Best Tie-ins

[manmiles]

Most of the Star Trek novels are rather lousy, but I liked A Fury Scorned. It does unfortunately fall into that Star Trek tradition of awesome new capabilities that end up being forgotten by next week (in this case, a wormhole), but the story draws you in fairly well, and it's an easy read.

Star Trek is a weird one, it's possibly churned out more novels than both the Doctor Who and Star Wars franchises, yet so many of them, due to their nature are inherently dismissable and throwaway. It's only been recently (when the franchise is for all intents and purposes dead as a TV show and the movies are following their own universe) that they can actually develop what they've got. Tie-in novels/comic's are at their best when the series that they follow isn't around on TV or on cinema screens. A lot of what's been approached and done with in the new series of Doctor Who has been inspired in so many ways by the authors who wrote the New Adventures back in the 90s for Virgin with some of the writers such as Paul Cornell having defined so much of what you could do with Doctor Who in a liteary sense going on to write for the show proper.

[Werthead]

The Rise and Fall of a Dragon King, a Dark Sun novel by Lynn Abbey, indeed gets a lot of love. It's because it's a D&D spin-off novel (albeit set in the game's most morally ambiguous setting, the post-magical-apocalypse world of Dark Sun) which focuses on one of the setting's primary villains as a main POV and explains his actions and worldview understandably whilst leaving him utterly reprehensible. Imagine something like Jaime Lannister: Warlord King of Westeros and you kind of get the idea. It also helps that Abbey is a 'proper' fantasy author (she created the Thieves' World setting, Wild Cards' primary rival as the best-known shared world anthology series).

Amongst the Forgotten Realmsnovels, I'd check out the Empire Trilogy (Horselords, Dragonwall, Crusade). It might just be 'the Mongols invade the Realms' but it's pretty well-written, and notable for featuring the sole visit (in over 200 novels) to the massive Shou Lung Empire. It's pretty good stuff, and reading it now makes you yearn for the alterno-ASoIaF where Drogo lived and went all Conan on the Seven Kingdoms. I also maintain that Early Salvatore (The Crystal Shard through Siege of Darkness) is moderately acceptable in a fluffy popcorn kind of way. Troy Denning also had some reasonable books in the setting.

For Warhammer 40,000, everything that Dan Abnett and Sandy Mitchell has done is excellent. Gaunt's Ghosts takes until the third book to get going, but the third book (Necropolis, basically the SF version of Stalingrad) is fucking awesome. The battle for Vervunhive is mightily impressive. The later books show a much better grasp of character and theme, but the third one is probably the best for action and combat and making it all mean something (unlike other 40K authors, who pursue the nihilistic, neverending war thing a bit too far). Abnett is also great because he changes gears quite well: Eisenhorn is a more relaxed, less-action-packed and more thoughtful SF thriller, though when the action comes it's still pretty well-handled. The semi-sequel Ravenor trilogy is probably even better. Those two trilogies I'd stack up against a lot of modern 'proper' SF authors and they'd come out well (a notch below Morgan and Reynolds, but some way above say Asher or Weber). Sany Mitchell's Ciaphas Cain series - basically Flashman meets Blackadder BUT IN SPACE - is also excellent, though not as consistent in quality as Abnett.

For Star Wars I'd recommend the Thrawn Trilogy, the X-Wing series and The New Jedi Order (particularly Traitor). Mostly everything else is tiresome, though The Corellian Trilogy has a few good bits.

For Star Trek, the best single novel hands-down is Vendetta, where Peter David does the Borg Epic and makes it much more interesting than First Contact. Some of his other books are worth a look, like the very funny Strike Zone (Michael Dorn used to read some of Worf's deliberately porn-like dialogue in one bizarre scene out at conventions to amuse fans).

For Babylon 5, The Shadow Within and To Dream in the City of Sorrows are both very fine, and surprisingly key parts of the overall story arc: the former is the story of the Icarus mission to Z'ha'dum, whilst the latter is the life story of Marcus Cole and what happened to Sinclar on Minbar. There's also the Legions of Fire Trilogy, which is excellent, and the Passing of the Techno-Mages Trilogy, which is great but does perpetuate the Galen Stu problems first experienced in Crusade. I haven't read it, but I've heard that Greg Keyes' Psi-Corps trilogy is also solid. In fact, the B5 books seem to have a very high hit rate, mainly because JMS entrusted other authors with fleshing out vital parts of the five-year arc so they made a lasting contribution to the mythos rather than just providing non-canon filler. That seems to have more inspired the writers to bring their A-game.

Finally, I'd strongly recommend the first two Red Dwarf novels, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which are a reboot of the TV show's continuity (no familiarity with the TV show is required) and are very funny. Completely shorn of their TV links, they'd still be up there as some of the funniest SF comedy books ever published. Rob Grant's solo sequel, Backwards, is also pretty good, but Naylor's solo effort, Last Human, is shite.

[williamjm]

I haven't read it, but I've heard that Greg Keyes' Psi-Corps trilogy is also solid.

I read the first book in that trilogy, I wasn't that keen on it. The writing was mediocre and the plot wasn't particularly interesting.

Finally, I'd strongly recommend the first two Red Dwarf novels, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which are a reboot of the TV show's continuity (no familiarity with the TV show is required) and are very funny. Completely shorn of their TV links, they'd still be up there as some of the funniest SF comedy books ever published. Rob Grant's solo sequel, Backwards, is also pretty good, but Naylor's solo effort, Last Human, is shite.

IWCD was very amusing. I should really read the sequel sometime.

Speaking of British comedy sci-fi novelisations, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy trilogy must surely be the best tie-in series ever written, even if the trilogy should probably have ended after the fourth book (although I haven't read the most recent one).

[Werthead]

Speaking of British comedy sci-fi novelisations, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy trilogy must surely be the best tie-in series ever written, even if the trilogy should probably have ended after the fourth book (although I haven't read the most recent one).

That's true. The radio series came first, so The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy 'trilogy' is indeed technically a tie-in series :)

Ha! Therefore, so is Neverwhere, since Neil Gaiman's TV series came first :D

What about Dirk Gently? It was based on an unused Doctor Who script, after all. I don't think he even changed all of the names.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

I;ve always wanted to try some Warhammer/40k stuff, but there's so MUCH of it. It's intimidating. I do have the fist Gortrex and Felix omnibus sitting here, but god knows when I'll get to it.

I haven't read Gortrek and Felix, though I've read some of their fluff in the old army books. For 40k, I'd start with Sandy Mitchell. Extremely accessible, humorous, and well-written. Don't be discouraged by the first story in the first omnibus; I thought the quality was way off and was beginning to question Wert's recommendation until I realized that the omnibus opens with a short story. Mitchell's short stories in the Cain-verse are IMO of discernibly lower quality than the full-length novels.

[Grack21]

Lucas didn't tell her to write a story defending those numbers and saying that the Jedi and Palpatine were in a conspiracy to massively exaggerate the Clone Wars, or get a fanboy moderator over at TFN.net to ban users criticizing the books or her writing. Other authors have used that same figure, and they just responded with "It's the number I was given" (such as Stover).

Yes, heaven forbid she try and actually fix Star Wars continuity! Lucas would have a fit!

Again, all this shit about her getting people banned and hating her fans is bullshit spread around by a few pissy fans. The fact that it's showing up here is kinda of surprising to me. I didn't know we took internet rumors as facts now. I guess GRRM must have finished the series by now and is just sitting on a giant pile of gold surrounded by beautiful women laughing at us.

[Lord O' Bones]

From Battletech, I remember Wolves on the Border was fantastic. But that was 1992 0r 93 so I don't know if it still holfd up.

And I'll third the Peter David love for Star Trek. When I finally purged myself of most of those his were some of the few I kept.

[Spaceman Hobbes]

Yes, heaven forbid she try and actually fix Star Wars continuity! Lucas would have a fit!

Again, all this shit about her getting people banned and hating her fans is bullshit spread around by a few pissy fans. The fact that it's showing up here is kinda of surprising to me. I didn't know we took internet rumors as facts now. I guess GRRM must have finished the series by now and is just sitting on a giant pile of gold surrounded by beautiful women laughing at us.

I actually didn't like her writing, and as Bass put it 'Mando Wanking'. In fact I hadn't heard of the 3 million clone controversy prior to this thread(although I seem to recall another LotF author being upset with her, but I can't find a reference to it. I admit I might be misremembering that). Fact of the matter is, you jumped to her defense over an issue I didn't know about because I said that compared to Stover her work was shit. In fact if you replaced her name with 'Kevin J Anderson' I probably wouldn't even notice the difference.

But don't let your radical misinterpretation of my issues with her books get in the way of your righteous internet anger.

[Grack21]

I actually didn't like her writing, and as Bass put it 'Mando Wanking'. In fact I hadn't heard of the 3 million clone controversy prior to this thread(although I seem to recall another LotF author being upset with her, but I can't find a reference to it. I admit I might be misremembering that). Fact of the matter is, you jumped to her defense over an issue I didn't know about because I said that compared to Stover her work was shit. In fact if you replaced her name with 'Kevin J Anderson' I probably wouldn't even notice the difference.

But don't let your radical misinterpretation of my issues with her books get in the way of your righteous internet anger.

It's nothing you've said that I've taken issue with, its others. As for the LotF author taking issue, I actually have no idea about that, but it's certainly possible. I just get upset sometimes because a lot of false info was spread around after the whole fan incident, so I tend to get jumpy.

[Spring Bass]

Yes, heaven forbid she try and actually fix Star Wars continuity! Lucas would have a fit!

Except that she didn't "fix it". Her silly short story effectively tried to re-write the entire scope of the Clone Wars. It even did that badly, unless you think the Clone Soldiers are so hard-core that they're taking out droid soldiers at ratios of several hundred to one (which is not what we see in Attack of the Clones). Or unless you think a massive Jedi conspiracy with Palpatine to exaggerate the Clone Wars is better as well, in spite of the fact that the Jedi and Palpatine are practically at each others' throats in Revenge of the Sith.

Of course, that's beside the point that her wanking of the Mandalorians and Boba Fett made for some awful books.

Again, all this shit about her getting people banned and hating her fans is bullshit spread around by a few pissy fans. The fact that it's showing up here is kinda of surprising to me. I didn't know we took internet rumors as facts now. I guess GRRM must have finished the series by now and is just sitting on a giant pile of gold surrounded by beautiful women laughing at us.

I was an observer in those debates, and knew more than a few posters on another forum who did get banned from TFN over it.

[drawkcabi]

For Star Trek, the best single novel hands-down is Vendetta, where Peter David does the Borg Epic and makes it much more interesting than First Contact. Some of his other books are worth a look, like the very funny Strike Zone (Michael Dorn used to read some of Worf's deliberately porn-like dialogue in one bizarre scene out at conventions to amuse fans).

Also I,Q, more novella than novel that David wrote with John DeLancie. It's worth the read if just for the scene with Grand Nagus Zek who was played by Wallace Shawn in DS9 and pretty much turns into Vizzini (also played by Shawn) from The Princess Bride with Data channeling a bit of Montoya.

[Galactus]

The best STar Wars tie-in fiction isn't even told in book form.

It's called "Knights of the Old Republic".

[Werthead]

The best STar Wars tie-in fiction isn't even told in book form.

It's called "Knights of the Old Republic".

That's the true.

The very finest books in the setting are actually very good, but I think I'd rank KotOR, TIE Fighter and maybe Jedi Knight above all of them in quality. Possilby KotOR 2 if it'd been finished properly.

[Nukelavee]

Felix and Gotrek make a great way to read teh Warhammer Fantasy stuff... the series is a bit stale/bleak at first, but it picks up speed - by the time you are dealing with the Skaven, it's a fun ride.

Malus Darkblade is all about the dark elves, and while not amazing, is a solid "dark" fantasy, with characters that make the Lannisters look like Quakers.

Why I like Abnett (beyond being a sucker for a good space-opera/fights book), is he resists a lot of the over the top language, he shines some light on parts of the Imperium's population we otherwise would see, and...

And he seems to be determined to force GW to move the role of the Emperor forward.

[Jon AS]

Why I like Abnett (beyond being a sucker for a good space-opera/fights book), is he resists a lot of the over the top language, he shines some light on parts of the Imperium's population we otherwise would see, and...

Mitchell and Dembski-Bowden do that as well, only, y'know, better.

And he seems to be determined to force GW to move the role of the Emperor forward.

Really? How? GW is so dead set on the default '5 minutes to midnight' status of the setting I gave up on the possibility of general plot movement ages ago.

And right now Abnett is busy writing for the Heresy series, which, apart from selling lots of books, has the advantage of dealing with events 10,000 years before the "current" time and having an ending that's been known since the Rogue Trader days.

[Nukelavee]

Jon - Don't get me wrong, the Cain books rock, and the fact I'm a fan of the Flashman novels makes it better, but I stand by what I said regarding Abnett. It's fine that you don't agree, but, umm, it's a taste thing, so don't use lines like "but, y'know better", because it's pretty subjective.

But - on to the second point. You are right, it's 5 minutes to midnight, or even later (the C'Tann, really?), and the Emperor is totally out of play, for most purposes. Except that Abnett keeps putting subtle little bits in both the Heresy stuff, and his "modern" 40k stuff, that implies the current state of teh Emperor is changing. My buddy (who also plays the stuff, and is far better versed in the "lore" than I) has said that Abnett appears to be forcing GW to decide how to resolve the situation, making them actually choose one of their many hinted at fates, etc.

Basically, they've left the Emperor as a vague plot device, he has several different origin stories, and several different "fates", which GW shuffles around every couple of years, more or less to keep the universe static (it sells gaming product). Abnett seems to favour a rebirth, and sooner than later, he sems to be closing off certain options, and underscoring other ones.

In short - it looks like he's using his popularity to make GW adapt to fit his books, rather than simply shaping his stories to fit the latest codex/edition.

[Werthead]

Yeah, the current situation is that the Emperor's life support machinery is failing, so either the Emperor dies and the entire Imperium is overrun and destroyed in a matter of years (since the Emperor maintains the beacon which makes warp travel possible for humanity, and the destruction of the beacon would allow the Imperium to be cut up, divided and conquered by its myriad foes very easily), or one of the various 'rebirth' prophecies comes to fruition (though having the Emperor as a walking, talking, active character in the setting could be a bit corny). Or I suppose they simply fix his life support machinery, which would be a bit dull.

I can seem not wanting to rock the setting too hard to disrupt too many things, but there are various ways of changing things to make them more interesting without throwing the baby out with the bathwater (i.e. not destroying the setting like WotC did with the Forgotten Realms).

[Mendaceum]

For some reason, I really liked the Warhammer "Vampire Wars" omnibus. It was the pulpiest pulp that ever pulped, but it had such an awesome retro Hammer Horror Vibe that it was kinda irresistible.

[Nukelavee]

From what I've read/been told, it seems like Abnett is going for a version of the Starchild/Sensei outcome - a rebirth of the Emperor's potential as an active force, or possibly him becoming an actual "god".

Personally, I can see that working out, if it's handled carefully.

[Galactus]

Basically, they've left the Emperor as a vague plot device, he has several different origin stories, and several different "fates", which GW shuffles around every couple of years, more or less to keep the universe static (it sells gaming product). Abnett seems to favour a rebirth, and sooner than later, he sems to be closing off certain options, and underscoring other ones.

They've been doing that since the setting began though.

Actually using the emperor would be a horrible idea. The entire fun thing about the 40k-verse is that so much is hearsay and myth. The way most codexes are written in-character ex. Not to mention that the emperor's origin story is on it's face crazy.