Every writer dreams of hearing just four words from his or her agent: "Are you sitting down?" I heard those words when my agent sold my first book after a bidding war between Penguin Books and HarperCollins. They changed my life, but I had to go through a lot of ups and downs to get to that point. This podcast is about those ups and downs, and all points in-between.
Is Troi's empathy omnidirectional? Can Data think with his right brain? I can't believe how many story ideas I had for this show!
PLUS: Remember how funny it was when the Enterprise got its computer upgraded on the female dominated planet Signet 14?
In this one, Data is tempted to leave the Enterprise and retire to android heaven.
Here's how we celebrate Star Trek Day at Far-Fetched: by talking about how one hypocritical Texas TV station censored the hell out of Star Trek while simultaneously profiting off of it.
These Star Trek kids audio adventures seem to bring out the worst in some of the crew.
Listen to that TOS episode where everybody's voices change
This one hit me like a phaser set to stun.
"Timescape" -- Can Picard, Troi, La Forge and Data free the Enterprise and its crew from a deadly time trap?
The story behind Doug and Dave, the script that never dies.
Catching lightning in a bottle: Here's how it's done.
I'm too busy sending queries out to agents!
Is Data courageous, or was he just programmed that way?
An epic adventure story for the crew of the Enterprise.
Could this be Picard's own Kobayashi Maru?
After a fatal accident in Engineering, Geordi temporarily restores life to an unprepared and unappreciative crewmate. Why didn't it sell?
A project proposal I drew up 28 years ago suddenly comes to life! Also, how patient do you have to be to sell a script to Star Trek?
Where Star Trek and Close Encounters intersect
Congratulations on your graduation from Starfleet Academy!
Gene Roddenberry knew more about Star Trek: The Next Generation than you ever will.
Marveling at the Star Trek: TNG show bible, written by the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself, Gene Roddenberry.
Star Trek stories will have to wait. The Far-Fetched HR Dept. says it's time for my six-month review.
Turns out, any one of us could be harboring an Id-monster, and it could bust loose at any time.
How I'm celebrating 55 years of Star Trek: by reflecting on the scary times the franchise was close to death, and the miracles that have saved it.
My trail of destruction: I caused a movie star's kid to be attacked by a shark, then I caused the death of a legendary movie director, then I caused a brilliant science fiction icon a moment of social awkwardness. What is wrong with me?
Do I regret taking a screenwriting class with an Oscar-nominated writer who single-handedly invented a film genre, then somehow failing to learn much of anything in the class? Yes, I regret that.
The story of the Kelly-Hopkinsville "Little Green Men" alien invasion is one of the best UFO stories of all time, and yet I was forced to cut it from my book, "The Close Encounters Man."
Probably the only time I'll mention porn in this podcast (but you have to listen all the way to the end to hear it).
I have a talk with my brother Dave about taking the silliness seriously while making Super 8 movie magic. Also, how did our parents not know how often the tarantula got loose in the house?
You understand that communication with an alien race would have to begin at the most basic level.
Summoning the powers of the Brothers O'Connell! In the first ever Far-Fetched interview, my brother Matt and I talk UFOs, Bigfoot, Godzilla and the terrors of a deep, dark forest. Also, I tell the tale of how Patti LaBelle's song "Lady Marmalade" haunts me to this day.
Poor Data! The entire crew of the Enterprise has gone suicidal, and the only person who can save them is an android who can't comprehend how anyone could lose their will to live! The gripping conclusion to "Between Two Darknesses," the spec' script that got me in the door at Star Trek.
In which I try very hard not to do the Star Trek characters' voices (although I sound a little like Data)
We only had one TV set in our house when I was growing up, and I guess I must have monopolized it.
There I was, minding my own business, when my wife bought me a podcasting microphone. Suddenly it occurred to me that I have some good stories to tell about monsters, aliens and writing. And it all started when I was three years old.
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