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332 lines
10 KiB
332 lines
10 KiB
JMS Usenet messages for December 1998.
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Date: 1 Dec 1998 16:03:05 -0700
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Subject: Re: Sleeping in Light ( *Spoilers* )
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>"...if you're going to criticize me for not finishing the whole thing
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>and tying it up in a bow for you, why, do us both a favor and write your
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>own damn book, only have the decency to call it a romance instead of a
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>history, because history's got no bows on it, only frayed ends of
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>ribbons and knots that can't be untied. It ain't a pretty package but
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>then it's not your birthday that I know of, so I'm under no obligation
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>to give you a gift."
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I knew there was a reason I liked his books....
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 1 Dec 1998 16:19:50 -0700
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Subject: Re: Sleeping in Light *Spoilers*
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On a more serious reply (though no reply is actually needed, I think...no story
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this big can wrap up the stories of EVERYONE...and the point is that life goes
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on, we dip in and we dip out of the story at various points, but it goes on of
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its own volition...I posted this over on CIS earlier regarding the various
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threads:
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The Drak and Centari Prime?
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Vir is Emperor now. Londo asked Sheridan to free his people; we can
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assume he did this...but we will also be showing this in the Centauri Prime
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trilogy of books in more detail.
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Londo?
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We saw Londo's fate in War Without End Part 2.
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Lyta?
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The telepath crisis and events surrounding it will provide a lot of the
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background to Crusade.
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Bester and the Psi Corps?
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Ditto.
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G'Kar?
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We saw his fate in WWE2 also.
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Garibaldi and Bester?
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This will be covered in the Psi Corps trilogy, of which volume 1 is out
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now, and volume 2 is in my hands for editing.
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B5's seemingly needless and useless destruction?
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Neither needless nor useless. It was built cheapest of all the stations,
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and it takes a lot of money to maintain it. With trade routes now going around
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it, there isn't enough income to support it. So do you leave it intact, for
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others to occupy or raid for weapons systems and other systems too difficult to
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yank out? Or take it out, the same way we implode buildings
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now?
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Sheridan's son - we guess he survived the Drak and their intended keeper?
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This will also be covered in the Centauri Prime trilogy...but if you sit
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back you can do some of the work to figure out a large part of this. As Londo
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states, his situation in WWE2 (Sheridan and Delenn captured on Centauri Prime)
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takes place 18 years after the events in 2260, which would put it at 2278. The
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urn, given to Sheridan in 2262, is supposed to be given to the heir at the
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occasion of his/her 16th birthday, by Centauri tradition.
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That would put the urn presentation at...ding!...2278.
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In 2278, Sheridan and Delenn have been drawn to Centauri Prime. We know
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their son is involved, because Delenn says "David is safe." So they were
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somehow able to save him, because we know that in 2281, David is alive
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and well and serving in the Rangers (SiL).
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You can see the shape of the events there...once again the clues are more
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or less in plain sight...but again, this will be drawn out in the books in more
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detail.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 2 Dec 1998 19:25:57 -0700
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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Setting for A Call to Arms
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Five years after the events of Season 5.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 2 Dec 1998 19:29:24 -0700
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Subject: Re: Attn Joe: A Piece of Lurker's History
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That's quite lovely...thank you.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 3 Dec 1998 22:43:43 -0700
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Subject: Re: New B5 novel by JMS?
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It's the first 3 issues of the B5 comic from DC gathered in a graphic novel.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 4 Dec 1998 12:29:05 -0700
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Subject: Re: Attn JMS: The Future of B5 (tm)
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>Could you PLEASE say a word or two about the direction of B5, and what
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>your attitude towards B5-the-series and B5-the-brand-name are? I.e.
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>could you take a shot at killing off some of this "franchise" bitching
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>and moaning?
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>Specifically: many, many quotes in the Lurker's Guide, esp. on the SiL
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>page, talk about how you didn't want to turn B5 into a franchise. Some
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>people are now pointing at the books, comics, and WB's efforts to shut
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>down fan sites and shouting "the sky is... er, *ahem*, I mean,
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>FRANCHISE!!! run!!".
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Bear in mind that nearly all of those people are the same ones who said B5
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wasn't as good as Trek because it didn't have the same power in the
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marketplace...so now they try the other avenue to criticize.
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It's kinda hard to say there's a B5 franchise since the series is now OFF THE
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AIR, and I've already said to Doug that I don't want to even think about a
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feature for a while.
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They're also distorting the record. What I have said at conventions since the
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dawn of time, or at least the dawn of B5, was that I didn't want to rush into
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merchandise, that I'd seen the tail wag the dog too often. "If the show is a
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success, there's plenty of time down the road for merchandising...let's make
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the show first and worry about the rest later."
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Well, we did that. We made the show. So what is the problem exactly? Are
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they saying that having sweated blood to make the show for 5 years, I shouldn't
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be entitled to earn a living from it? That fans who want to see parts of the
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story shouldn't be allowed to?
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You shouldn't fall for these guys...these are primarily people have no
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interest in a reasoned argument, they're just looking to make trouble. At the
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beginning, they pointed to the dearth of B5 merchandise and said the show had
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to be crap...now they're pointing to a few things that have gone on the market
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and saying it's a franchise and now therefore it's crap.
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Same song, different tune. Trolls, nothing more.
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In a few cases, you run into the folks who are well-intentioned, but come from
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the "SF is in the gutter and needs to stay there and never be successful or
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it'll lose its artistic integrity" school of thought.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 14 Dec 1998 10:21:32 -0700
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Subject: quickie from jms
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Sorry I've been a bit quiet lately...I've answered a number of notes publicly
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here ad there, on rastm and elsewhere, but we've been putting the final touches
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to the first finished Crusade ep, "Racing the Night," shot 103...all the EFX,
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music, sound, all that stuff is in and it's done, so we know what we're dealing
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with, and it looks terrific. WB called to say it's the best we've ever done,
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and possibly the best thing they've seen. But it's taken a lot of long nights
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to do the final mix, and get caught up on scripts before the Christmas break,
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so I've been a bit absent.
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I was also kind of overwhelmed by the responses to SiL..and to all those who
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said such kind things, thank you. It's something I'm very proud of, and I'm
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pleased by the response.
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On the issue of unanswered questions, raised by some...the first question a
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writer has to answer is, "Who, ultimately, is my story about?" In any novel or
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short story or movie or TV series, who are the essential protagonists? B5 was
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always about the station, first and foremost, and the other main characters in
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this future history were Sheridan, Sinclair, Garibaldi, Delenn, Londo, G'Kar,
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Franklin and to an extent, Ivanova. Everyone else comes under the heading of
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minor or secondary characters...on the long-arc series level, the same as a
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guest star in a single episode of a regular series.
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It would be impossible...let me say this again, impossible...to track the whole
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history of all of the other characters in this show; it would take another
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whole series just to do the Lyta/G'Kar adventures. We showed the resolution of
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all the main characters in the story. That was my primary obligation. We can
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take some secondary measures to fill in information on some of the secondary
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characters, but in a TV show there's only so much you can do. Hell, I've had
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people send me email demanding to know what happened to the people rescued from
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Babylon 4....c'mon, some common sense, please.
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And on another level, I think it's better to let people make up their own ideas
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about what happened with folks like G'Kar and Lyta...
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That said...that topic is closed, as far as I'm concerned. I told the stories
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of the main characters of the show, which is what was promised.
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Mainly, this is intended as thanks to everyone for the kind words. It seems
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fitting that having spent the last 5+ years sending out words, to now receive
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words in return. The circle is closed by that, and it's been terrific.
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Thank you to everyone here...warts, weirdnesses and all, it's been fun. As I
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said, I'll be pulling back a bit now, because I kind of need to get a life
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again, and I need to concentrate on Crusade...but this experiece will always
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count as one of the most astonishing and gratifying of my career.
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Thank you again.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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Date: 26 Dec 1998 20:04:53 -0700
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Subject: Re: Attn: JMS RISING STARS preview & #0 info?
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>If you're still out there Joe, I'm hoping you can give further info
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>on your upcoming comic series. There's a RISING STARS Preview issue, 16
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>b&w pages for $5 (probably $7.50 Canadian, *ouch*!) solicited in the new
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>Previews catalog from Diamond distributors. Also, a #0 is to
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>be included in the March issue of Wizard magazine.
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>
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>
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I'm still here, just sorta coasting, mainly replying by email to stuff I see
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that needs replying to, and wondering why on earth people are still responding
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to Cronan as if a) he had anything of value to say, b) were actually a carbon
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based life form, instead of a juvenile troll in need of attention....
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>The info given is unclear whether the preview or #0 are actually comics
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>style stories or text and art samples from #1-on? And the preview only
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>lists the artist as "various" and nothing for #0. Who is/are the
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>artist(s)?
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The preview is 70% story, 30% art samples and other supporting stuff for the
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book; the issue 0 is a full story. Top Cow hasn't released info on the artist
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yet.
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So far, everybody there is massively jazzed about the new book; the scripts
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(I've turned in the preview, 0 and 1 so far) keep getting passed from person to
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person as they come in, and read and reread. Apparently they're knocked out by
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it.
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jms
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(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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B5 Official Fan Club at:
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http://www.thestation.com
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