And Skitch Patterson, with his Spartacus fixation, says, “I have brought you here, sir, for I am Spartacus.” It’s that sense of unreality thatContinue reading “I am Spartacus!”

Unfinished Tales

In the process of moving I came across several files folders of old manuscripts, some handwritten, some typed, all of them fragments of stories I wrote many years ago. This is the first in an occasional series presenting some of these story fragments. The Adventure of the French Albino is the sequel to another story,Continue reading “Unfinished Tales”

The thirty second story

I’ve seen this on two blogs recently, such as James Bow‘s–take a short story and run it through MS Word’s Auto Summary feature. I’ve taken “Memorial Day,” an entry I wrote for Pocket’s Strange New Worlds VI contest, and condensed its 7500 word length to under a hundred: “Thanks.” “Claire Keefe.” “Jake Sisko.” Claire nodded.Continue reading “The thirty second story”

Reaching into the metaphorical mailbag

A reader of this webpage e-mailed me recently with the following observation: How can you say Wesley Crusher replaced someone at the Enterprise’s helm and took their job? The person doing Wesley’s job in the first season was Geordi, and in the second season he became Chief Engineer, so the position was vacant and PicardContinue reading “Reaching into the metaphorical mailbag”

Recent Ramblings

Pocket’s Strange New Worlds contest for this year closes on Tuesday, and I made four submissions this year. I liked this year’s batch of stories. One I’ve mentioned before, about Wesley Crusher and the man he replaced at the Enterprise-D’s conn. Another was about Robin Lefler and her nightmares. The third story was about EzriContinue reading “Recent Ramblings”

Not coming soon to a bookstore near you

Pocket Books, publishers of the Star Trek novels, among other things, sponsor a writing contest every year–the Strange New Worlds anthologies which publish Star Trek fiction by previously unpublished authors. The first such anthology was published in 1998, the fifth earlier this year, and Pocket is currently accepting entries for the sixth contest, winners toContinue reading “Not coming soon to a bookstore near you”

On Deep Space Nine: "Fear, Itself"

Tom Sharp raised the question, “Could [“Fear Itself,” published in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds V] be considered a part of the DS9 post-finale stories I have listed at DS9 Avatar? There are two possible answers here, and each has their reasons: Yes, include it–“Fear Itself” takes place post-“What You Leave Behind.” No, don’t includeContinue reading “On Deep Space Nine: "Fear, Itself"”