Posts like this one are the reason that I love reading Jim Hines’ journal. Like Jim, I’ve noticed prejudices/judgments in my own brain. I try to control them and eliminate them. Jim is braver than I. He doesn’t just quietly try to remove the prejudices from his brain, he kicks those prejudices out in the open where everyone can see his process of examination and elimination. My method of prejudice removal makes me a better person. Jim’s method has the chance to make many people better, because we can all see what he has done and may realize we need to do it ourselves. I recommend you take the time to read Jim’s post and examine his process even if you have no particular feelings about Gaming/Tie-in books.
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That is a fascinating, way-cool post. Thanks for the link. Your posts are a lot more interesting than you give yourself credit for.
Jim gives some cool stuff to think about, some good thoughts to absorb when directing the process of self-examination.
In the past I’ve actively avoided reading gaming tie-in stories. Even though I’m a gamer and a gaming adventure/module writer, I avoid the stories set in those worlds. Partly because I feel like I’m being manipulated to buy or play the game, partly an automatic dig-in-the-heels response to spending money on anything tie-in, and largely for one reason Jim stated far better than I could: “Maybe it’s because I’ve read some bad tie-in books, gaming adventures where you could hear the dice rolling and watch the characters as they went up in level … basically, a transcribed gaming session.” *shudder* I regularly read transcribed gaming sessions as part of tournament scoring or just plain seeing-what-friends-are-playing: they can be fantastic, fun, or monotonous, but they are not what I’d consider worth paying $ for!
Jim says he’s read some tie-in books that were great. Unlike him, I’ve *never* read a tie-in book that I considered even good, much less great. My sample size is admittedly small, less than six. But all were horrible, painful reads, so I threw the entire genre out the window and haven’t touched it since except to research a character for parody a couple of years ago. That character was Drizz’t, and while I don’t remember the specific book I bought from‘s book store, I gave up after a chapter or two of Drizzt-y angst and hit Wikipedia, gaming, and fantasy sites for my background material*.
As a tournament writer, I have the luxury of being completely off the map but still completely within the game world and its rules. But, writing a tournament adventure is far, far removed from writing a book. Far, far easier, too. I’ll admit that upfront 🙂 I’m only having to spin enough plot and story to cover a double-handful of encounters. Plot? Ptui. This is an event orchestrated by the Gawds Themselves, we don’t need no stinkin’ plot!
Thanks again for the linky.
*Despite the paucity of research, Drizz’l Fo’Shizz’l, Drow Gangsta, ended up being the most popular NPC I’ve ever created. When I talk with the final round players and the play-testers, he’s the one they remember from the module. He probably wouldn’t have been so popular if I’d read the books further and gone past the surface material when creating the parody.
Okay, first off, Drizz’l Fo’Shizz’l, Drow Gangsta? Brilliant. Is he available anywhere online?
Two Trek tie-ins I liked, if you’re remotely curious (and if not, no worries): Janet Kagan’s “Uhura’s Song.” It might not work for everyone, but Janet was a wonderful, very warm person, not to mention a Nebula-winning author. That warmth really comes through in the story. I also liked Peter David’s Trek novels. I remember reading “Imzadi” and being dumbfounded that someone had actually managed to make me give a damn about Riker and Troi.
I’m much less familiar with the gaming fiction, though I did read a few Forgotten Realms books back when I was writing Goblin Quest. Not that Ryslind has anything at all to do with any dark Realms wizards, of course. No connection whatsoever.
My biggest argument with tie-in books is with character consistency. Since the authors often change from book to book, the character motivations change as well. This is very frustrating to me when I tuned in to hear more about a character that has apparently morphed into someone completely different. In theory this can be done well, but like you, I’ve yet to find it. BUT I’ve also had this problem over series written by the same author, so it is not solely a fault of tie-in books.
In the end, I think I tend not to love tie-in books because I’m insufficiently invested in the worlds.
A book that makes me care about Riker and Troi? Is that even remotely possible? I was so much happier with Troi and Warf.
Imzadi didn’t do it for me. It was reasonably good, mind you, but not extraordinary. My favorite media-tie-in book was How Much For Just the Planet? an original-cast Trek novel. But I don’t read much in the way of tie-ins. Like Jim, I am prejudiced against them. Unlike him, I am not particularly motivated to overcome that prejudice, although it has mellowed with time. >:)