Members of Critical Mass: Melinda Snodgrass

Melinda Snodgrass has been an opera singer, an attorney, a screenwriter, a television story editor, a dressage rider, a member manager of an oil and gas company, and a novelist. Not exactly in that order... I don't think. Honestly? It's hard to keep track. And yes, she is still disgustingly young. I am beginning to suspect she is secretly immortal and just hiding her real age from us.

When I was a kid, I really liked watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, and I distinctly remember seeing the episode, "Measure of a Man". It was a brilliant episode, and one I saw a lot of commentary about in the ST:TNG fan mags. I still remember reading the interview with Diane Muldaur, when she talked about the impact of that episode and the "brilliant young novelist" who had written it. It's one of the most famous episodes in the history of Star Trek.

It was Melinda's spec.

She also wrote my favorite Seaquest:DSV episode and the pilot for Star Command. This is just a sampling of all of the television work that she's done. The TV writer career came after her law career, which came after her opera singing career. Somehow she also had time to write for and edit Wild Cards.

I met Melinda at my first WorldCon. Actually, I met Daniel Abraham first and noted that he was from Albuquerque. I told him I was also a New Mexican and he gave me an odd look and darted off. Melinda then approached me later at a party and asked if I wanted to join her writer's group. Needless to say, I didn't have to think all that hard.

Nowadays Melinda splits time between New Mexico and LA, where she is working on several projects including another pilot and some feature films. She also finds time to write novels. (Okay, maybe she isn't immortal. Maybe time just flows more quickly in the Melinda-verse). Her Edge series launches this year and is her response to the Left Behind books and other similar works. Like me, Melinda has been both religious and non, though we've gone opposite ways. She started out religious and left. I started out non-religious and joined.

Though the first book is being released this year, she's already completed two others, so I can vouch. The series keeps getting better.