A Moment of Fame--Steven Harper Piziks

Last night a friend of mine turned thirty, and his wife had arranged a small surprise gathering at an entertainment complex he likes. The complex has games that range from video to VR to skeeball to shuffleboard. Sort of a Chuck-E-Cheese on steroids and cocaine.

At any rate, the group of us was waiting to start a game of Battle-Tech, a shared video game in which a dozen participants climb into small booths to control video robots which go around shooting each other. You give your robot a screen name so the other players know who you are (allowing you to kill your friends with greater efficiency), and I chose "Kendi" for mine. When the game operator asked where the name came from, I said, "It's a small magical lizard from Australia. I named the main character in my books after it."

A bit later, the game operator asked The Annoying Question. "You said you write novels. Have you had any published?"

Marion Bradley hated this question. "No one asks a plumber if he's ever fixed a sink or a doctor if she's treated a patient," she always said. "Why do they ask writers this question?"

"Nine books and counting," I said. In the course of this explanation, I added that I'd written a Star Trek: Voyager book.

"What was it called?" he asked.

"THE NANOTECH WAR."

His eyes went round. "=You= wrote THE NANOTECH WAR? That was =you=?"

This took me a little by surprise. Most of the time when I mention my books, the novelizations for IDENTITY and EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING get the big reactions (at which I usually give a small mental sigh). NANOTECH never gets more than a polite nod. This guy was giving me the whole enchilada, and I had a small inkling of how Stephen King might feel.

"That was me," I said.

"I haven't read it yet," he said, which cooled my initial reaction, "but all my friends have, and they keep telling me I've =got= to read it because it was one of the best Trek books ever! Now I definitely have to read it. This is so cool!"

Okay. I'll take it. :)

--Steven

Comments

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