2024 - 09/2024 Meeting

Page Created: 09/15/24. Last Updated: 10/03/24.

DAVID GERROLD

WEBSITE: https://www.gerrold.com/

INTERNET MOVIE DATA BASE: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0314775/

SOCIAL MEDIA

.....FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/david.gerrold

FICTION -- Selected Titles

.....A Covenant of Justice

.....Chess with a Dragon

.....Child of Grass

.....Deathbeast

.....Hella

.....In the Deadlands

.....Moonstar

.....Starhunt

.....Star Wolf (3 books)

.....The Martian Child (Hugo & Nebula Winning Novelette)

.....The Man Who Folded Himself

.....The Trouble with Tribbles

.....The War Against the Chtorr (4 books)

.....The Word of Star Trek

.....Under the Eye of God

.....When HARLIE Was One

TELEVISION -- Selected Titles

.....Star Trek - The Trouble with Tribbles

.....Star Trek - The Cloud Minders (co-author)

.....Star Trek Animated Series - 2 Epidsodes

.....Babylon 5 - Believers

.....Land of the Lost - 5 Episodes Writer / Series Story Editor

.....Logan's Run - Man Out of Time

.....Sliders - New Gods for Old

.....Superboy - Test of Time

.....Tales from the Darkside - 2 Episodes

.....The Real Ghostbusters - 2 Episodes

.....The Twilight Zone - 2 Episodes

Meeting Date: September 14, 2024.

Meeting Site: Zoom Video Conference.

Attendance: 30.

Meeting Program: Talk / Q & A w/Science Fiction Writer / Script Writer.

Notes:

The post-meeting Virtual Diner Run was attended by people. Topics discussed included books (ITHACA by Claire North, ALLADIN'S LAMP: How Greek Science Came to Europe Through the Islamic World by John Freely, BIG DAMS & OTHER DREAMS: THE SIX COMPANIES STORY by Donald E Wolf, TOM CORBETT ON THE TRAIL OF THE SPACE PIRATES), and movies (ALIEN ROMULUS, APORIA, REAGAN, THE TIME MACHINE dvd extras).

Newsletter Account:

Early arrivals to the SFABC Saturday, September 14, 2024 General Meeting can be forgiven for thinking they had gotten the start time wrong when they discovered speaker David Gerrold and Philip De Parto in a conversation which had evidently been going on a while. There had been a number of hiccups to set up this event, so David and Phil independently decided to log in 30 minutes early to resolve any potential technical problems.

While David Gerrold is best know as the script writer for the classic STAR TREK series episode, The Trouble with Tribbles, he was also the Story Editor of the series LAND OF THE LOST, and a writer for BABYLON 5, SLIDERS, SUPERBOY, and other genre shows, as well as penning over a score of novels and other works.

He talked about fellow authors, actors, and behind-the-scenes people in Hollywood and in publishing who have influenced him and with whom he worked.

Additional notes will be found at SFABC.org under 2024 - 09/2024 Meeting.

Meeting Notes

BABYLON 5

.....The Believers Episode: I will only write it if we don't cop out. The child has to die.

......Great Kosh Saying: It is too late for the pebbles to vote. The avalanche has already started.

STAR TREK

.....Fred Frieburger (S 3) felt comedy did not belong on Star Trek

.....Gene Roddenbury's attorney made him persona-non-grotta as a script writer

THE ORVILLE

.....Was invited on the set. Great set. Actors are very nice.

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS

.....Wrote episode in which Slimer got split into a million tribblesque Slimers.

THE TIME MACHINE (movie prop)

.....Refurbished by Bob Burns and is in his Bob's Museum.

.....Can be seen in machine here: https://colemanzone.com/Time_Machine_Project/b_burns2.htm

JACOB

.....Vampire novel about an illiterate, orphan 13 year old vampire born in 1858.

SPACE SCANNER

.....Fun space opera.

.....Wanted to write like Samuel R Delany.

.....Includes 30 poems in book.

.....Space ship is built out of force fields.

THE FLYING SORCERERS

.....Lots of fun to write with Larry Niven.

THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF

.....Agent submitted to Random House.

.....Editor didn't know science fiction, so she asked assistant editor Barry Malzberg what he thought.

.....Barry: This is a tour-de-force. Publish it immediately!

.....Betty Balantine wished Gerrold had given it to her.

THE MARTIAN CHILD

.....Story rejected by 6 markets before Kristine Kathryn Rusch took it for F&SF

.....Story he wants to be remembered for

WHEN HARLIE WAS ONE

.....Started with computers when he was a child.

.....Hugo / Nebula nominee.

.....The tech has moved on, but the conversations still hold up.

WORLDS OF WONDER: HOW TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

.....Contacted by Writer's Digest to Do Book

.....Each Chapter details something he learned from a different SF writer

AUTHOR FRIENDS / INFLUENCES

.....Theodore Sturgeon - Nice guy. Learned much from.

.....Harlan Ellison -

MGM

.....House style is lots of lighting

MOVIES

.....Sets photograph larger than they really are

WRITING SCIENCE FICTION

.....Took writing class as Junior in College. Instructor said "You wil never learn how to write."

.....It's hard if you want to get your science right.

.....Re: Infodumps: You are writing a story, not a travelogue.

.....Writes about people who are good problem solvers.

.....Try new things. Stretch your writing muscles.

.....Sometimes you just write for fun.

.....Don't write for the trophies, write for the story

.....If you have a great, passionate story, the rules don't matter.

.....Science fiction looks at the future. Everything else looks at the present or the past.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS & AUTHORS THAT TAUGHT HIM STUFF ABOUT WRITING

.....Isaac Asimov - Foundation

.....James Blish - A Case of Conscience

.....Ray Bradbury

.....Orson Scott Card

.....Arthur C Clarke

.....Samuel R Delany

.....Harlan Ellison - Learned much from the man and the work.

.....Nora Ephron

.....William Golding

.....Robert Heinlein - First SF breakout best seller

.....Frank Herbert - Dune

.....George Orwell - 1984

.....Frederik Pohl

.....Andy Weir - The Martian

TELEVISION SHOWS & MOVIES HE LIKES

.....Firefly

.....Galaxy Quest

.....The Good lace

.....The Orville

PERSONAL

.....Grandmother: Your job is to leave the world better than you found it.

.....