To Cordwainer Bird . . .
may he fly high and strike terror
in the hearts of the unjust.
The Starcrossed is roman á clef, a novel in which real persons and events are depicted, thinly disguised. Usually, the disguise is to protect the innocent. In this case, it's to protect the guilty. And one innocent person: Harlan Ellison.
Anyone who has met Harlan or heard of his rather ferocious reputation might be surprised to see him categorized as an innocent. But he is really. Harlan is at heart a moralist who is infuriated by the stupidity and evil that most of us ignore.
He's also one of my closest friends, despite the fact that we live several thousand miles apart.
Harlan originated a television series: The Starlost. It was such a beautiful idea that Twentieth-Century Fox bought it. Harlan asked me to serve as the science advisor, and I quickly agreed.
Alas, a writers' strike hit Hollywood before The Starlost started filming. Fox moved production to Toronto, a move that ultimately spelled disaster.Aside from the star, Kier Dullea, and a few other actors, none of the crew of the production had any experience with a dramatic TV show.
Harlan worked manfully as long as he could, then quit the show in disgust, abandoning his mutilated brainchild and fleeing back to his home in California.
As science advisor, my job was to read the scripts, note scientific errors, and suggest ways to fix those errors that didn't require throwing the entire script into the trash barrel. This I did. I was thanked graciously. I was paid a handsome consultant's fee. And my advice was totally ignored. Each script was shot as originally written,goofs and all.
And at the end of each episode there was a full screen credit for SCIENCE ADVISOR BEN BOVA.
The Show didn't last long. It received a mercy killing before the first season was through.
And, back in my apartment in Manhattan, I found myself writing The Starcrossed. My wife tells me I cackled fiendishly as I typed the manuscript.
So here it is, a roman á clef about what it was actually like to be working on a TV show. It all really happened, folks. Only the names have changed to protect the guilty and one innocent.