A.C. Crispin
New York Times bestselling author A.C. Crispin (1950–2013) wrote prolifically in many different tie-in universes, and was a master at filling in the histories of beloved TV and movie characters. She began publishing in 1983 with the Star Trek novel Yesterday’s Son, written in her spare time while working for the US Census Bureau. Shortly thereafter, Tor Books commissioned her to write what is perhaps still her most widely read work, the 1984 novelization of the television miniseries, V, which sold more than a million copies.
For Star Wars, Crispin wrote the bestselling Han Solo Trilogy: The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn, which tell the story of Han Solo from his early years right up to the moment he walks into the cantina in Star Wars: A New Hope. She wrote three other bestselling Star Trek novels: Time for Yesterday, The Eyes of the Beholders, and Sarek. Her final tie-in novel was the massive Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom, which was published in 2011. She was named a Grandmaster by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers in 2013.
Her major original science fiction undertaking was the StarBridge series. These books, written solo or in collaboration, centered around a school for young diplomats, translators, and explorers, both alien and human, located on an asteroid far from Earth. Series titles are: StarBridge, Silent Dances, Shadow World, Serpent’s Gift, Silent Songs, Voices of Chaos, and Ancestor’s World.
Crispin was a fierce advocate for writers. She and author Victoria Strauss created and co-chaired SFWA’s”scam watchdog” committee, Writer Beware, in 1998.