Big Don
Sr. Grandmaster
somehow, I'm still 22d and 29th on the lists and both are in transit...
If it is stupid and it works, it isn't stupid, especially when it works for me.
What fiction book are you currently reading?
- Thread starter arnisador
- Start date
If it is stupid and it works, it isn't stupid, especially when it works for me.
Big Don
Sr. Grandmaster
Has anyone else read these books?
I would love to discuss the social and political theories in them
Omar B
Senior Master
Well today is the official release of the new Bond novel, Carte Blanche by Jeffrey Deaver. I went to Walmart last night just after midnight to get it just as they were shelved, I'm pretty sure I bought the first one too.
I'll save my review for the weekend as I plan to have read it twice by then. So far, it's everything the original Fleming creation was. Only his birth date is no longer 1928, but sometime in the late 70's. Everything one would expect from literary Bond is there, only now he's an ex-smoker.
So far it's very Deaver in sweep since the characters and characterizations are Fleming's. It's very fast, lots of action, many plot twists, all one would expect from Deaver.
I'm also reading the Transformers - Dark Of The Moon novelization, because I love novelizations. This one is not as well written as I would have liked, sometimes you luck out with a tie in and it's actually good, great, or even better than the movie (like Daylight, based on the Stallone movie or the John Gardner Bond novelizations that actually brought the movie Bond into continuity with Lit Bond in a way that worked).
So far the story's pretty good, nice action, humor, all you would expect. Non of the characters, scenery, or really anything in well described. Describing Sam's new gf as looking like a Victoria's Secret model is not good writing, especially when she is played by a VS model! Non of the robots are well described at all either. I would have loved if they used a more seasoned SF novelist to do the book, someone who can write huge robot battles really well, there has to be like 20 different authors coming out of the Warhammer series of novels who could have done it more convincingly, or any other number of lower to middling level sf writers.
I'll save my review for the weekend as I plan to have read it twice by then. So far, it's everything the original Fleming creation was. Only his birth date is no longer 1928, but sometime in the late 70's. Everything one would expect from literary Bond is there, only now he's an ex-smoker.
So far it's very Deaver in sweep since the characters and characterizations are Fleming's. It's very fast, lots of action, many plot twists, all one would expect from Deaver.
I'm also reading the Transformers - Dark Of The Moon novelization, because I love novelizations. This one is not as well written as I would have liked, sometimes you luck out with a tie in and it's actually good, great, or even better than the movie (like Daylight, based on the Stallone movie or the John Gardner Bond novelizations that actually brought the movie Bond into continuity with Lit Bond in a way that worked).
So far the story's pretty good, nice action, humor, all you would expect. Non of the characters, scenery, or really anything in well described. Describing Sam's new gf as looking like a Victoria's Secret model is not good writing, especially when she is played by a VS model! Non of the robots are well described at all either. I would have loved if they used a more seasoned SF novelist to do the book, someone who can write huge robot battles really well, there has to be like 20 different authors coming out of the Warhammer series of novels who could have done it more convincingly, or any other number of lower to middling level sf writers.
Big Don
Sr. Grandmaster
That surprises me
Omar B
Senior Master
Oh, novelizations and media-tie in books are an art in and of themselves. It's something I grew interested in after being a kid reading the Star Wars novels which are pretty good to great most of them. Then after the movie Mission Impossible was released I saw the book in the store and got that.
There's an art to it, if you are working from a script like most novelizations then you have to flesh it out and make it work as a book. If it's a media tie in you have to write to the voice of the characters and not destroy the franchise. Like the Monk, CSI, Psych, Doctor Who, etc.
In the case of movies you have to write a book that follows the script but gives enough detail to make it a full reading experience. The highest form of the art is to produce a book that is so good it's as if it is the actual source material. Or in the case of TV tie ins, you can't write a Stargate novel and kill one of the characters when the guy is still on the show. You have to write a new story that knows the characters and world well enough to slot right into the narrative.
I'll also ad that I usually see the movies I read the novels for, after all, I wouldn't have gotten them in the first place if I was not interested in. With big summer blockbusters and superhero movies I know I'm going to see, I like reading them. I get the story in, in detail, more detail event than is usually in the movie even. Where directors and editors sometimes fail at making an important point, or gloss over it too quickly I get the whole picture. Plus, when my buds and I go see a big summer movie we usually go to dinner first, then the bar, then to the movie, by then I'm just there to sit and look at the pretty pictures unfold, not be burdened to try to follow a story though a haze of beers. By the way, Superman Returns, the book ruled, as did Batman Begins, way more detail, Talia even was in there! The Dark Knight was also a great read too.
http://www.iamtw.org/art_licensedfiction.html
http://www.iamtw.org/art_novelization.html
http://www.iamtw.org/art_latimes_08.html
http://www.iamtw.blogspot.com/
There's an art to it, if you are working from a script like most novelizations then you have to flesh it out and make it work as a book. If it's a media tie in you have to write to the voice of the characters and not destroy the franchise. Like the Monk, CSI, Psych, Doctor Who, etc.
In the case of movies you have to write a book that follows the script but gives enough detail to make it a full reading experience. The highest form of the art is to produce a book that is so good it's as if it is the actual source material. Or in the case of TV tie ins, you can't write a Stargate novel and kill one of the characters when the guy is still on the show. You have to write a new story that knows the characters and world well enough to slot right into the narrative.
I'll also ad that I usually see the movies I read the novels for, after all, I wouldn't have gotten them in the first place if I was not interested in. With big summer blockbusters and superhero movies I know I'm going to see, I like reading them. I get the story in, in detail, more detail event than is usually in the movie even. Where directors and editors sometimes fail at making an important point, or gloss over it too quickly I get the whole picture. Plus, when my buds and I go see a big summer movie we usually go to dinner first, then the bar, then to the movie, by then I'm just there to sit and look at the pretty pictures unfold, not be burdened to try to follow a story though a haze of beers. By the way, Superman Returns, the book ruled, as did Batman Begins, way more detail, Talia even was in there! The Dark Knight was also a great read too.
http://www.iamtw.org/art_licensedfiction.html
http://www.iamtw.org/art_novelization.html
http://www.iamtw.org/art_latimes_08.html
http://www.iamtw.blogspot.com/
Omar B
Senior Master
Yeah, so do I. Star Wars novels for the most part destroy the movies in areas of storytelling quality, and scale. Heck, even the original Star Trek I didn't really get into till I got a whole bunch of the tie-in novels second hand (got a box of 10 for like $3). Creatures that they could never do because of budget or effects where in there, ships that were never in the show, aliens that never showed up, alien cultures written like real cultures (why do whole planets seems to speak the same language sometimes?).
I see nothing wrong with novelizations or tie-in novels, if they are good and add to the whole mythology. Look at how much George Lucas took from the SW novels, lots, the stuff that actually works in the new movies.
I see nothing wrong with novelizations or tie-in novels, if they are good and add to the whole mythology. Look at how much George Lucas took from the SW novels, lots, the stuff that actually works in the new movies.
Just finished an amazing book called The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
I read the first two books in the series. Need to get to the final one now.
granfire
Sr. Grandmaster
Not sure what to grab next....
got an Artemis Fowl laying around, but it's one removed from the 2nd in the series...
'Slam' does not seem like something I want to read (bargain bin, like most of my books) and the 'Misadventures of Bartholomew Piff' start at book 2 as well, no book one...
Still got a few boos line up tho....(or do I have to write the sequel to my NaNo?)
got an Artemis Fowl laying around, but it's one removed from the 2nd in the series...
'Slam' does not seem like something I want to read (bargain bin, like most of my books) and the 'Misadventures of Bartholomew Piff' start at book 2 as well, no book one...
Still got a few boos line up tho....(or do I have to write the sequel to my NaNo?)
