I finished Eureka: Substitution Method a few days ago and am nering the end of Mass Effect: Ascension. After that I will get back into trek novels with Titan: Synthesis.
So what are you reading, now? Part V
- Thread starter DimesDan
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In the eBook world: Finished 'Resistance' last night- pretty Meh. What was the point of it, exactly? Worf realizing he was Klingon for the zillionth time? Bah.
Have d/l'd the first Titan novel, Taking Wing, and am excited about it- have just finished chapter 1.
In the non e-book world: Just finished 'Black Dogs', by Ian McEwan. Not his best book by a long shot, but still very good. And then read the first two chapters of 'The Bloody Red Baron', the second part of a trilogy that started with 'Anno Dracula'.
Have d/l'd the first Titan novel, Taking Wing, and am excited about it- have just finished chapter 1.
In the non e-book world: Just finished 'Black Dogs', by Ian McEwan. Not his best book by a long shot, but still very good. And then read the first two chapters of 'The Bloody Red Baron', the second part of a trilogy that started with 'Anno Dracula'.
Starting to reread DS9 Millennium: Inferno.
Yesterday I finshed Stargate: Retaliation, the second of the sequels to the original movie. Considering the "leave everything as you found it" nature of most tie-ins, I wasn't expecting the status quo to be shifted so much as it was...
I'll get to the third novel in a bit.
I also had a flick though some of my favourite STXI movie scenes in Alan Dean Foster's novelization. I liked the bit about "automated builders" constantly reconfiguring and expanding the Narada, and the expanded discussion of alternate timelines featuring an annoyed McCoy's wish for "Real food. Not parallel food"
Hathor destroys Abydos.
I also had a flick though some of my favourite STXI movie scenes in Alan Dean Foster's novelization. I liked the bit about "automated builders" constantly reconfiguring and expanding the Narada, and the expanded discussion of alternate timelines featuring an annoyed McCoy's wish for "Real food. Not parallel food"
From what I recall of those tie-ins, the author was given license to do as he wanted (within certain bounds of reason, obviously), because there was not going to be a non-SG1 sequel to the movie (at that time, though there have been rumours for the last year or two that a sequel will be made, that is not an SG-1 sequel, but a "Stargate" sequel... why? just why?)
Well, of course the first couple of McCay sequel books were written before SG-1 existed. So the later books just continued the alternate track he'd already begun.
What happened there was that Dean Devlin, who wrote the original movie and wasn't happy with what SG-1 had done with his concepts, had gotten a development deal with MGM back in 2006 and was trying to convince them that part of that deal should be a pair of Stargate sequels that continued the story the way he wanted and ignored the TV series (or at least fit in before the series, he claimed). Devlin said in interviews that he thought there was a good chance MGM's execs would be receptive to his idea, but there's no evidence that was anything more than wishful thinking. It's been over four and a half years since Devlin made his pitch and nothing's come of it.
^Part of that could have been the financial issues that MGM have only recently emerged from though. There is a possibility, slim as it might be, that it is now being considered by the studio as a way to grab another franchise from which they can make money.
I don't think so. The television version of the Stargate franchise has been a major cash cow for MGM for over a decade. It would make far more sense for them to pursue a Stargate project based on the highly successful TV franchise than one that would intentionally avoid any acknowledgment of that franchise.
Remember, at the time, there were two Stargate series on television, and MGM was financially secure enough as of 2008 to release two SG-1 movies on DVD and to have plans underway for a third and an Atlantis DVD movie. It was not until late 2009 that MGM's financial woes forced them to suspend their work on the Stargate DVD films. Devlin's proposal was made in the summer of 2006, at a time when MGM was already investing heavily in the franchise with considerable success. And yet Devlin, due to his own personal dislike (and perhaps envy?) for this highly successful TV franchise, tried to convince MGM to turn their back on this cash cow and instead replace it with his vanity project.
So no, MGM didn't reject it because of their financial problems. They rejected it because of the ongoing financial success of the TV version of the franchise. It would've been bad business to introduce a competing version of the franchise just because of Dean Devlin's ego.
Even so, that may very well be the case, it is just your opinion unless you are/were involved in those negotiations and not cold hard facts. Hell, with the demise of SGU, the Stargate franchise might very well be rebooted with this idea in place.
As for what I am reading. I've just finished reading the Ian Rankins writing as Jack Harvey novels (Witch Hunt, Bleeding Hearts and Blood Hunt) and before that, One Day which is a brilliant story, shame the film won't be as brilliant.
I decided that for Lent this year, in addition to what I give up, (in 2004, I gave up Mel Gibson films, and that ended up being permanent) I'd be taking something on: I've never read The Bible in its entirety, cover to cover. I'm going to attempt to correct this oversight by Easter.
The KJV, of course. After you've managed to chew through the Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English (which took me considerably longer than 40 days, and required frequent referrals to the Cliffs Notes), Jacobean Modern English is a piece of cake.
The KJV, of course. After you've managed to chew through the Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English (which took me considerably longer than 40 days, and required frequent referrals to the Cliffs Notes), Jacobean Modern English is a piece of cake.
^ That's cool. My Lent this year is a set reading list. I get so distracted from the important stuff by worrying about what I'm going to read next; besides that, I often spend money on books intending to read them and they end up living on my shelf for ages before I open them. So I picked out some I have on my shelf and settled on a reading order for the next two months (the Crucible trilogy and The Martian Chronicles are re-reads):
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
(ST:TOS) Crucible: McCoy--Provenance of Shadows by David R. George III
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
(ST:TOS) Crucible: Spock--The Fire And The Rose by David. R. George III
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
(ST:TOS) Crucible: Kirk--The Star To Every Wandering by David R. George III
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
It might take me more than 40 days to read it all, though!
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
(ST:TOS) Crucible: McCoy--Provenance of Shadows by David R. George III
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
(ST:TOS) Crucible: Spock--The Fire And The Rose by David. R. George III
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
(ST:TOS) Crucible: Kirk--The Star To Every Wandering by David R. George III
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
It might take me more than 40 days to read it all, though!
I quite agree. The TV series far surpassed the original film in quality and scope, IMO.
Indeed. The movie was a missed opportunity, a failure of imagination. They came up with this idea that was loaded with potential, a gateway to anywhere in the universe, and all they could think of to do with it was to rehash Ancient Egypt. The series brought a lot more breadth of imagination to it, and for the most part did a commendable job of taking the movie's hackneyed ancient-astronaut gimmick and rationalizing it intelligently. It's really impressive how rich a universe they managed to create out of such feeble beginnings.
I am finished with my Millennium re-read...3 novels in as many days, I think. They're quite the page turners, and not as dense as today's novels. It helped that I've read them multiple times before, of course. I didn't realize how many allusions there were to "Tears of the Prophets" and consequences thereof.
The ending picture of Ds9 "tumbling" out of the wormhole always makes me goggle, though.
The ending picture of Ds9 "tumbling" out of the wormhole always makes me goggle, though.
Considering we've had ten seasons of SG-1, five of Atlantis, two of SGU and two DVD movies it's a slightly unfair comparison, IMO. Like the fans bitching STXI for not having the combined character development of TOS and the first six movies.
Although I too prefer SG-1 to the original movie, I really have enjoyed seeing Devlin's vision of the Stargate universe in McKay's books. The closest Trek analogy would be comparing Star Trek: Enterprise to MJF's Starfleet: Year One or maybe Star Trek First Contact and Federation.
I finished the Miles, Mutants and Microbes omnibus (of the Vorkosigan saga) minus Diplomatic Immunity which takes place later in the series. I then read Memory (the only book in the Vorkosigan saga not put in an omnibus), and I'm now about a third of the way through the next omnibus Miles in Love.
Currently, Dracula by Bram Stoker
I'm looking forward to this upcoming How-To Guide for protecting the Earth from an alien invasion (Alien Invasion: How to Defend Earth by Travis S. Taylor and Bob Boan). It looks interesting.
http://www.webscription.net/p-1383-alien-invasion.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Invasio...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299793580&sr=8-1
I'm thinking of reading The Zombie Survival Guide (by Max Brooks) to get myself in the right mindset...
http://www.webscription.net/p-1383-alien-invasion.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Invasio...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299793580&sr=8-1
I'm thinking of reading The Zombie Survival Guide (by Max Brooks) to get myself in the right mindset...
Instead of continuing on with ST: Seven Deadly Sins after I finish Revenant, I'm working on Star Wars: Rogue Planet. I'm hoping it's plot is good enough to make up for the really short chapters, I mean really short, alot of them are only one and a half pages, because short chapters like that bug me. I don't mind one or two like that in a book, but from what I saw most of the chapters in RP are between 1-5 pages.
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