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Margaret Clark (1955-2025)

Landru1000

Landru1000

Lieutenant
Red Shirt
I was sad to see that Margaret Clark has died. As an editor at DC and then Simon & Schuster, she might be the single person most responsible for Trek lit over the last 35 years or so. I'd love to read some more reminiscences from authors who've worked with her. A couple to start:

Dayton Ward:
daytonward.wordpress.com

Remembering Margaret Clark.

Photo found at Memory Alpha, but I believe it was taken by Doug Drexler. Of the 32 novels I’ve so far written or co-written, 28 of them were for Simon & Schuster. Of those, 21 were under …
daytonward.wordpress.com daytonward.wordpress.com

John Jackson Miller:

Remembering Margaret Clark, editor of Star Trek novels and much more – Faraway Press – The Online Home of John Jackson Miller

The official site of author John Jackson Miller
farawaypress.com
 
For those who might be interested, my memorial post for Margaret:
davidmack.pro

David Mack - RIP, Margaret Clark (1955-2025)

My friend and longtime editor Margaret Clark passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning, March 16, 2025. Margaret was the first editor to ever hire me to write a book, roughly 25 years ago, when she commissioned me to pen The Starfleet Survival Guide. She took a chance on me before I had […]
davidmack.pro davidmack.pro
 
My post on Margaret's passing:

I see the sad news that Margaret Clark is no longer with us has gone public. I will doubtless have more to say about Margaret later once I've had the chance to get my thoughts together, but this is a great loss and tragedy to all of us who knew and worked with Margaret over the years.

For those that don't know, Margaret was, among other things, a long-time Star Trek book editor. Off the top of my head, I honestly can't remember what was the first book we worked together on -- maybe a Trek novella for an anthology, or one of my 4400 books?-- which is a measure of just how often she edited me over the last several years. She was always very supportive -- and thoughtful and patient when needs be. Sadly, I was supposed to deliver my next Trek book to her this week, but trust me when I say that her fingerprints are all over it anyway, in a good way, thanks to her astute comments and suggestions regarding my proposal. I like to think it's a much better book because of her.

Margaret was also fun to hang out with at cons and chat with over the phone, usually at great length. Reading over other folk's comments, I can't help chuckling at how many us fondly recall how a routine business call from Margaret almost always turned into marathon session chat session catching up and gabbing about this and that and even occasionally the book in question.
🙂


She will be missed.
 
All of us who have worked on the Star Trek book line feel this loss keenly, as the words from Dave, Una, John, Dayton and others here and on social media so clearly show.

Over the last 17 years, Margaret and I worked together on 9 of my 12 Star Trek tie-in books, right up to my forthcoming Strange New Worlds novel Toward The Night. Margaret was unique, quirky, dedicated and above all, great to work with.

Editors are the unsung heroes of prose fiction; I will be forever grateful for the opportunities and the support Margaret gave me. She will be greatly missed. 🖖
 
Greg Cox said:
I'm not comfortable going into her private medical details, but this all happened very fast. I was talking to Margaret about the new book not too many months ago.
Click to expand...
It was fast. I turned in my latest novel ms. not knowing she was already ill; soon afterward, she was in the hospital. I was trying to work out the logistics to visit her when I got word that she was gone.
 
This is a big loss for the Trek book community, she helped bring us a lot of great books over the years, and honestly if it weren't for the books that have out under her and Marco Palmeri's I wouldn't be any near as big of a Trekkie as I am now. RIP.
 
My goodness, that's awful news, no age at all. I've been reading Star Trek novels since, well, forever, and I know the impact that Margaret has had over a long period of time. Very saddened to hear this. May her memory be a blessing to all who truly knew her.
 
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