2005 - 03/2005 Meeting
Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/29/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 06/02/08.
ROBERT THURSTON
Genre Novels:
Alicia II
BattleTech: Bloodname
BattleTech: Falcon Guard
BattleTech: Falcon Rising
BattleTech: Freebirth
BattleTech: Way of the Clans
Isaac Asimov's Robots and Aliens: Intruder
Q Colony
Robot Jox (novelization)
Set of Wheels
Battlestar Galactica Books (with Glen Larson)
Apollo's War
Battlestar Galactica
The Cylon Death Machine
Die, Chameleon!
The Nightmare Machine
Surrender the Galactica!
The Tombs of Kobol
The Young Warriors
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: March 12, 2005.
Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 36.
Meeting Program: Talk by Science Fiction Author.
Notes:
Mr Thurston also spoke at the February 1984 meeting.
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2005 Philip J De Parto:
The March 12, 2005 meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held in the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. The Guest Speaker was author Robert Thurston.
While the Anime Associates screening of GENESHAFT was well received, the real pre meeting action was at the Final Frontier's discussion of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA in all its various incarnations. It was a really good discussion.
Robert Thurston was writing even as a child, but it was not until college that he pursued it as a career. A friend had a friend who was able to get Robert an invitation to one of the early Clarion workshops where he became good friends with George Alec Effinger. Another student in that class was Octavia Butler.
The author is best known for his series of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA novels which came out in the seventies. He was given an early draft of the pilot for the series to use as a guide. Unfortunately, there were major changes to the bible between the draft and the shooting script, which explains why Thurston's Cylons were aliens and the ones on television were robots. When it was time to do the later books in the series, the author decided to remain consistent with the first book instead of what was on the air. He also revealed that he deliberately changed the sex of one of the characters because Thurston's first wife was in the process of dying from cancer and that psychologically this was a way for him to keep her alive.
He also talked about his stand alone books and his other novelizations. One member called him the most approachable author we have ever had.