Author, musician, actor, competition-level martial artist--Keith R.A. DeCandido is talented on so many levels, it is more than fair to call him a modern Renaissance man. The best-selling writer is probably best known for his SF media tie-in books, based on series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek, but he's spreading out and taking New York as well.

His latest project is a novel based on the CSI:NY television show called Four Walls, where the team investigates a double homicide at a Staten Island prison. Why the switch from his previous science fiction base?

"Well, I've always been interested in mysteries, and several of my other books -- both my Spider-Man novels, my Supernatural novel, Dragon Precinct, some of the original books that I've written that my agent is trying to sell, and others -- have had mystery elements, so it wasn't that big a leap. Plus, of course, I love writing about New York City, so it was a good fit."

Born and raised in the Bronx by bookish parents, DeCandido claims that his consumption of Heinlein, LeGuin and Tolkien among others, gave him a deep love of SF and a "pretentious insistence on using both (my) middle initials all the time."

For many years, he has worked in the publishing field as an editor, both working for others and with his own company. Anthologies he has edited include the Trek universe's  Tales of the Dominion War and Tales from the Captain's Table, and this year's Doctor Who: Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership.

DeCandido has said that Star Trek is his longest-lived fandom, and Doctor Who, his second. But he is optimistic that SF has greater opportunities than ever to catch hold of an audience's imagination on television.

"If anything, the networks are less fickle than they were in the 1960s, because for one thing, there are five of them instead of three. There are also plenty of opportunities for genre shows beyond the networks in the realm of syndication and basic cable. Stargate- SG1 just finished a ten-year run, it's still being done as occasional DVD movies, and its spinoff is one of Sci-Fi's top shows."

That being said, he's written the novelization of two Resident Evil movies, and Serenity, the movie based on Joss Whedon's Firefly universe, as well as novels for Farscape, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, Supernatural, The Young Hercules, Star Trek, and a host of short stories, comics and more.

(He is not, however, conversational in Klingon, despite his very successful stories of that realm: "I can barely handle English. No, the Klingon language that I know comes from e-mailing the likes of Marc Okrand and the folks in the Klingon Language Institute (who have all been very helpful)." )
 
Writing novels off an established show allows a writer to work with many characters who are already created, but there's a high standard to keep, as the fans already know a great deal about them. Whether he's writing fiction from a series, or all-original work, he jokes, "I go left to right on the page, regardless."

"Seriously, folks," he continues, "the process is different, but ultimately yes, it's about good writing. I don't prefer one or the other. I only do more tie-ins because they keep sending me checks."

DeCandido is to a point in his career where this really matters, because, he says, he earns his living from the books he publishes, as many as four a year. How does he keep up that breakneck pace?

"Perseverance. Typing obscenely fast (I touch type at about 150 words per minute). Plotting the whole thing out first (which is necessary for tie-ins anyhow) helps, also, as the plot's laid out when you start writing." 

Another experience he brings to his writing are his gaming years, first D&D, then a brush with both World of Warcraft  and Starcraft, which has led to a novel in each of those universes. "In my one non-tie-in novel to date, Dragon Precinct, the two main characters in that book are both based on characters I played in Dungeons & Dragons games in high school and college. I don't play WoW or Starcraft regularly, though I have observed and participated in a game here and there -- the main reason why is because I've seen what it does to people. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my life as it is, if I added so addictive a game, I'd never get any work done.".

He's also written fanfiction, and he says that fanfiction is "a wonderful thing."

"It gives fans a chance to explore stories that could never be told in any other form. And once something reaches a level of popularity -- and the Potter books are right near the top of that scale -- works based on it are going to take on a life of their own. It's inevitable."
 
In light of the recent hoopla over the Harry Potter encyclopedia, he added, "Generally in those situations, the copyright holder turns a deliberate blind eye to it, but not always -- and that's their right, one way or the other. It =is= their intellectual property, regardless of how popular it is, and they're right to protect that IP however they see fit. Of course, the fans who take umbrage are perfectly within their rights to take umbrage, too."

DeCandido is not only interested in science fiction, but in science fact.  His website and Livejournal pages often refer to news items in the realm of science, particularly space. "It's funny, in 2003 I was at the WorldCon in Toronto, I was attending a party for the Heinlein Society, and they were showing an interview with Heinlein in 1969 shortly after the moon landing, and he was talking about a new era of space travel that had been heralded by that landing. Forty years later, we're a bit behind those optimistic predictions, but the successes NASA has had on Mars leads me to think that we'll get back on track eventually.":
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The author says he enjoys meeting fans, and offers these tips for people who see him at cons:

"Just walk up to me, say hi, and be polite. This means if I'm in the midst of a conversation with someone else, don't just barge in and interrupt. But generally, I'm pretty approachable. John Scalzi posted a wonderful guide to approaching authors at conventions on his "Whatever" blog:  What he says pretty much applies to me, too, except that I blame alcohol consumption rather than artificial sweeteners for my lack of memory, and my fiancee is far more likely to use a sword than a baseball bat.".

For fans who want to approach him not about his work but their own, he says, "I'll hand them my business card and quote the rates I charge for editorial work, which are negotiable."

DeCandido's Simon and Schuster page reveals he has "two insane cats," that, he confesses, don't plot to steal his ideas, but "mostly try to steal my attention. And they almost always get it."

And finally, the ultimate Star Trek question:  who is the best captain? 

"A tie between Captain Gold and Captain Klag, obviously!"