Obviously we are all well aware of the contribution that Harlan Ellison made to sci-fi television. I was excited to learn that Theodore Sturgeon wrote Amok Time because I hadn't really thought that there might be other stalwarts-of-their-time that wrote for the show. I've read a short story collection of his, A Touch of Strange, and have four novels awaiting me on my shelf. Now I wonder what other surprises I'll find going episode-by-episode to check the writer credits.

People like Fredric Brown were not as famous as Robert A. Heinlein but certainly were prolific. There must be modern equivalents that should be on the staff for Enterprise. No offense to Manny Cotto, Robert Wolfe or any other regular Trek writers but why do you think that talent pool hasn't been tapped since TOS?

Do you mean "modern equivalents" as in people who bound out a billion sci-fi pupls in a career, or are you thinking more of the Heinlein set (famous sci-fi authors)?

Eh, I don't really care whether they're writers of Quality Lit or not. Just mainly writers for readers, not mainly writers for viewers.

And actually, I just wanted to get a discussion about the Trek writers in general because I think about that kind of crap. Like that John D. F. Black wrote The Naked Time for TOS and then they actually brought him back for The Naked Now on TNG. I think it's cool they did that, like with the actors from TOS brought back to DS9.

I would say that the Quality Lit writers are all probably too busy with other Hollywood-type projects (Michael Chabon doing the Spider Man 2 screenplay, for example) to be able to put time into a T.V. show. For the pulps, I'd say it's because they don't really exist anymore.

While there aren't pulps anymore, there are still quite a few talented journeyman sf writers (Pat Murphy, Nancy Kress, Charles Sheffield, just off the top of my head, and hey, how about David Gerrold?) who might make an interesting contribution. There's also the higher level of people like Connie Willis, who you wouldn't think would write an ST episode, but TPTB could find a way to tempt if they really wanted to. Even a giant like Ursula K. LeGuin is a conditional Trekkie, judging from her work - she once wrote a hilarious short story parody of TOS called Intraship, and once wrote in a non-genre story a brief, affectionately humorous comment on the relationship between Kirk and Spock, with a bit of K/S in it, which I will quote if I can find the book.

The question more likely is, why don't they? Why don't TPTB go for such writers? Do they just feel it is more of a hassle to adapt such writers to the TV screen, and feel it's better to have writers who know the format better, even if they don't know a lot about SF? Or is it that established writers who already have a career in books might have a healthier respect for what they write, and they fear that such writers would fight with Bermaga much more when the time came to appy Bermaga's divine producer's wisdom to their product? What do you all think?

It’s probably also because there’s simply so much more television these days – and a lot of it is so craptacular. I don’t think many writers, quality or otherwise, would risk their reputations on most things that are on these days (ENT not included of course ;-)

At the time when Gene Roddenberry was looking for writers for his tv series, the only other regularly broadcast "science fiction" was Lost In Space. That's not the case any more. There's not so much need for established sf writers to nuture a fledgling genre. Plus, career tv writers are more familiar with the genre, largely because of Star Trek.

And who says Bermaga wouldn't welcome an established sci-fi author? I think most high-profile writers would see writing for TV as a step down. A few years back they got a couple well-known authors to write X-Files episodes, and it was a huge deal.

I don't think they're really very familiar with the science fiction genre, I think that they're just familiar with ST, which, though it IS science fiction, is much more limited in scope than science fiction as a whole. Which is why I think in recent years the franchise has shown a certain poverty of mindbendingly new ideas.



Probably Bermaga WOULD welcome a high profile sci-fi author, if he dropped into their laps and begged for work at union scale. But high profile writers tend not to do that, they must be courted, and landing one of them is a coup (hence the publicity at X-Files). I don't know who X-Files hired (and I'm curious, could you tell me?), but I'd guess the producers made a special effort to reach out to those authors. I'm not really certain about the early history of ST (and if I'm wrong, please correct me) but I imagine that Frederic Brown, Norman Spinrad, Thedore Sturgeon and others may not have rushed to dump their wares into Roddenberry's lap when he started his new, untested show - he probably had to ask some of them to contribute, and maybe had to even pay them a little more than usual.
I think that Bermaga really ought to try to make a similar effort. They don't even have to go after the stars of the SF world. As I said before, there are many talented sf writers who, though they do not write best sellers, do sell steadily and write well. Most writers, even moderately successful ones, do not make a great deal of money for novels (especially when the fees are spread out over the time it takes to write them) and would probably be happy to write an episode if offered a good (though not exorbitant) fee. I can't imagine that ALL SF authors despise ST as trash. In fact, I'd be willing to bet some are closet trekkies who'd love to do it (the Whoopi Goldberg syndrome).
I think however, that Bermaga are simply not willing to put up with the hassle of working with someone who is not thouroughly familiar with writing for television and kowtowing to the producers, and probably prefer to put their effort and money toward, um, CGI effects, architectural catsuits and industrial-strength underwired bras, I guess. X-Files showed that SF authors COULD be hired, but for whatever reason Bermaga are not choosing to do it.

belsum,



Did they actually bring Black back, or was this a case that the stories were similar enough that credit was extended (or arbitrated via the WGA)?

Off the top of my head, one of the Pocket TOS books is from Sturgeon - an old story finished/expanded by someone else. To extend the Pocket connection, doesn't Kevin Ryan have some kind of writing credit on an episode or two of one of the shows?

I've got thoughts on science fiction book writing and science fiction television writing, and differences between genre books and genre television, which I'll save for a later post (and more reflection).

You're right, screamin, but what I was referring to (not very clearly) was Roddenberry having to reject script submissions by telling writers that "SF is not just cop shows, or westerns, with ray guns - would Joe Friday or Marshall Dillon explain how his gun works to a bad guy?" That's why he wound up writing his Writers' Guide.

What did Roddenberry mean by that? I thought he didn't want explanations of how things worked on the show- and that he thought of Star Trek in western terms.

Shimon Wincelberg was a well-known sci-fi writer, at least on TV. After Roddenberry rewrote his scripts, he had his name taken off or changed to "S. Bar-David." I know Ellison wasn't happy with what Roddenberry did to City, but I think the episode was vastly improved. Perhaps other sci-fi writers were scared off by all this.

Stephen King was one. The other was unfamiliar to me, so I don't remember. Their episodes aired one right after the other, though.


That's a good point. I bet Peter David would love to write an episode. Regardless of how you feel about his Trek novels, wouldn't you like to see what a Peter David episode was like?

As for the writers currently working on Enterprise, they've got some strengths. Manny Coto wrote "Similitude". Michael Sussman is at least partly responsible for some of the series's best episodes, including "Twilight" and "Dead Stop". Phyllis Strong used to partner with Sussman until this season. She wrote the blecky "Exile" this year, but I'm not ready to write her off until I see another episode.

Exactly. Which is why he had to continuously reject scripts from writers who thought SF was all about the gagetry & explanations and not about the people & narrative. He was pointing out that Friday and Dillon walked around in their stories assuming everyone knew what a rifle was, and so Kirk should be able to assume everyone around him understood a phaser rifle. And that the audience would catch on without a whole bunch of explanation. He wanted SF stories about people just like there were westerns and cop shows about people.

I seem to be having real clarity issues today. Am I dating myself with the Dragnet and Gunsmoke references?

William Gibson, the Father of Cyberpunk, was the other one. Which I only know because I looked him up when they originally announced it.

screamin I think you hit the nail on the head here:

The good SF writers who are out there have distinct individual styles, and I'm not sure Bermaga are interested in having someone else's fingerprints on Trek.

Or, for that matter, that the writers would be interested in adjusting their styles to fit the Trek mold. Working with established characters can cramp one's style, I hear. Not that Bermaga concern themselves overmuch with character consistency on Enterprise, but it could still be enough of an issue to be a dealbreaker.

That said, I'd love to see a Peter David written ep. He wrote Soulmates, which is my favorite B5 episode ever. And it's good precisely because, despite being written by a guest writer, it's true to the characters.

Didn't know he'd written Trek novels, though. Hmm... [shuffles off to Amazon...]

I think that's part of the problem with Trek today. Too much bland pabulum. Consistency at the expense of interest. I think that different writers can put different and interesting spins on character and plot without necessarily sacrificing continuity - I think they might be able to see new things to do more easily than the old established writing team that seems (to me) to settle too often into the same old comfortable rut.



Well, the writers of TOS did. Spinrad, Sturgeon, Brown - they were all established writers who wrote well within the framework Roddenberry set down. Even Harlan Ellison was an established writer at the time. And though we're all aware of the forty-year-long hissyfit Ellison pitched about Roddenberry rewriting his work - in the end it turned out to be worth it - despite all the hassle, City on the Edge of Forever turned out to be one of the better TOS episodes. It seems to me that by choosing to avoid the hassle, Bermaga have chosen to forgo the quality too.

Some present day writers - good ones, some of them - had no problem working with established characters. Look at the ST novels. Some suck, some are good. Established SF writers have written them - Greg Bear, Barbara Hambly, Vonda McIntyre...they've had no problem.

I don't TPTB can use the argument that outside writers will sacrifice continuity seeing as how continuity has been sacrificed over and over and over and over again with mixed results (and that's being charitable).

I think one problem is Bermaga prefers to rely on the writing staff rather than outside writers. Even when they use a freelancer, not only is the freelancer rewritten (which is not unusual in series TV) but the writing credit gets split into multiple "story by" and "teleplay by" credits. This seems to be abnormally common in the modern Treks compared to TOS and other modern TV series where usually just one (or two if it's a writing team) people get the writing credit.

I'm not sure of the exact breakdown, but I believe that writing credit comes into play with how much a writer gets paid. Back in my Babylon 5 fandom days, I remember reading that exec producer Straczynski rewrote a lot of scripts but would still give his writers sole "written by" credit instead of splitting it into "story by" and "teleplay by" and adding his name to the writing credits so he could get more money.

I think established literary sci-fi writers know that a show's writing staff will always do some rewriting on freelance scripts, so I think they would object to sharing the writing credit with Bermaga more than being rewritten (unless the rewrite is completely different).

Just a note, the big problem with Ellison's script was the way it treated character continuity. On the other hand, Roddenberry didn't add his name when he rewrote, I don't think. But he did trick his way into getting half the royalties from the score.

I expressed myself poorly on this point, I think. There's no doubt in my mind that Ellison, Sturgeon, etc. turned out excellent episodes of TOS.

But that was before Trek was a cash cow. I think the current PTB are mainly interested in sustaining the franchise as long as possible, rather than in letting writers put their own stamp on the characters, however interesting those stamps might prove.

In other words,

I totally agree.

screamin already mentioned Greg Bear, who I was going to bring up because of his overt willingness to delve into other people's worlds. I didn't know he'd done any Trek novels. But he did a great Star Wars one and of course he's involved with the continuation of the Foundation series. I would love to see a Bear written episode. He's not such a household name that it would have to be a major coup to get him. I just don't see why Bermaga (or the new PTB??) wouldn't even try. Ya'll have mentioned a couple other ST novel writers that should totally get a shot at an episode. They've already proven that they will treat the characters with tender loving care.


Do you think that the current crop of possibly burnt out writers have their own stamp on the episodes? Are there any threads of Manny Coto stylistic continuity from Similitude to Chosen Realm to Harbinger to Azati Prime? What about for Michael Sussman or Phyllis Strong (even going back to any of their, gasp, Voyager episodes)?

Besides the ST and SW novels, there are also plenty of collaborations that go on in SF between long-established authors and newcomers who grew up reading said author's work. Andre Norton is one I've noticed collaborating up a storm most recently, but there are lots of others.
I think it's more likely Bermaga isn't willing to go through the "hassle". That's a pity, since I think it could really be interesting, though I appreciate some of the regular writers' recent efforts. As I recall, the Gibson X-files was pretty good.
On a side note, I like listening to old radio programs (Lights Out, Suspense, Dimension X, etc.) and some of those had episodes written by established authors -- HG Wells and Heinlein among them.
Maybe we can blame it on the increased specialization of (American?) society.

There's one definite benefit to having authors writing for a T.V. show. Quality. Novelists who are good and established have plenty of practice writing fully fleshed out characters on all fronts. One unfortunate tendency I've seen on Enterprise is the waste of suporting, recurring and minor characters.

The Wire is one show I know of where alot of the writers are novelists. I think Bermanga have plenty to gain from investing in one or two good novelists (teaching them how to write for the screen and take into account ad breaks etc.).
My disapointment with the show has been the degree the franchise has fallen into a rut in terms of plot(stories that could easily have been told on TNG and VOY) and characterisation( people defined in terms of their jobs: the doctor, the engineer, the XO etc.). Farscape was good at being aware of both TV and prose fiction traditions of SF.

I may be misreading the meaning of some of these posts, but I don't think it's as easy for a science-fiction prose author to be as successful writing for science fiction television as some are suggesting.

Let me be clear, I'm talking just about the stuff on the page. There's enough of a difference in form and length that I can't imagine there not being some period of adjustment involved. If the writer has some experience and success with short stories, then I think it would be easier, since a short story isn't too far apart from the television story that's often produced.

Going back to what I consider the more successful examples of prose authors writing for television (Stephen King and William Gibson for X-Files, a huge percentage of the Serling-era Twilight Zone), these authors do have experience writing short stories.

The other challenge deals with exposition. Given the nature of the genre there's a lot of it in science fiction books and stories. The same kind of stuff that can kill narrative momentum on television and in film. I think that would make it harder for prose authors to transfer to television without some adjustment in their style and form. Maybe this is easier for an established show, since the needs for exposition are few. But I'm a bit skeptical.

Very good point. A David Weber written episode may well feature an entire act of Reed giving a presentation of missile ranges and explosive yields.

Also, I think it's significant to note that television, science-fiction television, and science-fiction writing are all in a very different place than they were forty years ago. I think the WGA has much stricter rules now in terms of who can write for what. Most shows keep everything in-house, because they don't have the time or luxury to do a lot of re-writing. Take Ellison's story regarding "City"-- he did two rewrites and then Roddenbury did one. That's a lot of time invested in a single episode. At the pace they move in the TV industry today, they can't afford that.
Last season, "The Breach" was written by a freelancer, and for whatever reason, required rewrites-- rewrites that put things off schedule enough that they were shooting early acts without knowing how the episode ended.

I've noticed that Manny Coto has gotten a producer credit, but not a writer one, the last couple of episodes. Anybody know when that change took place?

Manny Coto was hired as a co-executive producer (according to Trek Today), so he's had that credit all along.

Thankfully, with Coto in a larger role, this is slowly changing. As mentioned in Trek in Other Forms, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens have joined the Enterprise staff as story editors. (TrekWeb) I hope they'll be allowed to contribute story ideas as well.

I am not taking an unpopular stance in saying I agree that other SF writers should be given a chance to write an episode here and there.

I think writers who write mostly short stories are better suited, timewise, for television due to their familiarilty with deadlines, presumably shorter than a novelist's deadlines.

But to be fair, any "good" writer should be flexible enough to not bore the audience , ala RiverThames's Weber example. Yes, I put Tom Clancy's Hunt For Red October down three times due to techno-exposition, but muddled on and enjoyed the book. Clancy might be able to give us a slam-bang First Contact situation, but he's savvy enough to drop the technospeak when he needs to, I'm sure.

Still, a writer who has been around the last twenty or so years has been influenced by television in some way, unless their family didn't allow televisions at all. I believe that a writer with a basic knowledge of plotting can fit a story into the time allowed, give or take a couple of minutes (as shows have been known to run longer/shorter from time to time.)

The writer(s) should already be aware of timing scene breaks for commercial breaks. Like in novel writing, the commercial breaks are like when a character is left for another one when the first character is in jeopardy or about to make A Big Decision or some such.

But yes, other writers bring fresher ideas, usually, if not fresher takes.
I'd love to see:

Peter David- he just brings warmth and fun to any party he's invited to join
Neil Gaiman- pretty much the same as Mr. David
The lady who writes the Miles Verkosigan books (I'm embarassed; Mr. A has read all of her books and got me to try them)

There are other writers I'd like to see tackle The Franchise, but just not from a Sci Fi and/or science fantasy background.

Off to see who actually wrote what and which of the actual staff I want to see more from...

Plus Peter David has written for television (Babylon 5 and his children's series, Space Cases). And so has Neil Gaiman (Babylon 5 and his British fantasy series Neverwhere).



Lois McMaster Bujold! One of my favorite writers.

Related to an ex-Voyager captain actress?

There's a great interview with Manny Coto up at TrekWeb right now but it's quite spoilery. Here's the relevant portion that seems to show he's got the same reasoning as many of us for bringing novelists on board.

That Coto interview has a very authoritative tone. I hope that means he really does have some power to make changes.

Thanks, Adam, for the catch!

The excerpt from the MC interview are hope-inspiring, so thank you, also, belsum! It is very sensible to ask Trek novelists to write for an on-going series. The bringing-up-to-speed is (mostly) unnecessary and they are proven commodities for the Trek family.

I did, btw, go to StarTrek.com and wrote down the writing credits for the three seasons of ENT that are finished. No surprise, Bermaga had a hand in a great percentage of the eps, and all the Big Doin's-style episodes. The person(s) with the next highest amount of writing activity-will check back with that info.

ETA:

From the info posted on StarTrek.com, here are how writers shaped up over the last three seasons.

Bermaga:S1- involved in 18 episodes in various writers' capacities
S2- 13 eps
S3- 5 eps
Mike/Michael Sussman: S1- 5 episodes
S2- 5 episodes
S3- 5 episodes
Chris Black: S1- 3 episodes
S2- 5 eps
S3- 6 eps
Phyllis Strong: S1- 5 episodes
S2- 5 episodes
S3- 2 episodes
(to be continued in a next post)

(Continuing the writers of ENT list....)

Andre Bormanis: S1- involved in various capacities in 2 episodes
S2- 3 episodes
S3- 3 episodes

Then the following breakdowns:
With 5 episodes each: Manny Coto & John Shiban
4 episodes: David A. Goodman
3 episodes: Fred Dekker
2 episodes each: Maria & Andre Jacquemetton, Stephen Beck, Brent V. Friedman, and Terry Matalas
1 episode each: James Duff, Daniel McCarthy, Alan Cross, Tim Finch, Dan O'Shannon, David Wilcox, Taylor Elmore, Hans Tobeason, Paul Brown, and Jonathan Fernandez

I was surprised at how many various writers Bermaga actually let play in the sandbox, yet I couldn't remember if there was a pattern to the episodes I DID like.

Does anyone have an idea if many of the above writers have a good rep for "genre" tv scripting? Some of the names are familiar-sounding, but I'm not placing any name outside of the Enterprise episodes.

Before S3, Sussman & Strong were a favorite combo around here. I think "Minefield" was theirs, and they turned the unnecessary "Regeneration" into an entertaining hour of TV.

They did some Voyager work, but as far as I can tell S3 is the first time they wrote separately. Strong wrote "Exile" (bleh), so I put a little more faith (of the heart, of course) in Sussman. What was Strong's other S3 episode?

John Shiban worked on X-Files, as I recall, though I don't know which episodes of that show were specifically his.

Phyllis Strong's other S3 ep was Damage, which I liked more than Exile.

ETA: Some of Shiban's X-Files episodes were The Walk, Leonard Betts, Memento Mori, The Pine Bluff Variant, Dreamland, Field Trip, Milagro, Monday, and Jump The Shark.

Ah yes, "Damage" was quite good. I won't count her out yet. Everyone's entitled to a couple stinkers.

Enterprise Writers on other shows (Using the writers mentioned by Actionmage :

John Shiban - X-Files (most were co-writing assignments)


Shiban & Vince Gilligan & Frank Spotnitz - Leonard Betts, The Amazing Maleeni, Christmas Carol, Emily, Theef, Jump the Shark
Shiban & Vince Gilligan - Field Trip, Monday, Three of a Kind
Shiban & Frank Spotnitz- Travelers, All Souls, The Pine Bluff Variant
Shiban (solo?) - The Walk, Teso Dos Bichos, El Mundo Gira, Elegy, S.R. 819, Badlea, Underneath
Carter, Chris, Gilligan, Vince, Shiban, John, & Spotnitz, Frank - Memento Mori

David Goodman - Angel
Dad, Double or Nothing

James Duff - Wolf Lake
Leader of the Pack

Paul Brown - Quantum Leap
Camikazi Kid - 6/6/61, Disco Inferno - 4/1/76, Catch a Falling Star - 5/21/79, Good Night, Dear Heart - 11/9/57, Runaway - July 4, 1964, Private Dancer - 10/6/79, Nuclear Family - 10/26/62, The Wrong Stuff - 1/24/61, Temptation Eyes - 2/1/85
Alexandra, Danielle & Brown, Paul - It's a Wonderful Leap - 5/10/58
Brown, Paul & Bellisario, Donald- All Americans - 11/6/62
Brown, Paul & Julie Brown - Maybe Baby - 3/11/63
Harding, Nick & Brown, Paul - Rebel Without a Clue - 9/1/58

Paul Brown - X-Files
Ascension II, Excelsis Dei

Wanted to add link to all Enterprise writers, but didn't want to double post. though it has been almost 3 weeks

I stared at the screen in wide-eyed, breath-catching astonishment when the "Consulting Producer: Alan Brennert" flashed by on my television last week. I knew he wouldn't have been lured back into episodic television on a whim. I also knew it meant UPN was serious about saving Enterprise.

I know most of you are still scratching your heads and saying "who?" But I also know if you've watched any television in the last 25 years, you're bound to have seen something he's written or adapted. I commend especially to your attention "Her Pilgrim Soul" from the 80s incarnation of The Twilight Zone and "The Unquiet Earth" from China Beach. His written works are worth finding as well, especially the novel Time and Chance and the short story "Ma Qui", for which he won a Nebula for Best Short Story in 1991.

He too is a dyed-in-the-wool Trek fan. He may not be able to work miracles ... but then again, you won't find me betting against him. I know I'll be right there in front of the TV for the rest of the season, for the first runs and likely the repeats as well. Haven't been able to say that about Enterprise ever.

Live long and prosper, AB, and steer clear of fog horns.

Thanks for the Alan Brennert summary ClarionGrad. That gives me even more hope for this season. I just came across a spoilery review of tonight's episode that contained this tidbit:

Of course I have to wonder why he'd be using a pseudonym for a writer's credit if he didn't use one for a consultant credit.

Goodness. Or rather, not good. I read the first two recaps and watched the last ep of the "Vulcan/ SFK" arc and I shake my head wondering why folks got latexed up for it.

The freakin' neck/nerve pinch?? From Quantum?? Data I can understand, as he's extra strong being a machine base, but Quantum? It may be impolitic, but I call bullshit on the writers who thought this would be gripping, exciting stuff for us in the audience.

Thanks for:
*T'Pau
*Surek
*sehlats
*Shran!
*Captain Trip! (Again, some more!)
*ending the Pa'Naar Syndrome non-storyline

Yet, I'm as flabergasted as Keckler about why this reached my tv. The Pa'Naar syndrome was happily being ignored in it's corner til that episode. Coordinate Boy could've been a childhood pal who was swayed by evidence and logic, not his new in-law's death.

That CQ and T'Pau followed T'Pol and her abductors messed me up for a couple of minutes as I could not believe they would follow T'Pol away from their objective! I'm no strategist, but even I was amazed at the writers' trying to pass that particular go-back as heroic when it totally would've cocked up The Plan.

Also? T'Pau is a bad-ass Vulcan. The High Commandos are bad-ass. T'Pol can't do anything but get her ass handed to her and her plan to save her captain is thwarted...by him! After being snarked on,I believe we are to conclude, by a Surak/Quantum hybrid sense of humor. The stuff I heard and read wasn't overly cute (cute for a moment, but then the moment's gone.[tm Kansas; no, not the state.])

I am not sure about this season. Three three episode arcs that held tremendous potential. Data's Ancestor, The Temporal Cold War Hits Earth, and A Visit to Ye Olde Vulcan all intrigued me. Sadly, from recaps, tapes, and watching live? Not so much, though I wish I was.

added: I know this is pre-cannon from TOS, but it seems like the writers, or at least the scripts, are not even using the simple history from TOS. Forget TNG on; this was touted as Why Things Were in the original. I can see where the Prime Directive's roots stemmed from, yet treating T'Pol as the Worf (to show how tough other beings are compared to the tough Vulcan/Klingon) isn't even working because I don't believe in it. That is sloppy, if not bad, writing. Inconsistancy is eroding some of the love, and that's a shame, especially as I could point to Trek and brag about the thoughtful stories that would happen, and not just TOS.

From the latest Star Trek Communicator comes belated sad news: Shimon Wincelberg, a.k.a. "S. Bar-David", died on September 29th at the age of 80. R.I.P.

"Your tone is increasingly hostile, Mr. Boma" is a line my brother and I used on each other all the time growing up.

Manny Coto and Mike Sussman just cemented their place in my heart for the last two eps.

Like many have stated, why now and not sooner?

Still, thanks gents! It was a groovy trip.

If they had really wanted to add an establshed SF writer I think that Harry Turtledove might be the best bet. He writes a lot and can write for pretty much any SF genre.
Oh and they made the right choice by staying away from David Gerrold. As great at Trouble With Tribbles was the man's writing is controversal. Best to stay away from the whole Roman Palanski type of writing.