tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2180221696860810827.post4095748818480577386..comments2023-11-04T01:27:16.828-06:00Comments on Luke Reviews: Resistance: The Gathering Storm by William C. DietzLuke Forneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983786530673591352noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2180221696860810827.post-41990204527308228672010-08-26T11:22:26.355-06:002010-08-26T11:22:26.355-06:00It has always baffled me that a genre so pushed in...It has always baffled me that a genre so pushed into the ghetto as science fiction/fantasy has been is so willing to cast off content that isn't "real" science fiction or fantasy. I have always wondered if it is backlash, an attempt to make the genre look more literary.<br /><br />My personal take: A book is good or bad based on the book, not what the book is based on, or whether it is "original" fiction or not. "Original" fiction of course being a misnomer, with a better distinction being creator owned vs. non-creator owned. Still, it is a shaky division to make. For my money, Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40,000 novels are frequently better than many "original" novels put out by the big publishers.<br /><br />I can only hope it is a changing trend. Graham McNeill just topped the British science fiction and fantasy bestseller list with a Warhammer 40,000 novel, and won the David Gemell Award with a Warhammer Fantasy novel, so hopefully that is a sign for change. Not that everyone should mindlessly laud media tie-in fiction, but that it should be viewed and regarded based on its own merits.Luke Forneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12983786530673591352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2180221696860810827.post-17135629755919100392010-08-24T03:46:50.439-06:002010-08-24T03:46:50.439-06:00I've always said, and I said this twenty-five ...I've always said, and I said this twenty-five years ago to somebody, that media-tie books should be taken as seriously as any "original" book. They cost the same amount of money, and they usually take as much time to read as any other book. The true value of any novelization or tie-in is if you can read it as an independent work without reading or seeing the work(s) that it was originally based on. Can you read a "Star Trek" novel without ever having seen a Trek episode or movie? <br /><br />Short story: Spider Robinson once reviewed a Vonda McIntyre "Star Trek" novel for "Analog" and said it was one of the best novels he had read that year (or something like that), but he couldn't recommend it because it was a STAR TREK novel. This is sad, but this is the attitude that most reviewers and critics have towards these things. Look at how the trade magazine "Locus" treats pop fiction. It's always nice to see a REAL review of one.Mark Louis Baumgartnoreply@blogger.com