Catching Up

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 17, 2012

I’m overdue writing here, but it’s been busy.

I returned from a week in Florida to concentrate entirely on completing the manuscript to Star Trek: The Complete Unofficial History. In December, it became clear I was threatening to run amok with the word count and my editor kindly ratcheted me back into place. It did mean, though, that much had to be trimmed before I could complete a draft. Paul Simpson and Howard Weinstein stepped up and each took a decade and helped me whittle. I was sorry to see stories go and other material truncated but there’s a tremendous amount of history to cover.

Contractually, it was due January 9 but my editor recognized that between the holidays and word cutting, I needed time and said I had all week. As it was, Deb was out of town on business for a stretch allowing me to focus on little else but the book. This allowed me to complete a manuscript that was still over the contracted word count but now at a manageable level. Once my final sidebar was delivered, I gave the manuscript a once over and submitted it on Thursday which meant, I was more or less on time.

My attention now turns to graphics. I have a bunch of stuff in my personal collection that needs to be scanned and submitted for consideration. Other fans from around the world have begun sending in stuff, too. If you have Trek-related pictures form conventions, events, museum shows, etc., let me know. We can send you a release form and you can send in 600 dpi images for the designer to consider using.

Beyond that, I am now also turning my attention to student teaching, which begins one week from today. Yesterday, I watched Patrick Stewart’s version of Macbeth and followed along with the text. Today I will begin reviewing my teacher’s notes and materials so I can begin thinking about how I want to teach the Bard. Maybe it’s a good thing I’m starting with his shortest tragedy.

I’ve got a few small odds and ends to deal with such as cleaning up desk and office related things. There’s a wee bit of writing to do but doubt I will have all that much time to build up a head of steam on anything new.

I intend to read plenty, catching up on books and magazines while I can. After all, I’ve been warned how all-consuming the teaching can be and after my December taste of it, I see what they mean.

The Cover Revealed

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 5, 2012

I was little surprised to see the cover to Star Trek: The Complete Unofficial History go live on the Facebook page last night, mostly because I had seen it for the first time in the morning and had asked for a tweak or two. Still, it’s a solid design and should be eye-catching enough given the inability to use licensed images. (By the way, click over to the FB page and “Like” us.)

I am now playing beat the clock as I complete my work on the manuscript, having lost a week to a Florida trip to spend the holidays with family. Thank goodness Howard Weinstein and Paul Simpson are playing beat readers for me, helping me trim excessive words and making my points sharper. This will make it a far better reading experience for you.

Taking Stock

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 31, 2011

The end of the year is a time to take stock, look back and figure out if this was a good year or a bad year. I think, for me, it was a transitional year.

I began – and completed – a Master’s Degree program in education. I also did a full year’s internship at Darien High School al to prepare me for being certified to teach Secondary Education English. As I have written before, the coursework varied from a waste of time to quite interesting. Still, I value my time in the high school which really has prepared me. In just a few weeks the adventure continues as I begin Student Teaching.

On the freelance front, it was a steady, albeit slow, year with a few nicely paying gigs that made up for the $100 and $200 jobs that were done more for love than money. The first six months of the year I was a Patch columnist although that dried up when I became a candidate for office. I did a few pieces for Star Trek Magazine, Marvel Spotlight, and Back Issue! I continued to review tons of stuff along with some news writing and interviewing for ComicMix.

I did a pile of writing and editing for Dynamic Forces which stretched my muscles in nice ways. I also edited the Dinosaurs and Animal Planet graphic novels for Silver Dragon Books with the latter scheduled to now finally show up around February.

I wrote 24 columns for Westfield Comics, letting me interview old friends and recommend stuff that might have been missed otherwise. My comics writing, though, was minimal: one Scooby-Doo story that has yet to see print.

Odd jobs included legal research for a publisher and being paid to write a sample chapter for a project that I really wished happened because I think my partner and I did a good job. On the other hand, some other stuff I did and can’t really talk about yet kept me busy with more to come.

I also dipped a toe into the digital world by helping launching Crazy 8 Press. It’s been an uneven six months but I did manage to get an older story back into print. “A Matter of Faith” has been available since October and has sold a whopping four copies so far. May the next offering, the second Latchkeys story (due in early 2012), do better.

Beyond that, Deb and I celebrated our 31^st anniversary. We actually fit in a brief New Hampshire vacation along with spending Christmas week with Kate and our mothers. My mom turned 80 this week, surrounded by her siblings, children, and grandchildren so that was a special treat.

Looking ahead, I have to complete The Unofficial History of Star Trek in January and then hopefully other opportunities will present themselves. I suspect 2011 was a rebuilding year and all the time and investment of effort should pay off in 2012, making it a superior year.

Here’s wishing you all a Happy New Year!

The Freelance Update

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 20, 2011

With all the focus on school and graduate school, I’ve had all too little to say about my freelance life. All year long, it has taken a back seat to my other obligations but remains a daily constant.

This week we should, at long last, send the Animal Planet project for Silver Dragon Books to the printer.  There were countless delays with approvals or communication while some of the talent I hired missed their deadlines with regularity. Overall, it looks pretty sharp and should be out in early 2012. There will be a Free Comic Book Day edition so you can sample it in May.

Due out this month is The Art of Howard Chaykin but there have been delays there, too, and only in the last few days I answered the final questions posed to me. This hopefully will also be out from Dynamic Forces in early 2012.

I worked on one project that had me write a sample chapter in about a week only to discover the publisher realized they botched the timing and couldn’t sell the project so it died. Too bad, I’m proud of the work I did. On the other hand, some writing I’ve done for a company has led to additional assignments but I can’t talk about it yet.

A different project I wrote an outline and sample chapter for was a ghost writing assignment and much to my disappointment, we couldn’t move the deadline meaning I had to bow out of the project since it overlapped with The Unofficial History of Star Trek.

That book is humming along. I have been delighting in researching but frustrated at the stop and start nature of it as school and other things get in the way. Fortunately, I seem to be building up a nice rhythm and should be pretty close with my deadline. It’s fascinating to see the conflicting accounts of how things happened along with really close versions so I am trying to sift my way through the accounts, apply some logic and my own knowledge to try and pin down what I think really happened. Similarly, I am trying to put a lot of the information into a context that I have not seen elsewhere so even those who think they know the history will learn a thing or two.

In case you missed it, my short story, “A Matter of Faith” is still available for the Kindle and the Nook.  Plus over at Crazy 8 Press, we announced the imminent arrival of the Latchkeys series where I am a contributor. More on that in the coming weeks.

Due out this week is The Art of Spider-Man Classic where I contributed the 1970s chapter and some shorter material. Gotham City 14 Miles, the anthology dedicated to the Batman television series, is now available at a lower price.

I am also working to wrap a career retrospective issue with someone rarely interviewed in the fan press and look forward to completing that and delivering it to Back Issue! in the first weeks of the New Year.

So yeah, I stay busy.

It was 45 Years Ago Tonight

Posted by Bob Greenberger on September 8, 2011

One of my oldest friends, who I haven’t seen in something like 30 years, dropped me a note a little while ago, asking if I was doing anything to mark the 45^th anniversary of Star Trek today. Laura got me to thinking and while I wasn’t watching when “The Man Trap” aired, I caught on soon enough.

I’ve written often through the years about my early days with the television series followed by the cons, the comics, and novels so there’s little point in rehashing that stuff.

Instead, I have to admit, my affection for the series, characters, and concepts remain strong. I think it’s terrific to see how many people have posted on Facebook and Twitter about the anniversary, recirculating YouTube clips of varying quality.

These days, though, I feel a little distanced from the franchise. The revolving door editorship at Pocket Books has meant a concept of mine, that I was assured was at Paramount for approval, apparently never got out of someone’s inbox. Instead, the scientific principle I built the story around got co-opted by another author for a book that came out this year. No foul, the science is real and he got lucky to get through the labyrinth.

Similar efforts to write for IDW got as a far as a script only to see the project canceled when sales for the line fell and the artist hadn’t started work after six months. New efforts to pitch have gone to no avail.

Thankfully, Paul Simpson over at Titan’s Star Trek magazine has use for me now and then. The current issue, for example, has my overview of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s third season.

It’s not a conspiracy on someone’s part or bitterness on mine, but some sadness. I love writing the characters and I love writing about the show.  I look forward to a change in the solar winds which will allow me to resume. Until then, I chuckle at every reference I catch on television shows (most recently Leverage, Suits and Warehouse 13) or in movies. It speaks to the enduring appeal of the series and is a cultural shorthand so many of us understand. The show has become permanently embedded in the fabric of American society and that’s a pretty rare accomplishment, usually reserved for literary giants, top 40 singers, and a handful of others.

I salute the show and remember that Gene Roddenberry’s concept for “Wagon Train to the stars” proved to be far more than that. Qapla!

Remembering Majel

Posted by Glenn Hauman on December 19, 2008

As widely reported, Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away yesterday. That it was covered so thoroughly is a testament to her place in Star Trek and pop culture canon.

I first met Majel at the Committee conventions of the 1970s. She was usually holed up in the bar with Gene so, being underage, my access to her was limited. But she was always pleasant.

Later, when we wound up as guests at the same shows, she was never anything less than gracious. She loved to gossip and sitting between her and Robin Curtis at one event I heard things to make me blush.

She was a good enough actress to be cast in the initial pilot where she fell in love with Roddenberry. They had initially met when he cast her on his previous series, The Lieutenant. Their romance was one of the best things to happen during the years Star Trek was on NBC. Recognizing that parts were getting harder to come by, she wisely launched Lincoln Enterprises which was one of the first outfits to sell merchandise to fans. Trying to stay ahead of pop culture trends, she added Kung Fu and Search although neither did the sort of business Star Trek materials did.

Gene kept casting her in his other pilots and she remained by his side through the lean times.

I always enjoyed talking with her and enjoyed her enthusiasm for being out and among the fans when making appearances. Thankfully, she lent her voice to the new J.J. Abrams film prior to her passing., a fitting link from creator to current caretaker.