Shaal Mayan
Regular
I collect the Mongoose publishing line of books made for the d20 game for the show .Anyway I noticed this message on their web sites news and thought I would pass it along in case anyone was interested .I copied this directly.
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Babylon 5 novels and graphic novels
- Thread starter Shaal Mayan
- Start date
A_M_Swallow
Regular
This sounds like a spin off from TMoS.
Shaal Mayan
Regular
Well find out soon enogh.WOW so many people seem so interested .
KoshN
Super Moderator
Would some of you please post the info. at rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated ? Then, we could see if JMS has anything to say about it.
Babylon 5 Novels and Graphic Novels
Ninja_Squirrel
Regular
Wow, this is great news. I've been craving fresh B5 material, and the recent TMoS debacle was a real letdown. While I'd much rather have new B5 material on TV first, on the big screen second, having in print form is better than nothing.
One concern though... I hope that the stories are written or approved by JMS. Since Mongoose is going into this with WB, and WB owns B5, they could very well have the right to do whatever they wanted to with B5. I just hope that both WB and Mongoose have the common sense to involve JMS in at least a story-approval capacity. To have whole novels and graphic novels actually written by JMS himself would be even better.
One concern though... I hope that the stories are written or approved by JMS. Since Mongoose is going into this with WB, and WB owns B5, they could very well have the right to do whatever they wanted to with B5. I just hope that both WB and Mongoose have the common sense to involve JMS in at least a story-approval capacity. To have whole novels and graphic novels actually written by JMS himself would be even better.
Shaal Mayan
Regular
I post over at Mongoose's web page and according to I think Matthew Sprague all of the books with the D20 game books are approved by JMS or I think Fiona Avery .Could be wrong .I certainly hope to have a B5 novel written by JMS oneday would be nice .
Great news.
I think Mongoose is good choise. I might be in minority here, but as someone in Mongoose boards said, i hope these novels won't be "another adventures of tv characters". It would be nice to have cameo roles, but what i'm looking forward is exploring B5 world. Maybe a story about Narn warship in first Centauri-Narn war or story about Valen and previous Great War. Or rebuilding Earth after Great Burn. Or what happens after humans leave Earth. Or something about drazi green-purple war, possibilities are endless.
I think Mongoose is good choise. I might be in minority here, but as someone in Mongoose boards said, i hope these novels won't be "another adventures of tv characters". It would be nice to have cameo roles, but what i'm looking forward is exploring B5 world. Maybe a story about Narn warship in first Centauri-Narn war or story about Valen and previous Great War. Or rebuilding Earth after Great Burn. Or what happens after humans leave Earth. Or something about drazi green-purple war, possibilities are endless.
Shaal Mayan
Regular
That's what I am hoping for as well a bigger exploration of the planets and the people of the Babylon 5 universe and seeing the events of the past and the present through there eyes rather than the main characters.
Springer
Regular
I liked Peter David's Centauri trilogy, and I've not read the Technomage trilogy, but I found all the other B5 books a bit of a letdown, I guess due to the constraints on the writers (I think John Vornholt had to write the first book in something like a month) and also the writers themselves were not brilliant. If you read an original SF novel, then read a tie-in novel from B5, Star Wars/Trek or whatever, there is usually no comparison. Let's get some top writers and let them loose in the B5 universe instead! Imagine Peter F Hamilton or Walter Jon Williams writing for B5. But of course, they would be expensive to hire, and maybe the publishing company would prefer to go down a cheaper route.
Of course, I'd jump at a JMS B5 novel. His previous novels are pretty good too.
Of course, I'd jump at a JMS B5 novel. His previous novels are pretty good too.
Springer
Regular
You found the Psi Corps trilogy (J. Gregory Keyes), Dell #7 and Dell #9 a bit of a letdown, comparable to Dell 1 thru 6 and 8 ???
Ok, so the Shadow Within and the Kathryn Drennan book were better than the rest, certainly. But I do find The Shadow Within to be vastly over-rated. Just because it is about Morden and Anna Sheridan doesn't mean its good, though of course that's just my opinion. To Dream in the City of Sorrows was definately the best of the first nine, but it was still nothing special. And Keyes' telepath trilogy was a bit deeper in terms of characterisation than the rest, but I'm not sure he got Bester's character right.
The point I am trying to make is that I find overall that the tie-in novels are not as good or imaginative as a lot of original SF. B5 aimed to be the best SF TV show and it was, and I know JMS wanted the novels to be the same. Only Peter David's trilogy met my expectations in terms of characterisation, Londo and G'Kar's death was very emotional.
They're just my opinions. Those two books that you mentioned aren't terrible, but personally I don't find them very memorable in the long run.
KoshN
Super Moderator
In that case, you will probably not like the Technomage trilogy. There, have I sufficiently lowered your expectations? Now, maybe you have a chance of enjoying it.
I found it to be tedious and dry, for the most part.
The Psi Corps trilogy was my least favorite of the three trilogies, with the Centauri trilogy ranking 2nd and the Technomage trilogy, 1st. However, Cavelos still exhibits the annoying habit of bouncing back and forth between two main threads (You feel like a tennis ball after awhile.) and using one thing to death. That thing in "The Shadow Within" was the damned archeologist hand callouses thing. In the Technomage trilogy, it was "the scouring" (a Technomage thing). After awhile, you just want to say "Enough, already! I get it! No need to say it sixty billion times!"
JMS is probably the only person on Earth who can write for Bester, and JMS is too busy and distracted to do so. I think the problem is that top authors look upon tie-in novels as being "beneath them." They're not going to want to write somebody else's story. They want to write their story.
Of all of the books, I find The Technomage trilogy and the Centauri trilogy the most memorable. Before A Call to Arms, Crusade and the Technomage trilogy, the technomages were a sketchy footnote. Now, to me, they're one of the most interesting parts of the B5 universe, and something I'd love to see continued.
