Strange bedfellows

I am proud to announce that, as a result of a long period of reconciliation as well as a practical need on the part of a distinguished author, I am collaborating with David Gerrold on a Star Trek tie-in original novel, "The Tribbles of Texas".

"One venue that has never been visited in the Trek Universe is Texas," says David. "And like so many people, I have always been fascinated by the Texas frontier during the period of Westward expansion."

"I have an outline for a story where the crew of the Enterprise returns to a locale similar to that depicted in 'Spectre of the Gun', but inadvertently transports a continent of tribbles with them," he continued. "The interaction between the crew of the Enterprise and the Melkotians while being overrun by tribbles should be... umm... fascinating."

As a result of the need for authenticity in the setting, David asked if I would sign on as a co-author and I agreed. Although we had significant differences during the late unpleasantness of the Hugo nomination period in 2015, time heals all wounds, and after a substantial cooling off period we have subsequently reconciled - a process aided by the 2016 presidential election, where I commiserated with David on the election of Donald Trump.

"Lou's a fascist, but otherwise a nice guy," said David. "And talented enough to be of some small use in this project. He certainly knows Texas and the region well-enough. I think this will be a mutually beneficial collaboration."

"I think we will get along fine, so long as he keeps his damn wop hair trigger temper in check," he concluded.

I appreciate the chance to do something helpful to both the genre and David personally, and I look forward to working with David on "The Tribbles of Texas".

I am also grateful that Adam-Troy Castro has agreed to act as a mediator and otherwise help facilitate the collaboration.