Ask the Authors (Fandemonium)

[Alipeeps]

Heh. I told ya GG was the gal to ask!

[Gate Geek]

Heh. I told ya GG was the gal to ask!

No pressures or anything...... I did post the question to my astronomy club. THere are some who actually enjoy this aspect of astronomy are are more knowledgeable than I. So we'll see how off base I was. Which i'm hoping i'm not!

[sonny1]

No pressures or anything...... I did post the question to my astronomy club. THere are some who actually enjoy this aspect of astronomy are are more knowledgeable than I. So we'll see how off base I was. Which i'm hoping i'm not!

Many thanks. If it's too iffy, I'll resolve it by making it very cloudy the entire time she's there. The character is a senior high school student, headed for a career in astronomy/physics, and not willing to believe what's happened to her. The situation back in that time is climatically, extremely volatile, so the 'it's cloudy' is not unrealistic, and can add to her frustration.

cheers

[Elizabeth Christensen]

Okay so I never assumed the whumping was limited to one character... I'm all for equal opportunity whumping! Just as long as one of the whumpees (um... I think I just invented a word?) can be Sheppard? Any chance? A hint? A teeeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiny smidgen of a clue? Pwetty please?

I offer Wraithy smileys in return...

Curses ... it's so hard to resist the power of the Wraithy smiley ... (Yay, my smilies have returned!)

And please I hope Daniel is one of them too! Eeek! He looks so much cuter unconsious....lol, yes you have a pond hussy invading this thread. Sorry, going away now.

Can't give too many hints in good conscience (besides, nothing's for certain until MGM gives their stamp of approval) ... so I'll just say that I expect you'll both enjoy the book. As will everyone else. Vague enough for you?

You can try to pry more out of me at the Chicago con, CGF ...

[Alipeeps]

Curses ... it's so hard to resist the power of the Wraithy smiley ... (Yay, my smilies have returned!)

Can't give too many hints in good conscience (besides, nothing's for certain until MGM gives their stamp of approval) ... so I'll just say that I expect you'll both enjoy the book. As will everyone else. Vague enough for you?

You can try to pry more out of me at the Chicago con, CGF ...

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! And when can we expect this book to come out?

[ChristianGateFan]

Can't give too many hints in good conscience (besides, nothing's for certain until MGM gives their stamp of approval) ... so I'll just say that I expect you'll both enjoy the book. As will everyone else. Vague enough for you?

You can try to pry more out of me at the Chicago con, CGF ...

Well, hey that's something, thanks! And I missed you at last year's Chicago con cause I had to be somewhere else while you were on stage...but I won't miss you this year no matter what! And don't worry I'll definately try the prying

[Jaymach]

This is just an open question for all the author's that post in this thread...

As either fans or authors, do any of you read the other Stargate literature that's available outside of the Fandemonium novels? Stuff like the other novels, comics, roleplaying material, or DVD Collection Magazines? I ask this purely because other sources also contain vast amounts of information on the Stargate universe (especially the RPG stuff) and so I'd hate to see contradictions between the novels and other sources, like I found with the comics (Phobos in this case).

Also, if not, why not? Is it simply a time thing, a lack of interest, or other reasons?

[Gate Geek]

Curses ... it's so hard to resist the power of the Wraithy smiley ... (Yay, my smilies have returned!)



Can't give too many hints in good conscience (besides, nothing's for certain until MGM gives their stamp of approval) ... so I'll just say that I expect you'll both enjoy the book. As will everyone else. Vague enough for you?

You can try to pry more out of me at the Chicago con, CGF ...

I think you should come to NJ Con in November so we can pry there as well.

[Suzanne Wood]

Thanks, Suzanne. I might check this one out too. No romance or pining, I hope? It would be nice if we could have a few books for those of us who prefer it that way.

Hi Gilthoniel,

LOL. No, no pining or hanky panky in The Barque of Heaven. They barely have time to eat and snatch a bit of sleep. I like to keep the guys on the run.

Suzanne.

[Suzanne Wood]

This is just an open question for all the author's that post in this thread...

As either fans or authors, do any of you read the other Stargate literature that's available outside of the Fandemonium novels? Stuff like the other novels, comics, roleplaying material, or DVD Collection Magazines? I ask this purely because other sources also contain vast amounts of information on the Stargate universe (especially the RPG stuff) and so I'd hate to see contradictions between the novels and other sources, like I found with the comics (Phobos in this case).

Also, if not, why not? Is it simply a time thing, a lack of interest, or other reasons?

Hi Jaymach,

I'm a voracious reader of all things Stargate. I read the Bill McCay novels years ago and loved them. He really took Daniel and Jack in a whole different direction from the series. I've read the Ashley McConnell books and of course the other Fandemonium books. It's funny, I remember walking through the local SF bookshop years ago, looking at all the Star Trek novels, wishing there were more on Stargate. Now look!

I've also dabbled in the comics. If I could read French or German I'd have read the tiein novels in those languages, too. Why didn't we get them in English??

The dvd magazines I've never bought, having snatched the MGM versions as soon as they came out. RPG - I've never gotten into that. There's only so many hours in the day, sadly. I guess it's inevitable that contradictions between the separate genres will arise, but it would be pretty hard to keep track of them all.

For myself, I stuck to the source (the episodes) as prime reference and complemented my information with the episode guide books and numerous online sources - which in themselves can be hard to keep straight as they are all fan done (and kudos to the fans who do them), but are, of course, subject to the foibles of human memory.

What was the contradiction you came across?

Suzanne.

[Elizabeth Christensen]

This is just an open question for all the author's that post in this thread...

As either fans or authors, do any of you read the other Stargate literature that's available outside of the Fandemonium novels? Stuff like the other novels, comics, roleplaying material, or DVD Collection Magazines? I ask this purely because other sources also contain vast amounts of information on the Stargate universe (especially the RPG stuff) and so I'd hate to see contradictions between the novels and other sources, like I found with the comics (Phobos in this case).

Also, if not, why not? Is it simply a time thing, a lack of interest, or other reasons?

I've read a number of the other Fandemonium novels -- to keep an eye on novel continuity (as best we can, but more on that in a minute), to support fellow authors and friends, and to just be a fan. I've snapped up the Atlantis DVD sets as soon as available, and I have a couple of the comics simply because I met up with the Avatar Press editor, William Christensen (no, we're not related), at last year's Chicago con. That's about the extent of my non-Fandy exploration.

Why don't we check continuity with the comics and such? For one thing, Fandy and Avatar don't have any kind of business relationship that I know of, so we don't have any real cross-plotting opportunities. At any given time, there are half a dozen novels and probably an equal number of comic issues in the works, so the logistics of it all would get out of control pretty rapidly, even if we weren't faced with purchasing all the other products ourselves and finding the time to go through them all.

Speaking strictly for myself: the only way I can keep sane is to consider the show (what we see on screen, and nothing more) the sole keeper of canon. There is an overwhelming amount of detail out there, and as great as it would be if all of it lined up neatly, even the show itself introduces inconsistencies on occasion -- reference the earlier discussion about Daniel's age. So I have to draw the line somewhere, and this is where I chose to put it.

Of course, by this logic, I couldn't consider my own previous books true canon. And I don't. Once or twice we've referenced them in vague form in later books, but if an episode contradicted them tomorrow, I'd get over it, consider whatever the show said to be "the truth," and hope the readers aren't too jarred by the disparity.

Just my take on it. I'd be interested to hear how others view this.

Oh, and GG, November is my absolute worst month for "day job" travel; I usually end up spending most of it in Oklahoma. One of these days, maybe. Besides, by then Blood Ties will be close to hitting the streets ...

[Jaymach]

Hi Jaymach,

I'm a voracious reader of all things Stargate. I read the Bill McCay novels years ago and loved them. He really took Daniel and Jack in a whole different direction from the series. I've read the Ashley McConnell books and of course the other Fandemonium books. It's funny, I remember walking through the local SF bookshop years ago, looking at all the Star Trek novels, wishing there were more on Stargate. Now look!

I've also dabbled in the comics. If I could read French or German I'd have read the tiein novels in those languages, too. Why didn't we get them in English??

I can't say I've actually read the French of German novels either, though from what I've been able to translate of online reviews, the French ones are simple episode novelizations and the German ones seem to be many episodes joined together and changed slightly...though of course my translation (through online translators) could just be terrible.

The dvd magazines I've never bought, having snatched the MGM versions as soon as they came out. RPG - I've never gotten into that. There's only so many hours in the day, sadly. I guess it's inevitable that contradictions between the separate genres will arise, but it would be pretty hard to keep track of them all.

Yeah, I was hesitant to buy the DVD Collection magazines myself...I'd already got all the DVD Boxsets...but I was desperate for new Stargate information, and the magazines have a heap of it. (blatant advertising here)

The RPG stuff is also full of lovely information and, though I've not actually had a chance to play the game itself yet (people I roleplay with just aren't interested), I've been able to garner a lot of information (which is apparently canon, according to the books themselves) on things both from the show and that were entirely made up. It's really quite handy stuff.

For myself, I stuck to the source (the episodes) as prime reference and complemented my information with the episode guide books and numerous online sources - which in themselves can be hard to keep straight as they are all fan done (and kudos to the fans who do them), but are, of course, subject to the foibles of human memory.

What was the contradiction you came across?

Suzanne.

I haven't discovered any contradictions with the novels quite yet, though I'm always on the lookout for them, but the problem with the comics was that Phobos was killed in the RPG material then was somehow alive in the comic. Not a big thing, as he may have just survived or been replaced by another Goa'uld of the same name, but I still count it as a contradiction.

Sorry for the rather obvious advertising, I'm just trying to show off what you're missing.

I've read a number of the other Fandemonium novels -- to keep an eye on novel continuity (as best we can, but more on that in a minute), to support fellow authors and friends, and to just be a fan. I've snapped up the Atlantis DVD sets as soon as available, and I have a couple of the comics simply because I met up with the Avatar Press editor, William Christensen (no, we're not related), at last year's Chicago con. That's about the extent of my non-Fandy exploration.

Why don't we check continuity with the comics and such? For one thing, Fandy and Avatar don't have any kind of business relationship that I know of, so we don't have any real cross-plotting opportunities. At any given time, there are half a dozen novels and probably an equal number of comic issues in the works, so the logistics of it all would get out of control pretty rapidly, even if we weren't faced with purchasing all the other products ourselves and finding the time to go through them all.

Huh...I really wouldn't expect there to be that many comics in production...in the 4 years they've had the license to produce them, they've only produced 3 comic runs and 6 short one-shots, with another series (seemingly) in the works at the moment. But I can certainly understand your reasoning, though you could always plead with MGM to give you free copies of the comics in the guise of cross-promoting.

Speaking strictly for myself: the only way I can keep sane is to consider the show (what we see on screen, and nothing more) the sole keeper of canon. There is an overwhelming amount of detail out there, and as great as it would be if all of it lined up neatly, even the show itself introduces inconsistencies on occasion -- reference the earlier discussion about Daniel's age. So I have to draw the line somewhere, and this is where I chose to put it.

Of course, by this logic, I couldn't consider my own previous books true canon. And I don't. Once or twice we've referenced them in vague form in later books, but if an episode contradicted them tomorrow, I'd get over it, consider whatever the show said to be "the truth," and hope the readers aren't too jarred by the disparity.

Just my take on it. I'd be interested to hear how others view this.

I definitely agree that there's an overwhelming amount of detail about the Stargate 'verse available...and of course the show is the primary canon...nothing said in reference material, novels, comics, or anything else could contradict what's on the show...even if the show contradicts the show at times.

I've actually been involved with rather lengthy investigations into who is and isn't also canon, though...obviously the animated series Stargate: Infinity isn't canon (though I have watched it all, and was enough of a sucker to spend money on the box set as soon as I saw it was coming out), but I'd be loathe to put everything else into non-canon just because it's not on the show. At the very least, the roleplaying books themselves state that they're canon, as did Rob the Stargate Brand Manager in several forum posts over on the RPG site's forums, and I like to treat Kate Ritter's Visual Guide as canon also seeing as the shows producers use her Lexicon themselves.

The novels, comics, DVD Collection magazines, and everything else I treat as secondary canon though...canon unless proven otherwise. This may be because my primary stomping grounds is the Star Wars verse, where there's literally hundreds of books, thousands of comics, and a lot of other material, that's all considered canon on some level or other. On the Stargate wiki, I have to mark them as "ambiguously canon" because others are unwilling to accept them as canon in any form, but that's really not the way I feel. So long as something fits with the Stargate 'verse, and has the official MGM stamp of approval, it's good enough in my books.

[JMSwallow]

This is just an open question for all the author's that post in this thread...

As either fans or authors, do any of you read the other Stargate literature that's available outside of the Fandemonium novels? Stuff like the other novels, comics, roleplaying material, or DVD Collection Magazines? I ask this purely because other sources also contain vast amounts of information on the Stargate universe (especially the RPG stuff) and so I'd hate to see contradictions between the novels and other sources, like I found with the comics (Phobos in this case).

Also, if not, why not? Is it simply a time thing, a lack of interest, or other reasons?

Ah, the age-old canon question...

I have to say I've dipped in and out of some of the other SG lit out there, and like any tie-in stuff produced by multiple licencees there are always the occasional continuity glitches. Without MGM employing a person whose sole job it is to police continuity, that sort of thing is always going to happen.

I have to echo Elizabeth here and say that when I'm writing, I look to the shows alone for reference, sometimes fact-checking here at Gateworld and the Stargate Wiki when I need a second- and third-source confirmation on something. I would love to be able to read everything written about the Stargate universe, but like most working writers, there's a question of time and money involved!
Again, as Elizabeth says, because all the people producing these works are spread out over several different companies, there's no mechanism in place to cross-reference.

Personally, I think of tie-in continuity in terms of 'tiers' (similar to the way that Lucasfilm address the Star Wars universe).
At the first level you have the core source material, the stuff you see on screen. That's cast in stone, and you can't screw around with it - even if the writers on the show do sometimes!
Then there's second level continuity (prose fiction like books and comics, etc), and then third level (background stuff like the RPGs and magazines).
Anyone writing a tie-in book should absolutely keep in step with the top level, or else they're not doing their job right. Staying true to second and third level continuity is good if you can do it, but it should not something done to the degree that it sacrifices drama to do so.

[GermanAstra]

Hi Jaymach,

If I could read French or German I'd have read the tiein novels in those languages, too. Why didn't we get them in English??

I can only speak for the German ones when saying you don't miss much there, actually. They are very short (no comparsion to the Fandemonium ones), and the characterization is off. It's as if just the names of the figures are used, but you don't recognize them by their speeches or actions.

Plus there are simple actual errors like going back through the same wormhole you came, which we all know is impossible. Any fanfiction beta reader could point this out.

I read them way back then since it was the first thing I stumbled over when starting to look for Stargate merchandising, but since then I found fanfictions (very long fanfictions) that are much better composed. And imagine my joy when I detected that I also was able to get the Fandemonium books.

I can't say I've actually read the French of German novels either, though from what I've been able to translate of online reviews, the French ones are simple episode novelizations and the German ones seem to be many episodes joined together and changed slightly...

Yeah, exactly. It's been a long time since I read them, but I remember one story about a mix between when Daniel was invisible because of the crystal skull an the invisible aliens called Ree'tou.

[Jaymach]

Ah, the age-old canon question...

I have to say I've dipped in and out of some of the other SG lit out there, and like any tie-in stuff produced by multiple licencees there are always the occasional continuity glitches. Without MGM employing a person whose sole job it is to police continuity, that sort of thing is always going to happen.

Having a single person to police the continuity certainly makes things easier, as can be seen with Leland Chee in the Star Wars 'verse, though it doesn't cut down on them completely sadly. That having been said, if they job ever opened up, I'd be happy to apply.

Personally, I think of tie-in continuity in terms of 'tiers' (similar to the way that Lucasfilm address the Star Wars universe).
At the first level you have the core source material, the stuff you see on screen. That's cast in stone, and you can't screw around with it - even if the writers on the show do sometimes!
Then there's second level continuity (prose fiction like books and comics, etc), and then third level (background stuff like the RPGs and magazines).
Anyone writing a tie-in book should absolutely keep in step with the top level, or else they're not doing their job right. Staying true to second and third level continuity is good if you can do it, but it should not something done to the degree that it sacrifices drama to do so.

Hmm...that's somewhat similar to the way I see it, but I put the RPG stuff and DVD Collection Magazine stuff above the novels/comics (sorry) purely because the RPG stuff claims that it's canon, and The DVD Collection Magazines have at least some of the officials working for them, even if it's just the official designers...my mind just automatically tags them as having an air of authority because of that. But I definitely agree that the show is top level canon...if things contradict it then someone should get smacked across the back of their head.

I can only speak for the German ones when saying you don't miss much there, actually. They are very short (no comparsion to the Fandemonium ones), and the characterization is off. It's as if just the names of the figures are used, but you don't recognize them by their speeches or actions.

Plus there are simple actual errors like going back through the same wormhole you came, which we all know is impossible. Any fanfiction beta reader could point this out.

Well I recently ordered them from Amazon.de and Amazon.fr respectively, so I should receive them somewhat soon. Of course there's some complications in that I speak neither French nor German...but I'm probably going to type them up then look for online translators or help from people who speak both German/French and English in order to plead them to translate for me. It should be interesting to see just how messed up the novels are in comparison to the more-professional Fandemonium ones. At the very least, they should make my opinion of Ashley McConnell's work improve slightly if they're really that bad.

Yeah, exactly. It's been a long time since I read them, but I remember one story about a mix between when Daniel was invisible because of the crystal skull an the invisible aliens called Ree'tou.

That's the one that I had heard of too...so it's not just faulty translation? Well...it should be...uh...interesting...especially given the Fandy City of the Gods novel which also featured the crystal skulls.