Firefly was placed squarely at primetime Friday night. End of series in three moves. Also not surprising that they would do so, since Firefly was so obviously not Star Trek, that I’m sure it weirded out the Fox executives no end. (Cattle rustlers and space ships?!? And I don’t see no Klingons!! What the !%@$*&!%&#!! is this?!?)
Anyway, I finally decided to commit my version of a Trek series to paper (or electrons, as it were). I almost wrote it as originally intended, using clear Star Trek names and references. But in the end, I decided to set it in its own universe, for two reasons: One, I wanted the project to have a chance of life outside of a Trek universe that didn’t seem too interested in it; and two, if anything did come of it, I didn’t want to be sued by Paramount!
~
As it turns out, in crafting my opening story I did not quite involve as much of the details of civilian life as I had expected to. On the other hand, I was trying to write a story that would potentially fit into a 1- to 2-hour introductory movie or television production, so an opening epic was out of the question. Of course, the story of Kestral’s crew isn’t over, so there is plenty of room to embellish in future stories, to more heavily concentrate on civilian stories, to better define the point of the setting, and the overall theme. The point of the project, of course, was to set up a series that would explore in detail the lives of these civilians in a military-dominated galaxy, and to get a look at how the other half lives. You don’t have to do all of that in one book. There is a lot of ongoing potential here, potential that I may try to pursue in other venues besides text.
Nothing may ever come of it. On the other hand, if it manages to gather popularity, I might have a long-term SF series project on my hands. And I can think of worse things to do than to write about these characters for a living.
Steven Lyle Jordan
May 18, 2005/August 10, 2010
About the author
Steven Lyle Jordan grew up in the Washington, D.C. area in the 1960s and 70s, at just the right time and place to witness the space race, the American racial and social revolutions, the beginnings of the transistor age, the first color television programs, and America’s 1970s environmental crisis. Having no idea that he was growing up so close to “ground zero,” he delighted in the science fiction and fantasy books of the era, especially from the likes of Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke, and peppered with the science-fiction-heavy comics that were becoming all the rage. He also had a distinct appreciation for the pulps of an earlier era, most notably the Doc Savage and Perry Rhodan series, and today owns the entire run of Doc Savage novels. His young mind was also molded by the television of the day, most notably programs like Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, and sci-fi and adventure cartoons from America and Japan too numerous to mention. For a brief time, his interest in science and SF led to his being given the nickname of “Flash” Jordan.
Steven is a self-taught graphic artist and web designer, who began to experiment with writing when he found more and more trouble finding content he wanted to read. After putting a number of stories together, he tried to get them into a publisher’s hands. But the publishers largely turned him down without reviewing the material, leaving him very dissatisfied by the experience of trying to get into the “publishing castle.”
Exploring other options, Steven came across ebooks and self-publishing. Researching ebooks through various online forums, he decided to sell his books himself and begin to build a following on his own. He self-produced and opened SteveJordanBooks.com in 2006, and created an initial sensation as he released a novel a month for the first six months of operation.
As he continued to write and develop the website, he also regularly contributed to ebook-dedicated forums, most notably the MobileRead website, becoming known as an independent authority on ebooks, ebook production, formats and self-publishing. He has been interviewed for articles in the New York Times and in various blogs, including DigiReader and the Tainted Archive. He has also lent his web production talents and support to the Read an E-Book Week website, elucidating on and encouraging ebook reading around the world. He has recently undergone a “reinvention” of his work, now available through his pages at RightBrane.com.
He continues to write from his home in Maryland, or wherever he has enough room to work, including on vacations and on the commute to work, where he has often been seen banging out chapters on his smartphone. He is urged on by his wife, spoken fondly of by his family and friends, and tolerated by his cat.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1: Captain Kestral
2: The Mary
3: On the Wrong Foot
4: Pilot-less
5: Pilot Found
6: The Berserker
7: Terra212
8: Change of Plans
9: First Leg
10: Spiders
11: The Incubator
12: Race to Deep Abignon
13: Sundance
14: The Superman
15: Mixed Accomplishment
Afterword: The Trek that never was
About the author
The Kestral Voyages: My Life, After Berserker Page 20