New old books

[ElScorcho]

I've heard that DelRey is reprinting all the nine old original novels starting this fall. It's good in a way, since they've all been out of print for so long (I'm still missing one of them myself). But as anyone who's read them can attest, there are only two exceptional ones and less than half are even worth reading. "A Touch of Your Shadow..." was just dreadful. And one of the books depicts Talia as being deaf and having to rely on her Psi abilities to know what people are saying! The earlier ones, in particular, seem to have been written by people who'd never even seen the show.

So my humble advice to bookworms is to get your hands on "The Shadow Within" - the backstory behind Halfpint and the Shadows - and "To Dream in the City of Sorrows" - the story of Cmdr Sinclair after he dropped of the face of the, er - between the end of season one and "War Without End".

The rest you can pretty much take or leave at your whim. (They are not considered "canon" either, if that means anything to you.)

And last but not least - DEMAND NEW STORIES!

 

[KoshN]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by ElScorcho: </font color>
"A Touch of Your Shadow..." was just dreadful.

[/quote]


Hoo Boy, on that we can agree!
It was the first one I read, and the first fiction I'd read in 25 years (Reading technical manuals, 10CFR, Nuke Plant UFSARS and Operating manuals, etc. at work all day long, for almost 20 years, makes you not want to read ANYTHING when you get home from work. /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif )

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by ElScorcho: </font color>
And last but not least - DEMAND NEW STORIES!

[/quote]


Demand new stories, of whom? JMS? He doesn't want to do new stories (at least in novel form). Sure, he wants to do at least three more short stories (one written by him, one by Neil Gaiman, and one by Anne McCaffrey), but Del Rey's tied up with the re-release of the first nine novels. I've corresponded with Steve Saffel about this...

<font color="orange">----- Original Message -----
From: "Saffel, Steve" <SSaffel@randomhouse.com>
Sent: Monday, May 06, 2002 11:24 AM
Subject: RE: Any News on the Babylon 5 Short Story Anthology?

Still no news on the anthlogy--right now we're focusing on the reissues of
the Dell books, beginning with THE SHADOW WITHIN.

As yet, we don't have the rights to do the anthology, and that will be an
entirely different discussion with the licensor. If it moves ahead, there's
no guarantee that we will have new stories by J. M. Straczynski, Anne
McCaffrey and Neil Gaiman. All three authors are very busy at the moment,
and anything new would depend on their availability.
</font color>

Maybe another publisher could do the B5 Short Story Anthology (which would include the three new stories)???

 

[ElScorcho]

Ah, intriguing. I had not heard of the Anthology project. Neil Gaiman is an excellent author as well. But knowing the hastiness of DelRey's release schedules in regards to B5, maybe we'll see it around 2010.

 

[KoshN]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by ElScorcho: </font color>
But knowing the hastiness of DelRey's release schedules in regards to B5, maybe we'll see it around 2010.

[/quote]

No doubt!

Still, ... give ol' Steve a prod for me, will you? /forums/images/icons/wink.gif /forums/images/icons/devil.gif /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

That goes for everybody else here as well. Maybe we'll manage to get Del Rey off their duffs. /forums/images/icons/rolleyes.gif

 

[channe]

Who says they need a story from Anne McCaffrey, when they have someone like me? /forums/images/icons/wink.gif Untapped talent, and all that...

*sighs*

 

[KoshN]

Oh the modesty. /forums/images/icons/blush.gif /forums/images/icons/rolleyes.gif /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

 

[ElScorcho]

Alright, get cracking. We want a Telepath War trilogy by next week. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
The earlier ones, in particular, seem to have been written by people who'd never even seen the show.

[/quote]

Maybe that's because they were. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif The earliest books were written either before the show was on the air or right after it started, when there were still many television markets where it wasn't available. (The first book appeared in print about a year after the show's debut, but would have been written earlier.) IIRC correctly the first of the writers who got the benefit of seeing video tapes of the show and getting some guidance from JMS was Jeanne Cavelos on The Shadow Within - because by the time she was writing JMS had producing the show mostly down to a routine and could spare a little time from it to involve himself in the books.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Shaal Mayan]

I sound like a broken record but does anyone have a release date for To dream in the city of sorrows yet.?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
I sound like a broken record but does anyone have a release date for To dream in the city of sorrows yet?

[/quote]

No, the publisher hasn't announced it yet. Since To Dream is set for November, I would guess early 2003 - which means they probably won't announce the actual date for several more months.

Regards,

Joe