Peter David On Continuity Issues In Trek Novels

Writer Peter David recently discussed the problems of staying faithful to Trek's history when writing novels based on the series.

"Generally, I know the continuity, so the only way it's an obstacle is if I develop a story that conflicts with something that they're already planning," David told The Trades. "But since most of my stuff focuses on either Original Trek or - at this point - the 'New Frontier,' there's really not much chance of overlap."

But the writer did come up against established Trek canon for one book. "I wrote a Star Trek novel called 'Vendetta'. If you look at that Star Trek novel, you will see that there is a disclaimer in there that says something to the effect of 'Some aspects of Vendetta are purely the invention of the author, and do not reflect the Star Trek universe of Gene Roddenberry,'" he explained.

"What essentially happened was, I submitted an outline, and initially the outline was approved, and then I wrote the novel and all of a sudden they started raising objections. Pocket Books said, 'Too bad, you've already approved the outline.' So the Roddenberry offices insisted that this disclaimer be put in, because 'Vendetta' did not match up with the Gene Roddenberry Star Trek universe."

"I had a female Borg in there, and I was told, 'There's no such thing as a female Borg,'" related David. "And I said, 'That's absurd! Are the Borg like aggressive Ascetic Jews, they only take the men and keep the women separate? [...] They go around and assimilate entire planets - you're telling me they never picked up a chick?'

"Now, of course, this is before the Borg Queen. This is before Seven of Nine. As a matter of fact, I had a character in there who in some ways bore a resemblance to Seven of Nine. It broke me up when Voyager picked up this female Borg who had been assimilated, and they tried to take her and somehow reconnect with her human half."

"So I'm kind of hoping that the next time they go back to press with 'Vendetta,' they'll remove the stupid disclaimer, because it's sure as hell moot."

'Vendetta' is currently out of print. The complete interview with Peter David, in which he talks more about the writing process and about his work with Comic books, can be found by following this link to The-Trades.com

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