Chat with Jean Lorrah, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and Anne Phyllis Pinzow

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Chat with Jean Lorrah, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and Anne Phyllis Pinzow
Interviewer:	Cybling (moderator)
Interviewee:	Jean Lorrah, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and Anne Phyllis Pinzow
Date(s):	August 31, 2000 during Chi Con
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Star Trek TOS
External Links:	Chicon 2000 Online Chat with Jean Lorrah, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and Anne Phyllis Pinzow, Archived version
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Chat with Jean Lorrah, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and Anne Phyllis Pinzow was conducted during the 2000 World Con.

The transcript was posted online as part of A Companion in Zeor #14.

Topics include much on Sime~Gen, Star Trek Lives!, Ann Crispin, pimping their website, Star Trek pro books.

Excerpts

<JL> The best part about writing STAR TREK LIVES! was meeting all the fans -- believe it or not, the fans not the pros, though I've met most of them too.

<Jean> Some people send bookplates to be autographed, with a regular SASE.

<JL> "Star Trek Lives!" occupied a solid 5 years of my life and changed everything for me.

<JL> I learned a great deal about screen writing from Leonard Nimoy and Gene Roddenberry --

<JL> One time at a convention, I was leaving the building with Gene and he handed me his briefcase which contained work from his new series -- which eventually got rewritten to become EARTH THE FINAL CONFLICT

<Cybling> I have a question here for Anne...from Ryan, -- How did the three of you meet and what convinced you three to work together?

<Pinzow> Wow, does that one bring back memories.

<Pinzow> I met Jacqueline outside a local library when she came to talk about the possibility of the making of the first Star Trek movie.

<Pinzow> We were both trying to get in because the library doors were still locked

<Pinzow> I walked up to this woman I didn't know from Adam and asked her if her name was Jacqueline Lichtenstein.

<Pinzow> She looked icicles at me and said. "Berg."

<Pinzow> Would you believe it was instant friendship?

<Pinzow> Actually, she just needed someone to write her unauthorized biography.

<Pinzow> I asked to interview her and she said yes.

<Pinzow> However it turned out that she did most of the interviewing.

<Pinzow> Later on I "edited" one of her stories and she told me "By G-d, you can write." And I haven't stopped.

<Pinzow> It was on the basis of writing, editing and publishing the first Sime~Gen fanzine "Ambrov Zeor" that I based my entire career and got my first job in journalism based on the work I did on that fanzine.

<Cybling> Wonderful!

<Pinzow> As far as meeting Jean, she had written Jacqueline for permission to write a book in her universe.

<Pinzow> When I first heard about that I thought Jean was this little high school kid.

<Cybling> :::laughter in the green room:::

<Pinzow> Then I found out she was a Ph.D and professor of English.

<Pinzow> Oops!

<Pinzow> So, that's how we met.

<Jean> Actually, I wrote a book review tearing "House of Zeor" apart.

<Jean> Jacqueline then invited me to read and critique her next novel--

<Jean> And then she invited me to write "First Channel" with her.

<Pinzow> Pocket is only publishing 12 books a year from each one of the "universes" and while they will look at unpublished work they are much more likely to publish, and actively seek books by known authors who have made their name in science fiction.

<Pinzow> My agent has often advised new authors to write in their own universes, to make a name for themselves as a science fiction writer and then, if they want, to offer to write a Star Trek story.

<Jean> The halcyon days when neos got ST pro novels as their first novels are over.

<JL> But other TV shows are still open.

<JL> We also have another story to tell here.

<JL> A.C. Crispin wrote her first ST novel YESTERDAY'S SON

<JL> And brought the manuscript to me at a Star Trek con.

<JL> She was about where you are now with writing --

<JL> But she was GOOD --

<JL> However, she didn't have a clue about this kind of publishing.

<JL> They have rules.

<JL> Lots of rules -- and they amount to a formula.

<JL> You must know the preferred formula this year -- for this year's editor -- you must be UP on exactly what they will NOT permit.

<JL> At that time Anne Crispin didn't know that she couldn't introduce a son for Spock. Against the rules.

<JL> So I gave her a whole lot of rewrite input -- and then told her she had to change the ending.

<JL> Devastated she went away and came back with it all polished and changed -- to fit the rules.

<JL> I acted as her agent and took the book to Pocket in person and pitched it hard.

<JL> A long, long time later they bought it and launched her into an entire career where she's made a top name for herself writing TV Spinoffs in a large number of TV shows.