Hammerblog

As I have shamelessly plugged here before, your humble blogger also happens to be a writer of science fiction–which is kind of obvious, given the content of this website!  I’ve actually been doing it for the better part of twenty years, but I had to crank out eight whole novels before any publisher would touch me with a ten foot pole. Along the way I had a few adventures out in Hollywoodland, when I was invited to pitch stories to Star Trek: The Next Generation based on the strength of a spec script I wrote for the show. I never closed a deal with them, but the experience wasn’t a total bust–years later, Simon & Schuster asked me to contribute a novella to their Star Trek anthology The Seven Deadly Sins.

So it’s safe to say that I have a rather long (if not totally illustrious) association with the show. Because of that, I get to say neat things like, “Hey, babe, I wrote for Star Trek.”  It also means I occasionally get to do neat things like appear on podcasts, which is how I came to meet Aaron Coker.  He runs Enterprising Individuals, in which he takes a deep-dive into episodes from the different incarnations of the series. His guests are typically Star Trek writers, and he was kind enough to ask me if I would like to choose an episode of my own and come on the show to discuss it.

Of course I answered, “Hell yeah!” and picked the one episode from Next Gen that for some reason nobody wanted to talk about–that first season thriller-horror-gorefest known as “Conspiracy.” Probably the most controversial episode in the entire run, it truly pushed the boundaries of what could be shown on broadcast television at the time. Why nobody else had snatched it up before I have no idea, so I just considered myself lucky and dug in with gusto.

The podcast is here for those who’d like to listen, but be warned: Here there be aliens, and they most certainly do not come in peace!

This article was also published at The Resurgent.