MORE TREK: THE EUGENICS WARS
As long as we're on the subject of "Star Trek," let me begin by stating that there's a story behind the above illustration...
Back in 2000, as much for my own amusement as anything else, I wrote an essay entitled "The Eugenics War Declassified," in which I attempted to explain how the Eugenic Wars first mentioned in a 1966 "Star Trek" episode could have still occurred given what had actually transpired historically during the intervening years. As a fan of Philip José Farmer and his Wold Newton writings, I approached this essay from the point of view of a future historian looking back on the events in question; even worked in a fair number of Wold Newtonesque crossover references. The essay became my first contribution to Win Scott Eckert's Wold Newton Universe website (Link: http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Spock.htm#EUGENICS), and paved the way for my being asked to participate in Win's 2005 anthology "Myths For The Modern Age."
It also predated Greg Cox's fantastic two-volume novel about the Eugenics Wars (ever so slightly predated, to be sure, but the truth remains that I'd written my essay before becoming aware that Cox's project was even in the works). When I first learned of the novel I was depressed, because I'd put all that work into my version of event only to have it almost immediately rendered obsolete by Greg's "official" version. Upon reading his books, however, I found that Greg's work didn't necessarily negate mine; I received a number of e-mails who read my essay on Win's site who actually felt that it is compatible with Greg's version of events and that they should be read together. (Never having met Mr. Cox I don't know what his feelings are, but I'd like to think they would be at least a little complimentary...)
Anyway, to finally get at the point: some years later (2007, to be exact), I was noodling around on my Photoshop program one day when the idea hit me to create some kind of illustration highlighting some of the people I thought might have been key behind-the-scenes players in the Eugenics Wars. I was inspired by a cover of Time magazine some week earlier which had contained a collection of small portraits of the casualties of the tragic Virginia Tech shootings that year. Topic matter aside (and stressing that I certainly was NOT trying to make light of shootings or Time's coverage of the story), the basic design of that cover grabbed me and I used it as the basis for my imaginary work. I collected mugshots of all kinds of real and fictional characters (some of whom I'd mentioned in my essay years before, not whom I had not), and for fun even added pictures of both myself and a dear friend (and fellow "Trek" fan), then-Oklahoma State Senator Jay Paul Gumm. Then I put the illustration together, showed my kids, and promptly stuck it away on a back-up disk and forgot about it until I came across it the other day whilst searching for some other old file. This morning I decided I'd post it here as a follow-up to yesterday's blog entry and, well, here it is...
In : Pop Culture
Tags: "star trek" "tv & movies" "pop culture"
John A. Small is an award-winning newspaper journalist, columnist and broadcaster whose work has been honored by the Oklahoma Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the National Newspaper Association, and the Oklahoma Education Association. He and his wife Melissa were married in 1986; they have two sons, Joshua Orrin (born 1991) and William Ian (born 1996).
Mr. Small is the News Editor and columnist for the Johnston County Capital-Democrat, a weekly newspaper headquartered in Tishomingo, OK. He obtained his nickname, "Bard of the Lesser Boulevards," from a journalism colleague - the late Phil Byrum - in recognition of the success of his popular newspaper column, "Small Talk." (In addition to the many awards the column itself has received over the years, a radio version of "Small Talk" earned an award for "Best Small Market Commentary" from the Society of Professional Journalists in 1998.)
John was born in Oklahoma City in 1963; lived in the Bradley-Bourbonnais-Kankakee area of Illinois for most of the next 28 years (with brief sojourns in Texas and Athens, Greece, thrown in to break up the monotony); then returned to his native state in 1991, where he currently resides in the Tishomingo/Ravia area. He graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1981, and received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais in 1991. The years between high school and college were a period frought with numerous exploits and misadventures, some of which have become the stuff of legend; nobody was hurt along the way, however, which should count for something.
In addition to his professional career as a journalist he has published two short story collections: "Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West" (2007), a collection of western stories; and "Something In The Air" (2011), a more eclectic collection. He was also a contributor to the 2005 Locus Award-nominated science fiction anthology "Myths For The Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe," edited by Win Scott Eckert. In additon he has written a stage play and a self-published cookbook; served as project editor for a book about the JFK assassination entitled "The Men On The Sixth Floor"; and has either published or posted on the Internet a number of essays, stories and poems.
He has also won writing awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Library of Poetry. He is a past president of the Johnston County Chamber of Commerce in Tishomingo; was a charter member and past president of the Johnston County Reading Council, the local literacy advocacy and "friends of the library" organization; served as Johnston County's first-ever Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in 1994-95; served two terms as chairman of the Johnston County (OK) Democratic Party; and has taught journalism classes for local Boy Scout Merit Badge Fairs. He is a member of the New Wold Newton Meteorics Society.
