David Gerrold, who wrote the famous Star Trek episodes "The Trouble with Tribbles," has written a new book in his Star Wolf series based on an idea he pitched to Gene Roddenberry for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The episode, according to D. C. Fontana in the introduction to Gerrold's upcoming book Blood and Fire would have centered around a mysterious and fatal blood disease aboard a ship, which several regular TNG characters would visit. Gerrold also included a homosexual couple in the episode. "The stakes were high; the answers not easy; the decisions were painful," Fontana wrote. "Gene told David to go write it."

According to Fontana, things changed when Roddenberry showed the script to his lawyer. "Gene had a new opinion of 'Blood and Fire.' It was 'aesthetically displeasing' with its slimy blood worms and plasmacytes as a metaphor for AIDS. That would have to change. As for the gay couple, they would have to be elminated or become heterosexual," Fontana wrote. Eventually, the episode was dropped altogether.

Gerrold reworked the script for "Blood and Fire" into a novel of the same, which will be published in January 2004. In the novel, the hero of his Star Wolf series, Commander Jon Korie of the starship Star Wolf, leads a team on a rescue mission when they find a disabled starship. They discover that the starship is infected with blood worms, and the are unable to return to the ship. Though ships with blood worm infestations are supposed to be destroyed, Star Wolf's captain isn't willing to do that if there are other options, and the chief medical officer dilligently seeks to cure the infestation.

More information about the book and the series can be found at the publisher BenBella's website. The book can be ordered at Amazon.com.

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