- This topic has 58 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 12 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I tried to cut off sales of Phoenix before I ran out of convention overstock. I figured I had 25 left. I got 26 orders! Luckily, there were actually 26 copies left. EXACTLY 26!
Whew!
Of course, I would have just ordered copies sent directly from Lulu.com, but still…
Well, all the books are in their shipping envelopes, and they’re all made out. All I need to do is seal them and make out the customs forms for our international customers. Then they’re out of my hands and on their way to you!
Working on Phoenix of Megaron (and Android Planet) with John R. Mason has been a truly wonderful experience. I have only 30 pages left to go on my read of his Phoenix of Megaron SEQUEL!
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]Working on Phoenix of Megaron (and Android Planet) with John R. Mason has been a truly wonderful experience. I have only 30 pages left to go on my read of his Phoenix of Megaron SEQUEL![/quote]
wait.
What?? :woohoo: :woohoo:I’m starting to go into 1999 novel overload – Whispering Sea, Children of the Gods, Black Doves, PoM sequel (the Other Self??), and probably others in the pipeline, I’m sure.
so much to look forward to!!! :laugh:
I think you’ll be pleased with Phoenix of Megaron. It’s a unique (except for Android Planet, of course) mix of old school 70s John Rankine and the more recent Powysverse Space: 1999 novels, plus there are fun continuity references (where they would occur naturally in the mind of the characters–I try not to put them in willy-nilly) to Year One, Year Two and the other Powys books and short stories. And at a certain point, if you are familiar with the original PoM, you’ll start to realize that they story has taken a new direction and is moving toward a very different ending!
And I have to mention that John Mason and I, early on, decided to make Rhoda a very modern, independent, intelligent and resourceful character. Yeah, sure, there is a romantic element to the novel, but it is balanced by the depth of their characters and the seriousness of their situation and their responsibilities. I think I can speak for both of us when I say we’re proud of the book.
Strangely, all of you have all the fun! We get to read early and then successive drafts (which is a different sort of fun), but we never get to read the novels fresh, with no knowledge of where the story will take us.
That’s why we love to hear your feedback! It lets us know if we’ve succeeded. After you’ve read seven drafts and worked on a book so long, it’s hard to tell.
Mateo
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]Books away![/quote]That’s wonderful news! Thanks Mateo. Looking forward to reading it 🙂
[b]Ultra wrote:[/b]
[quote][b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]Working on Phoenix of Megaron (and Android Planet) with John R. Mason has been a truly wonderful experience. I have only 30 pages left to go on my read of his Phoenix of Megaron SEQUEL![/quote]
wait.
What?? :woohoo: :woohoo:I’m starting to go into 1999 novel overload – Whispering Sea, Children of the Gods, Black Doves, PoM sequel (the Other Self??), and probably others in the pipeline, I’m sure.
so much to look forward to!!! :laugh:[/quote]
I had no idea there was a SEQUEL to PoM either Ultra. I assumed that, as with AP, the Moon would move out of range once the story of PoM was told and that would be that.
As for further novels, don’t forget Prodigal Moon, Odysseus Wept and The Final Revolution. And then there’s the Year 1 Omnibus as well as the possibility of Powys releasing new, revised Powysverse versions of E C Tubb’s Alien Seed and Rogue Planet.
You’re so right though. Lots to look forward to! :cheer:
[b]Steve F wrote:[/b]
[quote]As for further novels, don’t forget Prodigal Moon, Odysseus Wept and The Final Revolution. And then there’s the Year 1 Omnibus as well as the possibility of Powys releasing new, revised Powysverse versions of E C Tubb’s Alien Seed and Rogue Planet.
You’re so right though. Lots to look forward to! :cheer:[/quote]
Have Powys actually suggested they might tackle Powysverse versions of [i]Alien Seed[/i] and [i]Rogue Planet[/i] then?
Personally I think they should be left well alone. EC Tubb wrote them as his own original novels, and as he now dead they should remain as they are. Had he been still alive and willing to work with Powys, then that would be a different matter of course.
By all means Powys might consider straight reprints of the originals (which, I might add, have never been my favourite 1999 novels – Tubb’s characterisations often seemed a bit off to me….but that’s how he probably meant it!). But otherwise they should be left alone to stand or fall on their own original merits. This is what Fanderson did with [i]Earthfall.[/i] They re-printed the book in a superior quality version to the old Futura/Orbit paperback, and just corrected the spelling errors, etc – in my opinion, exactly the right decision.
With the ‘John Rankine’ books, there is a different situation because John Mason is involved. I [b]love[/b] the old Rankine novels, and I loved the new version of [i]Android Planet[/i]. I’m sure I will also love [i]PoM[/i].
I’m also actually wondering these days how much should be changed in the [i]Year One Omnibus[/i], when it eventually gets published. Brian Ball is still around so could have some say. Douglas Mason (John Rankine) is too, although John Mason would be the voice of authenticity in any changes that would be made to the script adaptations. Who would speak for EC Tubb though?
Michael Butterworth was [u]involved[/u] in the [i]Year Two Omnibus[/i], and thus the rather scrappy nature of the originals (due to the tearing hurry with which they were written) was tidied up with the approval of the author.
Again, it’s only my personal opinion but Powys has quite enough on their plate without revising Tubb’s [u]original[/u] works.
– Simon
My copy of “Phoenix of Megaron” arrived today. Thank you for dispatching this to the UK so quickly Mateo.
I have the weekend to myself so the timing is perfect! 😉
Simon has raised a number of very interesting points regarding E C Tubb’s original novels. I’d be interested to hear Mateo’s thoughts on the subject.
I’d have to go back and re-read Simon’s post. When I contacted the original authors about republishing their books, I told them I wanted to make changes to fit Powysverse continuity. My argument being, everyone already has the originals versions and fans are not going to buy reprints of books they have five times over. I’ve got ten copies of every title. Seriously.
The originals are there. On the shelf. And I love them. But this was an opportunity to have them be brought into the fold, include some subtle changes that the authors likely would have incorporated had they known about the characters of Year Two, the characters’ backstories, and an updated series bible. If you look at Survival by Brian Ball and the short stories in Shepherd Moon by Tubb and Ball, as well as Android Planet and Phoenix of Megaron, you can see how they embraced this idea. Michael Butterworth as well, and he says so explicitly in his foreword to Year Two.
John Rankine, more than anyone, tried to incorporate series continuity in his novels and novelizations. There are references to Voyager’s black box and Gwent, etc., in the novels. He was obviously treating the series as a unified whole (not just episodic stories). He was extrapolating the characters’ thoughts from the accumulation of experiences from previous adventures.
E.C. Tubb the same, but he built in his own continuity–primarily of characters. He knew that creating new Alphans at every turn would surpass the 311 very quickly. It is interesting how his created characters resurface from story to story. Brian Balll as well.
Granted, you do get to see their initiall drafts, but E.C. Tubb embraced Tony Verdeschi as a character and realized that he must have been on the base in Year One and rising in the ranks. We’ve tried to smooth the transition from Year One to Year Two by taking the sum total of Alphan characters (across Y1 and Y2), assuming three shifts (they can’t be on duty 24/7) and taking as a given that both seasons happening in one universe, one time-line. It hasn’t been easy, but I think we’ve been successful at the intergration.
Which brings us to the original question from earlier this century. Is Space: 1999 a richer universe for having Y1 and Y2 included, rather than just one or the other (read that as just Y1). I thought so. I still do.
An interesting note, we decided to make John Koenig Jewish in the Powys novels, only to find when working on John Rankines original novels that he had Koenig having a Passover meal. I have to say I smiled when I read that. I can’t remember which book!!
The [i]only[/i] point I was making was that Tubb’s two original novels – apart from EARTHFALL – (if they are ever republished by Powys) should only be altered if Tubb had given his permission (at the very least) and preferably if he had involvement in so doing. Likewise the teleplays that Tubb novelised. If Tubb had no problem with that, then great.
The [b]Year Two Omnibus[/b] was a massive improvement over the original adaptations and crucially involved Butterworth himself. John Mason is likewise involved in the new Rankine editions. If an author is dead and was never consulted, then that’s different.
We can’t know (unless Mateo asked Tubb) whether he’d want ALIEN SEED and ROGUE PLANET altered in any way. (And in my view altering those particular books wouldn’t make them any better novels anyway, but that’s just my point of view….). Mateo should know that I am completely behind what is being done with these books BUT there has been a lot of slippage in the publishing schedule and I don’t think messing with EC Tubb’s original stories should be a very high priority what with everything else on the schedule already.
By the way, I also remember Rankine making passing reference to a ‘passover’ meal but I assumed this to be one of his weird and wonderful phrases, rather than a literal one. I’ve never been sold on the idea of Koenig being Jewish I have to say…!
– Simon
Interesting discussion. I was offered Rogue Planet early on for republication. I was busy at the time trying to get new original novels out and said I’d like to do so, but at a future date. Alien Seed was already spoken for at that time.
I re-read both books during the ExE and Alien Seed once again afterwards. Gotta say, I was really impressed by both books, though there are some characters issues in AS not to mention a huge body count! I think AS is high on action and plot, where RP is steeped in atmosphere. I’d be honored to add them to the Powys line.
As for Simon, lots of lovely blue light and respect from all of us at Powys to you. 🙂 And it has always been gratifying to have your support. So thanks amigo!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.