To Dream in the City of Sorrows...

... is being re-released in August! If you haven't read this book yet either order it from amazon.co.uk or pick it up this August! It's an EXCELLENT book... Sheds a lot of light on what Sinclair did on Minbar between "Points of Departure" and "War Without End"

To Dream in the City of Sorrows


Edited the link to avoid horizontal scrolling. - Kribu

Thanks, I have been looking for that title.

I already have this one but I will be getting this book when the rerelease comes out .

i am very dubious ...
who wrote it ?
was it wrote by jms or some writer that actually was a part of b5 ?

who wrote it ?
was it wrote by jms or some writer that actually was a part of b5 ?

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It was written by his wife

JMS approved the story and since the author had daily access to him it is about as canon as a book can get.

Oh boy! August! And it's already February!!!!!!!

It's a really good book, the only B5 one that I've read thus far. I had to pay a bit more for mine as I got it through amazon.uk a year and a half or so ago. I couldn't get it anywhere else and I really wanted to read it. August is still a ways off though for the rest of you though.

Of course it's canon. His wife wrote it after all.

So she "pleases" JMS and her word is "cannon"?

Ah, I am one of the few who seem to be saying "heck with it."

JMS had his ideas. What he would or would not have done with this material is really just not known.

So phooey on it all.

um no, if jms agrees to what is written, then it is canon. Fact.

would you also consider episodes of b5 that were not written my jms not to be canon???

it's how it works

"this is the ultimate answer to the sinclair question, and should be considered as authentic as any episode of the regular series" - JMS, introduction to the book.

So she "pleases" JMS and her word is "cannon"?

Ah, I am one of the few who seem to be saying "heck with it."

JMS had his ideas. What he would or would not have done with this material is really just not known.

So phooey on it all.

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Ummmm...what the hell? I think someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

You make it sound like she gave JMS a blowjob and because of it, her book is instantly cannon. What kind of crazy backwards thinking is this?

"JMS had his ideas" -- YES! AND GUESS WHAT?!? HE TOLD THEM TO HIS WIFE WHO WROTE THE BOOK!

"What he would or would not have done with this material is really just not known." -- Actually, no. They were known to his wife, who talked to him DAILY while writing the book.

JMS has stated himself, on the moderated forum, that this book is as close to 100% cannon as there is. In fact I think he said somewhere around 90% or more. Its not that he said it to make his wife happy so he doesnt get cut off for a month. Its simply because she was able to discuss the book while writing it considerably more than other authors (although Ive heard that Jenne Cavelos did trade emails with JMS often while writing and her books are considered about 75%-80% cannon).

So you can go ahead and say phooey on it all, but the fact remains that is the most cannon of all the B5 books, and for the right reasons. Honestly, who better than the wife of "The Great Maker" to put together details on a story like this? I do believe she was also involved with the making of a few B5 episodes, but I dont remember which ones.

Wow Hyp, where did those little snide remarks come from? Those comments are totally uncalled for and frankly, I am shocked that someone would suggest such a thing.

Anyway, JMS hasn't ever made a big deal that Ms. Drennan is his wife and praised her work on the book long before a lot of us found out who she was. I have a very hard time imagining JMS giving his seal of approval without anything to back it up with.

Recoil, she wrote the B5 episode "By Any Means Necessary".

I found this photo of them and hope they don't mind me sharing. It is always nice to be able to put a face with a name.

Drennan and JMS

PS: Will someone edit that Amazon link? It makes the page really WIIIIIIDDDE. All you need is this to link to the book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345452194/

I don't see why everyone is getting so upset? I don't happen to like the B5 books very much, that's all. They tend to be poorly written IMHO, that's all.

And I tend to think of B5 as being over and done with after Season 5 anyway.

Keep reading away, I have no problem with that. Obviously you have problems with my comments, so I'll stop making them in this thread.

Geeze, it's just a book. I happen to think that the writers JMS hired for B5 did better work than this, that's all. But I am giving away my B5 books anyhow, they just don't do the series justice in my opinion.

But since my opinion offends so many here, just skip by this post.

And I tend to think of B5 as being over and done with after Season 5 anyway.

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Everyone does, and b5 did end with sleeping in the light. Consider the books as spin-offs, something like Crusade. where else could you get to know about the creation of the Psi Corps? or the technomages?

But since my opinion offends so many here, just skip by this post.

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you just had a very bad choice of words in my opinion, you dont have to stop posting in this thread i think. no one is offended by your opinion on the books.

I agree... that was a very poor choice of words, bordering on an insult to Kathryn Drennan who certainly hasn't done anything to deserve that, apart from writing a book that is based on JMS' ideas and that a lot of fans happen to like as well.

As for the writers on the show being better than the authors of the books... as said above, Drennan wrote one episode, a pretty good one at that. Peter David, the author of the pretty enjoyable (IMHO) Centauri trilogy, wrote a couple of episodes, as far as I remember... one of them - Soul Mates - being among my favourites in season 2. So there is some overlapping right there.

Also the Drennan book is not the only canon novel - all three trilogies have been approved as canon by JMS (who wrote fairly extensive outlines for all of them, IIRC). Did those authors please him as well?

Nothing wrong with not liking the books, but that's hardly reason enough to insult both the authors and JMS as well. It's his universe, he's the one calling the shots - we can either enjoy it or dislike it, or parts of it, but it's still his universe.

No one said you have to like the books Hyp. Im sure some people dont. No one is offended by the fact that you have an opinion about not liking the book, or choosing to think that they arent important. I think EVERYONE is offended at your choice of words, which was the point I was making in my post. That was way out of line and I was shocked to read something like that. Talk about an undeserved hit below the belt.

Lyta, thanks! I knew she wrote one, I thought it was a Season 1 episode too, and thought it was a good one from what I recalled. I was right! "By any means necessary" is my favorite Season 1 episode behind Chrysalis. I think it is probably THE best non-arc episode in the series.

<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by hypatia: </font color>
So she "pleases" JMS and her word is "cannon"?

Ah, I am one of the few who seem to be saying "heck with it."

JMS had his ideas. What he would or would not have done with this material is really just not known.

So phooey on it all.

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1. Those comments are uncalled for.
2. Everybody knows that Books 7 and 9 are the most canon of the nine Dell books.

If you'd read the JMS's 4-page Introduction to Book 9, you'd see just how off base your comments are.

It sounds like you're dismissing and dissing the Book 9 based upon other unknown B5 book's you've read, and that's just plain ridiculous.

<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by hypatia: </font color>
I don't see why everyone is getting so upset? I don't happen to like the B5 books very much, that's all. They tend to be poorly written IMHO, that's all.

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Upon reading which B5 books are you basing this opinion?

<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by hypatia: </font color>
And I tend to think of B5 as being over and done with after Season 5 anyway.

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That comment makes absolutely no sense at all in relation to Book #9 (Marcus in 10/2260, recalling events of 1/2259-9/2260). Book 9 is the subject of this thread. It sounds like you're giving up on all the B5 books based on ignorance. That would be like me saying that since Book 5 was crap, they all must be crap. However, I didn't. I went from Book 5, to 7, to 9, and then to the Psi Corps, Centauri Prime, and Technomage Trilogies, and then to the "A Call to Arms" novelization, Dell #1, Dell #2, and now I'm on Dell #3.

<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by hypatia: </font color>
Keep reading away, I have no problem with that. Obviously you have problems with my comments, so I'll stop making them in this thread.

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I only have a problem with comments based upon a lack of knowledge.

<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by hypatia: </font color>
Geeze, it's just a book. I happen to think that the writers JMS hired for B5 did better work than this, that's all.

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Better that what? Which books have you read?

<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by hypatia: </font color>
But I am giving away my B5 books anyhow, they just don't do the series justice in my opinion.

But since my opinion offends so many here, just skip by this post.

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Here we go again with the "It's my opinion (and therefore I'm entitled to it)" thing again. You're entitled to an INFORMED opinion.

Post also sent as a PM, in case Hyp isn't reading this thread anymore.

I am sorry that you do not see how your choice of words (yes, that is what we all seem to be objecting to) were offensive and why people are taking issue with them. I am also sorry that you think it is acceptable to make such a statement and then decide to leave just because it is "your opinion".

If you didn't -like- "To Dream...", you are certainly entitled to that opinion but I must admit you are one of the few who haven't liked it. Besides, whether or not you liked it still makes it the most canon of all the books written thus far.

Hey, if you really want to give away your books then send them my way. I will use them as a nice give-a-way on my site to someone who will enjoy them.