On an #Aliens fan group to which I belong, there is a discussion going on about a particular plot point, the kind of endless dissection #obsessive #fans know well. I know this very well, because I’m one of them. Someone said “read this tie-in novel, it explains everything!” Then someone else called it “fan fiction,” and a third participant objected strenuously. Ah, #fandom: God help me, I do love it so.

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The most money I ever made from writing, by far, was by co-authoring a #StarTrek novel†. It did quite well, as Star Trek novels tend to do. I lived for the better part of a year on the advance, and the royalties were a nice supplement to my income for several years afterward. Over the decades since, many people have told me it was one of their favorite novels ever. I don’t know how many copies I’ve signed. Feels good, man.

But I don’t kid myself—it’s fan fiction. So is all tie-in fiction to TV and movie series, unless an episode or a movie takes the story and puts it on screen. I’m not sure if that’s ever happened with Star Trek, in the very long series of novels based on multiple iterations of the show, and I know it’s never happened with the #Alienverse. All the tie-in novels, comics, and games are non-canonical. They just kind of exist out there in the realm of what-if and might-have-been. Maybe someday someone will stumble across them, floating in the deep, and do a salvage operation …

#StarWars is the one partial exception I know of, with some portions of the extended universe making it at least into the animated series. In general, though, screen franchise owners don’t think much of novels etc. They figure tie-ins are of interest only to hardcore fans, and there aren’t enough of those to make up the audience needed to justify big-budget productions. To them it’s just a way to squeeze a few extra bucks out of the property.

I’m not happy about this, because a lot of really great worldbuilding happens at the edges of known space. In the case of the Alienverse, for example, I think the #DarkHorse comics would have made a much better foundation for a third and fourth movie than what we actually got. But it’s a sadly consistent pattern.

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†ST:TNG # 8, The Captains’ Honor, by David and Daniel Dvorkin, in case you were wondering. David is my father, who has also written a few other Star Trek novels and a lot of original novels. Despite the money, neither of us has any desire ever to go through the experience of dealing with Paramount ever again.