Blog stats tell me I’ve been getting a steady stream of new followers, and I know that Facebook and Twitter also have shown decent upticks in new friends of late. Guest blogging at Novel Spaces along with the occasional turn over at StarTrek.com also has brought some curious folk to these parts.
To those of you who’ve chosen to add me to your daily intake of internet diversions, please accept my official “Howdy!” as I welcome you to the online equivalent of my backyard fort. Please take a moment to post a comment and let me know what brings you to this dark, dreary corner of the intrawebz.
(You don’t need to be a registered WordPress user to comment, but if you’ve followed the link from Facebook or Twitter, please let me know in your comment who you are in those realms.)
It’s been a while since I’ve done this, owing in large part to the whole “Ask Dayton” feature I provide each Sunday for the G&T Show, but every so often, I post an entry like this one. In the past, I’ve usually done it when I’m in between larger writing projects, or I’m stalling for time before plunging into the next said project. Consider the reason for this installment as being triggered by the latter scenario.
Here’s how it goes, whether you’re a new arrival or you’ve been putting up with my crap for a while, now: Ask me anything, if you’re so inclined, and I’ll do my best to provide a brief yet thoughtful answer (hence the “lightning round” bit). Lacking that, you’ll receive a wise-assed retort customized just for you! Asker’s choice, so far as the topic goes, though I reserve the right not to answer anything I deem too personal or inappropriate for this particular venue. That said I’ve yet to actually have that be a problem, but I figure laying out the parameters up front is better for everybody.
(Note, this isn’t intended to be fodder for the G&T Show, though I’d be surprised if I didn’t see at least one query well-suited to that venue. 
)
So, ask away!
What is your favorite thing about being a Trek author? @emmabearasaurus
The simple answer is that I get a tremendous kick out of writing for characters I’ve loved since I was a kid. I watched reruns of the original show in the 70s, played with the toys, read the books and comics, built the models, etc. I never thought anybody would ever actually pay me to “play” with these characters, so…yes…that part is sometimes still a bit bizarre.
But it never stops being fun.
Where is your captain? I have many questions.
1) Have you ever considered or been approached to write any Trek comic books?
2) What are your thoughts on a new Trek television series being animated, rather than live-action, as a cost-cutting measure?
3) Any chance of The Last World War: Book III? (Broken record, I know, but I enjoyed those books.)
1) Considered? Yes. Approached? No. Then again I’m not a comic writer.
2) I don’t consider animation a cheaper way out, but I understand what you mean. It’s a different medium with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, but I think it’s viable for a Trek series. However, most folks here in the US seem to still look at animation as “cartoons,” unless it’s something like The Simpsons or Family Guy, which aren’t meant to be taken “seriously.” If they went animated, I wonder what the odds are that it’d end up on Cartoon Network or someplace else where the bulk of people wouldn’t watch it?
3) Always a chance, but Book II ends the way it does for a reason…as in, “I likely won’t be doing this again for a while.”
Thanks for the answers! As for LWW3…one can dream. I actually did like that the story came to a solid conclusion. I just wondered about the other alien races out there…
You mean beyond the other planet? I don’t know that I’d want to crowd any LWW setting with another group of aliens. It already was pretty challenging just balancing between humans, Blues and Grays.
As for other stories in the setting, I’ve given thought to some one-off tales set during the war, in the vein of “Texas Pride,” as well as where the story might go after Book II, but they’re just scribbles and such at this point.
Now those would be cool, especially as eBook novellas.
Which reminds me: I need to get “Texas Pride” back out there in some form. It was written originally for the now-defunct Amazon Shorts program, but you can’t get it there anymore.
Of course, doing that puts it in the same bucket of stuff to do as “The Enterprise Job.”
One of these days…..
No question… Just glad to share the realm with you, as-you, the writers, are the true heroes. You give our imaginations the ‘wings,’ to escape our dreary lives and, go-’out there’… Any acknowledgement from you, is an honored event in the humble life of this true STAR TREK, STAR WARS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (classic & new; it was my cocaine!), BIONICS-wantin’ fan. I love to read and discuss. Any correspondence is welcomed… #ReadingInSpanishForkUT
Thanks very much for the kind words! I’m glad you’re liking what we do. I’m also a fan of various SF films and TV, and you’ll see that I tend to babble a bit on those topics from time to time. Feel free to ask away, here or in response to anything else I post here on the blog. I welcome the interaction.
Hey Dayton! Have you written/published any novel that wasn’t a tie in to Star Trek, but simply a stand alone?
I’ve written three non-Trek/non-media tie-in novels:
The Last World War
Counterstrike: The Last World War, Book II
The Genesis Protocol
Also, several of my short stories are non-Trek/non-media tie-in.
Has the Andorian first officer from the animation series ever been used before? His name escapes me. i know it was an alternate timeline in which Spock died but, I didn’t know if that Character ever sprang to life any where else?
You’re thinking if Thelin, from “Yesteryear.” He’s appeared in at least one novel, The Chimes at Midnight by Geoff Trowbridge, which is an “alternate universe” sort of Trek story. You can find it in the collection of short novels called Star Trek: Myriad Universes – Echoes and Refractions.
The reason I subscribe to this blog is because I enjoy your humor mostly. Also I like to stay informed on future book releases.
I discovered your blog because of Facebook and Twitter, but I subscribed directly on the blog.
1. What do you consider a “day’s work” when writing?
2. Who is YOUR favorite author, other than yourself, that is?
3. Is Star Wars Sci-fi or do you consider it part of another genre?
Thanks.
1) The answer is “it varies,” depending on the project. For the novel I’m currently writing, and when taking into consideration my dayjob, family, etc., I’m still shooting for at least 1,000 words per day (more on weekends/holidays). Sometimes I go way high, other times it’s a struggle to hit the “quota,” but it always seems to work out in the end.
2) I don’t have a single favorite author. I bounce all over the place. Nelson DeMille, Richard Matheson, Arthur C. Clarke, Greg Rucka, Garth Ennis, Stephen King (though, oddly, I suppose, not for his horror), James Ellroy, Christa Faust, etc. etc.
3) Star Wars isn’t hardcore SF, but rather space opera or space fantasy. IMHO, of course.
Thanks for hanging out
I know I already asked some questions, but I’ve got one more, if that’s okay. (And please forgive me if it’s been answered elsewhere.)
Have you ever had stories published in “traditional” science fiction magazines like Analog, Asimov’s, or Fantasy & Science Fiction?
Nope, never landed a sale at any of those. In retrospect, the stories I sent to them were weak, and not in line with the caliber of material they typically publish.