Posts Tagged ‘future’

Video of the Star Trek panel at NASA

Here for your viewing pleasure is some of the video my wife Kara shot of the Star Trek authors’ panel, which was held in the Teague Auditorium at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, on Friday, June 28, 2013.

1. Breaking into writing for Star Trek

2. Does science fiction need accurate science?

3. The Star Trek canon

4. Writing for books vs. writing for film & TV

5. Fan fiction

6. Art & Exploration

7. Galvanizing Public Opinion

8. Creativity & Technology

9. What drives Star Trek stories?

10. NASA’s influence on Star Trek stories

11. What do we hope is next for Star Trek?

 

#SFWApro

Random News from the Future

Hey, everyone. I’ve just returned from a mind-blowing jaunt to the year 2159, and I thought I’d share a few of my observations.

  1. America still exists, but only as a conglomerate of wholly owned subsidiaries of WalMart, which has also become the world’s largest defense contractor. (Apparently, the U.S. was forced to break up in 2078 after being sued by Canada in federal court for violation of its own antitrust laws — by monopolizing global superpower status.)
  2. There is only one bank for the entire planet, and it’s called The Bank. Ironically, even though The Bank owns all the property, all the assets, and all the debt on the entire planet, the global economy is still in a recession due to a “credit crunch.”
  3. The number one restaurant chain in the world has a Mandarin name that two-thirds of the world’s population can’t pronounce without making native speakers of Mandarin laugh their asses off, and its menu is all about vegetables as entrees. However, to make its products sell in the American territories, all the vegetables are rolled in nacho cheese, wrapped in dough, and deep-fried in superbeef tallow. (You don’t even want to know what that is.)
  4. Lastly, the number-one bestselling holonovel in the world is, alas, yet another fucking vampire book.

Past, present and future

Because everyone else is doing it, my take on the past-present-future meme follows after the cut…

20 years ago, I…
… was a clueless freshman at NYU film school, struggling to overcome the culture shock of moving from the small town where I’d lived my whole life with my own bedroom, to a dorm room I shared with two other guys in the middle of Manhattan. And, little did I know at the time, I had just met my pal Glenn, who in years to come would become my best friend and the conduit for almost all the good things in my life.

10 years ago, I…
… started teaching myself HTML from a book so that I could make a lateral transfer at my job in a trade-magazine company to work on a new Web site with my favorite boss of all time, who was like a sister to me. This move into Internet-based editorial work made it possible for me to make a jump a few years later into a much better-paying job.

5 years ago, I…
… had just introduced to my family the woman who would become my wife, and I had just finished writing Wildfire, my first solo novel, which opened the door for me to start writing paperback novels a year later.

2 years ago, I…
… was writing Warpath, my Deep Space Nine novel.

1 year ago, I…
… was putting the finishing touches on the manuscript of Reap the Whirlwind, the third novel in the Star Trek Vanguard series — my longest single work to date; and I was kvelling about my first non-Star Trek novel, Wolverine: Road of Bones.

So far this year, I…
… have written Gods of Night, the first book of my Star Trek Destiny trilogy; have said farewell to my beloved friend and rabbi, David Honigsberg, who passed away in March at the maddeningly too-young age of 48; celebrated my third wedding anniversary; and met my longtime rock idols Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush.

Yesterday, I…
… confirmed with my agent that I’ve just sold my first original novel, The Calling, to Simon & Schuster; and wrote the first scene of Mere Mortals, the second book in the Star Trek Destiny trilogy.

Today, I…
… will write the second scene of Mere Mortals.

Tomorrow, I’ll…
… write the third scene of Mere Mortals. And so on, and so on….