Kirsten Beyer

Kirsten Beyer
Kirsten Beyer at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con
Kirsten Beyer at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of California, Los Angeles (MFA)[1]
GenreScience fiction
Years active2005–present

Kirsten Beyer is an American science fiction writer, known for her novels based on the Star Trek: Voyager television series. She was a staff writer for Star Trek: Discovery, and co-creator and executive producer of Star Trek: Picard.[2]

She has also written for the Buffyverse.

Career

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Beyer (left) and Nicholas Meyer (right) at Star Trek Mission New York (2016)

Little is known of Beyer's career prior to her involvement with the Star Trek franchise. She briefly worked as an actress and dancer for stage productions in the Los Angeles-area until the mid-1990s.[3] After corresponding with Star Trek: Voyager executive producer Jeri Taylor and expressing an interest in writing for the series, Beyer was invited to pitch for the series.[4] Beyer had previously submitted two spec scripts which were both rejected. She later pitched stories from Voyager's season five onward, but none were produced.

In 2004, Beyer was encouraged to send a query package to Pocket Books by her writing partner, Heather Jarman. Her query was accepted, and development of a new Voyager tie-in novel began. However, the editor leading the development moved on to other projects, and the novel under development was never realized.[4] Beyer was later introduced to Marco Palmieri, editor of the Star Trek line at Pocket Books, by Jarman while both were attending the Shore Leave science fiction convention.[5] Palmieri agreed to accept samples of her work, and invited Beyer to write for him a few days later.[4]

Beyer's first novel with Palmieri was Fusion (2005), the second book in the Voyager: String Theory miniseries. A subplot involving the Vulcan character Tuvok was originally pitched as an episode of Voyager tentatively titled "Siren's Song".[4] Another un-produced pitch was reworked as the short story "Isabo's Shirt", anthologized in Distant Shores (2005). Beyer became the lead writer of the Voyager novel series, replacing Christie Golden, with the release of Full Circle in March 2009.[6] She has written eleven Voyager tie-in novels.[7][8]

In May 2016, Beyer was hired as a staff writer for Star Trek: Discovery.[9] She was recruited because of her familiarity with Star Trek canon, and her experience as a tie-in fiction writer.[10] She has contributed to the Discovery and Star Trek: Picard comics line published by IDW.[11] In 2020, Beyer read for the audiobook edition of To Lose the Earth.[12]

Bibliography

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Star Trek: Voyager (2005–2020)

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Star Trek: Voyager tie-in novels published by Simon & Schuster.

Title Date ISBN
Fusion
  (String Theory, Book 2)
October 25, 2005 1-4165-0955-0
Full Circle March 31, 2009 978-1-4165-9496-3
Unworthy September 29, 2009 978-1-4391-0398-2
Children of the Storm May 31, 2011 978-1-4516-0718-5
The Eternal Tide August 28, 2012 978-1-4516-6818-6
Protectors January 28, 2014 978-1-4767-3854-3
Acts of Contrition September 30, 2014 978-1-4767-6551-8
Atonement August 25, 2015 978-1-4767-9081-7
A Pocket Full of Lies January 26, 2016 978-1-4767-9084-8
Architects of Infinity March 27, 2018 978-1-5011-3876-8
To Lose the Earth October 13, 2020 978-1-5011-3883-6

Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2020)

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Star Trek: Discovery tie-in comics published by IDW Publishing. Co-written by Mike Johnson. Beyer is credited as "Comic story writer" for most issues.

Issue Issue Date Collection Date ISBN
The Light of Kahless, Issue 1 November 29, 2017 The Light of Kahless, Vol. 1 August 8, 2018 978-1-63140-989-9
The Light of Kahless, Issue 2 January 24, 2018
The Light of Kahless, Issue 3 March 14, 2018
The Light of Kahless, Issue 4 May 30, 2018
Succession, Issue 1 April 18, 2018 Succession, Vol. 1 October 9, 2018 978-1-68405-360-5
Succession, Issue 2 May 23, 2018
Succession, Issue 3 June 27, 2018
Succession, Issue 4 August 1, 2018
Star Trek: Discovery Annual 2018 March 28, 2018
Aftermath, Issue 1 September 4, 2019 Aftermath, Vol. 1 Apr 14, 2020 978-1-68405-650-7
Aftermath, Issue 2 September 25, 2019
Aftermath, Issue 3 November 20, 2019
Captain Saru (special issue) March 13, 2019

Star Trek: Picard (2019–2020)

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Star Trek: Picard – Countdown comic miniseries is as a prequel to Star Trek: Picard. Artist is Angel Hernández.

Issue Issue Date Collection Date ISBN
1 November 27, 2019 Countdown, Vol. 1 June 30, 2020 978-1-68405-694-1
2 December 18, 2019
3 January 29, 2020

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2008)

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer tie-in novels published by Simon & Schuster.

Title Date ISBN
One Thing or Your Mother March 3, 2008 978-1-4169-3632-9
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 3 (omnibus) November 16, 2010 978-1-4424-1211-8

Short fiction (2005–2009)

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Beyer has contributed to the following short story collections:

Work Collection Editor Date ISBN
"Isabo's Shirt" Distant Shores
  (Star Trek: Voyager)
Marco Palmieri November 1, 2005 0-7434-9253-6
"Widow's Weeds" Space Grunts
  (Full Throttle Space Tales, No. 3)
Dayton Ward May 14, 2009 978-0-9818957-4-1

Filmography

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Year Title Role
2017–2024 Star Trek: Discovery Consulting Producer / Co-Producer (33 episodes)
Staff writer / Story editor (29 episodes)
Episode: "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" (written by)
Episode: "Saints of Imperfection" (written by)
Episode: "Unification III" (written by)
2019 Star Trek: Short Treks Episode: "Children of Mars" (written by)
2020 Star Trek: Picard Co-creator / Executive producer (11 episodes)
Episode: "Remembrance" (story by)
Episode: "Stardust City Rag" (written by)
2022 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Co-executive producer (10 episodes)

References

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  1. ^ "Getting to Know Kirsten Beyer". Star Trek. November 6, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  2. ^ "INTERVIEW: Discovery Writer, Voyager Novelist Kirsten Beyer". Star Trek. September 23, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  3. ^ Matthew Rushing and Christopher Jones (December 1, 2012). "Continuing Voyager with Kirsten Beyer". Literary Treks (Podcast). Trek.fm. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Ayers, Jeff (November 14, 2006). Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion. New York: Pocket Books (published November 14, 2006). pp. 299–301. ISBN 9781416503491.
  5. ^ Deffner, Jens (April 5, 2009). "Kirsten Beyer interview". Unreality-SF.net. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  6. ^ "Kirsten Beyer Unleashes a Storm". Star Trek. May 31, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  7. ^ Fletcher, Harry (June 1, 2016). "Star Trek TV show hires Voyager novelist Kirsten Beyer". Digital Spy. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  8. ^ "A Ship Full of Legends". Literary Treks (Podcast). Trek.fm. April 8, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  9. ^ FitzPatrick, Kevin (May 30, 2016). "CBS 'Star Trek' 2017 Adds 'Voyager' Novels Writer to Staff". ScreenCrush. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  10. ^ Martinelli, Marissa (September 21, 2017). "How shows like Star Trek: Discovery stick to canon". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  11. ^ Johnston, Rich (July 19, 2017). "Star Trek: Discovery's Kirsten Beyer Behind Spinoff Comic, Starting In October, From IDW". Bleeding Cool News and Rumors. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  12. ^ To Lose the Earth Audiobook by Kirsten Beyer. October 13, 2020. ISBN 978-1-5082-8669-1. Retrieved October 23, 2021. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
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