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Thanks for your post suggesting a fan-fiction anthology, first of all. One of the reasons we put a forum on this site was to discuss issues of interest to fans of our various books as well as the original series that have inspired them, and this is certainly an issue worth discussing.
In the earliest days of this company’s relationship with first Carlton, then Granada, now ITV, one of our concerns was being inundated with submissions by hopeful writers – every publishing company out there generally has to deal with so-called “over the transom” submissions. We made a decision very early on to discourage such submissions, partly because we lack the infrastructure to handle them, but more importantly, we wanted to avoid the entire issue of people thinking we were stealing anyone’s ideas. When we receive submissions, we don’t even read them. We return them. It’s not because we don’t think they’re good, it’s because we don’t want to get caught up in arguments over ownership of ideas.
Space:1999 has been around for more than thirty years, and fan-fiction writers have explored all kinds of things in the Space:1999 universe. That’s one of the fun things about fan-fiction – you can do interesting crossovers, you can explore aspects of the characters and their relationships in whatever way you want. There are very few rules in the universe of fan-fiction. There are also some fine writers out there who are very talented and write good stories. But we’re all playing the same universe and the odds are always good that if you can come up with something, we might come up with something similar. By avoiding fan-fiction, we avoid the potential for controversy.
As other posts have already pointed out, there are avenues for fan-fiction to reach a wide audience, two obvious examples being Space1999.org’s ebook series and the Space:1999 Fiction Archive. For what it’s worth, we don’t view either site as competitors – we’re all adding to the same universe. As a business and a license-holder, however, we have obligations to the license owner to protect their property (which is why crossovers, for example, are something we can’t even consider). If you’re a fan-fiction writer, going to either of the aforementioned sites can help you get your work out there. When we hear buzz about a particular writer of fan-fiction, we do pay attention, and when it’s warranted, we may even approach the writer and gauge their interest in collaborating with us.
The Powys line, as Simon has pointed out, has a consistent thread running through all of our Space:1999 books. It’s one of the reasons we pursued the license in the first place. But we really need to maintain a separate identity from the fan-fiction world, for the reasons already stated and also because our focus is to deliver a product, not necessarily to provide a service to authors – our clients are readers.
Providing an anthology of fan-fiction really falls outside of our mission parameters. But for fan fiction writers out there, do your best and get your work out there. If we start hearing about it, we may come and find you.
Nice compliments! The authors are all trying to tell new and challenging Space: 1999 stories–as opposed to telling safe stories that don’t push the envelope. They do this by respecting what has been done on the series, but moving the “meta-story” further.
A friend in Australia told me yesterday that the books are grounded in reality (within the fictional context of the series)–meaning the characters act and react like real people. And the series has a larger scale continuity that doesn’t just link back to what was shown on TV, but rather adds to it to create a new, large-frame mythos that carries the reader toward a future revelation.
I think he hit the nail on the head. He understood exactly what we are trying to do. Now, whether we succeed or not will be decided by the readers, one by one. Each will have their own opinion.
I like that the characters grow and change, are affected by what happens to them. Bergman’s percieved death in Survival changes Koenig. This change, unseen in the filmed Y2 episodes, is clearly evident and runs through the Year Two omnibus, culminating in the Lambda Variance (the new coda to The Lambda Factor). In the omnibus, Koenig won’t discuss Victor’s death and can’t bring himself to talk about him. He feels a tremendous amount of guilt and it informs his decisions. This is clearly evident in The Exiles. Koenig’s suspicion–almost paranoia–about Cantar and Zova, from the start, really makes sense now once one takes the events of Survival into consideration.
Once you read Omega (coming in March) you will never be able to go back and watch the episodes again in the same way. That’s a promise. And isn’t that the exciting part? To watch something you’ve seen tens of times–that you can literally quote–with a new perspective?
I am glad people are getting the books so quickly. It has been less than a week since it went up for sale (Friday night–and today is Thursday!).
Ken Scott’s covers are really excellent. I love the cover of Shepherd Moon. It is very evocative! That is not to say I didn’t like the covers to the older books. The flower petal cover was an interesting one, and Barry Morse’s face on Survival just gave it a sort of humanity.
As far as the covers go, I like them all. Ken’s Born for Adversity cover is the first use of computer generated artwork on one of our covers, an exciting step!
Enjoy the books!
As suggested, pre-paid gift cards are a good way to make online purchases. Paypal is another–you only deal with Paypal, and Paypal deals with the seller/store. In other words, you pay Paypal, Paypal pays the store. The store/seller never sees your private information.
Another way to do it worry free is this: Open up a checking account in another bank–no checks, just a debit card. Put $100 or so in it. That way you can use a dedicated debit account for online purchases. And EVEN IF your card were stolen, you could only lose what you put in it–as opposed to, say, your whole paycheck.
You could even keep a minimum balance in it, and then just add cash when you wanted to make a purchase.
You’re in luck then,
Resurrection takes place between End of Eternity and War Games. And in a few weeks you’ll be able to get the audio version read by Barry Morse!
The Forsaken takes place after Testament of Arkadia
Survival takes place after The Forsaken
Shepherd Moon contains stories that take place before Y1 and during it–one during Breakaway itself!
I love both Barry Gray and Derek Wadsworth’s scores. They suit the episodes in which they are used perfectly. I can’t imagine using Barry Gray’s music in Year Two or vice versa. That is testament to their talent at providing just the right music for the filmed dramas.
I am forever in debt to Fanderson for releasing the absolutely fantastic CD soundtracks to both seasons. It made a lifelong dream come true!
Later, when I got my first professional composing commission, scoring The House Between (John Kenneth Muir’s science fiction web series), I thought about both composer’s approach to music. I am no Barry Gray–I am no Derek Wadsworth, but I did learn to write short pieces of music that could be used by the music editor in numerous episodes. This is done by writing different versions of the same theme using different instrumentation and different lengths. I remembered an interview with DW where he talked about scoring for mood rather than tagging it to the action of the particular scene beat for beat. He recommended this approach to make the music more able to be used again.
The music for both seasons provided a sort of continuity of quality for the series. Different as they were, the scores were both excellent!
Mateo
Funny, we think alike. I will happily email the foreword to the author, but also think it will be more exciting to read it–especially the author–when the book is in his hand. And at this point, that is not far off! BTW, email me, I don’t have your email address anymore.
We toyed with the idea of ignoring Year Two and just publishing books that continued Year One. In fact our first three novels either take place during Year One or between Y1 and Y2. But a number of factors led to the decision to view as part of the same canon, both Y1 and Y2.
1. Ignoring Y2 would mean we were establishing a separate continuity that diverged from Y2 and would establish two separate timelines, post Arkadia.
2. We would lose Koenig’s backstory about the Venus probe and other space missions. We’d also loose a lot of the characters introduced in Y2, and some great conflicts (Seance Spectre).
The first two Y3 novels are Born for Adversity (2/10) and Omega (3/10). Shepherd Moon has stories taking place pre-Breakaway, during Y1, and one in Y3.
Finallly, our YEAR TWO omnibus containing novelizations of all of the episodes of Y2 (and by extension all six of Michael Butterworth’s novelizations–plus the newly novelized ‘The Taybor’) made hundred of little continuity corrections to make Y2 fit with the alreadly established Y1. And certain things were added to remove the sillier bits.
Why don’t the Alphans ask the Archanons for a lift?
Why did Koenig let Brian leave with a Swift?
Why would the planet Golos put the life support system for an entire world in a single room?
Why couldn’t the androids of Vega kill dispassionately? Removal of head=death. No anger necessary.I am especially proud of Catacombs of the Moon, which now, IMO, makes a lot more sense than what appeared on screen. Anthony Terpiloff was a fantastic writer, but the episode based on his Y2 script is a mess. I wish I had the script he turned in to see what he intended. I wonder if we guessed right!
Mateo
Thank you for helping to spread the word. I also posted on Online Alpha and GBA. I am just waiting for those posts to be approved and posted.
Mateo
Ah, but we can’t really answer questions like that, can we? Born for Adversity will be our first YEAR THREE book. Will Verdeschi be in it? Well, you’ll just have to be patient a little longer. 😉 Born for Adversity will be out soon, and your question will be answered. After all this time, none of wants to spoil any surprises or give away too much about what happens in the books.
I think you are the first to notice it’s available. No one has mentioned it yet on Online Alpha. Enjoy it. You’ll have a copy before I do.
Mateo
Well, I agree, all that would be very cool. So far we’ve tried to match the novel to the person we ask to write the foreword. Johnny Byrne wrote the foreword to Resurrection–after all he helped launch Powys and Balor was his creation.
Prentis Hancock did The Forsaken–the novel in which his character departs
Barry Morse did Surivival–the novel in which his character departs
Catherine Schell is doing Born for Adversity–a novel in which her character is prominently featuredAs for David Kano, that would have to happen in a “bridge” book between Years One and Two, and that will have to be in the future (for now). It remains an unanswered question.
