SPACE:1999
ALPHA

by William Latham
Afterword by Christopher Penfold

Cover art by Ken Scott

 

Moonbase Alpha struggles to survive as past, present, and future collide and the fate of the universe hangs in the balance!

 This novel features an afterword by Christopher Penfold, the Story Consultant during Year One.

 Released February 2010

 

SPOILERS!!!  Shepherd Moon Interview with Albert León, Lindsey Scott-Ipsen, Ken Scott and Raja Thiagarajan, authors of “Fallen Star”

Conducted by Simon Morris

This interview potentially contains some mild spoilers, so stop here if you don’t want to hear anything more!

 

 

 

 

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Note:  This interview was originally conducted in 2007 and has been reviewed and in some cases updated by the participants.

How surprised were you to hear from Powys after such a long period of time that they still wanted you to work on this story?

Lindsey: It was an extremely pleasant surprise. I have to admit, I had forgotten about the project, but since I have always dreamt of contributing to the canon of Space:1999 I leapt at the opportunity.

Raja: I was completely surprised. As they used to say, “You could knock me over with a feather.” I was a little concerned whether I’d have enough time to participate, since we had a two-and-a-half-year-old-toddler at the time, but our editor Bill said he also had one of those, and kid delays wouldn’t get in the way.

Albert:  Since our initial meeting, after some time had passed and not hearing anything more about it, I thought the project was abandoned. By the time I received Bill’s email about working on this, I had forgotten about it. I was very glad that Powys still wanted to include this story and have us work on it.

Ken: I was pretty shocked. I was really excited when the project was suggested at the convention in Portland, and disappointed when it seemed to have been forgotten. So when I received an email from Bill, I was thrilled to find out it was back on track.

What was it like collaborating on this story without ever speaking to each other?

Lindsey: Well I have met all of the other writers at various conventions, and believe that made the process much easier. I also knew we all shared a love for the show. One exciting aspect of our group is that we seemed perfectly matched with one another. Raja is our resident scientist, so he helped shape the concepts portrayed in the story. Albert has a gift for action and brevity, which we needed, and Ken had some wonderful insights into capturing the tone and pathos of the series in a narrative form. Everyone seemed to bring a necessary aspect to the table that propelled the story forward.

Raja:  We had spoken to each other, and met in person, years ago. Though my memories of that meeting are far from perfect, it did help a lot to recall my impressions (all positive!) of my collaborators.  Also Ken Scott has a very nice website about Space: 1999 that’s full of fun and chatty tidbits (http://www.space1999.net/moonbase99/). I remember seeing Ken in person more recently, and chatting with him about the website.

Albert: It was very tough working individually on our sections without being able to brainstorm with everyone and bounce ideas off of each other, where we could get immediate feedback. As I worked on my own sections, I was worried that our separate sections wouldn’t come together nicely as one cohesive story.

Ken: As I had mentioned, we had all met at the Portland convention, and some of us have met on more than one occasion. We were lucky to have Raja set up a forum for us to be able to communicate with each other, and develop the story. Bill was tremendously helpful in guiding us on this journey. It was amazing to see what everyone brought to the table. It was like what I imagine communication on deep space flight would be like. You could transmit, but had to wait in the void for the signal to reach its destination, and then for the response to traverse the distance back.

What parts of the process did you find most fun? Most difficult? Most surprising?

Lindsey:  Writing a Space:1999 story! Most of the process was fun. It was hard work, but fun work. I think capturing the voices of some of my favorite characters was both a joy and a challenge – sort of like method acting for a writer. I know our audience is terribly familiar with these characters and love them, so I felt a great responsibility to remain true to their natures. Writing from Jackie Crawford’s point of view was especially taxing, because he is a child. I tried to imagine how odd his life has been – being the only child living on a Moonbase with adults in the strangest of circumstances – and how this impacted his personality. Still, it’s easy to forget how a child sees the world. Hopefully we captured this experience in the story. The most surprising aspect was the way the story changed and evolved with time, and all of the changes were for the better. I was also pleasantly surprised by the insight of the team and how we were able to incorporate every person’s vision to create a coherent story.

Raja: The most fun part was seeing new ideas and new story sections show up on our collaboration website. Some of these ideas were also the most surprising; my collaborators, and fans in general, have some fascinating perspectives on Space: 1999, and on life in general. Concerning challenges: As anyone who’s used email probably knows, it can be hard to gauge people’s feelings from their messages. You have to be careful not to misinterpret things. One thing that helped me with this was that I knew we all love Space: 1999 (otherwise we would not have involved ourselves in this process, starting with that first meeting all those years ago) and wanted to tell the best story we could. I tried to think my replies out very carefully, so it sometimes took longer than I expected to respond. I think others probably were doing this too-so I had to learn to wait patiently for responses to my contributions.

Albert:  The most fun was simply writing about Space:1999. I enjoyed revisiting Moonbase Alpha and the characters, while working very hard to try to accurately capture the show and ultimately produce writing that could be taken seriously. I especially enjoyed writing and reading about areas of Moonbase Alpha that we’ve only previously seen glimpses of on the show or only briefly heard mentioned elsewhere.  It was difficult to write a middle section without knowing the details of what was in the previous sections as well as not knowing what details were in the following sections that I could have mentioned or introduced in my previous sections. I kept worrying that what I wrote wasn’t “right” or “good enough”. Personally, it was also tough for me in that I had little time to write during the day, so I’d often be up until 1 or 2 am writing my sections of the story. Even though it cost me some sleep, I didn’t mind because it was well worth it! It surprised me how well some of the different sections lead into each other, as if the different authors were actually writing together.

Ken: Space: 1999 has always been my favorite show, and the opportunity to be able to work on a story that would become part of the Space: 1999 universe was definitely the best part! The most difficult part was getting past my insecurities about writing something that others will read. That and the idea of constructing the story out of sequence. I guess I think in a very linear way. That part really threw me. The most surprising thing was how well our visions melded once we shaped the general story, and how really creative everyone was, and the depth they brought to whatever they were writing about. Most fun? Reading what everyone else was coming up with.

What did you learn about writing from taking part in this effort?

Lindsey: I learned that I could be long winded! Loving the setting of the story made the work a breeze, but I sometimes found myself rambling on. I didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters. Luckily, Bill did a great job of reminding us to keep the story moving.

Raja:  I have been a heavy reader for most of my life. I also do a fair bit of editing, and a little bit of writing, for my “day job”. All of this writing is non-fiction, and its highest priority is to explain things, especially step-by-step processes, as clearly as possible. There’s a strong bias towards being concise, and the person who does most of the writing gives me carte blanche to edit, without his ego being involved. I was surprised that a lot of these things didn’t carry over into fiction; concise and clear is good, but vivid and involving is better, at least some of the time. In retrospect, this should probably have been obvious. I was also surprised that my ego got involved. I did a scene that I was quite proud of, and our editor said it was well dramatized, but it wasn’t a good fit for the story. I was a bit surprised and taken aback, but after asking for clarification, I agreed that it should be cut for the sake of the story. If this had happened with my “day job” writings, I would have cut it without blinking. I now read everything, including my recreational reading, more analytically. Sometimes this can spoil my fun a little; I can be a bit more annoyed by a bad turn of phrase or a sloppily cut corner. On the other hand, I also have a greater appreciation for some of my old favorite authors and books. Since I’ve been reading some of these books for three-quarters of my life, I’m thrilled to find new ways to find pleasure in them.

Albert: Obviously, different writers have different styles, but it amazed me how each writer seemed to have his or her own ideas for different details to the certain story elements and it seemed as if each writer was steering the story in slightly different directions, while staying within the confines of the story outline. If I were to do this again, I’d have the first section be written first, then the next writer takes and reads the first section, and then writes the next section. So on and so forth in succession, allowing each writer to work off of what was written in the sections before.

Ken: I learned that because we all wanted this to be the best story we could make it, the collaboration that could have suffered from people trying to take the story in completely different directions benefited from fresh ideas that everyone brought to it. I learned that I still have a lot to learn!

Once the book is/was officially released, who’s the person you’re most excited about showing it to?

Lindsey: My husband, Joe Ipsen, who offered many helpful suggestions during the process, and my friends in fandom, Terry Lee, Anthony Wynn, Robert Wood and Chris Paulsen, to name only a few. I also have many friends who are fans of the show, but have forgotten it, so I hope they will read this story and others in the book and be inspired to become fans once again.

Raja: I think I’ll have to fight the temptation to show it to everyone I know, and to random passers-by. Slightly more seriously, I’ll be especially pleased to show it to my wife, my father, and my friend Gregory, all of whom I asked for advice during some of the challenges.

Albert: I wanted to keep my involvement in this project quiet until I knew it was definitely going to happen, and then surprise my family and friends with the news. My youngest son also enjoys writing fiction, and I knew he’d understand how excited I was about this project, so he was the first one I had told. Once the book was actually released, I first showed the book to my closest friends Ronn and Steve, but the first ones I gave actual copies of the book to are my parents and my sons. My friends and family know what a huge fan I am of Space:1999 so they were very happy to hear that I was a part in the making of this story.

Ken: Anyone who will sit still long enough. Seriously, besides my family, I think the people I would want most to share it with are the friends I’ve made at Space: 1999 conventions in the past, and sadly, most of them are too far away to show them in person. But I will certainly let them know by e-mail, or in online chat! And other friends who tolerate (and even support) my fanatical devotion to Space: 1999!

When you look back on this experience in ten years, what do you think will stick with you the most?

Lindsey: I think that I will see it as a milestone in my life. I was a huge fan of the series as a child, but after it went off the air, I thought everyone else had forgotten it. I didn’t discover that fandom was alive and well until about ten years ago and connecting with other fans has been a wonderful experience. I think that staying up until the wee hours visiting with Nick Tate and Johnny Byrne at the Breakaway was a dream come true. I remember thinking back to my ten-year-old self and thinking about how I could never have imagined such a thing could happen. My visits with Barry Morse were a joy, and writing this story will be a cornerstone of my experience as a fan.  I imagine a worn copy of the book will remain on my shelf for many years to come.

Raja: I think I’ll either forget, or recall with embarrassment, some of my sillier worries (from “Will I have enough time?” to “Why hasn’t anybody replied to my note–it’s been a whole 20 minutes?!”). I’ll remember the thrill of seeing new sections from my co-authors. And again, I value my new perspective on the things I read; I hope that will be with me for the rest of my life. And at the risk of getting my ego in here again, I’m incredibly proud to have been involved in adding to the “canon” of my all-time favorite TV show.

Albert: Since I was 12, Space:1999 has been a significant part of my life, so 10 years from now I will continue to be so proud to be part of this project. It is truly a dream come true that I have worked on a published Space:1999 story.

Ken: I think I will look back in ten years and be glad that a series I had thought long forgotten by others was brought back from obscurity by its fans, and that I was able to participate in its ongoing legacy in some small fashion…and make some good friends in the process.

A Snippet From the Original Email

From: Bill Latham

To: The Team

Subject: Belated Greetings From Moonbase Alpha

Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:27:07 -0400

Okay, it’s only taken four years for this to happen, but remember a little Space:1999 convention you attended in Portland in 2003, and a little workshop you attended on writing a Space:1999 story – there was a homework assignment, and it’s finally coming due!

And the rest, as they say, is history…

 

Interview with William Latham on the Space:1999 Resurrection Audiobook

conducted by Simon Morris

Q:  What can you tell us about the audiobook?

A:  I’m really excited that this is finally going to see the light of day.  Barry Morse did a truly, truly outstanding job with the reading.  What I always tell people is I’ll probably never read “Resurrection” again — but I will definitely listen to it.  Hearing Barry read Victor Bergman’s dialogue is just amazing.

Q:  What held up the release?

A:  For a small company to put out an audiobook is easier said than done.  With formats changing over the past five years, picking the final format was always a moving target.

Q:  What is the final format?

A:  It’s an MP3 CD.  What that means at the end of the day is older CD players might have trouble playing it, but most modern CD players are MP3-compatible.  What finally decided the format, however, as opposed to classic CD, was the price.  The cost for the consumer of a 6 CD audiobook would have been about twice what it will cost for 1 MP3 CD.

Q:  Are there plans to do any more of the Powys books as audiobooks?

A:  Probably not.

Q:  What do you think people will experience hearing this book as opposed to reading it?

A:  This audiobook is really all about Barry.  You’re interviewing me on it only because Barry’s not here to do it anymore.  Yeah, I wrote the book, but I forget that when I’m listening to it.  This is a performance, and he did such an amazing job with it that I probably get as much caught up in it as anyone will.  Because, of course, he doesn’t just perform Victor Bergman.  He performs Balor.  He performs Koenig.  Even Helena!  Even Computer!  I like the book and all but Barry brought it someplace that the printed page just couldn’t.  It’s alive and exciting and I can’t imagine anybody enjoying it as much as I do!  Plus, I mean, it’s Barry Morse.  Simple exposition in the book is just a pleasure to listen to because he brings such style to it with that great voice of his.  Special thanks need to go out to Anthony Wynn and Robert Wood who actually produced the recording.  They did such a great job keeping Barry visible and accessible over the years.  This never could have happened without them.

Q:  Any closing thoughts?

A:  Just want to point out that this recording is the full, unabridged book.  Barry read every word in there.  I think for the fans, especially since Barry’s no longer with us, listening to this book is going to be such a pleasure.  I know it is for me.  Just imagine how good you think this could be…and it’s actually better.  He really, really delivered.

An Interview with William Latham on Space:1999 Omega

conducted by Simon Morris

Q:  You kept a running blog of sorts during the writing of Omega.  Any particular reason?

A:  I thought it might be interesting to some people how complex a project this was, and how we went about putting this one together.  Normally, you sit down and plot out a novel with a beginning and a middle and an end.  This time, we first had to plot out an entire mythology and then figure out how to tell a story that would best explain that mythology but still work as a story.  The mythology part literally took years.  The plot had to wait until the mythology was fairly concrete.  Or, should I say, synthecrete.  This is Space:1999 after all.

Q:  What can you tell us about the mythology?

A:  Only that the pieces of the mythology all come from the episodes, primarily Year One.  I’ve corresponded with some folks who are adamant that there’s a mythology in Year Two as well.  The mythology we focused on was the Year One mythology.  The Year One mythology is very mystical, very kind of Arthur C. Clarke.  Which is all well and good.  I think that’s what attracted people to Space:1999 in the first place.  This is not a mystical book.  This is where the mythology starts hitting home and you finally start getting some answers, which is the antithesis of mysticism.

Q:  But it’s a Year Three book, correct?

A:  Yes, Year Three.  It takes place well before “Message From Moonbase Alpha” and at least a couple of years after “Born for Adversity.”  That means Maya and Tony Verdeschi and the rest of the folks have had plenty of time to absorb what happened in “Born for Adversity.”

Q:  How would you compare “Omega” to your earlier novel, “Resurrection”?

A:  “Resurrection” was gothic and creepy and largely about the characters interacting.  “Omega” is a lot of action.  You’re going to see battles in “Omega” like nothing you’ve ever seen in the Space: 1999 universe before.  Everybody’s going to be in danger in “Omega”, bar none.  What was a challenge with “Omega” was the sheer amount of detail we had to convey about the mythology without bogging the book down.  “Resurrection” was more of a horror thriller than “Omega” is, and “Omega” is on a much bigger canvas.  So there’s a lot of time spent outside of Moonbase Alpha.

Q:  What’s the significance of the title?

A:  Well, the obvious thing is the position of the letter in the Greek alphabet.  This book series is rapidly approaching its ending.  All the threads we’ve been trailing through the other books are coming together in this story.  The Space:1999 universe will never be the same after this book.

Q:  You saying that is bound to get people concerned.

A:  Whenever you demystify anything, you run the risk of alienating people who preferred their mystical perspective.  That comes with the territory.  It was never our intent to just trash this franchise.  Nor are we taking unnecessary risks.  We kicked this mythology until it was solid.  We’re just dealing with what we inherited from Byrne and Penfold and the others.  Based on what they gave us, this is our unified field theory of Space:1999.  And when you put the bits together, like anything else that gets demystified, things don’t always end up being what you projected onto them.  At the same time, this story, the scale of it, is going to be the movie the Space:1999 fans never got.  I can promise people it’s not going to be a boring story.  We’re gonna twist you all over the place, but you’re going to be rewarded for your patience.

Q:  I guess it’s safe to say you’re finished after this book?

A:  I don’t know that Omega will be the last word from Powys.  I’ll say this, though.  When I agreed to do “Resurrection” way back when, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I still wouldn’t call myself an expert on Space:1999 – I’m not Martin Willey!  But I can tell you I’ve been into the DNA of this show, both seasons, and I’ve gotten to know these characters like members of my family.  I can see their flaws.  I’ve been a Star Trek fan for decades, but I don’t really have the same grasp of the characters in Star Trek because I’ve never had to be them in my head!  I’m gonna miss these folks.  For fans of this series, I’m not going to say I’ve delivered what you wanted, which is probably just another run around the block with these folks you know so well.  I tried to deliver what you needed.  Fresh air, a change from the regular format of how you tell a Space:1999 story.  I aimed for the fences with this story.  If people don’t like it, that’s fine, that comes with writing for an established franchise.  You’re never going to please everyone.  But for some folks out there, I can’t wait to hear your reactions.  If this were one of my favorite shows from childhood, or even early adulthood, this is what I would want, something that makes it all vibrant again.

Q:  In your Omega Diary, you talked a little about the process you and Mateo went through in coming up with the mythology.  What did that entail?

A:  There are some things I can’t really talk about, not until the book’s out, because it will spoil some things.  But I guess the simplest way to describe it is we first had to identify the footsteps of the gods.  We mapped out everything from the show that looked like it could have been some sort of MUF-related event.  We strung those events out and started analyzing it for the answer to the most important question – what would motivate a god?  What was the intent of the MUF?  That doesn’t give you a story, really.  It gives you a sequence of a larger story.  Then you have to go back and come up with events that happened prior to the episodes of the show and somehow tie it all together into one overriding chronology.  And considering the fact that Mateo and I are never in the same room, not even on the same coast, we’re talking about emails and phone calls and some lightbulb moments where suddenly something new falls into place.  Once that’s in place, coming up with a story that will use that mythology is the hard part.  This is where making a comparison to Tolkien is handy.  Tolkien’s mythology, if you’ve ever read “The Silmarillion”, was barely scratched in “Lord of the Rings”.  I’ll give you a perfect example.  Shelob, the big spider that Frodo and Sam end up fighting.  Shelob is an offshoot of the mythology that goes back well before the events of “Lord of the Rings”.  So was the Balrog.  Sauron isn’t the first nasty spirit in Middle Earth, he’s a former lieutenant of Morgoth, who was really the first nasty spirit, or god if you want to use that word.  What you end up with in “Lord of the Rings” is a big spider, a big fire monster, some mentioning of Morgoth, some action scenes, end of story.  The mythology isn’t revealed in “Lord of the Rings” – it just gets tapped into from time to time.  With “Omega”, we don’t tell you everything we could have.  We could write “The Silmarillion” for “Space:1999” at this point.  But if you’ve ever read “The Silmarillion”, you realize it’s kind of interesting but it isn’t nearly as compelling as “Lord of the Rings”.  The mythology is the part of the iceberg that’s under the surface of the water.  It holds up the point you see above the surface, where all the action is.

Q:  What do you think readers will be most surprised by?

A:  That’s a tough one.  We know this is going to be a controversial book.  We know there are people who will hate us for doing this book.  It’s a very respectful sort of heresy we’re committing with “Omega”.  I’ll tell you, I remember the first time I saw “The Shawshank Redemption” and you can never see that movie again the way you saw it the first time.  The first time it’s a bleak and even difficult film to watch, that is until the last half hour or so.  Every time you watch it after that, it’s hopeful right from the get go.  After working on this book, there are episodes of the show that you won’t be able to watch anymore without seeing things in a different light.  It’ll almost make you want to go watch some of the episodes again just for that experience.  One of our test readers told me something fascinating.  There’s a particular performance in one episode that to him didn’t seem to make sense.  After reading “Omega” he said that performance suddenly made sense, because now you understood what was really going on for that character.  I mean, how cool is that?

Q:  What do you hope readers will experience?

A:  It’s a book that’s designed to be read more than once.  For the first read, I’m hoping people will kind of hunker down and get concerned because they won’t be able to anticipate what’s going to happen next.  Nobody’s safe now, folks, it’s Year Three.  I can guarantee you this, though.  We’re gonna leave you wanting more.

Interview with William Latham on Eternity Unbound

Conducted by Simon Morris

Q:  What exactly is The Balor Saga?

 A:  It’s kind of a self-contained trilogy, almost like the Godfather Series for Balor from “End of Eternity.”  It’s got a new novelization of “End of Eternity” in the middle.  It has an altered version of “Resurrection” at the end.  And it’s got a brand new novella at the beginning that tells you all about Balor’s rise and fall on Progron.

 Q:  Why continue the story of Balor?

 A:  He’s a fun character to play with, first of all.  The big thing is when I was putting together the flashback sections in “Resurrection” I really waited until fairly late in the game to write them, even though I had a sense of what they were going to be.  Finally, I convinced Mateo that it made sense to at least try looking into Balor’s past a little, and those flashbacks were just way more intense than I think we’d been expecting them to be.  There was more of a story there than just the little glimpses we got in “Resurrection”.   Back-story, I mean.  So, add that to the fact that the E. C. Tubb novelization of “End of Eternity” was very short, and could stand to be lengthened, one thing led to another and we realized that a new book was shaping itself.  Since it was going to have all of the details of Balor’s back-story, the flashbacks in “Resurrection” didn’t make sense to still have in “Resurrection” so even that book started to change.

 Q:  Would you say that “Resurrection” is very different or just a little bit different?

 A:  Nothing’s been removed from “Resurrection” really.  Things have just been moved, and changed from a remembered version of an event to a portrayal of the actual event more in real time.  If anybody really likes the wording of the flashbacks in “Resurrection” they should hold onto their copy.  There are things that have been added to “Resurrection” however.

 Q:  Was this something you wanted to do or something Mateo wanted to do?

 A:  I don’t know if I even remember.  I do remember one really nice thing he said to me on the phone.  He was interested in seeing the novella from me because I’d never really written any science fiction about a whole new culture or anything like that, and he was curious to see what I might do with it.

 Q:  What should readers expect from The Balor Saga?

 A:  If I were looking at this book as a film, I’d say the “Resurrection” portion is like a director’s cut, the novelization of “End of Eternity” is kind of like me going back to make “Red Dragon” and the prequel part, that’s where the most interesting stuff really awaits.  But if I’ve done my job right, the three stories link together into one cohesive whole.  The first story has elements of “Frankenstein” in it, I suppose, but not really as many as you’d think.  There’s something of a love story in there, believe it or not.  I think by the end of The Balor Saga, we’ll know why Balor acts the way he acts, or at least we’ll see the evolution of his particular brand of evil.  I think that, without giving too much away, you’ll see that Balor and Helena Russell are mirror images of each other over the course of the book.  The formula for immortality is both created and neutralized for the same basic reason.

 Q:  How did you go about putting together the novella?

 A:  One aspect of it was certainly going through “End of Eternity” and “Resurrection” and identifying the plot strands that could be pulled together and given their beginnings in a new story.  And Balor implied that the character of Talian had been along for the ride for much of his rise and fall on Progron, so obviously, Talian’s got a pivotal role in the prequel.  What was a challenge here is that I really needed to get into Balor’s head this time around.  In “End of Eternity” Johnny Byrne presented him in a certain way, and I wasn’t going to change any of that, and Balor in “Resurrection” is just an extrapolation of Johnny’s version of him.  Stepping back, I had to take Balor in “End of Eternity”, subtract the influence of a thousand years of isolation from him, and then figure out who he was.  So he needed flavors of who he is in the later stories, but he obviously couldn’t be the same guy.  Then, I needed to map out a beginning, a middle, and an end for the novella, that basically shows Balor coming to power and then losing it so he can be exiled.  There’s a little bit of Napoleon in Balor’s story, I suppose.  A little bit of Hitler.  But I think if you look at “End of Eternity” that Balor’s adversary is Koenig, and in “Resurrection” it’s Helena Russell.  “Resurrection” already hinted that Balor was reenacting elements of his relationship with Talian in his battles with Koenig.  In the novella, we’re going to see the relationship that Balor is reenacting when he’s facing Helena Russell.

 Q:  Was it fun going back into the Space:1999 universe?

 A:  Yeah.  The novella was the most fun, and that’s really got nothing much at all to do with Space:1999.  Playing with the fabric of “Resurrection” was fun, too.  I had to be careful not to upset the balance of a carefully constructed book.

 Q:  What’s next for you in Space:1999?

 A:  Let’s just say that Mr. Latosa and yours truly have been mapping out what I’ll call the mother of all Space:1999 stories.  It’s got elements from multiple Space:1999 stories, including Powys Media’s stories.  I think the best way to describe it is with “Resurrection” I was very cautious.  The next book, it’s not cautious at all.  The Balor Saga was really just to get my juices flowing for the next project.

 

An Interview With David A. McIntee, Author of Space:1999 – Born For Adversity
and Mateo Latosa, Space: 1999 Year Three Editor
by Simon Morris

Q: So what’s the overall approach for Year Three? What’s different from Years One and Two, what’s the same? David — how does your book in particular reflect the new series approach?

DM: I can’t speak for the arc as a whole, but… From my viewpoint it’s still the same series, but the characters really have to deal with the fact that Moonbase Alpha is no longer a place for Earth-related work, but is essentially a new colony, a generation starship whose mission profile is utterly different from that intended for the base. At the same time, I think they have to use more of the Moon — it’s not just a setting, it’s their ship and world.

I don’t think a straightforward pastiche would work in this day and age, but at the same time, it’s not quite the place for a full-scale Battlestar style remake. It’s definitely the same series with the same cast, but, to coin a phrase, too broad and too deep for the small screen…

ML: Anyone familiar with Space: 1999 knows there is a tremendous difference in style between Year One and Year Two. Without going into detail–and the Y1/Y2 divergence is a major topic in S99 fandom–the Year Three books will be written in a Y1 style while, at the same time, featuring characters introduced in Year Two. We have established that both seasons are part of the same ongoing continuity.

Q: What sort of story are you aiming to tell in Born For Adversity? Dramatic? Playful? Personal or epic? Is it still basically a pastiche of the TV show, or a complete widescreen re-imagining sort of thing?

DM: It’s a modern thing, but as I said not a total revamp. It’s mostly personal and dramatic, but it’s a personal story set against an epic backdrop. Hopefully it won’t be totally humourless either. If it was on screen it’d still have the same cast, but a bigger budget and more depth, with less silliness.

I guess in a way I want to mix the science and wonder of Year 1 with the adventure of Year 2.

Q: David, when you were working out Born For Adversity, how much were you conscious of setting things up for future authors, and how much were you just doing your own thing? How much of a free hand have you had so far?

DM: Mateo had a basic plot, which I’ve added to and changed with a pretty free hand. I’m very aware that other people will be following – and indeed that I have to set up for a Year 2 book that will be published after mine! – so I’m just spinning off as many potential hooks as I can, as well as layering in the arc elements that Mateo already provided, and one or two that I’d like to follow up on myself in another book.

Q: How far down the line is Year Three going to pick up the story? Given how long “Year Two” actually took in calendar terms, should it be called Space: 2005?

DM: I haven’t thought about that, actually – but it follows on directly from the end of Year 2.

ML: Funny you should ask that question. I considered, but rejected, the idea of changing the year on the book covers depending on what year the story took place. I must admit now, it was a moment of madness. SPACE: 1999 is the series title, for one. And internally, the series takes place so far from Earth that Earth-related dating has no real relevance.

Year One and Year Two refer only to the first and second seasons of episodes, though each YEAR actually encompasses multiple calendar years.

Q: Will there be continuing storylines through the books, or will they be pretty much independent “episodes” like the previous Powys novels?

DM: I’m not Mateo, but there are story arcs…

ML: Even in the previous novels, there are small parts of the meta-story–the ARC–revealed. All the books are written to dovetail with the episodes of the original series while, collectively, gradually contributing to a larger story which can really only be understood by reading all the books. In addition, the arc comprises elements from the original episodes, eventually tying disparate threads into a coherent whole.

Q: Would new readers need to have read any of the previous Powys books to follow Born For Adversity, or the Year Three ones in general?

DM: No. Perversely, it ties in most closely to a Year Two book that as I understand it will be published later – so I have to be very careful to follow on from that without giving away the end of that book. The idea is that you should actually get two different payoffs from my book, depending on whether you read the series in publication or chronological order.

ML: I think a good comparison would the Darkover novels of Marion Zimmer Bradley. Each can be read independently of the rest, but as David said, there are different payoffs depending on how they are read.

Q: Is there stuff in the earlier books that foreshadows Year Three, or otherwise sets it up? Any hints you want to drop?

DM: Yes…

ML: There is a poetic and beautifully written scene in Resurrection in which Koenig hears a voice in his mind while out on the surface of the Moon. The Forsaken further explores what this mysterious presence might be. Survival by Brian Ball, provides a few more pieces of the puzzle. It’s up to the readers to put the pieces together.

Q: How far down the line is Year Three mapped out? Are the plans nailed down, or is there still room for things to change?

ML: Year Three is a loose term. Presently it means stories after Year Two. But we have plans for novels up to Message from Moonbase Alpha and beyond. The specifics may change, but the overall blueprint is there.

Q: The previous novels have got a lot of mileage out of the changes between Year One and Year Two — introducing and writing out cast members, explaining all the changes in theme and approach. Will there be a similar amount of change as the Year Three books go along?

DM: Well, I certainly have things in mind!

ML: The novels that “bridge” Year One and Year Two are limited by the events and continuity of the respective seasons. Year Three is interesting because, though we will respect established continuity, all bets are off as to what kind of stories we can tell and what can happen to the characters.

Q: Any plans for new recurring characters?

DM: There will be some recurring guests, as far as I know.

ML: Certainly a second generation of Alphans will begin to provide us with new characters, and we are laying the foundation for that in the novels. Interestingly, in the series itself, despite losses, Alpha’s population actually increases from the beginning of Year Two to the end. This suggests that children, though unseen, are being born.

Q: Where can Year Three go that Years One and Two didn’t (or couldn’t)?

DM: It can find a more unique voice, not constrained with fitting in with the TV episodes, much like the (Doctor Who) NAs/EDAs as opposed to the MAs/PDAs.

ML: David hit the nail on the head. The Virgin Doctor Who novels were certainly our inspiration for the launch of Powys’s Space: 1999 line.

Q: Will we be seeing more of the first season’s “Mysterious Unknown Force” approach, or more of the “Alphans as masters of their own destiny” approach of Year Two?

DM: In Born For Adversity, definitely the latter.

ML: If Survival marks the point at which the first approach ends and the second begins, then Year Three will eventually bring things full circle.

Q: Where do you see this journey leading the Alphans? Do you have an endpoint you’d like them to get to?

DM: Sometimes the journey is its own destination — I certainly couldn’t imagine them getting back home or anything like that.

ML: The novels, and the Alphans, will eventually reach Terra Alpha (Message from Moonbase Alpha), but we agree with Johnny Byrne–that will not be the end of the Alphan odyssey, but rather the point at which it will see a new beginning.

Space:1999 Year One Omnibus

by E.C. Tubb, Brian Ball, John Rankine, with new introductions by the authors.

Additionally, the End of Eternity novelization from Eternity Unbound will be included along with E.C. Tubb’s original novelization.

The limited first printing of 100 copies will contain signature pages from Tubb, Ball, and Rankine.

Printed in the same style as the Year Two Omnibus, the Year One Omnibus will be revised to match series continuity and to incorporate some events detailed in the original Powys novels.

An optional slipcase is being considered to house both books!

 

 

Space: 1999 Resurrection the Audiobook                               ISBN-10  0967728096 / ISBN-13 978 0967728094

Read by Barry Morse

CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

The Resurrection audiobook is a one disc MP3 CD which may not be compatible with all CD players.  It will, however, work on most modern DVD, CD, and MP3-compatible players.  This format was decided upon to keep the price for this outstanding performance by Barry Morse as low as possible. As an added BONUS, we are pleased to announce that we have licensed the Space: 1999 Main Title and End Title themes to bookend this audio book!

NOTE:  Powys will not accept returns if it doesn’t work on your older model CD player!

Read an interview with author William Latham on the Resurrection Audiobook. 

Hear a sample!

 

SPACE: 1999
BORN FOR ADVERSITY

By David A. McIntee

Foreword by Catherine Schell

Cover art by Ken Scott

 

As the Moon enters an area of space controlled by a mysterious alien race,

Computer is plagued by strange malfunctions. 

A ship of apparent refugees crashes near Alpha,

Heralding strife for the base and an emotional crisis for Maya. 

Change has come to Moonbase Alpha,

And the future will never be the same…

 

This novel features a foreword by Catherine Schell who starred as Maya. 

Released February 2010

Read an interview with the author.