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Claudia Christian - Baptism Of Fire

L

Lyta's Shadow

Member
Does anyone own this novel? I've just seen it for sale on Claudia's site. I'm very tempted to get it as I'm bit of a B5 completist, but there is next to no information there about it. What's the page count? Is it hardback or paperback? Most importantly, is it any good? What worries me is JMS put a stop to the Mongoose line as he found it of too low a quality for B5.

At $45 I want to make sure it's worth getting before I invest in it, so any opinions would be welcome!

:)
 
My personal opinion is to wait. I got a copy of the Word file (with permission) shortly after the project was spiked. It was 274 pages in that format, probably a fair number fewer pages once typeset. It didn't keep my attention well enough for me to finish it, though in honesty, I'm not much of one for reading books on the computer. It looks like the same size as her 'freaks and geeks' book which would make it trade paperback sized.

Frankly, I'm pretty sure that she's infringing mightily on WB's IP. If so, considering that she's offering it for sale very publicly, it may not be available all that long.

Jan
 
Thanks for the feedback. I'm a bit confused though, you say it's best to wait, but then add that the book isn't likely to be available for long!! If she only has limited stock for sale I can't imagine that they will drop in price at any point.
 
Her other book started out at about $35 and is down to $20 now. As for availability, I don't have any personal knowledge of what her plans are but *if* WB doesn't make her stop selling them, I don't see any reason why she wouldn't keep it available. That's a big IF, however, because whether WB is doing anything with the B5 franchise at the moment or not, it still belongs to them and what she's doing is probably not licensed.

Jan
 
Jan said:
Her other book started out at about $35 and is down to $20 now. As for availability, I don't have any personal knowledge of what her plans are but *if* WB doesn't make her stop selling them, I don't see any reason why she wouldn't keep it available. That's a big IF, however, because whether WB is doing anything with the B5 franchise at the moment or not, it still belongs to them and what she's doing is probably not licensed.

Jan
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This wasn't anything to do with Mongoose, was it? IIRC she was going to be writing a B5 novel for Mongoose, but all that stuff was stopped, right?

OK, I saw your post in JMS News. It is the Mongoose thing. Who would pay $45 + $7 shipping for a piece of non-canon/fanfiction? Not me. I can't BELIEVE she's trying to sell it at all, let alone for that price. Hell, it's probably not worth the price of the average trade paperback ($7).
 
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KoshN said:
This wasn't anything to do with Mongoose, was it? IIRC she was going to be writing a B5 novel for Mongoose, but all that stuff was stopped, right?
Click to expand...

My understanding is that this is the book she wrote for Mongoose that they never published.

Jan
 
Jan said:
My understanding is that this is the book she wrote for Mongoose that they never published.

Jan
Click to expand...

OK, Mongoose had the license to publish, but didn't JMS somehow have those rights pulled because Mongoose was indicating JMS' involvement even though there was no such involvement, and then they tried to hire JMS to check each book for the paltry sum of $500/book,and then he rightfully laughed at them? Then, the whole Mongoose B5 Novel project fell apart, right?
 
KoshN said:
OK, Mongoose had the license to publish, but didn't JMS somehow have those rights pulled because Mongoose was indicating JMS' involvement even though there was no such involvement, and then they tried to hire JMS to check each book for the paltry sum of $500/book,and then he rightfully laughed at them? Then, the whole Mongoose B5 Novel project fell apart, right?
Click to expand...

Sorta/kinda but not in that order. Mongoose got the license and asked JMS to be involved, offering an inadequate amount. Then Mongoose claimed that JMS was involved and that the books would be canon and that they'd be working from outlines by JMS, all of which JMS very publicly took them to task for.

Eventually JMS was persuaded to reconsider and he checked out the Mongoose manuscripts but deemed them to be unprofessionally and amateurishly done and he refused to endorse them in any way.

As far as I know, JMS never had or attempted to have the license Mongoose had from WB pulled but eventually they decided not to publish the books after all.

Jan
 
Jan said:
Sorta/kinda but not in that order. Mongoose got the license and asked JMS to be involved, offering an inadequate amount. Then Mongoose claimed that JMS was involved and that the books would be canon and that they'd be working from outlines by JMS, all of which JMS very publicly took them to task for.

Eventually JMS was persuaded to reconsider and he checked out the Mongoose manuscripts but deemed them to be unprofessionally and amateurishly done and he refused to endorse them in any way.
Click to expand...

Including Claudia's?


Jan said:
As far as I know, JMS never had or attempted to have the license Mongoose had from WB pulled but eventually they decided not to publish the books after all.
Click to expand...

And I'd thought I'd heard the last of those novels, and then along comes Claudia. So, I doubt it's licensed, but maaaaybe that's where the $45 price comes from, to pay for the license. ..... Naah. I can't buy that, either.
 
JMS never mentioned Claudia's book in particular though she seemed to think he'd deliberately squashed her book. What he wrote about the ones he read was:
The manuscripts came in on the books currently in progress, and
unfortunately the level of writing is at very best amateurish, on a
level somewhat below what one would find on the average fan-fiction
website. In some cases the manuscripts had net handles not even actual
names, they were unprofessionally put together and edited, and the
writing is just not there. This is not the sort of thing that can be
easily corrected with just some notes or asking for re-dos. They
haven't done much publishing in the area of fiction previous to this
time, and my feeling is that as well-intentioned as they might be, they
don't really have the chops when it comes to fiction. And their
statements on their website are again somewhat overstating the
situation and not being entirely accurate in the projects and processes
being announced.
Click to expand...

Jan
 
Some advance copies of Claudia's book were printed. Also publishers sometimes give authors copies of their books. Ms Christian may be selling off that very limited edition.
 
Good point, Andrew. Since there's a link on the site to ask questions, I've sent a message asking if it's approved/licensed by WB. I'll post any reply here.

ETA: Oops, they can't be authors copies since the cover calls it a Fanfiction (one word).

Jan
 
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darth_librarian said:
Hmm. She is still trying to make cash out of a registered IP. Not cool.
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IP ?

Internet Provider ?
Internet Protocol ?

Sorry. Admittedly, I currently have a headache the size of Mt. St. Helens before it blew :wtf: , but that's all I can come up with for IP.
 
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