Category: Books

It’s not every day that I can say, "Hey, one of my friends is nominated for a Hugo."

It’s not every day that I can say, "Hey, one of my friends is nominated for a Hugo. Again."

It is, however, embarrassing to me that while I can now say, "Hey, one of my friends is nominated for a Hugo. Again," I never actually read the goddamn book that’s nominated, though I bought it on the day it was released, and consistently face it out when I see it in book stores.

So, yesterday, I set up a chair in the back yard, grabbed some iced tea, and started reading The Last Colony.

At 2 this morning, I finally forced myself to put the book down because I was too tired to comprehend it, and didn’t want to miss anything. I’m a little more than halfway through, I guess, and while I’ve wanted to do nothing more than blow off all my work for today and dive back into it, I’ve been responsible to the point of avoiding extended trips to the bathroom, whether I really have to go or not.

Oh, shut up. You’ve all done it, and if you haven’t done it, it’s because you don’t have kids who wouldn’t leave you alone to read unless you were making stinky with the door closed.

I don’t know what my endorsement is worth, but if you’ve read my blog long enough to have an idea of whether or not we like the same things, you should go get this book right away, though I’m guessing most of you already have, since I’m so late to the party on this one.

I loved all the books that John set in this universe: Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Sagan Diary. I love the characters, I love the setting, and I love how massively fun they all are to read. I love them so much, in fact, that I have the lettered versions from Subterranean Press. That’s a lot of love, my friends. The Last Colony had some very big shoes to fill, and it’s wearing them quite nicely. If you’re looking for an accessible, intelligent, well-paced series that won’t let you down in the flavor department, I urge you to check out these books. The cool thing? John wrote them so they all work together, but each one stands alone, like the farmer’s cheese, so you don’t have to commit yourself to them all to enjoy just one.

I would bet, however (if I were a betting man, which I sometimes kinda am) that after reading one of them, you will want to read them all, and you won’t be disappointed.

TrekMovie had some very nice things to say about my story in Star Trek: The Manga:

Wil Wheaton skipped the easy Wesley Crusher story (are there any other kind?) to pen a TOS tale for Tokyopop’s second Star Trek: The Manga collection that debuted last year, and it’s easily one of the best in the book. Drawn by E.J. Su, recently of IDW’s Transformers comics —official non-Trek plug accomplished!— Wheaton’s “Cura Te Ipsum” (Latin for “heal thyself”) tackles a Kirk vs.
the Prime Directive tale with surprising skill, and establishes his
cred as a comics creator well beyond his celebrated cult of geek.

Uhm. Wow. Thanks! I was scared to death the entire time I worked on it, but I had a lot of help from Andrew, and I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out, myself.

I was at Trekmovie yesterday, reading this great editorial by Andre Bormanis, and I would have missed the review if reader T hadn’t pointed it out to me. Thanks, T!

Speaking of the manga, I’m was lucky enough to work with E.J. Su again on the next one, and he sent in his pencils yesterday. I wish I could show just a little bit of them, because even though it’s only pencils, it’s absolutely magnificent. Once again, he took my descriptions and turned them into something cinematic, while capturing all the emotional weight of the story. Tokyopop plans to release this one, called "Aratanaru Michi He", in summer, so we can have it available during the big summer convention season. I didn’t think I could reveal any details about the story, but I see that my editor, Luis, told Trekmovie pretty much the same thing I’d say if I had permission:

The story, "Art of War" shows Kirk dealing with his hatred of Klingons,
but for the first time sympathizing too (foreshadowing the peace treaty
between the Federation and the Klingons).

Writing scenes between Kirk and a Klingon commander was as much of a thrill as it was a challenge. I knew that I was taking a huge risk with the story, and it was going to live or die based upon how these two guys interacted. I had this awesome and unexpected Writer moment while working on a scene between them, when I just got out of the way and let the characters talk to me. I know it sounds very "ooga booga" but I felt, for the first time in my life as a capital-W writer, like I was transcribing something real, rather than making something up. It was kind of a big deal for me.

This time around, we got 10 more pages to work with than volume two, so I was able to make the story richer than last time without sacrificing any action. In fact, I deliberately put more action into this story, so it would be more of a traditional manga than my last one. In fact, I told Luis, "I want to bring manga to Star Trek this time, since I brought Star Trek to manga last time."

Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense now, either, but it made sense in my head when I said it. Having drinks with your editor rules.

I know that there are a dozen or so outstanding Happiest Days
orders from February. I’m going to process them all today and tomorrow,
so domestic orders should arrive by the end of the week, and
International orders should arrive within 2 weeks. I’d like to apologize to everyone who is waiting.

It’s so weird to feel like I’ve completely lost over a month of my life. It’s kind of like looking at a faded photograph with most of the details blurred out, or trying to remember a dream that runs away as soon as you wake up.

"Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes."
–Tycho, at Penny Arcade

Yeah, let that roll around in your head for a little bit. It’s really as simple and beautiful as that, isn’t it?

I see a bookshelf, filled with different books from different authors, all acting as portals to different worlds and different times. The author may give them birth, but it’s the readers who keep them alive.