Trial By Fire

[GateWorld]

DISCUSS ... TRIAL BY FIRE AUTHOR - Sabine C. Bauer The team embarks on a mission to Tyros, an ancient society teetering on the brink of war. But when their spiritual leader is murdered, the Tyreans beg SG-1 for help against their sworn enemies. Visit the Books Section >>

I enjoyed the story. Thought it was a little slow in some parts, but it had a good battle scene. I really disliked Dr. Kelly mainly for the 'duckie' part. I never really understood her role in the plot other than to start the story off. Good capture of the characters' personalities.

[Albion]

I did enjoy this one, when I read it - but it didn't stun me. To be honest, I prefer this author's fanfic. I found the character of the English professor to be very stereotypical and unoriginal, but I forgave that because she provided the basis for a lot of very funny moments with Jack as she drove him insane. <g>

I found much of the plot to be a little dull - Greek/Roman mythology is a real turnoff for me these days. Been there, done that, could we have some other alien civilisation please?

The characterisations were excellent though and I did find that the story picked up for me in the last third. Well, actually, the first third was interesting too. It was just the middle really that dragged for me.

All in all, I did like it - it didn't suck - but it didn't spark the feeling in me when I finished it that I'd read a really good Stargate story and it's probably not one I'd read again. Unlike Sacrifice Moon and A Matter of Honor, which will get future revisits.

Albion

[Matt G]

Overall this was a good fic. The Phygian commander was probably the best OC in any kind of SG1 fic for ages!

[Skydiver]

i enjoyed it. about my only real quibbles were

info dumps: at times it seemed that the author was just cramming info in there to prove that she did the research.

britisms: at one point jack thinks/says 'plan b is what you do when plan a goes pear shaped'
ok, as a person from the midwest, which jack is....the only thing we call pear shaped are pears

I agree that i've enjoyed doc's fanfic more, but you do have to consider one thing. when she wrote fanfic, she had the freedom to do whatever she wanted. to write these novels, she has fandy and MGM looking over her shoulder, basically censoring her words/ideas

It even says in fandy's submission guidelines that 'status quo must be attained at the end'. Nothing in these books can contradict canon, so the author is limited as to what she can/can't do

this is the price we'll pay for official, sanctioned novels. time will tell if this sanitization of the books works out in MGM's favor or if it kills the novels as writers adn fans turn to free and, to some, better fanfiction instead of the nice, safe and 'keep it canon' books

[Matt G]

You've got a point there. When I did a fanfic series a couple of years back now, I had Hammond use a Britism without realising and my US beta called me on it. Why the Fandemonium PTB didn't check for similar stuff I'm not sure.

[Skydiver]

Originally Posted by Matt G

You've got a point there. When I did a fanfic series a couple of years back now, I had Hammond use a Britism without realising and my US beta called me on it. Why the Fandemonium PTB didn't check for similar stuff I'm not sure.

i'm guessing they didn't notice it. they are a british company, presumably, staffed wtih british people. It's just like me, as an american, don't always realize that my idioms, like 'up the creek without a paddle' or other such phrases' meanings are not universal.

I know what i'm talking about, but my readers may not.

fandy probably didn't realize that they had an american talking british.

[Matt G]

Up a creek without a paddle and non-PG varients of it are fairly common over here as well so you should have been able to get away with that. Having said that, there's enough phrases around that I thought were universal that turned out to be 'Britisms'.

[Skydiver]

i was trying to think of something that was really american, or even american south..phrases or idioms that just don't make any sense literally, but do colloquilly.

for example, a nickname for an idiot is 'nimrod'....i used that in a fic and got feedback from a brit who was confused. seems that Nimrod is a missile defense system over there.

maybe something like 'he don't know diddly from apple butter'

[Madeleine]

Chopped Liver is an americanism.

Originally Posted by Skydiver

maybe something like 'he don't know diddly from apple butter'

Maybe 'he don't know diddley squat' or calling him a 'dipstick'. Reference
to a plan going wrong could be 'belly up'.

[Skydiver]

it would have been less british if jack had said 'plan b is what you do when plan a goes to hell' or something like that

the 'pear shaped' is what threw me

it's an easy mistake to make, and one that seems to be complicated by fandy being a brit company, so it's something they probably didn't even think of.

but, while i don't have an issue with brit spellings or even descriptions a bit british, it's odd to hear/read american characters thinking/talking in brit slang

It'd be the same way if i read James Bond ordering some chicken fried steak with biscuits (as in the bread) in a pub in downtown london

[Katkin]

Originally Posted by Skydiver

it would have been less british if jack had said 'plan b is what you do when plan a goes to hell' or something like that

the 'pear shaped' is what threw me

it's an easy mistake to make, and one that seems to be complicated by fandy being a brit company, so it's something they probably didn't even think of.

but, while i don't have an issue with brit spellings or even descriptions a bit british, it's odd to hear/read american characters thinking/talking in brit slang

It'd be the same way if i read James Bond ordering some chicken fried steak with biscuits (as in the bread) in a pub in downtown london

The Gateworld reviewer mentioned the ‘Britishisms’ in his write-ups on TbF and it’s funny but I’ve never noticed any in Sabine’s fanfic [she is the legendary ‘Doc’, of course].

[Skydiver]

i know, i don't recal it in her fic either

either i just didn't notice it or it's something fandy or an editor at fandy did

I e-mailed them, pointing it out....never got a response so who knows

guess we'll find out when they get another brit author and see if the same thing happens

I guess i'm more forgiving in a fanfic. that's free and something a person is doing, basically out of the goodness of their heart. these novels, they're getting paid for it. fandy's getting paid for it, mgm is getting paid for it.....and since i'm paying, i have some standards that i don't think are too out of line

of course, on the other side of the coin, their license doesn't allow them to distribute to the US, they're selling to a mainly brit audience, maybe they just don't care since, technically, i'm not thier target audience

[Madeleine]

It's odd then that they'd call the third book "A Matter of Honor" when it's Honour in British. If they're letting Britishisms slide on the grounds that the books are only to be sold in the UK then why are they spelling words the amarican way?

[David]

I noticed that too. Inside it's definitely "colour, honour," etc.

Maybe they really want sales in America.

[jantreeuk1]

This is the one that they came up with an idea on why everyone could be understood because of something in the Stargate if they use a DHD. Sorry hated the idea and I'm sure with enough scrutiny could find instances when it doesn't work within the tv series. I was quite happy with the explanation that it is time consuming to always have to translate and let it go at that.
Don't get me wrong liked the book and even rather liked the original character however stereotypical she reminded me of the headteacher I used to work with (or Joyce Grenville!) but as was said Jack's and her relationship worked quite well to give a laugh.
jan t

[Dana_Jeanne]

Originally Posted by David

I noticed that too. Inside it's definitely "colour, honour," etc.

Maybe they really want sales in America.

I emailed and asked why they didn't sell the books in the US also; apparently the people who do the other SG books have the license (or something) in North America, so we're all SOL.

It just kills me to spend 11 POUNDS on a tiny little paperback.

On topic-- I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't great and if it were fanfic I wouldn't print it out and keep it. In fact, I ended up giving the book away.

Dana Jeanne

[Albion]

I agree that i've enjoyed doc's fanfic more, but you do have to consider one thing. when she wrote fanfic, she had the freedom to do whatever she wanted. to write these novels, she has fandy and MGM looking over her shoulder, basically censoring her words/ideas

Of course she does. That's pretty much a given that applies to all authors when they're writing fanfic and published novels. The two are entirely different animals.

The fact that I prefer her fanfic to this published novel is purely a matter of personal taste and opinion. It's because these restrictions exist that I enjoy her fanfic more. Precisely because she's free to really delve into the aspects of the show and the characters which I enjoy, which she isn't when writing a novel to a specific set of publisher's guidelines.

I'm not sure I'd agree, however, that this is the reason that Sabine's novel - for me at least - was less enjoyable than the others in the series, or the reason for the elements in Trial by Fire which bored me. Sally Malcolm, after all, has managed to produce a novel with introspection, mild shippiness and other elements which for me were much closer to what I see on screen each week. And which had the whole feel, to me, as I read of a really excellent fanfic. And she is working to the same restrictions and guidelines.

In fact, I really am impressed with Matter of Honor partly because, knowing how tight these published novel restrictions usually are about such things as introspection, I'm amazed at Sally being able to work so much of it in. I hope it's a trend Fandemonium continues with the rest of the series.

Having said that, I think to give the impression that I disliked this novel would be quite wrong as I really did enjoy it. Just not as much as Sacrifice Moon or Matter of Honour. Again, that's partly down to personal taste in things like the alien culture portrayed and the plot elements and that kind of thing. Elements which bored me might have enthralled many another reader!


Albion

[Token]

I finished reading Trial By Fire and enjoyed it tremendously! When I had read that the books cannot deviate from Stargate canon, I was a little leery of spending the money. It was costly to acquire the books, but I consider it worthwhile.

I thought Sabine captured my favorite characters precisely as I see them. Sabine gave me the pleasure of joining SG-1 on another adventure. It was great to experience the thoughts and feelings of characters instead of "interpreting" them on the screen. I didn't get into the "cultural" aspect of the story, but I was enthralled in my favorite (and a few new ones) characters' adventure. I would highly recommend the book to other fans.

My thanks to Sabine C. Bauer and to Fandemonium Books!