Andy Mangels is a writer of many Star Trek novels, in collaboration with Michael A. Martin. Although some of his novels feature the recurring homosexual character of Ranul Keru (ex-lover of Star Trek: First Contact’s Lt. Hawk), contrary to some claims, he is not the first Trek writer to place a homosexual character in a novel (see The Best and the Brightest by Susan Wright for a minor character, and the Star Trek: SCE series of eBooks). Keru is the first significantly-featured homosexual character in paper novels, however, and Mangels (an openly gay man) and Martin have consistently featured characters of a diverse sexuality, as well as diverse ethnicities, religious backgrounds, and physical abilities, in all of their works.