"[The publishers] approached me, and I thought, 'Wow!' I never had an opportunity to [write] before. I used to like to write a lot of short stories in school, fiction short stories, but writing short stories and writing a book... So this opportunity when they came to me... Did I have any ideas? Or 'how about... We know you from the westerns, we know your from science fiction, is there something you could think of?' So that's why we started to brainstorm in how we could meld the two [genres] together... I think it's a lot of fun!"

"So I had a ghostwriter, they call them, or somebody who is an experienced writer, to help. I've got the ideas in my head, it's getting them properly on paper..."

"Basically I started to jot notes, lots of faxes back and forth to my writer, we faxed ideas throughout the whole first draft, and started all over again. He [the writer] really did incorporate the ideas I wanted, the way I wanted. Some of the dialogues I didn't like... So really, I can't take sole credit, but I will be given the whole credit certainly because of the fans, and yet I had two writers helping me out."

"I just needed help on that first [book] because they're investing a lot of money you can't just give to anybody who says, 'oh, I'm a writer!' I don't call myself a writer. I'm just doing what Jonathan Frakes has done, what most of the Star Trek people have done, certainly the tradition that William Shatner has started with his [Tek War] novels."

"I've known writers for a long time, and worked with them. Often, there's a lot of pressure... I really appreciate the writer. I really do, that's why I'm not one of these actors who have the ego to walk in and say 'You know, I'm gonna rewrite this...' There are people who do that all the time, rewrite the dialogue, and the writer sits there and goes 'Oh....' It's like somebody doing your interviews, taking what you write and... And editors do that all the time, stab you in the heart."
 
"I also certainly allowed them to [to make changes], this being my first novel, and I was very happy that they wanted me to stick to my original idea. I felt better about certain ideas on the story, and that's why we wrote and rewrote it, because my other ghostwriter, they didn't like his ideas!'

"A storyteller is basically what actors and writers are. It's just another way, I would say [it's] another aspect of storytelling. That why I used to write short stories. I still like short stories."

"It's not highly intellectual material. I'm dedicating it to the pulp fiction of the past. I love pulp fiction, and it's meant to be pure entertainment."

"They've also asked me now to start on another series that we're gonna do after this Frontier Earth. But it's not science fiction, it's more in the Mystery and Crime division and that's another area I'm very interested in. I'm very pleased with that, so they must be very happy with the first result. Hopefully the sales will be good. You know, it's just something
different to do other than acting."
 

Thanks, B!