Can William Shatner actually write?
Erik Hamlett
If I wear pajamas and save the galaxy can I get a contract, too? But
seriously, are his books worth reading?
Brenda Clough
Erik Hamlett wrote:
> If I wear pajamas and save the galaxy can I get a contract, too? But
> seriously, are his books worth reading?
No.
--
Brenda W. Clough, author of HOW LIKE A GOD from Tor Books
<clo...@erols.com> http://www.sff.net/people/Brenda
Dorothy J Heydt
In article <6gfg1t$q1u$1...@pith.uoregon.edu>,
Erik Hamlett <eph...@gladstone.uoregon.edu> wrote:
>If I wear pajamas and save the galaxy can I get a contract, too? But
>seriously, are his books worth reading?
I haven't read any of them and don't plan to. But some of them are
by Ron Goulart and others are by Bill Quick, both competent writers.
You could give one a try. Try the public library if you're not
interested in spending money on the experiment.
Um, the direct answer to the question in your subject line is,
"Who knows? We've never known him to make the attempt."
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
http://www.kithrup.com/~djheydt
_A Point of Honor_ is out....
Gary Farber
In <352B8859...@erols.com> Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
: Erik Hamlett wrote:
: > If I wear pajamas and save the galaxy can I get a contract, too? But
: > seriously, are his books worth reading?
: No.
Both Ron Goulart and the Reeves-Stevens are generally competent, if not
more so, writers.
--
--
Copyright 1998 by Gary Farber; Web Researcher; Nonfiction Writer,
Fiction and Nonfiction Editor; gfa...@panix.com; B'klyn, NYC, US
Robert J Sawyer
> Um, the direct answer to the question in your subject line is,
> "Who knows? We've never known him to make the attempt."
That's not true. Shatner got a co-credit for the story for
STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER. Whatever one might think of the
resulting movie (personally, I rather like it, for reasons I
outline in an essay on my web page at www.sfwriter.com/rmstfive.com),
credits for motion pictures are arbitrated; one does not get a credit
for writing without actually having done the work.
--------------------------------------
R O B E R T J . S A W Y E R
Author of FRAMESHIFT (Tor, June 1997)
and ILLEGAL ALIEN (Ace, December 1997)
NEW URL ------------> www.sfwriter.com
--------------------------------------
Evelyn C. Leeper
In article <OO65Xtx...@nih2naac.prod2.compuserve.com>,
Robert J Sawyer <7670...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
> > Um, the direct answer to the question in your subject line is,
> > "Who knows? We've never known him to make the attempt."
>
> That's not true. Shatner got a co-credit for the story for
> STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER. Whatever one might think of the
> resulting movie (personally, I rather like it, for reasons I
> outline in an essay on my web page at www.sfwriter.com/rmstfive.com),
> credits for motion pictures are arbitrated; one does not get a credit
> for writing without actually having done the work.
If this is true it wasn't always. Many writers got screen credit
during the blacklist for work not their own. (Kirk Douglas tells of
discussing with Stanley Kubrick the screen credit for Trumbo's
screenplay for SPARTACUS. Kubrick said they could just put his
[Kubrick's] name on the screen and Douglas got so pissed off that
Kubrick would claim credit for someone else's work that he inisisted
that Trumbo actually get credit.)
And Pierre Boulle not only got credit but an Academy Award for the
screenplay to THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI--and he spoke no English!
--
Evelyn C. Leeper | ele...@lucent.com
+1 732 957 2070 | http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824
"What has the study of biology taught you about the Creator, Dr. Haldane?"
"I'm not sure, but He seems to be inordinately fond of beetles."
Gary Farber
In <6ggk8v$e...@nntpa.cb.lucent.com> Evelyn C. Leeper <e...@hobcs1.mt.lucent.com> wrote:
: In article <OO65Xtx...@nih2naac.prod2.compuserve.com>,
: Robert J Sawyer <7670...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
: > > Um, the direct answer to the question in your subject line is,
: > > "Who knows? We've never known him to make the attempt."
: >
: > That's not true. Shatner got a co-credit for the story for
: > STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER. Whatever one might think of the
: > resulting movie (personally, I rather like it, for reasons I
: > outline in an essay on my web page at www.sfwriter.com/rmstfive.com),
: > credits for motion pictures are arbitrated; one does not get a credit
: > for writing without actually having done the work.
: If this is true it wasn't always. Many writers got screen credit
: during the blacklist for work not their own. (Kirk Douglas tells of
: discussing with Stanley Kubrick the screen credit for Trumbo's
: screenplay for SPARTACUS. Kubrick said they could just put his
: [Kubrick's] name on the screen and Douglas got so pissed off that
: Kubrick would claim credit for someone else's work that he inisisted
: that Trumbo actually get credit.)
: And Pierre Boulle not only got credit but an Academy Award for the
: screenplay to THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI--and he spoke no English!
Yes. The fact that the Writer's Guild has a good contract, and that there
is arbitration, in no way implies the final conclusion that Robert states.
Andrew Carter
On Wed, 8 Apr 1998, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> "Who knows? We've never known him to make the attempt."
Hmmm...maybe he might try acting some time, too.
Michael T Pins
Robert J Sawyer <7670...@CompuServe.COM> writes:
> > Um, the direct answer to the question in your subject line is,
> > "Who knows? We've never known him to make the attempt."
>That's not true. Shatner got a co-credit for the story for
>STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER. Whatever one might think of the
>resulting movie (personally, I rather like it, for reasons I
>outline in an essay on my web page at www.sfwriter.com/rmstfive.com),
>credits for motion pictures are arbitrated; one does not get a credit
>for writing without actually having done the work.
Shatner got co-credit for the *story*, not the *screenplay*. They're two
very different things. To be precise: "Story by William Shatner & Harve
Bennett & David Loughery, Screenplay by David Loughery".
--
************************************************************************
* Michael T Pins | mtp...@visi.com *
* keeper of the nn sources | mtp...@isca.uiowa.edu *
* ftp.isca.uiowa.edu | #include <std.disclaimer> *
Gary Farber
In <UUXW.162$uA3.6...@ptah.visi.com>
Michael T Pins <mtp...@visi.com> wrote:
: Shatner got co-credit for the *story*, not the *screenplay*. They're two
: very different things. To be precise: "Story by William Shatner & Harve
: Bennett & David Loughery, Screenplay by David Loughery".
A story can be dictated; well, so can a screenplay, but it's rather
considerably more rare than the former. The difference between a
treatment and a screenplay (or a novel) is fairly large.
Tharsia
Andrew Carter writes,
>
A hit, a very palpable hit!
(If there still remains anyone who hasn't gone to The Evil Overlord website, be
advised that there is a HYSTERICALLY funny parody of The Original Series by
Peter Anspach as well.)
http://web.eviloverlord.com/eviloverlord/parodies/
Tha...@aol.com
"Whoever does not study history is doomed to repeat it."
Where are the eagles and the trumpets?
— T. S. Elliot
PMccutc103
mtp...@visi.com (Michael T Pins) wrote:
>Shatner got co-credit for the *story*, not the *screenplay*. They're two
>very different things. To be precise: "Story by William Shatner & Harve
>Bennett & David Loughery, Screenplay by David Loughery".
Pete's (very rough) rule of thumb for movies: the fewer names you see under
"story" and "screenplay" the better. Two is OK. More than two, and I start to
worry.
________________________
Pete McCutchen
Jerry Bryson
Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
> Erik Hamlett wrote:
>
> > If I wear pajamas and save the galaxy can I get a contract, too? But
> > seriously, are his books worth reading?
>
> No.
>
...to which question?
--
Failure doesn't mean you can't;
It just means you haven't
J. B. Cattley
>: Shatner got co-credit for the *story*, not the *screenplay*. They're two
>: very different things. To be precise: "Story by William Shatner & Harve
>: Bennett & David Loughery, Screenplay by David Loughery".
I was under the impression that the original poster was talking about
Tekwar. Anyone read it/them?
jbc
Ian Turner
J. B. Cattley wrote:
> I was under the impression that the original poster was talking about
> Tekwar. Anyone read it/them?
I was SO awfully impressed by the TV Tekwar stuff that I picked up the
first three books and found out that they (IMO) sucked. I was most
flabbergasted to finally find a TV show far and away better than its
literary souce!
Ian T
Lilith
I *think* although I'm not sure, that the TV show came first, and the
books were spinoffs.
I read one of the books, and thought it was impressively *dreadful*.
-althea
Thomas Lindgren
lil...@dorsai.org (Lilith) writes:
> I read one of the books, and thought it was impressively *dreadful*.
You mean "aweful"?
Thomas
--
Thomas Lindgren, Uppsala University
e-mail: tho...@csd.uu.se
http://www.csd.uu.se/~thomasl/
Tathagres
Lilith wrote in message ...
>In article <353054...@wpine.com>, Ian Turner wrote:
>>J. B. Cattley wrote:
>>> I was under the impression that the original poster was talking about
>>> Tekwar. Anyone read it/them?
>>
>>I was SO awfully impressed by the TV Tekwar stuff that I picked up the
>>first three books and found out that they (IMO) sucked. I was most
>>flabbergasted to finally find a TV show far and away better than its
>>literary souce!
>
>I *think* although I'm not sure, that the TV show came first, and the
>books were spinoffs.
>
>
I think I made it through three or so pages and just couldn't do read
anymore...I don't think we had the series in Australia but I did remember
seeing it at a video store and wasn't really tempted because of the quality
of the writing in the novels..
--
Christie , President Mad Hatters Inc
'Cry, Trojans, cry! A Helen and a woe!
Cry, cry! Troy burns, or else let Helen go.'
----Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare
Keith Morrison
Tathagres wrote:
> >I *think* although I'm not sure, that the TV show came first, and the
> >books were spinoffs.
> >I read one of the books, and thought it was impressively *dreadful*.
> >
>
> I think I made it through three or so pages and just couldn't do read
> anymore...I don't think we had the series in Australia but I did remember
> seeing it at a video store and wasn't really tempted because of the quality
> of the writing in the novels..
The novels came first. The TV series was originally a series of 2 hour
movies that were part of the "Action Pack" of films/series (Hercules,
Kight Rider 2020, Rising Son, TekWar) of which Hercules and TekWar were
the only survivors, although TekWar obviously lived the shorter life.
--
Keith Morrison
kei...@polarnet.ca
Tharsia
In article <3534D25D...@polarnet.ca>, Keith Morrison <kei...@polarnet.ca>
writes:
>
>The novels came first. The TV series was originally a series of 2 hour
>movies that were part of the "Action Pack" of films/series (Hercules,
>Kight Rider 2020, Rising Son, TekWar) of which Hercules and TekWar were
>the only survivors, although TekWar obviously lived the shorter life.
I dunno . . . seems like every time I think TekWar is dead, I turn around and
there's Shatner's grinning face again on another one of those things!
Tha...@aol.com (in mundane terms, joan barger)
Dave
For some years now, the word around LA is that most of the books
that have been "written" by Shatner were ghosted by Ron Goulart.
I've got no formal proof, but trust the tellers.
Stephen Banks
His Trek novels are usually penned by the Reves(sp?) Judith & Garfield I
believe. At least he picked the two best Trek writers around.
--
____________________
Stephen R. Banks - Vice President / Communication
Net Explorer, Inc. - Online Development and Consulting
voice: 713-521-3102 Fax: 713-520-6133
Aviva Rothschild
nos...@nospam.com,News writes:
>For some years now, the word around LA is that most of the books
>that have been "written" by Shatner were ghosted by Ron Goulart.
>I've got no formal proof, but trust the tellers.
I think that's true. I've only read a bit of the Tek stuff, but right
off the bat I noticed that the main character was named Jake, which is
Goulart's favorite tough-guy hero name, and he liked skinny women (by
this I mean skinny enough for lots of people to comment on), which is
another Goulart touch. If Goulart ain't writin' 'em, Shatner sure is
influenced by him.
Aviva
Tharsia
In article <sbanks-1904...@38.226.173.178>, sba...@netexplorer.com
(Stephen Banks) writes:
>
>His Trek novels are usually penned by the Reves(sp?) Judith & Garfield I
>believe. At least he picked the two best Trek writers around.
>
>In article <353A6E...@nospam.com>, nos...@nospam.com wrote:
>
>>For some years now, the word around LA is that most of the books
>>that have been "written" by Shatner were ghosted by Ron Goulart.
>>I've got no formal proof, but trust the tellers.
>
>
Then why do they bother putting Shatner's name on them? Trek novel readers must
respect good Trek novel writers more, and who after all is the primary target
of Trek books?
Bewilderedly--
Brenda Clough
Tharsia wrote:
> In article <sbanks-1904...@38.226.173.178>, sba...@netexplorer.com
> (Stephen Banks) writes:
>
> >
> >His Trek novels are usually penned by the Reves(sp?) Judith & Garfield I
> >believe. At least he picked the two best Trek writers around.
> >
> >In article <353A6E...@nospam.com>, nos...@nospam.com wrote:
> >
> >>For some years now, the word around LA is that most of the books
> >>that have been "written" by Shatner were ghosted by Ron Goulart.
> >>I've got no formal proof, but trust the tellers.
> >
> >
>
> Then why do they bother putting Shatner's name on them? Trek novel readers must
> respect good Trek novel writers more, and who after all is the primary target
> of Trek books?
> Bewilderedly--
>
Ron Goulart has said that he was able to put his kids through college on the Tek
novels he's ghosted. As to why Shatner's name continues to appear -- there are
people who will buy anything with Shatner's name on it. Poor fools, why should
they not then be subjected to Darwinian forces and gradually shorn of all their
money?
Brenda
Aviva Rothschild
clo...@erols.com,News writes:
>Ron Goulart has said that he was able to put his kids through college
>on the Tek
>novels he's ghosted. As to why Shatner's name continues to appear --
>there are
>people who will buy anything with Shatner's name on it. Poor fools,
>why should
>they not then be subjected to Darwinian forces and gradually shorn of
>all their
>money?
Sort of economic Darwin Award-winners?
Aviva
Ruud van de Kruisweg
>His Trek novels are usually penned by the Reves(sp?) Judith & Garfield I
>believe. At least he picked the two best Trek writers around.
>
>In article <353A6E...@nospam.com>, nos...@nospam.com wrote:
>
>>For some years now, the word around LA is that most of the books
>>that have been "written" by Shatner were ghosted by Ron Goulart.
>>I've got no formal proof, but trust the tellers.
Why is it that books don't contain warnings like: "This book by William
Shatner was actually written by Ron Goulart. The management likes to
apologize for the inconvenience."? I believe there's some US law that
came into being after the Milli Vanilli concert fiasco that makes it
mandatory to warn the audience beforehand that the music of the show
they're going to see is taped. If you're watching a documentary with
staged parts played by actors there's usually a warning that were not
seeing actual footage. So why are books different in this respect. If I'm
buying a book by a famous actor that was was written by someone else
entirely, that's fraud IMO.
Ruud
--
The Terratec EWS64 XL Mailing List: www.flatearth.demon.nl/ews64xl.htm
Ruud van de Kruisweg - The Flat Earth Company - krui...@flatearth.demon.nl
[My email-address has been SPAM-proofed. Remove _NOSPAM_ from my address.]
Lawrence Watt-Evans
>On Sun, 19 Apr 1998 21:54:08 -0600, sba...@netexplorer.com (Stephen
>Banks) wrote:
>
>>His Trek novels are usually penned by the Reves(sp?) Judith & Garfield I
>>believe. At least he picked the two best Trek writers around.
>>
>>In article <353A6E...@nospam.com>, nos...@nospam.com wrote:
>>
>>>For some years now, the word around LA is that most of the books
>>>that have been "written" by Shatner were ghosted by Ron Goulart.
>>>I've got no formal proof, but trust the tellers.
>
>Why is it that books don't contain warnings like: "This book by William
>Shatner was actually written by Ron Goulart. The management likes to
>apologize for the inconvenience."?
Tradition. Ghostwriters have been around for centuries.
(Incidentally, yes, Ron Goulart wrote the Tek books, and the
Reeves-Stevenses wrote the Trek books.)
--
The Misenchanted Page: http://www.sff.net/people/LWE/ Last update 2/12/98
Brenda Clough
Ruud van de Kruisweg wrote:
> Why is it that books don't contain warnings like: "This book by William
> Shatner was actually written by Ron Goulart. The management likes to
> apologize for the inconvenience."? I believe there's some US law that
> came into being after the Milli Vanilli concert fiasco that makes it
> mandatory to warn the audience beforehand that the music of the show
> they're going to see is taped. If you're watching a documentary with
> staged parts played by actors there's usually a warning that were not
> seeing actual footage. So why are books different in this respect. If I'm
> buying a book by a famous actor that was was written by someone else
> entirely, that's fraud IMO.
>
> Ruud
> --
>
SFWA is actually working on this. The idea is to hammer out some sort of
policy, agreeable to authors and publishers, that would define what it really
means when a name appears on a book. But they only started work this year, so
don't hold your breath for fast results.
Regards,
Tharsia
In article <353B4F36...@erols.com>, Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com>
writes:
>Ron Goulart has said that he was able to put his kids through college on the
>Tek novels he's ghosted. As to why Shatner's name continues to appear --
there
>are people who will buy anything with Shatner's name on it. Poor fools, why
>should they not then be subjected to Darwinian forces and gradually shorn of
all
>their money?
They should put a disclaimer on it -- somewhere inside, maybe -- for people who
_wouldn'_t buy anything with Shatner's name but would buy from a real author.
:-)
MN1st
kruisweg@_NOSPAM_flatearth.demon.nl wrote
>Why is it that books don't contain warnings like: "This book by William
>Shatner was actually written by Ron Goulart. The management likes to
>apologize for the inconvenience."?
as a rug has more brains. Though it does annoy me when he comes on talk shows
and says how gratifying it is to "write."
Ahasuerus the Wandering Jew
Aviva Rothschild <av...@maroon.cudenver.edu> wrote:
> nos...@nospam.com,News writes:
>>For some years now, the word around LA is that most of the books
>>that have been "written" by Shatner were ghosted by Ron Goulart.
>>I've got no formal proof, but trust the tellers.
>
It *is* true.
FWIW, Goulart's name does appear on _William Shatner's Tekworld_ (Epic
Comics, 1993).
--
Ahasuerus
PMccutc103
Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
>SFWA is actually working on this. The idea is to hammer out some sort of
>policy, agreeable to authors and publishers, that would define what it really
>means when a name appears on a book. But they only started work this year,
>so
>don't hold your breath for fast results.
Good luck getting the _Star Trek_ people to agree to something like this. They
want to be able to slap the name of some celeb on the cover of a ghostwritten
book because _it sells_. I realise that this is stating the obvious, but I
really can't see much that SFWA can do to the publisher of Star Trek books.
Boycott? Please.
I do notice, by the way, that Baen seems to be cashing in on the "celebrity
writer" thing, but that its books at least are marketed as "co-authored"
efforts, pairing the celebrity with a writer and putting the writer's name on
the cover in addition to the celebrity's. This strikes me as being something
of an improvment.
________________________
Pete McCutchen
Lawrence Watt-Evans
On 23 Apr 1998 14:08:10 GMT, pmccu...@aol.com (PMccutc103) wrote:
>Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
>
>
>>SFWA is actually working on this. The idea is to hammer out some sort of
>>policy, agreeable to authors and publishers, that would define what it really
>>means when a name appears on a book. But they only started work this year,
>>so
>>don't hold your breath for fast results.
>
>Good luck getting the _Star Trek_ people to agree to something like this. They
>want to be able to slap the name of some celeb on the cover of a ghostwritten
>book because _it sells_.
Which Star Trek people? Pocket/Paramount wouldn't much care; they
don't do much ghostwritten stuff.
If you mean the actors, who cares?
> I realise that this is stating the obvious, but I
>really can't see much that SFWA can do to the publisher of Star Trek books.
>Boycott? Please.
Actually, SFWA got Pocket to back down a couple of times on different
issues. The threat of bad publicity can be pretty effective.
David G. Bell
In article <199804231408...@ladder03.news.aol.com>
pmccu...@aol.com "PMccutc103" writes:
> Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
>
>
> >SFWA is actually working on this. The idea is to hammer out some sort of
> >policy, agreeable to authors and publishers, that would define what it really
> >means when a name appears on a book. But they only started work this year,
> >so
> >don't hold your breath for fast results.
>
> Good luck getting the _Star Trek_ people to agree to something like this. They
> want to be able to slap the name of some celeb on the cover of a ghostwritten
> book because _it sells_. I realise that this is stating the obvious, but I
> really can't see much that SFWA can do to the publisher of Star Trek books.
> Boycott? Please.
>
> I do notice, by the way, that Baen seems to be cashing in on the "celebrity
> writer" thing, but that its books at least are marketed as "co-authored"
> efforts, pairing the celebrity with a writer and putting the writer's name on
> the cover in addition to the celebrity's. This strikes me as being something
> of an improvment.
It sounds far more likely to be true, much as the celebrity
autobiographies which as "as told to <writer>".
At what point would the UK Trade Descriptions Act come into this, if the
UK publisher of a Trek novel didn't credit the non-celebrity author? Or
what about the provision in the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act
1988?
It isn't impossible that a celebrity could come up with a good idea for
a story and, especially if they're an actor, and thus exposed to the art
of telling a story, they might be able to put together some sort of plot
structure. It would be remarkable if somebody known in some non-
literary field turned out to be able to write a book, with no more than
the customary editorial help, and the way in which is seems that some
celebrities can be given so much more than their due credit somehow
detracts from the status of the talented few who deserve sole credit.
--
David G. Bell -- Farmer, SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
Erik Hamlett
Didn't Peter Ustinov write some books? And I know Jimmy Buffet did.
Lawrence Watt-Evans
>It isn't impossible that a celebrity could come up with a good idea for
>a story and, especially if they're an actor, and thus exposed to the art
>of telling a story, they might be able to put together some sort of plot
>structure.
In fact, Ron Goulart said that Shatner did provide an outline (more or
less in screenplay form, since it's what he knew) for the first Tek
book -- I don't know about the others in the series, as they weren't
out yet when I heard what Ron had to say on the subject.
David G. Bell
In article <353fbc0a...@news.clark.net>
lawr...@clark.net "Lawrence Watt-Evans" writes:
> On Thu, 23 Apr 98 18:28:50 GMT, db...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G.
> Bell") wrote:
>
> >It isn't impossible that a celebrity could come up with a good idea for
> >a story and, especially if they're an actor, and thus exposed to the art
> >of telling a story, they might be able to put together some sort of plot
> >structure.
>
> In fact, Ron Goulart said that Shatner did provide an outline (more or
> less in screenplay form, since it's what he knew) for the first Tek
> book -- I don't know about the others in the series, as they weren't
> out yet when I heard what Ron had to say on the subject.
This makes sense.
I just wonder how the credits would have been worded if the end result
had been a movie instead of a book.
Doug Tricarico
In <893402...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk> db...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk
"Screenplay by Ron Goulart.
"Based on an idea by William Shatner."
If the outline he wrote was detailed enough, he might be able to
wrangle a "story by" credit.
CLIFFHANGER has a similar credit for whoever came up with that.
Doug
Gary Farber
In <6hoajh$8jr$1...@pith.uoregon.edu> Erik Hamlett <eph...@gladstone.uoregon.edu> wrote:
: Didn't Peter Ustinov write some books?
Yes, and at least one of them, whose title escapes me at the moment, is
wonderful.
[. . . .]
--
--
Copyright 1998 by Gary Farber; Web Researcher; Nonfiction Writer,
Fiction and Nonfiction Editor; gfa...@panix.com; B'klyn, NYC, US
Arthur Hlavaty
PMccutc103 (pmccu...@aol.com) wrote:
: Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
: >SFWA is actually working on this. The idea is to hammer out some sort of
: >policy, agreeable to authors and publishers, that would define what it really
: >means when a name appears on a book. But they only started work this year,
: >so
: >don't hold your breath for fast results.
: Good luck getting the _Star Trek_ people to agree to something like this. They
: want to be able to slap the name of some celeb on the cover of a ghostwritten
: book because _it sells_. I realise that this is stating the obvious, but I
: really can't see much that SFWA can do to the publisher of Star Trek books.
: Boycott? Please.
The Reeves-Stevenses are credited in the Shatner Star Trek books. I do not
believe that Goulart's name is mentioned anywhere in the Tek books.
--
Arthur D. Hlavaty hla...@panix.com
Church of the SuperGenius In Wile E. We Trust
\\\ E-zine available on request. ///
Lawrence Watt-Evans
On 25 Apr 1998 14:46:57 -0400, hla...@panix.com (Arthur Hlavaty)
wrote:
>The Reeves-Stevenses are credited in the Shatner Star Trek books. I do not
>believe that Goulart's name is mentioned anywhere in the Tek books.
He's in the dedication of the first one -- it's something like, "To
Ron Goulart, without whom this book wouldn't have been possible."
(Paraphrased from memory.)
--
The Misenchanted Page: http://www.sff.net/people/LWE/ Last update 4/24/98
Keith Morrison
Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:
>
> On 25 Apr 1998 14:46:57 -0400, hla...@panix.com (Arthur Hlavaty)
> wrote:
>
> >The Reeves-Stevenses are credited in the Shatner Star Trek books. I do not
> >believe that Goulart's name is mentioned anywhere in the Tek books.
>
> He's in the dedication of the first one -- it's something like, "To
> Ron Goulart, without whom this book wouldn't have been possible."
> (Paraphrased from memory.)
Now, *that* is an understatement.
--
Keith Morrison
kei...@polarnet.ca
Dave Nee/Other Change of Hobbit
Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote in message <35434a10...@news.clark.net>...
>On 25 Apr 1998 14:46:57 -0400, hla...@panix.com (Arthur Hlavaty)
>wrote:
>>The Reeves-Stevenses are credited in the Shatner Star Trek books. I do not
>>believe that Goulart's name is mentioned anywhere in the Tek books.
>
>He's in the dedication of the first one -- it's something like, "To
>Ron Goulart, without whom this book wouldn't have been possible."
>(Paraphrased from memory.)
Moreover, Goulart is the first dedicatee in every one of the Tek novels.
--
Dave Nee/The Other Change of Hobbit
2020 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley CA 94704-1117
voice: 510-848-0413 | fax: 510-595-9029
ocho...@dnai.com | http://www.dnai.com/~ochobbit
Nancy Lebovitz
In article <6htb31$1...@panix3.panix.com>,
Arthur Hlavaty <hla...@panix.com> wrote:
>
>The Reeves-Stevenses are credited in the Shatner Star Trek books. I do not
>believe that Goulart's name is mentioned anywhere in the Tek books.
>
for not picking up the Tek books? I haven't read anything of his since
the 70's, but I was really bored by his writing then.
--
Nancy Lebovitz (nan...@universe.digex.net)
November '97 calligraphic button catalogue available by email!
Brenda Clough
Nancy Lebovitz wrote:
> >
> Am I the only one who thinks that Ron Goulart is another good reason
> for not picking up the Tek books? I haven't read anything of his since
> the 70's, but I was really bored by his writing then.
>
> --
> Nancy Lebovitz (nan...@universe.digex.net)
>
And that's another reason why the truth-in-author-credit committee's work is
necessary. Not only do you, the consumer, want to know if Fred Famousface
really had anything to do with the writing of the book that lists him as
author. You would also want to know if Louisa Hack, the writer whose style
makes your teeth hurt, actually wrote it but is not credited anywhere.
Kevin J. Maroney
hla...@panix.com (Arthur Hlavaty) wrote:
>The Reeves-Stevenses are credited in the Shatner Star Trek books. I do not
>believe that Goulart's name is mentioned anywhere in the Tek books.
Goulart is definitely mentioned in the acknowledgements of the first
_Tek_ novel, as is common practice with ghostwritten novels by
celebrities. I had thought that his credit became more prominent in
the later volumes, but I cannot document that.
Kevin Maroney | kmar...@crossover.com
Kitchen Staff Supervisor
The New York Review of Science Fiction
http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html
Dave Nee/Other Change of Hobbit
Kevin J. Maroney wrote in message >Goulart is definitely mentioned in the
acknowledgements of the first
>_Tek_ novel, as is common practice with ghostwritten novels by
>celebrities. I had thought that his credit became more prominent in
>the later volumes, but I cannot document that.
Goulart receives the same kind of acknowledgement in each of the Tek
novels -- that I-couldn't-have-done-it-without-you dedication.
--
________________________________________________________________
William George Ferguson
>Kevin J. Maroney wrote in message >Goulart is definitely mentioned in the
>acknowledgements of the first
>>_Tek_ novel, as is common practice with ghostwritten novels by
>>celebrities. I had thought that his credit became more prominent in
>>the later volumes, but I cannot document that.
"Dave Nee/Other Change of Hobbit" <ocho...@dnai.com> wrote:
>Goulart receives the same kind of acknowledgement in each of the Tek
>novels -- that I-couldn't-have-done-it-without-you dedication.
Considering that Goulart probably wrote the dedication, this should
not be amazing.
Cineviews
> > Um, the direct answer to the question in your subject line is,
> > "Who knows? We've never known him to make the attempt."
> Robert J Sawyer (7670...@CompuServe.com): "That's not true. Shatner
> got a co-credit for the story for STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER.
> Whatever one might think of the resulting movie (personally, I rather like
> it, for reasons I outline in an essay on my web page at
> www.sfwriter.com/rmstfive.com), credits for motion pictures are arbitrated;
> one does not get a credit for writing without actually having done the work.
Evelyn C. Leeper (e...@hobcs1.mt.lucent.com): "If this is true it wasn't
always. Many writers got screen credit during the blacklist for work not their
own. (Kirk Douglas tells of discussing with Stanley Kubrick the screen credit
for Trumbo's screenplay for SPARTACUS. Kubrick said they could just put his
[Kubrick's] name on the screen and Douglas got so pissed off that Kubrick would
claim credit for someone else's work that he inisisted that Trumbo actually get
credit.)"
Thank God there were actors of conscience like Kirk Douglas during the '50s
Communie-Hunt Blacklisting Period who were not afraid to stand up to the
paranoia of that dark time. Last year, I read a book entitled "Inside Out: A
Memoir of the Blacklist" by screenwriter Walter Bernstein ("Fail Safe," "The
Molly McGuires" and "The Front) which brought that era to life in a way unlike
anything I'd ever read before about that period.
In view of this new information, I'm even more outraged about Stanley
Kubrick's plundering of Douglas Trumbull's Oscar for Special Effects for 2001:
A SPACE ODYESSEY.
Evelyn C. Leeper (e...@hobcs1.mt.lucent.com): "And Pierre Boulle not only got
credit but an Academy Award for the screenplay to THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
-- and he spoke no English!"
His spoken English may not been so good, but are you saying that Boulle
himself adapted to BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI to final screenplay form all by
himself (with no shared credits)? Was Boulle's name possibly used in place of
a blacklisted writer? Was he himself given the award OR the screenwriter(s)
who adapted his novel?
I know that Boulle himself wrote a treatment for a PLANET OF THE APES
sequel entitled "PLANET OF MAN." I never heard anybody criticize his knowledge
of English. (By the way, does anybody have any detailed ideas about what
Boulle's "PLANET OF MAN" sequel was to be about?)
--- James King
James Nicoll
> Robert J Sawyer (7670...@CompuServe.com): "That's not true. Shatner
> got a co-credit for the story for STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER.
> Whatever one might think of the resulting movie (personally, I rather like
> it, for reasons I outline in an essay on my web page at
> www.sfwriter.com/rmstfive.com), credits for motion pictures are arbitrated;
> one does not get a credit for writing without actually having done the work.
>
There's an interesting discussion of issues related to the above
in _Fatal Subtraction_, which is about the Art Buchwald vs Paramount
lawsuit over _Coming to America_.
James Nicoll
--
"You can't be too rich or too thin."
"Tell that to Karen Carpenter."
"What does she know? She's dead."