infinitydog

Mark Robert Ritchie wrote an essay titled “The Revenge of the TV Tie-In“ on his blog, Glass Empires.

It’s a thoughtful piece about the history and current state of tie-in fiction, and in it he says some nice things about the work of such authors as Peter David, Kevin J. Anderson, Keith R.A. DeCandido, James Blish, and — inexplicably — yours truly. Color me flattered to be mentioned in the same context as any of those guys, never mind all of them.

Here’s the passage I liked best, of course:

The literary Star Trek universe, thanks to a ground-shattering shake-up by David Mack’s Destiny trilogy, but which was built up in the previous few books, is now a more exciting place than ever before.

Very kind of him to say, so pay Mark’s blog a visit and let him know you stopped by.

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

Newsflash!

TrekMovie.com has just posted an excerpt from this new, expanded edition of Star Trek Mirror Universe: The Sorrows of Empire.

The excerpt is the new third chapter, “The Sleep of Reason,” the first full chapter of new material in the novel.

I hope you all dig it.

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

See and hear me talk with comic-book historian Alan Kistler about “Remakes, Reboots & Sequels” on a new episode of his web video series, Crazy Sexy Geeks! Also featured in this episode are actor-director Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica) and musician-filmmaker Rob Zombie (the new Halloween films).

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

Remember that gig I was so excited about landing last month? A lot of you have been asking what it is. Alas, I can’t tell you. Although I will need to begin work on it in the next few weeks, I’ve just been told it will not be announced publicly until February 2010.

So expect lots of cryptic tweets and posts between now and then about The Mystery Project, which I will abbreviate as “TMP” and refer to by its constituent parts — e.g., TMP Part 1, etc.

Sigh. It’s hard to self-promote when you’re not allowed to tell people what you’re working on…

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

I can’t publicly announce what it is yet, but I can say I heard back today about the writing sample I submitted last week. The powers that be were “really impressed” with it and have offered me the gig I was trying out for — and it turns out to be a bigger gig than I thought.  W00T!

Of course, I now have to figure out how to do the new gig (which will keep me very busy) and keep up on my novel-writing deadlines, but this is, as they say, a good problem to have. :)

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

I had a pleasant day yesterday.

I got up early, saw my wife off to work, then made pancakes for my breakfast. After running some simple errands, I did a bit of work reviewing the copy edit on my upcoming expanded edition of Star Trek Mirror Universe: The Sorrows of Empire, and I received an e-mail from an editor about a possible new writing gig (we’ll have to see if it works out; I need to submit some writing samples to earn the job).

Around 3pm I met with Keith R.A. DeCandido and Marco Palmieri for lunch at an Irish place in midtown Manhattan. It was just a friendly get-together, though we talked shop because we couldn’t help ourselves.

After lunch, I walked up to the Barnes and Noble store on Fifth Avenue at 45th Street. I was pleased to find that they had several copies of my novel The Calling on the new fiction table at the front of the store. I asked a manager if it would be okay for me to sign copies of the book, and she graciously allowed me to do so. Then she put snazzy “autographed copy” stickers on the covers and moved them out to the front edge of the table, where they’d be more visible. So anyone in the New York area who wants a signed copy of The Calling, hurry on over to B&N on Fifth & 45th!

My next stop was Midtown Comics at 45th Street and Lexington, where I met my friend Alan Kistler to record a segment for an upcoming episode of his new web video series, Crazy Sexy Geeks, the first installment of which features Amber Benson and premieres Wednesday, August 5.

Today I’m celebrating three friends’ birthdays —the first with a brunch, the latter two belatedly with dinner and wine. And at some point I need to get back to work: I have an audition piece to write, a magazine article to draft, a copy edited ms. to finish vetting, and a new novel to start writing. August, it seems, is going to be crazy busy here at Casa Mack…

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

It’s 4:36am and I have just turned in the completed ms. of Star Trek Mirror Universe: The Sorrows of Empire (Expanded Edition). Now, to bed.

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

It’s 3:15am and I have just finished the manuscript for the expanded edition of my previously published short novel Star Trek Mirror Universe: The Sorrows of Empire.

As TV producer Hans Beimler once said to me upon my delivery of a first-draft teleplay for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Great! Now the writing can begin!”

Tomorrow I shall write the acknowledgments, paste in text for “About the Author,” and begin my polishing draft and revisions. Woo, and might I add for emphasis, hoo.

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

Snurched from suricattus and kradical — the last lines of my published (and a few upcoming) novels, and a few of my longer novellas. Obviously, these exclude “to be continued” and other such non-narrative crapola.

Hidden behind the cut to spare the f-listed.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

Today’s bit of amusement was brought to my attention by author Andy Mangels, fellow member of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers:

Tom’s Glossary of Publishing Terms
by Thomas Christensen

A perfect bit of snarkiness for authors, and the people they drive crazy who return the favor.

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

For anyone who has ever written a book, and especially for those who dream of one day writing a book but so far have hit nothing but brick walls, I recommend you read Bookgasm’s hilarious article, “50 Reasons No One Wants to Publish Your First Book” by Allan Mott. It’s funny because it’s true.

I can say that while pitching a book to an editor a few months ago, I really was rebuffed with explanations #4, #5, and #50. I’ve often said that #35 is the root of my frustration with the publishing world, and I think that most of the idiots who ask me to read or cowrite their brilliant unpublished idea need to take #48 to heart.

Go. Read. Laugh.

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

Last night, Showtime aired the series finale of The L Word. What a goddamned disappointment. (A lengthy rant follows…)

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

Sometimes in the life of a freelance writer, all of one’s projects seem remote and abstract. Even if you are focused on the one you are currently drafting, you are half aware of the others lingering in various stages of completion.

At other times, everything collides.

For me, today is an example of the latter. Though I am in a mad scramble to finish my ms. for Star Trek Vanguard: Precipice by April 15 (having negotiated a deadline extension today with Madam Editor), I now must also review and return the copy edited ms. of The 4400: Promises Broken and the first-pass pages of my first original novel, The Calling, by March 25.

Write one novel while editing two others: this is the nature of the job. Oh, well — I knew the job was dangerous when I took it.

Back to work now. If I don’t return phone calls or e-mails in a timely fashion this month, now you know why….

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

A few months ago, an online discussion between other professional writers in a forum I visit alerted me to the fact that I didn’t understand “fair use” law at all. Basically, when it comes to song lyrics or poems (or any other work still under copyright), there is no such thing as “fair use” if the work in which you wish to reproduce the quote is even remotely commercial.

For instance, if I were a music critic writing a review of the latest Rush album, and I wanted to quote a few lines of its lyrics to underscore a critical point about my opinion of the album, that would be protected as “fair use,” which is intended to protect academic and critical writings. The same would hold true if I were writing a college thesis about, for instance, lyrical themes in progressive rock music between 1990 and 2009.

But I wanted to quote a few lines from the Rush song “Workin’ Them Angels” as the epigraph for my new novel, The Calling. And there is absolutely nothing “fair use” about that. My novel is a commercial venture. So if I want to reproduce, even only in small part, someone else’s copyrighted content as part of that work, I have to get written permission and pay for the privilege.

So I did. I contacted the management company of Rush back in December and submitted via e-mail my written request to use four lines of lyrics as my novel’s epigraph. I followed up with their office this afternoon.

Tonight I have my license agreement. Its terms are simple and fair, and the fee was reasonable. And I have the peace of mind that comes with knowing I can include a nod to Neil Peart and Rush, long a creative inspiration to me as a writer, without violating their intellectual-property rights.

This pleases me.

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

For the past few hours I have stared at the blank page, or searched the Internet for inspiration, but I am stalled.

I had all these great notes in my outline for the backstory of an alien world visited by my characters. A tale of its social decline and lapse back into an agrarian age, etc. There was just one thing I forgot to plan ahead of time:

What the damn aliens who live there look like. All day I’ve been stuck on this, and I’m stumped.

They need to be vaguely humanoid, but everything’s been done in Star Trek. There are no more animals left to anthropomorphize, it seems. And who cares about yet another distinctive bump in their foreheads? I feel as if I’ve already used up my quotient of cool alien details in the Destiny trilogy with the Caeliar and the brief walk-on by the Kindir.

In my own books I’ve already done the hawk/eagle-based species known as the Tezwans. No mileage to be found in felinoids, caninoids, lupinoids, etc. Bipedal rabbits, anyone?

I can’t believe that this is what has derailed my entire process….

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

Whenever it comes time for me to start drafting a new manuscript, the first day is notoriously unproductive. I open that brand-new document and gaze upon the intimidating emptiness of it. The tabula rasa dares me to violate its pristine beauty.

So I cheat my way over this first mental hurdle. I spend day one preparing the template.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

My doorbell rang this evening; when I answered the door I was met by my next-door neighbor, Mimo, whose wife accepted a UPS package for me while I was out this afternoon. Seeing the Simon & Schuster logo on the side of the cardboard box, I got a bouncy happy feeling —

The box contained my comp issues of Star Trek Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows, which contains my short story, “For Want of a Nail” (among others).

Excellent…. Then the wife and I ordered Mexican food for dinner and enjoyed some tall, double-strong Cuba Libres. Olé!

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

DONE: The 75,000-word polished manuscript for The 4400: Promises Broken has been submitted to my editor.

NEXT: I have a couple of days before I pick up the copy edited pages of The Calling for final changes. Between now and then, I plan to read A Case of Conscience by James Blish.

If all goes well, I will have the copy edit of The Calling finished and returned to my editor by January 21.

THEN: I shall start drafting my next installment of the Star Trek Vanguard saga, Precipice.

I have until the end of March to finish that manuscript. Then it’s copy edits on Promises Broken, and on to the expansion of The Sorrows of Empire, due by the end of May.

After that … here there be monsters (but no paying gigs). Keep your fingers crossed, amigos. Rough sailing ahead.

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

I am pleased to report that as of today, I have completed my first draft of The 4400: Promises Broken.

The novel clocks in at roughly 75,000 words — lean and mean, considering the epic scope of the story I set out to tell within its pages. Set after the show’s cliffhanger final episode (and following up on the events of Greg Cox’s upcoming post-finale novel The 4400: Welcome to Promise City), Promises Broken is intended to serve as a sort of grand finale to the saga of The 4400.

The spell-check is done. The title page, dedication, and epigraph are in place. The acknowledgments and “about the author” pages are written and tacked on to the end. Now I think I’ll take a few hours off, get a shower, make dinner for my wife when she gets home, and have a beer to celebrate.

I’ll be spending the weekend reading through the manuscript and doing some very fast polishing. On Monday, the ms. goes to madam editor. Then I will take a couple of days to read my just-arrived copy of A Case of Conscience by James Blish.

On Wednesday, I will pick up the copy edited manuscript of The Calling and begin making my final revisions to that tale. My thanks to all of you reading this who have provided me feedback on the rough draft; to those of you who still haven’t done so, you have until Wednesday to get me your input. (You know who you are…)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my ice-cold Spaten awaits…

Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog.

Afternoon, sports fans!

First here is the rundown of my scribblings that are expected to arrive in print during calendar year 2009.

March (or thereabouts): Star Trek Magazine, Voyager Special: my article about whether Neelix or the Emergency Medical Hologram was the better man — and what my verdict says about me.

July: The Calling, a supernatural thriller set in modern-day New York, and my first published work of original fiction.

October: The 4400: Promises Broken — the long-awaited "grand finale" tale of this prematurely canceled TV series created by Scott Peters and René Echevarria

December: Star Trek Vanguard: Precipice, the fifth book in this series that I co-developed with Marco Palmieri and on which I have shared the writing duties with Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore.

In addition, I have a project confirmed for publication in February 2010: an expansion of my Star Trek Mirror Universe short novel, The Sorrows of Empire, into a full-length paperback.


Upcoming Public Appearances:

New York Comic Con
February 6–8, 2009
Jacob Javits Center
New York, N.Y.

Shore Leave
July 10–12, 2009
Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn
Baltimore, MD

In addition, I have been invited to participate in Lunacon (in March) and I-Con (in April), two local New York-area conventions. I have not yet confirmed for either one, but I'll keep y'all posted.

That's all for now. You may return to your irregularly schedule web-browsing, already in progress.