Now, are we ready for a crossover with THE LORD OF THE RINGS?

LINK

Apparently, the photomontage approach of NEW VISIONS gives this writer an upset tum-tum, causing him to miss the rather important point that other than the visual technique, I am doing in this book what every previous STAR TREK writer has done: telling stories about these characters.

Yet, for this writer, I am using the characters as "puppets" in my stories. Which raises the question "as opposed to what?" Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley et al did not specifically pose for those drawn and painted comics -- except in the same way they "pose" for me. How is it different, then, if an artist traces a photograph, or skips a step and uses the photograph directly?

In the end, this is yet another manifestation of something I've seen in too many fans and self-appointed critics: if it's different, they don't like it. To this particular "reviewer" I can only say this: go take a couple of Tums and get over it.

(The writer loses a lot of credibility when he tells his readers that photocomics are called fumetti in Italy. ALL comics are called fumetti in Italy. The term means, roughly, "puff of smoke" and refers to the balloons, not the photographs. It is on this side of the Pond that the term has taken on a more narrow meaning.)

Ah, well! File under "The Best Laid Plans..." Maybe I'll find some other use for the model.

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Is that the cover being used for solicitations?

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The first idea to flash into my head was that the new systems might be installed on another ship, and then go wrong in some way that ends up with the Enterprise having to battle a "living" starship.

But, that seems vaguely familiar, somehow. . . .

(One of the rules I've developed for myself, as a writer, is never to trust stories that pop into my head fully formed. They probably came from somewhere!)

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Yes, I know.

Still need to be heavier on the blur on the CG backgrounds, tho. And even more brightening of the pages as a whole.