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What are you reading?

I like Brad Pitt most of the time.

The book I'm reading that I didn't care so much for the other day has improved a great deal. Finally got through all the running and track stats and got onto the guy's WWII story. His days adrift after his plane went down in the ocean was harrowing enough, albeit interesting and inspiring. Lots of sharks jumping into the life raft and punching sharks on the nose. Now, the story has been a long time on his soul-crushing experience as a POW at a Japanese POW camp. Keep wanting to jump ahead and find out if he survived this awful ordeal. The story is all tell and no show and it isn't clear as to how the narrator knows Louie's story. More than likely Louie is deceased anyway because it is a WWII story but I really want to know if he survived the POW camp.
 
Archibald Nixon said:
Behold, the wit that can be cultivated from reading heavily-published fan-fiction instead of actual writing.
Click to expand...

Fixed that for you.

That's all it really is: fan-fiction. There are some exceptions, like the books from former TSR employees and D&D: Dragonlance creators Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. Where they based an entire realm of D&D off of the books they wrote. Then there's the other side of the coin with the ever-self-important show writers and game developers who can't seem to get enough of their crappy writing so they use their wealth to self-publish their drivel, like Halo's creator Something Someone - whose name I can't be bothered to remember, because his books suck and the storyline of Halo wasn't all that great.

Remember that awesome book about the Mario Brothers' exploits to save the Princess? Neither do I.
 
Back to WWZ.

The original script and filmed scenes that followed the book were scrapped in favor of an over-budget hollywood-esque bullshit script, writer, and director. Since Pitt was already contracted to do the film he was roped into finishing the second draft. The only reason he signed on in the first place was because he is a fan of the book. He's made some comments about how the movie has been railroaded and his displeasure thereof.
 
Conchaga said:
Fixed that for you.

That's all it really is: fan-fiction. There are some exceptions, like the books from former TSR employees and D&D: Dragonlance creators Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. Where they based an entire realm of D&D off of the books they wrote. Then there's the other side of the coin with the ever-self-important show writers and game developers who can't seem to get enough of their crappy writing so they use their wealth to self-publish their drivel, like Halo's creator Something Someone - whose name I can't be bothered to remember, because his books suck and the storyline of Halo wasn't all that great.

Remember that awesome book about the Mario Brothers' exploits to save the Princess? Neither do I. dross.
Click to expand...

Fixed it back.

Point taken about fanfic --which I've never been a fan of, myself. I'm sure Sturgeon's Law applies as much to that as well. But here's the thing: the more media-skipping you do, the more derivative you have to get in order to world-build enough for your characters and story to have something to inhabit, and unless you're bringing some relatively original material to the table, the more you have to lower the bar. The shit-to-honey ratio may appear unchanged, but the quality of the honey is nowhere near what it used to be.

Books...based on a video game...that itself is a mishmash of Starship Troopers and a number of other scifi tropes?

To quote Ron White: "I'm third-generation don't-give-a-fuck."
 
Archibald Nixon said:
What does "heavily published" mean?
Click to expand...

I couldn't think of a term for a book that has nation-wide and international printing in both paper and hardback, as opposed to just drivel on fan websites or those "zines" you find at your local comic book and hobby shops, printed on mom's laserjet, bound at Kinko's. Y'know the type. The ones that some aspiring "writer" or "artist" managed to get set on display by the store owner out of ironic humor or pure sympathy. Usually in the back with the extra issues of Barbie and Spongebob comics.

My guidelines when deciding whether or not to read a book based on a game, tv show, or movie are thus:

- If more than 25% of the cover art is covered by the brand logo, it's gonna suck. It's only more propaganda to help add to their sales of whatever it is they based it on.
- If it was handed to me by a friend who has good taste in books, I'll think about it. Unless it's based on a video game. ALL BOOKS BASED ON VIDEO GAMES WILL AND DO SUCK. Prove me wrong.
- If it's based on a tabletop RPG it might have merit unless it's from the following franchises: Warhammer, D&D: Forgotten Realms (No, I don't want to read your book about that awesome game you played that one time in your mom's basement), Magic: The fucking Gathering, and anything that requires you buy over $9000 worth of figurines you have to painstakingly hand-paint before anyone will play with you.
- If nerd-hipsters (the ones who were into everything nerdy before YOU were) masturbate to it, it might have some validity, but their liking of it dilutes the pleasure. Notable examples: ANY graphic novel that was made into a TV Show or Movie, like 300, Kickass, Scott Pilgrim (WHY!? WHY was this ever popular!? What the actual fuck!?), Hellblazer (which was actually good until Keanu couldn't do a British accent), The Golden Compass (seriously, WHY are anti-atheists so upset about this? I never understood.) and Narnia (wanna read a good C. S. Lewis book? Go read The Screwtape Letters).
- Have I seen more than two neckbearded fat kids wearing a "cool" t-shirt with some "snazzy" artwork based on the book? If yes, NEVER read it.
- Did the self-titled book-snob at Barnes & Noble recommend it? If yes, NEVER read it. Why? Have you ever met a Lit or English major with a degree working at Barnes & Noble? I rest my case.

You're right, tho. Sturgeon's Law applies. In this case, it's more like Sturgeon's Law squared. Those rare gems are so good you'll read them at least twice. Like I said, the novels from Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman that spawned the Dragonlance realm aren't exactly works of amazing prose, but the characters and the world they create are by far one of the best I've ever had the pleasure to explore. Start with the Chronicles Trilogy.

Fun fact: the Dragonlance novels were among the first officially sanctioned Dungeons & Dragons books by TSR. They were released before they released their rulebooks for the realm. If it weren't for them, authors who made books for Planescape, Ravenloft, and, most notably, Forgotten Realms would never have existed. From the popularity of the Dragonlance novels and realm TSR decided to create Forgotten Realms. Without Forgotten Realms, video games like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age, and Skyrim would never have been made. Oh, and that little-known Windows 98 cdrom game Planescape: Torment. You can thank Dragonlance for that, too.

/geek soapboxing
 
Drew Karpyshyn was actually the lead writer for Mass Effect, and wrote the books to fill in the gaps, but whatever your take on it, it's no different than the Star Trek and Star Wars novels that are out there en masse. I would categorize those also in that 'heavily published fan-fiction' category also.
 
In the case of Star Wars, it's my understanding that Lucas Industries has to sanction them as appropriate fiction. Star Trek, on the other hand, is not so strictly controlled by the license holder.
 
From my understanding (this may be conjecture) Star Wars books are required to be sanctioned by Lucas Industries in order to use the name, likeness, and be considered canon. Star Trek books aren't so strictly regulated. Therefore Star Trek books end up as canon. A good example of this phenomenon is Doctor Who. Where the license holders didn't care what was canon and include all of it. Makes being a pedantic canon prude too much of a chore. It also muddles the waters of knowing everything you can about a sci fi universe.
 
Actually, according to ST canon policy, only two of the novels - both Voyager ones (Mosaic and Pathways) - are canon. That's it. Here's what is canon in ST:
Prime Universe:
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Mosaic and Pathways
The Movies
Star Trek Online (Soft canon. Basically, it means that, unless it contradicts the show or the movies, it's canon.)

Star Trek: 2009 Universe:
Star Trek XI
Star Trek Into Darkness
Star Trek (2013 Video Game)

As for video game novels that don't suck (yes, they do exist), I've read several StarCraft novels that were actually quite good. Mostly because they didn't involve huge armies and left out game mechanics. The three books of The Dark Templar Saga were good, and none of the main characters were even in their respective race's military. The three Terran (human) main characters are an archaeologist, a mercenary, and the Crown Prince of the Terran Dominion. The main Protoss character is a scholar, and is dead for most of the series, having transferred her consciousness into the archaeologist. "I, Mengsk" was also great.

That said, I have read one StarCraft novel that sucked - "Shadow of the Xel'Naga", mainly because the characters from the games are all HORRIBLY out of character, and because it was written by Kevin J. Anderson. That last part should be self-explanatory.
 
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