Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation (Volume 2) (Portraits of American Genius)

Gene Roddenberry created a mythology for the twentieth century: Star Trek. One of the most successful television shows and cultural icons of all time, Star Trek was from the beginning a forum where its creator and its viewers could explore the most fundamental questions of life: What is the difference between sexuality and love? What does goodness mean? What is the role of government? Where does duty end and morality begin? And most often: What does it mean to be human?
The Last Conversation is a poignant exploration of the inner world of Gene Roddenberry as he faced the end of his life. Insisting that no one could really know him or the sources of his creation without becoming part of his private world, he invited Yvonne Fern to live with him and his wife, Majel Barrett. "I want you to write me," he said, and later told her she had. The Last Conversation, however, is more than a portrait of a single life - it is an intellectual embrace. Well-matched in the velocity of their imagination and the depth of their understanding, Gene and Yvonne shared a journey into the meaning and worth of human existence.
As Gene receded from life, Yvonne's increasingly solitary task was to convey the richness, the insight, the radiance they saw in each other and in humanity. This beautiful book, written as a philosophical dialogue, is a last confessional call upon centuries of earlier attempts to codify our understanding of human experience and what lies beyond.
Throughout their intense dialogue, Gene never once spoke of the future in the future tense. It was never "the future will be," but always "the future is." Echoing this immediately, the book is written in the timeless present, allowing each of us to take part in The Last Conversation.
As we read and reread this stunning work, we are moved a little closer to the luminous future that Gene Roddenberry knew was already within us.

It is Roddenberry's time in the book world, as witnessed by Gene Roddenberry by Joel Engel (Nonfiction Forecasts, Mar. 21) and Star Trek Creator by David Alexander (Nonfiction Forecasts, May 16)--and now this volume, which is the most reverential. The tone is set by the book's inclusion in a new UC series, Portraits of American Genius. Fern, an ex-nun and a Trekkie, lived with Roddenberry and his wife during the last year of his life (1990-91) and views him as a visionary. Their discussions dealt with questions like "What is life," "What is the role of faith in human existence?" and other staples of pop metaphysics, plus a bit about Roddenberry's psychology. The book will appeal primarily to the most devoted Trekkies, who will not be daunted by such terms as "mind-meld," "Borgs," "IDIC" and "pon farr." $30,000 ad / promo; author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Fern's access to Star Trek creator Roddenberry during the last days of his life afforded her the opportunity to help him with one of his dearest wishes, the chance to address humanity in propria persona and expand openly on the parts of his personal philosophy hitherto expressed only implicitly in his work. Presented as literary conversation (rather than in question-and-answer interview format), the colloquies make clear Roddenberry's deep concern for the future of the human race. The dialogue exhibits Roddenberry's multifaceted approach to the world as it ranges topically from the problems of leadership to his love for his family. On everything, Roddenberry had well-formed opinions and no reticence in expressing them. Dennis Winters