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Media tie-in writers don't get any respect
Submitted by Capt. Xerox on September 12, 2008 - 7:45pm.
We've all read media tie-in novels, but rarely admit it. They are usually looked down upon as hack works designed to cash in on a known brand and they don't get much respect.
It's true that many of them follow a formula, but there are rare instances when they compare favourably to original novels. They musn't be so bad because they frequently end up in bestseller lists, outselling so-called quality novels.
The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers was created to fight the poor image that the public has of tie-in writers. The site points out that not only anonymous hacks write tie-ins, but so have a lot of well-known authors such as Gregory Benford, Davd Brin, Greg Bear, Orson Scott Card, Robert Silverberg and even Arthur C. Clarke.
The IAMTW has even created an award called the Scribe Award to recognize the best media tie-in novels in various categories. It's only been around for two years, but winners for speculative fiction this year were 30 Days of Night by Tim Lebbon and Stargate Atlantis: Casualties of War by Elizabeth Christensen for best adapted novel and original novels, respectively Last year, the awards went to Superman Returns by Marv Wolfman and 30 Days of Night: Rumors of the Undead by Jeff Mariotte & Steve Niles.
One of the names that I immediately think of when it comes to tie-ins is Alan Dean Foster., whom the association named as a Grandmaster this year. Any Star Wars fan who grew up in the 70s and was desperate for more action from that universe was able to get his fix from Foster's tie-in book Splinter of the Mind's Eye.
Star Trek fans can also thank tie-in writers for letting them continue their five-year mission by reading Star Trek novels that were published after the cancellation of the show. You could probably make a case that the success of those books were one of the factors that led to the eventual revival of the franchise.
So what media tie-ins do you read? Have any recommendations?
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Star Trek: The FInal Reflection
In my opinion, the best media tie-in novel is John Ford's "Star Trek: The Final Reflection" (1984). Ford did more to advance the fundamental concepts of the Klingon culture since they originally conceived by Gene Coon. He was also an early inspiration for Ron Moore when ST:TNG was being conceived (and it shows).
Media tie ins
I forgot that I had read this book when I was a kid. Now if I could just track down that book I read a million times called Oranges and UFO's. Has anyone else ever heard of it? I got it thru one of those book order forms you get from Scholastic when I was going to school.
Oranges and UFO's
You can track it down through the various online booksellers. One copy is for sale on Abebooks at http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=936700810 for a mere $35 + s/h and taxes. that's for a 1975 edition. I've seen other references to a 1999 Scholastic edition so you might have an easier chance tracking down a cheaper version of one of those.
Splinter
Funny how you should pick out Splinter of the Minds Eye as your pictogram for the post. I remember buying it when it was first published and shortly thereafter noticed Foster's penchant for novelizations. I loved them all at the time. It was easy reading for an established setting so you pretty much knew exactly what kind of story was going to take place with familiar characters and places, while at the same time getting something new.
I can't say I look for novelizations all that much these days. X-Files novels were an exception however and I wish there were even more of those around. I've also got a few BTVS (Buffy) novels I picked up that I'd like to read. Again to hopefully recapture some of the 'good times' of the TV series.
~ Lazarus ~
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