![Bestselling author and Rhode Island native Don Winslow at East Matunuck State Beach, one of the settings fictionalized in his new book, \"City on Fire,\" part one of a trilogy about warring crime families in Rhode Island.
LEAD IMAGE - 01 Winslow](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_288,y_163,w_816,h_459/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/370/01kmzm8gcm67mxzapjzf.jpg "Bestselling author and Rhode Island native Don Winslow at East Matunuck State Beach, one of the settings fictionalized in his new book, \\"City on Fire,\\" part one of a trilogy about warring crime families in Rhode Island.
LEAD IMAGE - 01 Winslow")
This famed crime novelist didn’t take kindly to the Project Hail Mary author’s criticism.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s cancellation affected much more than just the cast and crew who worked so hard on the streaming series. The fandom was deeply affected and is now splintered by haters and loyal supporters of creator Gene Roddenberry’s sci-fi franchise. Even Project Hail Mary author and self-proclaimed Trekkie Andy Weir recently voiced his stance on the state of the franchise when he recently said, “Those shows are s**t," referring to some of the newer Trek entries.
And in response to Weir, famed crime novelist Don Winslow (The Cartel, The Power of the Dog) issued his own point of view on the matter publicly. Winslow tagged Weir and wrote in a post on his X account:
“Congrats on the success of Project Hail Mary +The Martian. I'm a real fan. But when you have your moment don't use it to crap on other writers work. For the record, @Alex_Kurtzman is a visionary writer+creator+producer & you owe him an apology... writer to writer.”
.@andyweirauthor Congrats on the success of Project Hail Mary+The Martian. I'm a real fan.
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) March 30, 2026
But when you have your moment don't use it to crap on other writers work. For the record, @Alex_Kurtzman is a visionary writer+creator+producer&you owe him an apology...writer to writer.
Weir, who grew up as a Star Trek fan, called out Kurtzman (executive producer and Starfleet Academy co-showrunner) after pitching a Trek tale to Paramount, which wasn’t approved. “He [Kurtzman] is a nice guy, but they didn’t accept my pitch," Weir said recently. "So, you know, f**k ’em [laughs].”
It’s wonderful that Winslow is defending Kurtzman, but the reactions of these two authors are but a microcosm of the splintering that is happening within the Star Trek fandom at this very moment.
There are a large number of closed-minded and hateful “fans” who simply don’t see the value in Trek shows, like Starfleet Academy, which took bold swings and tried to propel the franchise forward with Roddenberry’s vision and Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC) in mind.
Then there are others like me who love every iteration of Star Trek from The Original Series to Lower Decks to Starfleet Academy — and who understand, as Captain Kirk (William Shatner) once said in The Original Series, “If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial, doesn’t logic demand that you be a part of it?”
Share your thoughts and comments on the state of Star Trek today via the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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