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Okay, the verdict’s in, a second anthology is likely.
New poll available on what year you prefer for future books.
I went for the any year option. I liked Year One, so I’d like to see more stories from that era. I didn’t care for certain things about Year Two, but it’s half of the TV series, it did have some good elements, and hell, some people managed to write good Star Trek: Voyager novels, so anything is possible. And of course I want to see what you guys have in mind for what happens next, so I want Year Three as well.
While I’m wishing, it’d be nice to see more writers with a higher profile and tie-in novel track record like David McIntee and Prisoner novelists Jon Blum and Andrew Cartmel (still waiting for Miss Freedom, hint hint) contributing to the line, and though I don’t expect to see the current frenzy of activity maintained, I hope we won’t go a few years without new Space: 1999 novels again.
The poll results–although still only a small number of respondants–are very interesting. Perhaps a little surprising!
[i]Definitely[/i] surprising.
I’d have put money on the popular vote going with “Year One” – but it seems to be a mix of seasons that people want. I wonder if that is a legacy of the [b]Shepherd Moon[/b] anthology?
For the main novels, I think I prefer the ‘Year Three’ approach, but even then, I wouldn’t be too upset at [i]what[/i] turned up.
I put in a very strong vote for a Y1 story, with a tale that includes a focus on as many characters as possible (think [i]Full Circle[/i]) and less on aliens. I certainly agree alien cultures are an important foil for our Alphans, but I find myself skimming pages with waning interest when the focus shifts to them instead of Alpha and the Alphans. I think Muir did a nice job balancing alien and Alphan in [i]Forsaken[/i], while I’ll confess to skimming some of the Psychon sections in BfA, although that story is certainly as strongly written, and the quadruped aliens there as interesting.
I think the problem with naming [i]Full Circle[/i] as an example of the sort of story that you’d like is…that it was one of the weakest of the Year One stories! There might have been some nice character moments and flashes of humour, but that’s about it.
I [i]do[/i] think though that there is always a danger that writers can get carried away with alien characters and civilisations at the expense of the Alphans (who should indeed be the main focus). In general I think the balance is well judged. Sometimes you need a little context in these stories, and Alpha’s brushes with alien civilisations (as in the tv series) provide a very rich source of character conflict.
Now, you could [i]also[/i] say that novels solely based around the Alphans could do much the same (eg [i]Seance Spectre[/i] or [i]The Lambda Factor[/i] maybe?) but could they be sustained over the length of a [u]book[/u] without turning into a soap opera (or even worse, a sort of ‘romantic’ effort)?
I’m not sure myself. And just to be clear, I’m not saying that one approach is better than another. It’s a question of which works better.
Presumably you didn’t like [b]Eternity Unbound[/b] then, or stories like [i]’The Astelian Gift'[/i] in [b]Shepherd Moon[/b]? I think to skip sections of books just because you aren’t that interested in the Psychons (for instance) does the books a disservice quite frankly.
I wonder if perhaps more of an exploration of the Maya/Tony relationship (or indeed Helena/Koenig relationship, or any other relationships on Alpha for that matter) would be more to your taste in that case?
– Simon
This is food for thought. It would be interesting to have a novel where the Alphans were dealing with a crisis of physics rather than aliens. For example, Seance Spectre, or Rogue Planet. Those were done well, episode and novel, respectively.
Should we list the non-alien encounter stories?
Matter of Life and Death
Black Sun
Death’s Other Dominion
Dragon’s Domain
The Troubled Spirit
Rogue Planet…Nice start
[b]kalthon wrote:[/b]
[quote]I think the problem with naming [i]Full Circle[/i] as an example of the sort of story that you’d like is…that it was one of the weakest of the Year One stories! There might have been some nice character moments and flashes of humour, but that’s about it.[/quote]Yes, [i]Full Circle[/i] definitely falls in the category of ‘throwing popcorn at the screen’ fun, but it is also one of the episodes where we get glimpses of character development amongst the secondary characters, as does another (IMO) weak episode, [i]The Beta Cloud[/i]. Neither falls in my personal top 10, but I always enjoy reading/watching character development beyond the main characters. Perhaps the more subtle character development of the excellent [i]Black Sun[/i] would be another example.
[quote]I [i]do[/i] think though that there is always a danger that writers can get carried away with alien characters and civilisations at the expense of the Alphans (who should indeed be the main focus). In general I think the balance is well judged. Sometimes you need a little context in these stories, and Alpha’s brushes with alien civilisations (as in the tv series) provide a very rich source of character conflict. [/quote]
Agree, which is why I cited Muir’s [i]Forsaken[/i], which I enjoyed and have reread on occasion.
[quote]Now, you could [i]also[/i] say that novels solely based around the Alphans could do much the same (eg [i]Seance Spectre[/i] or [i]The Lambda Factor[/i] maybe?) but could they be sustained over the length of a [u]book[/u] without turning into a soap opera (or even worse, a sort of ‘romantic’ effort)? [/quote]
I believe there are novel-length stories out there revolving around small communities that do not necessarily equate to ‘soap operas’ or ‘romantic efforts’. McCaffrey’s [i]Dragonsdawn[/i] and Bradley’s [i]Darkover Landfall[/i] come to mind as novels based on small communities facing challenges. Both novels have strong plots and strong characterizations, and a singular lack of ‘mush’.
[quote]Presumably you didn’t like [b]Eternity Unbound[/b] then, [/quote]
I have read it once, but horror is not my genre of choice.
[quote] …. [i]’The Astelian Gift'[/i] in [b]Shepherd Moon[/b]? [/quote]
Actually, I quite enjoyed the story.
[quote]I think to skip sections of books just because you aren’t that interested in the Psychons (for instance) does the books a disservice quite frankly.[/quote]
Perhaps. But it is also a compliment to the strength of the excellent writing and plotting that I did not simply put the book down. The Psychon story was integral to the plot, but I’ll also admit the quadruped aliens interested me much more and I would have greatly enjoyed seeing more of them and their interactions with the Alphans. I do hasten to add at this point, this is my opinion only, which Mateo has been asking people to give.
[quote]I wonder if perhaps more of an exploration of the Maya/Tony relationship (or indeed Helena/Koenig relationship, or any other relationships on Alpha for that matter) would be more to your taste in that case?[/quote]
If as well written as the stories we have seen so far from Powys, most likely I would; however, I do not necessarily equate character exploration with ‘relationship’ exploration. I do find character driven stories interest me as much, if not more so, than pure plot driven stories. Perhaps it is a gender thing. I do hope to see all the characters developed and explored more in future stories.
I understand where [i]Cricket [/i]is coming from. 🙂
I think in some stories [i]life on Alpha[/i] can get lost and the author become more involved with [i]alien races and new planets[/i]. Maybe they see it as more exciting.
To me, Space 1999 is about the Alphans on the Moonbase and one of the things I most enjoy is imagining how they would have adapted to their new lives. Their feelings and emotions. Their struggles over adversity, their battle for survival.
Have you read [i]Bridge Two [/i] by David Welle? Ok, the story is largly concentrated on Maya and Dorcans but all set within an incredibly complex and detailed description of the ‘day to day’ life on Alpha. I thought that side of the novel was fascinating and I think thats what Cricket is saying.
Can we not have both?
[quote] Should we list the non-alien encounter stories?
[/quote]Breakaway
Another Time, Another Place
The Full Circle
The Testament of Arkadia (I don’t think animated skeletons count, or do they?)
Catacombs of the Moon
Space Warp[b]Procyonstar wrote:[/b]
[quote]Have you read [i]Bridge Two [/i] by David Welle? Ok, the story is largly concentrated on Maya and Dorcans but all set within an incredibly complex and detailed description of the ‘day to day’ life on Alpha. I thought that side of the novel was fascinating and I think thats what Cricket is saying.
Can we not have both?[/quote]
I’d love to have both – I never said [i]either[/i] approach should be set in stone or that one was better than another (and I think I [i]did[/i] make that clear 😀 ) I just wasn’t quite sure what cricket was saying – but since their subsequent post, I understand better. And I can’t say I disagree.
I was hoping that David Welle might have contributed to [b]SM[/b], actually – maybe the next one.
– Simon
One thing I should add: I’m no great fan of science fiction/fantasy of any sort, outside of Space:1999, which may possibly mark me apart from others. I don’t know.
One thing I [i]will [/i]say is thanks to you both (ally, cricket) for some worthwhile discussion – things were getting boring round here, LOL.
– Simon
Hey Simon…
When I asked…[i]Can we not have both?… [/i] I wasn’t directing it at you… AND it was more a rhetorical question anyway…I’m totally happy with what Powys are doing…lots of excitement and I must confess slight trepidation with regard to Omega…but I bet we’re all feeling the same way about that !!! What does the Universe have in store for our favourite characters… :unsure: …I can’t wait to find out!
AND…just to let you know…I have not the slightest interest in anything sci-fi…EXCEPT Space 1999…it took hold of me when I was young and hasn’t let go since :cheer:
Oh and by the way…can anyone tell me how to add those quote boxes into threads… I must be stupid because I can’t work it out…LOL
[b]Procyonstar wrote:[/b]
[quote]Oh and by the way…can anyone tell me how to add those quote boxes into threads… I must be stupid because I can’t work it out…LOL[/quote]Easy peasy!
If you want to quote all or part of someone’s post in er, [i]your[/i] post, click on the ‘quote’ button (rather than ‘reply’ or ‘quick reply’.) The software will then show you the post you want to quote, bookended at the beginning and end by two separate ‘quote’ legends – one for ‘quote’ and one for ‘unquote’. You can always delete what you don’t need in between.
I suppose if you want, you can type quote/unquote legends yourself, but it’s a bit of a chore.
– Simon
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