| abstract | - Nathan Archer is a pseudonym for author Lawrence Watt-Evans, who wrote two Star Trek novels which were both released in 1995.
- Dr. Nathan Archer was a college teacher and an inventor.
- Principally a fantasy author, Watt-Evans developed the Archer pseudonym specifically for science fiction work, so that sales for works in each genre would not affect the other. His intention was for his tie-in novels to serve as a lead-in to producing original stories. He approached Pocket editor John Ordover to pitch a Star Trek novel in part to gain a publishing credit for Archer he could use to write Predator tie-ins for Dark Horse. Ordover was assigning the first batch of Pocket DS9 novels at the time, and so commissioned Watt-Evans to write one of those. His first Star Trek novel, Valhalla, was intended to be released early on in the series; however, a mix-up with Ordover led it to be delayed by about 18 months. (Voyages of Imagination, pp. 234-235) After his success in writing a novel based on early series material, Watt-Evans was tasked with repeating that with Star Trek: Voyager, producing the Pocket VOY novel Ragnarok. He then pitched two further novels, a Pocket TOS novel, Yggdrasil and a Pocket TNG novel, Valkyrie. However, after Ordover left Pocket, Watt-Evans decided not to proceed with the books. (Voyages of Imagination, p. 280) Despite a number of tie-in releases, Watt-Evans noted in Voyages of Imagination that the Archer pseudonym was not successful in transitioning to original science fiction. In Voyages of Imagination, Watt-Evans explained that "[writing for] Star Trek [was] certainly fun, but it was as much the money and the challenge of fitting a story into an elaborate pre-existing universe as well as the technical challenges to my skill as a writer, that tempted me as a passion for the source material." (Voyages of Imagination, p. 235)
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