Authorial Justice: Steven Barnes, Far Beyond the Stars

[sistermarysith.livejournal.com]

Cross-posting from my own LJ on the recommendation of kalmn:

So, I've been a Star Trek fan for much of my life, and yes, I occasionally pick up a Star Trek novelization, especially when some indicator of quality is there - say, a novelization or adaptation undertaken by an established author (the Star Trek novel How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford comes to mind.)

One of my absolute favorites, one I re-read occasionally, is Steven Barnes' novelization of Far Beyond the Stars, the fifth season Deep Space Nine episode that depicted one of Captain Sisko's visions from the Prophets, wherein Sisko experiences the life of Benny Russell, a science-fiction writer in the 1950s, who works for a pulp SF mag. As Russell writes the story of Captain Benjamin Sisko, a black commander of a futuristic space station, we see Russell struggle with the institutionalized racism of that era. I consider it one of the best episodes of Trek ever done.

Barnes' adaptation of the screenplay for that episode is that rarity that matches or improves upon the quality of the source material. My spouse, a literary SF fan from childhood, says he got far more from Barnes' novelization than from the actual episode. He teaches English and special ed in a majority African-American high school, and he still uses Barnes' novelization to introduce his students (many of them reluctant or unskilled readers) to the genre of science fiction and to pop culture history.

In any case, the point I'm making is that Barnes, who has written several original genre novels, added to, and made something new out of the screenplay written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler, drawing upon his own experiences as a POC writing genre fiction. He is the author of the work for all intents and purposes - and besides that, Simon and Schuster says he is the author in their online catalog: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Far-Beyond-the-Stars/Steven-Barnes/Star-Trek-Deep-Space-Nine/9780743420846

But Amazon.com doesn't think so. They've listed Behr and Beimler as the authors of the novel: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Stars-Star-Trek-Space/dp/0671024302

Now, I know that mass media novelizations are supposed to be the lowest literary lifeform on the planet, and their authors aren't supposed to get any respect, but still, they should be getting credit for their work, especially if they've actually crafted a good novel from the source screenplay. So a couple weeks ago I used the "update product info" to ask that Amazon at least add Barnes' name to the list of authors.

So far, no dice, and no update. Barnes is still invisible on Amazon. And it's rather ironic, given that the book's story centers on Benny Russell's struggle to win recognition as an African American SF author who writes about POCs living and working in a future without racism (Russell's editor won't run his photo in the pulp SF mag Russell works for, because he fears readers will reject the magazine.)

Thus, I'm asking my flist and anyone they want to share this post with to do a "update product info" bombing - go to Amazon's listing for the "Far Beyond the Stars" novelization and use the link in the Feedback box to ask that Amazon update the author info to give Steven Barnes his due. (You can use the Simon and Schuster catalog link as your reference material for the update request.) (ETA: the Feedback box is at the bottom of the page.) It will only take a few minutes, and I figure if Amazon gets a couple dozen requests, its editors might actually take a look at what they're doing. (And if someone can suggest a more effective way of reaching the powers-that-be at Amazon, I'd appreciate hearing about it.)

Feel free to share this.

ETA: Well, that was easy. Thanks, everyone! The Amazon page is now corrected. For those who want to see it in its original state, showing Behr and Beimler as the authors, here is the screen shot I made this morning:
http://pics.livejournal.com/sistermarysith/pic/0002d22t

Comments

[waelisc.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that Amazon cares how libraries catalog a work, but the WorldCat record for this book transcribes the 'statement of responsibility' from the book itself as:

a novel by Steve Barnes ; based on [the] teleplay by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler ; story by Marc Scott Zicree. (Barnes is listed first.)

The statement of responsibility is always taken from the title page (unless there is no title page, then it can be taken from the cover) -- the point being, library cataloging operates on the principle that the most important source of information about a book is the book itself. The title page or title page surrogate always trumps the publisher's catalog or a listing in Books in Print.

Although, in this case, they all AGREE anyway. I checked Books in Print Online and it lists Steven Barnes as the author, and you checked Simon & Schuster's catalog.

Hopefully this correction is just caught in a backlog. Because the way they've got it now is just illogical, in addition to being ironic and disappointing!

[waelisc.livejournal.com]

I just surfed your journal out of curiosity and saw your suspicion about fanboys pelting Amazon with corrections to give the credit to the white boy creators of the show. So I guess my backlog idea is wishful thinking.

This is one of those moments where I appreciate some of the principles of librarianship so much, I want to hug my profession. In my mind "the most important source of information about a book is the book itself" is like a parallel to the real-world principle that the best authority on a person's feelings or experiences is that person, not

[helens78]

As of now, it does list Barnes on Amazon! :)

[scarletts-awry.livejournal.com]

*blink*

Yeah, I had the Amazon page open in another tab with Behr and Beimer listed as the authors, but when I saw your comment just now, I refreshed and there it was!

(Now if it will only stay that way.)

[scarletts-awry.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this.

"Far Beyond the Stars" is one of my favorite episodes of anything ever, but I've never branched out into reading novelization tie-ins before. (More because of my own writerly issues than anything.)

I *do* want to read this novelization now that I know of it, and I'm furious over the irony here...

[b-writes.livejournal.com]

That's so awesome! Well done!