It was 14 Years Ago Today

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 29, 2006

Fourteen years ago today we moved to Fairfield. For me and Deb, that’s a just under a quarter of our lives but for the kids, it’s the majority of their life. At the time we moved, they were six and four and objected most strenuously to the move. After all, they were leaving their very best friends behind. (Both had at best one friend each at the time, more through circumstances at pre-school and kindergarten than anything else.)

They were resistant to the idea and the fact that they didn’t see the house in its entirety until the move didn’t help with the transition. Worse, timing being what it was, first grade was starting before the closing on the old and new homes could be completed. Deb’s brother Jim, who was living in town at the time, volunteered to house Kate so she wouldn’t miss the crucial first weeks. His wife Margaret happily took Kate to school and someone collected her in the afternoon. Every Friday, after work, Deb would schlep up to Connecticut to collect Kate for the weekend and return her on Sunday. We did our bedtime routine by phone during the week. It helped but it wasn’t ideal for anyone, especially after Margaret learned she was pregnant and needed some bed rest.

The closing in Connecticut was a dream (NY closing are a pain in the butt) and we did the walk through, discovering to our surprise the previous owners (whom we never met, an oddity of the home sale system in the state) had shut off all the utilities. We quickly had things turned on and the day before the move, Deb was supervising a cleaning crew to make the house shipshape for the move.

On moving day, the skies were ominous. Deb, the kids, the cat and the movers were headed north by lunchtime. The nanny Bonnie and I remained behind for the finally sweep of the premises and then, with the dog, also made the drive to our new home state.

By the time we arrived, the skies had opened up and stayed open as movers trudged through the house with boxes. Since we intended to finish the basement, we filled the living room from floor to ceiling with boxes, most of which were intended for the basement. The white carpet in the family room, despite our best efforts, grew brown and grey with mud and muck. The animals were locked away in the bathroom to avoid escaping or getting under foot. Both kids weren’t sure about their new home as we struggled to get their beds set up early.

My how times flies.

Today, we can’t go through town without recognizing people we know. Neither kid would dare suggest living anywhere else. We met friends through the Welcome Club we still socialize with and as you all know, I’ve gotten deeply involved via the RTM, Parking Authority, Cable Advisory Council and the Democratic Town Committee. Deb and the kids are active through the Church and she’s part of a knitting group that meets twice a month.

It’s all good and looking back, I’m certain we did the right thing for the family. Lynbrook always felt temporary for us and Fairfield always felt like home (even if I still can’t find my way around parts of town).

Bob the Freelancer Update

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 27, 2006

It’s been about a month so I figured it was time to provide an update:

Completed and Awaiting Publication

Cutting Edge Careers: Artificial Intelligence (Rosen )
“Things that Aren’t”, Analog Magazine, early 2007
In the News: Suicide Bombers (Rosen)

Delivered to Editor and Awaiting Edits or Proofs

“Troubleshooting”, Star Trek: Corps of Engineers (Pocket eBook); awaiting copy edited ms.
14 essays in You Said What? (William Morrow), saw edited ms., awaiting galleys
“Ghost Hunting” in untitled Phantom anthology (Moonstone Books); King Features approved, awaiting copy edited ms.
“Steel and Chrome” in untitled BattleTech anthology; editor indicates project back on line, may see a contract and editorial notes soon
Essay for untitled Wonder Woman collection (BenBella Books); awaiting copy edited ms.
Essay for Webslinger – Spider-Man collection – copy edited ms. back to editor
Media tie-in comic book – script in, awaiting approval before announcing
“Winter in Fairfield”, Fairfield Magazine

Writing Projects

“Only the Best for Cristina Yang” — essay for BenBella Grey’s Anatomy collection — due October 1, draft complete, waiting to see this week’s episode before polishing
“Things That Aren’t”-sequel — Michael A. Burstein has begun putting together plot notes
Actionopolis novel – currently being written
Predator: Flesh and Blood – Michael Jan Friedman at work on outline and opening chapter then hand off to me for first drafting
Star Trek: The Nex Generation: Slings and Arrows Book Five — outline due December 1
Back Issue: Round table dicussion about Star Trek comic books underway via e-mail
Custom comic book – samples with editor (now likely dead)
Media tie-in novel – first pitch nixed, researching to try again
Media tie-in book – Publisher investigating license
Media tie-in novel — two different publishers have since been informed the license has been placed elsewhere, now trying to find editor at winning publisher
Media tie-in book 3 – Both licensee and licensor have told me they want me to work on a project, with little in the way of details as of now, but it’s nice to be wanted
Original novel – revising proposal
Non-Fiction book collaboration – prepping outline and sample chapter

Editing Projects

Dark Forces — first attempt with talent rejected, project brought in house
7 unannounced Platinum Studios projects – all need artists, offers out to artists; all in various stages of development

Back to Business

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 26, 2006

After a one month break, the RTM got back to work this month. As you recall, last week at the committee meetings, I stepped up to Finance Chair as part of the dominoes that tipped over in the wake of Mary Tinti’s resignation.

Last night, at the caucus, I met Paul Cramer, her replacement on the body. I recognized the slight deer-in-the-headlights look, since it wasn’t all that long ago I was stepping in to replace someone. Paul has only been in town two years and sounds ready to step up and get involved. Partly to serve the town, he says, and partly to meet people. Well, last night he met plenty.

As caucus broke, our Moderator, Joel Green, told me to have Paul at my side during the meeting so I could talk him through the process. It was more or less like having live color commentary during the action. We put Paul between myself and Martha Brooks, a shrewd political mind and a nice neighbor to know.

During all this time, I was seeing just how far I had come since finally giving in and getting more involved in town government. I knew everyone on sight, by name if not by district. I knew most of the opposition party, could deal with town officials, members of the School Board and Board of Finance. I was far more comfortable with the process, the players and the politics involved.

The meeting itself was mild and a perfect first exposure for a new member. We made several appointments, accepted several state grants, debated an offer of property which we chose to put off until someone could tell us if it’s been used as a dumping ground. While approving three contracts with unions, one got snarled when a seemingly innocent question turned into an accounting show and tell that took our Chief Financial Guru and our First Selectman nearly ten minutes to explain (all they needed were 27 8×10 color, glossy photographs with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one to make it any clearer). In the end, we all learned that the Pension Funds outperformed expectations the last two years running which means they are very well over funded allowing us to divert some of the money to start up a new fund that we’re mandated to create. Said fund is new and few in the state or nation have done it before us so we’re slowly and cautiously figuring out how to do it. Me, I’d go to the bank and say, “I want to open an account, here’s $4 million dollars”, and move on. Apparently, government doesn’t work as simply.

We were done by 9:15 which also meant we could all enjoy our bi-partisan socialable soda without making too late a night of it. Paul joined us and got to hear more about the people and the town and he seemed to be fitting right in. Sort of like me.

The Next Assignment

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 23, 2006

As announced elsewhere yesterday by my editor, Keith DeCandido:

In Star Trek: First Contact, Geordi La Forge said that the Enterprise-E had been in service for a year. As we mostly saw in the fourth and fifth seasons of Deep Space Nine, it was quite a year: the Federation-Klingon alliance was sundered, Cardassia’s government fell, the Maquis continued to operate with impunity, and paranoia over Changeling infiltration of the Alpha Quadrant was at an all-time high, to the point where a Starfleet admiral’s conspiracy to declare martial law on Earth was almost successful.

Closer to home, Will Riker’s “twin” Tom Riker joined the Maquis and was captured by the Cardassians, Deanna Troi’s mother gave birth to a half-Tavnian son, Data grew accustomed to his emotion chip (and learned to turn it off), La Forge gave up his VISOR for a set of optical implants, and the ship saw some new arrivals, including Lieutenants Hawk (conn) and Daniels (tactical).

However, the fiction has done little with that first year of the Enterprise-E’s existence: only two novels take place in that time period (Ship of the Line and Section 31: Rogue).

Until now, anyhow. As part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of STAR TREK: The Next Generation, Pocket Books presents Slings and Arrows, a six-eBook miniseries chronicling the year leading up to First Contact, which will begin in October 2007.

Specific plot details will be released soon (though there are some hints in the opening two paragraphs of this post), but here’s the tentative title and author list:

October 2007: Book 1: A Sea of Troubles by J. Steven York & Christina F. York

November 2007: Book 2: The Oppressor’s Wrong by Phaedra M. Weldon

December 2007: Book 3: The Insolence of Office by William Leisner

The final three eBooks will be released in early 2008:

Book 4: That Sleep of Death by Terri Osborne

Book 5: A Weary Life by Robert Greenberger

Book 6: Enterprises of Great Pitch and Moment by Keith R.A. DeCandido

(All titles derived from the “To be or not to be” soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.)

I have to say, I’m very happy to be a part of the anniversary celebration. Working alongside these give fine writers should prove fun and interesting. We’ll be largely compartmentalized but since we’re sharing the same ship, crew and time period, no doubt we will have some coordination to work out – something I look forward to.

Keith, the editor, tapped me because of my success with TNG and based on my work on A Time to Love andA Time to Hate so it was logical for me to get the Riker-focused story. I’m at work on the outline and should have some fun.

Suicide Notes

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 21, 2006

I just had an interesting visceral reaction to a news report over at Newsarama regarding something near and dear to my heart.

Back in the 1980s, I proudly had a hand in the creation of Suicide Squad, reviving an old DC team and thoroughly updating it for modern times. It was a very Silver Age thing for me to do and I delighted in planning and scheming with writer John Ostrander.

From the outset, the reader identification character was to be Rick Flag, the original team leader from the Brave & Bold issues. He was the sole survivor of the team and a veteran of some ugly battles. Flag had a bit of a death wish given his survivor’s guilt, letting him take unnecessary risks to get the job done.

It was also clear to John that Flag was going to pay the price for that recklessness sooner or later. We had decided we’d close out the series’ second year by letting Flag go out in a blaze of glory, dying in a nuclear explosion. It worked for stirring things up for the title and for the character.

So, I was reading Greg Rucka’s thoughts on the latest incarnation of the team, soon to appear in his Checkmate. Buried towards the interview’s end was his comment that Flag was back from the dead. I say out loud, “No, he’s dead!” No doubt, I have now joined the legion of editors, writers and artists to disagree with an editorial decision regarding characters once under my control.

Flag’s story was told. It all was tied up with a very nice boom. I can see little reason in resurrecting him. On the other hand, he now joins an illustrious collection of characters whose stories were told only to find yet another chapter awaited them – Bucky, Jason Todd, Arisia, Kilowog, and so on.

Still, it’s been a while since I read something that earned such an emotional response. I loved working on Suicide Squad, getting some terrific work from artist Luke McDonnell and Karl Kesel. Heck, Karl loved the series concept so much he would send lengthy handwritten ideas to me and John, labeling them “Kesel’s Epistles”. Together, we must achieved something with the title – it lasted 66 issues and has been resurrected time and again, not a bad addition to the mythology.

Mr. Chairman

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 20, 2006

It’s Friday night, we’ve gotten home on the late side and the phone rings. With the kids gone, the phone ringing on a weeknight generally means a political poll or an unwanted sales call.

Nope. It was Pat Jacobson, my esteemed fellow District 8 representative on both the DTC and the RTM.

“I have bad news, Mary Tinti has relocated.” Mary is a long-time member of the RTM and DTC, a brilliant, spirited debater and a wonderful member of the Fairfield community. With passion in her words, she has been a voice of reason through good times and bad. As I got sucked into local politics, I often turned to Mary for advice and even more, the history behind Fairfield’s political playing field. Her presence, friendship, support and point of view will be sorely missed.

With Mary gone, Pat explained, a vacancy has opened up as Assistant Majority Leader and Majority Leader Doug Jones asked Pat to fill the spot. Cool, I think. Pat’s done it before, gives more of her time than any two members of the DTC combined and is easy to work with.

“Of course, that means I have to resign as Chairman of the Finance Committee,” she continues. Ah! I’m not being called with news, I’m being recruited. “I’m calling to see if you’re interested. I’m also calling Megan to see if she’s interested.” Megan is our committee secretary and when committee secretaries were solicited last fall, they were cajoled into taking the post being told it was the “path to power”.

I expressed my interest, since it requires more organizational ability than actual political acumen or financial wizardry. Pat said swell, rung off and I figured that was that.

Mere minutes later, the phone rings again. It’s Megan, who starts with, “Congratulations.”

“But I figured you were secretary and wanted that path to power.”

“I know what they said,” Megan answered. “But I don’t really know all the rules for chairing. And don’t want to know while doing my job.”

So, since a Democrat has to be chair and with the Majority Leader and Assistant Majority Leader on the committee, there were few choices. At our Finance Committee meeting Monday, it took about 30 seconds for it to be formalized.

Frighteningly, I am now Finance chair. This means I need to start brushing up on my Robert’s Rules of Order. Does anyone know what the difference is between the 9th edition and the current 10th edition?

Let’s Go Mets!

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 19, 2006

Finally, the New York Mets clinched the NL East last night. They had me somewhat concerned over the weekend, showing lackluster play against the Pirates. Now, the Pirates may be having a terrible season but they will be contenders in a year or two. Still, the Mets should have managed to avoid a sweep.

As columnists have noted, the Mets have several issues to settle before beginning post-season play. To me, you go with the guys who got you there and win ugly or not, Steve Trachsel deserves to be there and to start if possible (after Pedro, Glavine and El Duque, of course). You bring two catchers and not three, so if Ramon Castro is healthy, he should get the nod, if not, Kelly Stinnett is your better choice over Mike DeFelice. The bullpen is the question mark since some starters are suited for relief work. That’s why Trachsel should start over John Maine. You need Darren Oliver, Chad Bradford, Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano and Billy Wagner. After that, you need to be cautious because guys like Heath Bell, Royce Ring, and Guillermo Mota. This unfortunately means guys like Dave Williams, Brian Banister and John Maine get to watch from the stands.

When you get to round two, though, you want more than one long guy, just in case. And here’s where Maine has earned his spot.

Now it’s time to wait and see who they will face in round one of divisional playoffs. I’m personally hoping to see the Padres, Cardinals and Dodgers take the remaining spots. However, NL West and Wild Card remain up in the air and just may stay that way until the final weekend.

The Mets instituted a lottery for tickets to Round One and I won!. A little while ago, I secured tickets to see Game 2, whenever that will be played, at Shea Stadium. It’s certainly nice to win something like this and Deb may be even more jazzed than me. Our seats aren’t even that bad, Mezzanine Reserve, section 10, putting us right over the visitor’s dugout.

Finally…

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 18, 2006

At long last, I can talk about my collaboration with Mike Friedman. Some many months ago, Mike called and mentioned that he was offered a Predator novel by our pal, Rob Simpson, editor at DH Books. Mike is a careful freelancer, charting out his calendar and knows what he can and cannot fit. This would be a tight squeeze on his own, but with some help, he could manage.

Mike and I have collaborated on numerous Star Trek projects so we knew our styles would mesh well in addition to our work habits. He put together an outline for 20th Century-Fox’s approval and we began to wait. Days turned to weeks, April turned to May and the June deadline was beginning to look impossible. June became August and Rob admitted the schedule would need adjusting.

Finally, we got the green light to proceed and there’s even a cover already! Mike is at work on fleshing out the outline and then will begin the writing so he gets a feel for the world and its characters then turn things over to me to begin pounding out a first draft.

I like Predator the movie and think these intergalactic hunters can be fun to work with. Certainly a change of pace as far as my writing goes.

I’ll keep you posted regarding an actual publication schedule for Preadotr: Flesh & Blood.

The Diminishing Editorial Cartoon

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 17, 2006

Almost a year ago, Europe was plunged into a religious firestorm by running editorial cartoons that enraged followers of Islam. The newspapers were criticized over depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, who was never to be seen by those followers. Protests, riots and fire bombings occurred on most continents by those protesting such desecration and disrespect for their beliefs.

In an effort to afford his own editorial cartoonists equal time; Iran’s nutjob-in-chief Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a contest. Cartoonists were encouraged to submit their best material that poked at the Holocaust. The best cartoon was to be awarded $12,000. The competition and exhibition resulted in 1,193 entries from 61 countries, with 204 displayed at the Palestine Contemporary Art Museum through this week.

While American newspapers agonized loudly in print whether or not to show the cartoons that caused such furor last year, none that I have seen have even bothered to sample the current controversy.

May also I point out that the contest not only elicited a large number of entries but a particular lack of protests and destruction in the name of Yahweh? Sure, editorial writers and private individuals were outraged but no reports of riots.

Could it be that, apart from the Middle East, people are more tolerant of editorial cartoons? Or that differing points of view are expected outside of Islam? I’m not entirely sure.

While attention has been focused over there, stories also emerged this week about a Chinese cartoonist who dared to draw an image of a weeping President Hu Jintao while making a comment about the overworked labor class. It’s somewhat of a taboo to include political leaders in China’s newspaper cartoons and there was quite the hubbub over Hu’s inclusion by artist Kuang Biao. No one disputed the point of his cartoon, much as few challenged the point of the European cartoons last year.

I find all of this interesting given the current erosion of editorial cartoonists’ influence and presence in newspapers around the country. As more and more newspapers look at the bottom line, they’re making deep cuts, including the staff editorial cartoonist. In many cases, newspapers aren’t replacing his space with something from a syndicate, it’s just gone. The editorial cartoon, like the comic strips, is one of the few things that makes a newspaper unique and a reason for people to buy a copy instead of getting their news on line, or worse, on television.

Ahmadinejad wasn’t really interested in viewpoints of the Holocaust; he’s made up his mind. Instead, he was testing the limits of free speech around the world. There’s no word if the lack of outrage and fire bombings disappointed him or changed his mind.

Cartoonist Steve Greenberg wrote in Hogan’s Alley, “The purpose of editorial cartooning is to provoke thought. To provoke a deeper examination of current events. To provoke readers to become angry at social injustices or political misdeeds. But these caricatures existed only to provoke a furious reaction for its own sake. Few U.S. cartoonists would embrace this goal any more than they would embrace the whole Danish Mohammed exercise — or the Iranian counter-exercise, for that matter. We want people to be upset with us because we gored their sacred cows or showed the emperors to have no clothes, not because we deliberately tried to infuriate them.

“Editors are thinking about editorial cartoons now. But if it’s for the purpose of confirming their views that controversy is a bad thing, that can’t be good for the already damaged field of editorial cartooning.”

My First Council Meeting

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 15, 2006

Last night I attended my first meeting as a full-fledged Fairfield representative to the Area 2 Cable Advisory Council. Six towns comprise Area 2 for the state of Connecticut and I got here just in time to watch the final battle during the refranchsing process.

I also joined in time to help draft the charter for what will be FairTV, the town’s public programming group, which hopefully will be formally blessed by the Board of Selectmen on Monday. What this means is that Fairfield will regain control over its Education and Government channels and content, with the hope to broadcast news and information including live government meetings. My personal hope is that by broadcasting Zoning or RTM meetings; more people in town will make themselves aware of what’s happening in town.

Our meeting was largely bringing everyone in the room up to date on the refranchsing process, what has been said, what has been written, and what happens next. The key element here is how the Department of Public Utilities will rule on Sound View’s request for refranchsing as the third-party provider of PEG (Public, Education and Government). Right now, SV’s position is that their programming – shovelware of old opera broadcasts and NASA documentaries – cost effectively services the Area. The Council disagrees as does the Attorney General and others. In fact, no one came out in favor of Sound View’s petition for renewal.

It was interesting seeing Tom Castelot, head of SV, sit in the meeting, unphazed by the quotes taken from document after document recommending the towns regain control of their E and G, leaving SV with P.

After that, we took up new business including the issue of senior citizen pricing especially in light of Cablevision moving Turner Classic Movies to a premium tier which would cost their most devoted viewers more money. We’ll be taking that up in detail at the October meeting.

Everyone there, from the towns, appear very knowledgeable and dedicated to the Council which pleases me. Seems I’ve arrived at a good time for the Council.

One of the nicer things about the meeting is that we rotate through the six towns and we also have scheduled months off so the time commitment seems a little less than the Parking Authority. And there’s even a dinner tossed in, too.