Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
A lot of folks have asked me for information on the B5 books, lately. Here’s a run-down on the ones I’m aware of. The three recent trilogies are discussed in the large spoiler box, both as protection of those who haven’t read them yet, but plan to, and for those who haven’t seen the entire television series, whether or not they mean to read the books.
The Babylon 5 Security Manual – By "Michael Garibaldi" Compiled by Jim Mortimore with Allen Adams and Roger Clark. (Thanks, Lyta, for supplying the authors' names.) Technical information, written as if B5 is a real place. Similar to any number of books in the "Trek" universe.
Creating Babylon 5 - by David Bassom. Behind the scenes info on the show'sproduction. Pretty good, nice color photos, but not as informative as Jane Killick's series (which it duplicates to some degree. Thanks again to Lyta, for telling me who wrote it.)
The Babylon File I & II - by Andy Lane. A fan-written, season-by-season, critique. A little biased, in my view, and too willingly to believe every negative comment about the show in volume II, but these are minor blemishes in what is generally a very good guide to the show.
There was a Babylon 5 comic book, for which both Peter David and JMS wrote stories, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve never seen it, and it is long-since out of print. I think a couple of stories that extended over four or five issues each were collected into paperback “graphic novels” I don’t know the titles, or if they are still in print.
One dealt with Sinclair being framed for attempted murder almost immediately after he arrives on Minbar, with Neroon acting as prosecutor at his trial. The events in this story are referred to in Kathryn Drennan’s Sinclair novel (see below.)
That book may also have included a stand alone story or two-parter about Sinclair’s first meeting with Garibaldi, which finds them stranded in the desert and witnessing the arrival of a Shadow vessel that frees another long buried on Mars.
(Garibaldi tells an abbreviated version of the tale in the episode, “Hunter/Prey.” Interestingly he does not name Jeffery Sinclair as his companion on the trip, though he does say that two of them were involved.)
A second paperback includes the story “In Valen’s name”, in which B4 is located during the run of the series, and secret writings of Valen are discovered within it by Sheridan and others from B5.
If anyone out there has the comics or the paperback reprints I’d be grateful if you would correct any errors or omissions in the above, and provide any additional information that you think would interest folks.
The Dell Paperbacks, numbered 1 through 9
By general consensus, only two of these novels, numbers 7 and 9, IIRC, are good B5 and (pretty) good novels. The others tend to be one or the other (or neither.) The Shadow Within by Jeanne Cavelos tells the story of Anna Sheridan, Mr. Morden, and the ill-fated expedition of the Icarus to Z'ha'dum. To Dream in the City of Sorrows, by Kathryn M. Drennan, follows Jeffery Sinclair from his arrival on Minbar as Earth Ambassador to his departure for Babylon 5 and the events of "War Without End."
JMS has said that these two are between 80% and 90% "canon", that is, as much a part of the "real" story as the episodes themselves. (There are some minor mismatches in chronology and other details in both, and a few ideas that JMS doesn't feel bound to stick to if he decides to contradict this backstory in later TV or movie installments.) Not surprising, when you think about it. They are among the few books written after the series was on the air, Cavelos was the editor for the series, early on, and therefore had more access to show materials and to JMS, and Kathryn Drennan not only wrote for the series ("By Any Means Necessary"), but is married to JMS.
All of the early Dell books are now out of print, but the good news is that Del Rey has acquired the rights to republish them. They'll be released again starting December with The Shadow Within, followed by To Dream, since they are the two most requested.
Babylon 5: Season by Season by Jane Killick's. A series of episode guides including interview with cast and crew, synopses and analysis. Five volumes, one per season. Some people don’t realize that each B5 season had a title, like the individual volumes in a series of books. As is often the case with books, the season titles came from individual “chapters” (episodes) within each “volume” Killick takes her book titles from the season titles:
S1: Signs and Portents
S2: The Coming of Shadows
S3: Point of No Return
S4: No Surrender, No Retreat
S5: The Wheel of Fire
The TV movie books are:
Thirdspace by Peter David
A Call to Arms by Robert Sheckley
In the Beginning by Peter David
ItB was based on the script, and written before the film was shot, as is common with novelizations that have to be in the stores when a movie debuts. In JMS's script the Centauri "governess" who minds the children is not given a name. In the novel, David dubs her Senna, and makes her role a bit bigger. When it came time to outline the Centauri trilogy, JMS needed a female Centauri who would be a certain age in 2278.
Rather than invent a new character, he borrowed Senna and made her an important character in the events leading up to ItB, though circumstances still put her in charge of the children at the moment they burst in on Londo. For this reason the characterization of Senna is jarringly different in the book version of ItB and the later Centauri novels. Short of a major rewrite of ItB there is really nothing that can be done to fix this. Oddly the film doesn't suffer nearly the same problem, because Senna is such a minor character in it, and we learn so little about her.
Spoiler protection for those who haven't seen the whole series. No real spoilers for the books themselves:
<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
The Psi-Corps Trilogy (Doesn't really have an over-all title) by J. Gregory Keyes
Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Corps
From the discovery of Human telepaths (about 100 years before the series starts) through the founding of the agency that will become Psi-Corps and the birth of Alfred Bester.
Strange Relations: Bester Ascendant
Bester's early life and his rise through the ranks of Psi-Corps. Ends with his departure for Babylon 5 in pursuit of the rogue telepath Jason Ironheart (S1, "Mind War")
Final Reckoning: The Fate of Bester
Picks up Bester's story many years after the Telepath War and the destruction of Psi-Corps. A hunted man for nearly 20 years, Bester decides to stop running and hide out in the last place anyone would think to look for him - Earth, headquarters of the government that has already convicted him of treason and war crimes in absentia.
Legions of Fire by Peter David
The Long Night of Centauri Prime
From Londo's ascension through the early years of Centauri isolation and the secret Drakh occupation. (Roughly 2262 to 2265)
Armies of Light and Dark
Resistance to "Londo's" policies comes from an odd quarter. Londo's isolation and powerlessness grow as ministers influenced by the Drakh take control of the government. The Centauri secretly plot against the Alliance, and the Drakh prepare to attack both Earth and Minbar with deadly weapons left by the Shadows. (Includes events that happen "off-screen" in A Call to Arms (2265 to 2267)
Out of the Darkness
The Ministers tighten their grip on Centauri Prime. The Resistance prepares to make its move. The Keeper in the urn siezes control of David Sheridan. G'Kar goes undercover on Centauri Prime to investigate recent events. Sheridan and Delenn risk everything to save their son. (2267 to 2278 - Overlaps with S3, "War Without End" and In the Beginning)
Peter David was evidently given a timeline that had a typo in it, because several of the events in these the novels are off by just about a year. I'm not sure how this was missed in editing. But this and one or two other minor inconsistancies are the only real flaws.
The Passing of the Technomages by Jeanne Cavelos
Casting Shadows
The technomages hold a convocation to induct new members, including Galen (A Call to Arms, Crusade) and three less skilled mages who will play a part in other novels. Disturbing hints emerge about the origins of the implants the mages use to work their "magic" Galen's mission to investigate these rumors brings him into contact with Anna Sheridan, now implanted in a Shadow warship, and brings him to the notice of Kosh, who is himself monitoring the mages. (2258, late S1)
Summoning Light
The mages decide to go into hiding on the eve of the Shadow War. Two of the mages join the Shadows, putting the escape of the others at risk. The group passes through Babylon 5 on their way out of known space (S2, "The Geometry of Shadows"), but what they allow Sheridan and others to see of their actions is mostly illusion and misdirection. You'll never look at the episode the same way again.
Invoking Darkness
Galen discovers the secret of the Mage implants, a secret that may destroy their order. The Shadows discover the identity of Anna Sheridan and remove her from her ship to use her as bait in a trap for her husband. Kosh is killed by vengeful Shadows, but manages to "break off a piece of himself" as Vorlons do, and implant it in John Sheridan. Galen confronts the renegade Mages even as Sheridan faces the Shadows on Z'ha'dum. (S3, 2261. Overlaps with several episodes, notably "Z'ha'dum")
The Cavelos books are probably most closely tied to the events of the series, since they all take place between 2258 and 2262, and frequently weave in and out of individual episodes in interesting ways. She also refers to events concerning Kosh, Anna Sheridan and Morden that come from her earlier novel, The Shadow Within. This makes Shadow a good, but not indispensible, companion piece to the Mage trilogy.
Personally I liked the Cavelos books best as novels, and, oddly, they are probably the ones that would be most enjoyed by someone who has never seen the series. I found the Psi-Corp books well-written and informative about the history of the B5 universe and Bester, but drier somehow, less involving. OTOH, I know people who loved the Keyes Psi Corps books, and view the Technomage novels as the weakest of the three. Everybody seems to like Peter David's Centauri books, he has a great feel for Londo, especially his way of speaking, but they don't seem to inspire the kind of passionate response the other two do in both those who like and those who dislike them.</font></td></tr></table>
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
[This message has been edited by Joseph DeMartino (edited January 25, 2002).]
[This message has been edited by Joseph DeMartino (edited January 27, 2002).]
The Babylon 5 Security Manual – By "Michael Garibaldi" Compiled by Jim Mortimore with Allen Adams and Roger Clark. (Thanks, Lyta, for supplying the authors' names.) Technical information, written as if B5 is a real place. Similar to any number of books in the "Trek" universe.
Creating Babylon 5 - by David Bassom. Behind the scenes info on the show'sproduction. Pretty good, nice color photos, but not as informative as Jane Killick's series (which it duplicates to some degree. Thanks again to Lyta, for telling me who wrote it.)
The Babylon File I & II - by Andy Lane. A fan-written, season-by-season, critique. A little biased, in my view, and too willingly to believe every negative comment about the show in volume II, but these are minor blemishes in what is generally a very good guide to the show.
There was a Babylon 5 comic book, for which both Peter David and JMS wrote stories, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve never seen it, and it is long-since out of print. I think a couple of stories that extended over four or five issues each were collected into paperback “graphic novels” I don’t know the titles, or if they are still in print.
One dealt with Sinclair being framed for attempted murder almost immediately after he arrives on Minbar, with Neroon acting as prosecutor at his trial. The events in this story are referred to in Kathryn Drennan’s Sinclair novel (see below.)
That book may also have included a stand alone story or two-parter about Sinclair’s first meeting with Garibaldi, which finds them stranded in the desert and witnessing the arrival of a Shadow vessel that frees another long buried on Mars.
(Garibaldi tells an abbreviated version of the tale in the episode, “Hunter/Prey.” Interestingly he does not name Jeffery Sinclair as his companion on the trip, though he does say that two of them were involved.)
A second paperback includes the story “In Valen’s name”, in which B4 is located during the run of the series, and secret writings of Valen are discovered within it by Sheridan and others from B5.
If anyone out there has the comics or the paperback reprints I’d be grateful if you would correct any errors or omissions in the above, and provide any additional information that you think would interest folks.
The Dell Paperbacks, numbered 1 through 9
By general consensus, only two of these novels, numbers 7 and 9, IIRC, are good B5 and (pretty) good novels. The others tend to be one or the other (or neither.) The Shadow Within by Jeanne Cavelos tells the story of Anna Sheridan, Mr. Morden, and the ill-fated expedition of the Icarus to Z'ha'dum. To Dream in the City of Sorrows, by Kathryn M. Drennan, follows Jeffery Sinclair from his arrival on Minbar as Earth Ambassador to his departure for Babylon 5 and the events of "War Without End."
JMS has said that these two are between 80% and 90% "canon", that is, as much a part of the "real" story as the episodes themselves. (There are some minor mismatches in chronology and other details in both, and a few ideas that JMS doesn't feel bound to stick to if he decides to contradict this backstory in later TV or movie installments.) Not surprising, when you think about it. They are among the few books written after the series was on the air, Cavelos was the editor for the series, early on, and therefore had more access to show materials and to JMS, and Kathryn Drennan not only wrote for the series ("By Any Means Necessary"), but is married to JMS.
All of the early Dell books are now out of print, but the good news is that Del Rey has acquired the rights to republish them. They'll be released again starting December with The Shadow Within, followed by To Dream, since they are the two most requested.
Babylon 5: Season by Season by Jane Killick's. A series of episode guides including interview with cast and crew, synopses and analysis. Five volumes, one per season. Some people don’t realize that each B5 season had a title, like the individual volumes in a series of books. As is often the case with books, the season titles came from individual “chapters” (episodes) within each “volume” Killick takes her book titles from the season titles:
S1: Signs and Portents
S2: The Coming of Shadows
S3: Point of No Return
S4: No Surrender, No Retreat
S5: The Wheel of Fire
The TV movie books are:
Thirdspace by Peter David
A Call to Arms by Robert Sheckley
In the Beginning by Peter David
ItB was based on the script, and written before the film was shot, as is common with novelizations that have to be in the stores when a movie debuts. In JMS's script the Centauri "governess" who minds the children is not given a name. In the novel, David dubs her Senna, and makes her role a bit bigger. When it came time to outline the Centauri trilogy, JMS needed a female Centauri who would be a certain age in 2278.
Rather than invent a new character, he borrowed Senna and made her an important character in the events leading up to ItB, though circumstances still put her in charge of the children at the moment they burst in on Londo. For this reason the characterization of Senna is jarringly different in the book version of ItB and the later Centauri novels. Short of a major rewrite of ItB there is really nothing that can be done to fix this. Oddly the film doesn't suffer nearly the same problem, because Senna is such a minor character in it, and we learn so little about her.
Spoiler protection for those who haven't seen the whole series. No real spoilers for the books themselves:
<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
The Psi-Corps Trilogy (Doesn't really have an over-all title) by J. Gregory Keyes
Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Corps
From the discovery of Human telepaths (about 100 years before the series starts) through the founding of the agency that will become Psi-Corps and the birth of Alfred Bester.
Strange Relations: Bester Ascendant
Bester's early life and his rise through the ranks of Psi-Corps. Ends with his departure for Babylon 5 in pursuit of the rogue telepath Jason Ironheart (S1, "Mind War")
Final Reckoning: The Fate of Bester
Picks up Bester's story many years after the Telepath War and the destruction of Psi-Corps. A hunted man for nearly 20 years, Bester decides to stop running and hide out in the last place anyone would think to look for him - Earth, headquarters of the government that has already convicted him of treason and war crimes in absentia.
Legions of Fire by Peter David
The Long Night of Centauri Prime
From Londo's ascension through the early years of Centauri isolation and the secret Drakh occupation. (Roughly 2262 to 2265)
Armies of Light and Dark
Resistance to "Londo's" policies comes from an odd quarter. Londo's isolation and powerlessness grow as ministers influenced by the Drakh take control of the government. The Centauri secretly plot against the Alliance, and the Drakh prepare to attack both Earth and Minbar with deadly weapons left by the Shadows. (Includes events that happen "off-screen" in A Call to Arms (2265 to 2267)
Out of the Darkness
The Ministers tighten their grip on Centauri Prime. The Resistance prepares to make its move. The Keeper in the urn siezes control of David Sheridan. G'Kar goes undercover on Centauri Prime to investigate recent events. Sheridan and Delenn risk everything to save their son. (2267 to 2278 - Overlaps with S3, "War Without End" and In the Beginning)
Peter David was evidently given a timeline that had a typo in it, because several of the events in these the novels are off by just about a year. I'm not sure how this was missed in editing. But this and one or two other minor inconsistancies are the only real flaws.
The Passing of the Technomages by Jeanne Cavelos
Casting Shadows
The technomages hold a convocation to induct new members, including Galen (A Call to Arms, Crusade) and three less skilled mages who will play a part in other novels. Disturbing hints emerge about the origins of the implants the mages use to work their "magic" Galen's mission to investigate these rumors brings him into contact with Anna Sheridan, now implanted in a Shadow warship, and brings him to the notice of Kosh, who is himself monitoring the mages. (2258, late S1)
Summoning Light
The mages decide to go into hiding on the eve of the Shadow War. Two of the mages join the Shadows, putting the escape of the others at risk. The group passes through Babylon 5 on their way out of known space (S2, "The Geometry of Shadows"), but what they allow Sheridan and others to see of their actions is mostly illusion and misdirection. You'll never look at the episode the same way again.
Invoking Darkness
Galen discovers the secret of the Mage implants, a secret that may destroy their order. The Shadows discover the identity of Anna Sheridan and remove her from her ship to use her as bait in a trap for her husband. Kosh is killed by vengeful Shadows, but manages to "break off a piece of himself" as Vorlons do, and implant it in John Sheridan. Galen confronts the renegade Mages even as Sheridan faces the Shadows on Z'ha'dum. (S3, 2261. Overlaps with several episodes, notably "Z'ha'dum")
The Cavelos books are probably most closely tied to the events of the series, since they all take place between 2258 and 2262, and frequently weave in and out of individual episodes in interesting ways. She also refers to events concerning Kosh, Anna Sheridan and Morden that come from her earlier novel, The Shadow Within. This makes Shadow a good, but not indispensible, companion piece to the Mage trilogy.
Personally I liked the Cavelos books best as novels, and, oddly, they are probably the ones that would be most enjoyed by someone who has never seen the series. I found the Psi-Corp books well-written and informative about the history of the B5 universe and Bester, but drier somehow, less involving. OTOH, I know people who loved the Keyes Psi Corps books, and view the Technomage novels as the weakest of the three. Everybody seems to like Peter David's Centauri books, he has a great feel for Londo, especially his way of speaking, but they don't seem to inspire the kind of passionate response the other two do in both those who like and those who dislike them.</font></td></tr></table>
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
[This message has been edited by Joseph DeMartino (edited January 25, 2002).]
[This message has been edited by Joseph DeMartino (edited January 27, 2002).]
