Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Author Vonda McIntyre writes about her experience with Star Trek novels at Book View Cafe. It draws some interesting responses at Metafilter, including a lengthy one from John Scalzi.
McIntyre is not well-loved among Star Wars EU fans – her one book in this franchise, 1994’s The Crystal Star, is a regular on worst-of lists. (And let’s face it, we all overuse the Waru jokes.) But her post is certainly worth reading, and an interesting look at the early days of tie-in fiction.
Well, after news of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies book spread around the internet faster than the latest in viral videos, I suppose it isn’t too much of a shock that Natalie Portman is going to be involved in a movie version. (And the book isn’t even out until April.)
But what makes this more of an emerging trend than a simple hot property is yesterday’s word of Pride and Predator. io9 throws these two in with Lost In Austen, but quite frankly that one seems like a whole ‘nother genre of fanfic that’s more embarrassing than kick-ass.
Do you know what this is? It’s been all over the internet lately. Peer beneath the cut to for all to be revealed. (Um, spoilers for the Twilight sequels, if you care.) Continue reading “Move over, Potter: Twilight fans are the new crazy”
The movie posters for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince have finally made it on to the internet — and look pretty damn cool. Is it July 17 yet?
The BBC is reporting that the set where stuntman David Holmes was seriously injured last month has been reopened, two weeks before the filming of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows begins.
Finally, The Deathly Hallows was the most borrowed book from UK libraries last year.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is coming in April (and not the first, either) from Chronicle Books. I know you guys will want to read this one. Just check out the blurb:
As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead.
How could any zombie fan resist? (Or is Elizabeth Bennet, Zombie Slayer, a sign that the trend has finally played out?)
Oh, not overtly – Other than Walter Jon Williams having been a actual Star Wars author – but here’s two interesting reads that I urge you to compare and contrast: Williams on writer geeks and the TFN Lit forum’s ‘Why you and I shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the canon’ thread.
Star Wars: People seemed really excited about the Battlefront III Sith Obi-Wan concept. I’m underwhelmed. Slightly more interesting is this Vader gas mask, which is the first piece revealed from a new round of The Vader Project.
David Weber (a favorite of many in Club Jade) stopped by Joe Mallozzi’s blog to answer some fan questions.
When Joe handed the resulting five pages worth over, he assured Mr. Weber he could pick and choose what to answer.
He didn’t. He plowed through them all. Most impressive.
Great things on the Wookieepedia: Gizmodo has blogged the Wookieepedia’s galaxy map (originally appeared in Star Wars Insider #65) thus making it legitimately cool on the internet. Or something. Not that I’m saying you kids still don’t have some work to do.
Random House is among the publishers doing some housecleaning and restructuring right now. I’m not seeing Del Rey get any mentions, even in the blogs, but the Star Wars line is a massive cash cow, so maybe the folks there will weather it out. (Wizards of the Coast, however…)
But my point: I’m going to echo Scalzi and say that now is a good time to go buy some stuff that doesn’t have the safety net of a massive franchise and a 4-year contract, i.e. all those other books. Remember, science fiction and fantasy is a niche market, and thus likely to get caught up in cuts along the bottom line. So go out and support your favorites: Every paperback helps, and the bookstores aren’t doing that hot, either.
