read my stuff while you’re stuck at home, part 2: TV tie-ins

So many of us are kinda stuck staying home a lot, and that means more reading time! Or, at least, time spent reading so you don’t go batshit because you’re stuck staying at home a lot……

As one possible thing to read, how about my writing? I’ve already posted about my Star Trek work, and now we move on to other TV show tie-ins, which are listed below in alphabetical order, and include: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, CSI: NY, Doctor Who, Farscape, Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, Heroes, Leverage, Orphan Black, Sleepy Hollow, Stargate, Supernatural, The X-Files, Xena, and Young Hercules.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Novels:

• The Xander Years Volume 1 — novelizing three Xander-focused episodes, “Teacher’s Pet,” “Inca Mummy Girl,” and “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”
• Blackout — a novel focusing on previous Slayer Nikki Wood, who worked in New York in 1977 and faced off against Spike and Drusilla
• The Deathless — on Ring Day at Sunnydale High School, an evil Russian sorcerer is attempting to be resurrected

Nonfiction:

• The Watchers Guide Volume 1 (written with Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder) — a guide to the first two seasons of Buffy
• “‘Fool for Love’: Railroaded” in Outside In Takes a Stab: 139 New Perspectives on Buffy by 139 Writers — the final diary entry of Nikki Wood’s Watcher in 1977 New York when Spike killed her
• “‘Darla’: One Bad Day” in Outside In Gains a Soul: 127 New Perspectives on 127 Angel and Firefly Episodes by 127 Writers — the final diary entry of Xin Rong’s Watcher in 1900 China when Spike killed her

CSI: NY

Novels:

• Four Walls — Mac Taylor and his team of CSIs have two cases, a murder in a medium-security prison on Staten Island and another one in a café in the Bronx

Doctor Who

Short stories:

• “UNITed We Fall” in Decalog 3: Consequences — the Fourth Doctor must defuse a time bomb (literally) in the United Nations, aided by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
• “Life from Lifelessness” in Short Trips: Destination Prague — the First and Fourth Doctor both encounter the Golem of Prague

Anthology editing:

• Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership — I edited this anthology but did not have a story in it, as the First through Eighth Doctors meet various leaders from throughout time and space

Nonfiction:

• “A Moment of Heroism: Thinky Thoughts on Doctor Who‘s ‘The Day of the Doctor’” on Tor.com — a piece on the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special in 2013
• “Brave Heart: Why Tegan Jovanka was a 21st-Century-Style Companion Before the 21st Century” in Children of Time: The Companions of Doctor Who — an examination of how Tegan Jovanka was a companion ahead of her time

Farscape

Novels

• House of Cards — taking place during the late second season, the gang goes to a gambling planet where Rygel loses Moya in a card game

Short stories:

• “Many a Mile to Freedom” in Farscape: The Official Magazine #1 — the gang must escape from a crime lord’s prison
• “Brotherly Love” in Farscape: The Official Magazine #2 — a story that focuses on Captain Bialar Crais
• “Ten Little Aliens” in Farscape: The Role-Playing Game — Crichton, D’Argo, and Crais are among those kidnapped for a contest among aliens to capture a prize

Comic books:

• Farscape Omnibus Volume 1 (written with Rockne S. O’Bannon) — collecting four post-finale storylines, “The Beginning of the End of the Beginning,” “Strange Detractors,” “Gone and Back,” and “Tangled Roots” — Rygel returns home to claim his throne, a vicious disease spreads through the Uncharted Territories, Crichton visits an Unrealized Reality, and Aeryn learns a shocking truth about the Peacekeepers — and the three D’Argo miniseries D’Argo’s Lament, D’Argo’s Trial, and D’Argo’s Quest — which provide D’Argo’s backstory as well as what he did between seasons three and four
• Red Sky at Morning — Moya returns to the homeworld of the Pilots and learn of a new threat to the Uncharted Territories
• Compulsions — Moya teams with another Leviathan to deal with a new foe
• The War for the Uncharted Territories — the Peacekeepers have a surprising new leader, the Kkore are invading, and Crichton must bring the species of the UTs together or risk losing everything

Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda

Novels:

• Destruction of Illusions — a prequel to the series, showing what both Tyr Anasazi and Beka Valentine and the crew of the Eureka Maru were doing in the nine months leading up to the discovery of Andromeda Ascendant and the time-frozen Dylan Hunt

Heroes

Novellas:

• Save the Cheerleader, Destroy the World — the untold story of what happened between the final episode of Heroes and June 15th disaster in Heroes Reborn, from the point of view of Claire

Leverage

Novels:

• The Zoo Job — a small zoo in central Massachusetts didn’t get the black rhinos they paid for, leading half the Leverage crew to west Africa and the other half to the world of the uber-rich who illegally purchase wild animals

Orphan Black

Reference:

• Classified Clone Report: The Secret Files of Dr. Delphine Cormier — a guide to the TV series through reports, e-mails, memos, photographs, articles, and more

Sleepy Hollow

Novels:

• Children of the Revolution — toward the end of the first season, Ichabod Crane and Detective Abby Mills must find a series of medals that were issued during the Revolutionary War before they’re used to resurrect Serilda of Abaddon

Stargate

Novels:

• SG-1: Kali’s Wrath — toward the end of the fifth season, Jacob Carter and Bra’tac must team up to help SG-1 face off against Kali and the return of the Reetou

Short Stories:

• “Time Keeps on Slippin'” in SG-1/Atlantis: Far Horizons — a story that takes place between seasons three and four, explaining Carter’s non-regulation haircut and Teal’c’s soul patch
• “Sun-Breaker” in SG-1/Atlantis: Homeworlds — on board the General George Hammond, Carter and Teal’c must stop the Lucian Alliance from acquiring a Go’auld weapon

Nonfiction:

• the Stargate Rewatch

Supernatural

Novels

• Nevermore — in the second season, the boys go to the Bronx to solve some Edgar Allan Poe-themed killings and stop a haunting
• Bone Key — two demons super-charge the ghosts that haunt Key West, but one becomes too powerful and the Winchester brothers must work with the demons to stop it
• Heart of the Dragon — a violent spirit appears in 1969 San Francisco and is banished by the Campbell family of Samuel, Deanna, and Mary; it returns in 1989, and is banished again by John Winchester; and it comes back again in 2009 in the midst of the angel-demon war and must be stopped by Sam, Dean, and Castiel

Nonfiction

• “Not Just a Pretty Face (or Two)” in In the Hunt: Unauthorized Essays on Supernatural — the introduction to this essay collection talking about the show’s broad appeal
• John Winchester Hardcover Ruled Journal — this is a mostly blank notebook, designed to look like John Winchester’s journal, but it also includes several pages of text from that journal, which I wrote

The X-Files

Short stories:

• “Back in El Paso My Life Would Be Worthless” in Trust No One — a second-season story where Mulder and Scully are to work alongside an FBI agent who’s not thrilled at being stuck with the weirdos in the basement

Xena/Hercules

Novels:

• Young Hercules: Cheiron’s Warriors — Hercules, Iolaus, and Jason go on spring break only to have it ruined by Strife, Discord, and Ares
• Young Hercules: The Ares Alliance — when Cyane’s Amazon tribe is kidnapped by a West African god, Ares and Hercules reluctantly team up to rescue them

Short stories:

• “Recurring Character” in The Further Adventures of Xena, Warrior Princess — a mercenary keeps getting beat up by Xena no matter where he goes

 

I’m on The X-Cast‘s “podwatch” episode #25

The X-Cast has been doing a “podwatch” where each day they take about twenty minutes to look at two episodes of The X-Files, as a lead-in to the upcoming 11th season. I’ve been on twice before, discussing “Ice,” “Space,” “Fire,” and “Beyond the Sea,” and now I’m back for my final appearance on the podwatch talkin’ ’bout the last two episodes of season two, “Our Town” and “Anasazi.”

Check it out!

 

I’m on The X-Cast‘s “podwatch” episode 7

Having already discussed “Ice” and “Space” on The X-Cast‘s “podwatch” of quick hits of two X-Files episodes in the ramp-up to season 11 of the show, I’m back in episode 7, as Carl Sweeney and I talk about “Fire” (generally hated because apparently nobody likes Amanda Pays’s Phoebe Green, even though she’s exactly the type of person college-age Mulder would’ve gravitated toward) and “Beyond the Sea” (generally loved because it’s a fantastic vehicle for Gillian Anderson’s Dana Scully, not to mention superb guest turns by Brad Dourif and the late great Don S. Davis).

Check it out!

 

I’m on The X-Cast‘s “podwatch” episode 5

The X-Cast has been doing a daily “podwatch,” where they release a new episode each day that discusses two episodes of The X-Files, all as part of a ramp-up to the forthcoming season 11 of the show.

I was on Episode 5 discussing the excellent “Ice” and the somnabulent “Space” with Carl Sweeney.

“Ice” is one of my absolute favorite episodes, so that was fun to do, leavened only a bit by having to plow through “Space” after it.

Check it out!

 

some more reviews of The X-Files: Trust No One

Although the book came out in 2015, I still keep finding reviews online of The X-Files: Trust No One, the first of three XF anthologies that Jonathan Maberry edited for IDW, but also the one I have a story in — the Scribe Award nominee, “Back in El Paso My Life Will Be Worthless.”

John V. Hansen listed mine as one of the ten standout stories in the anthology on his blog.

Money quote:

DeCandido, who also showed great insight into the “Firefly” verse with his “Serenity” novelization, introduces the evocative Special Agent Jack Colt, who resists help from Mulder and Scully in investigating a serial-killing spree that continues after several suspects are locked up for the crimes.

 

Michael Smith’s The Books That Time Forgot blog reviewed all three books, and he liked my story a lot. His short review of the story was simply, “This is a good story.” I’ll take that…..

 

And finally, we have Brandon Koontz’s review for The Nerd Mentality. Sadly, Brandon did not like my story very much.

Money quote:

I had high hopes for Keith R.A. Decandido’s entry (“Back In El Paso My Life Will Be Worthless”). When he is on his game, he writes some of the best pop sci-fi fiction around. However, I found this particular outing to be very average at best. In his tale, Mulder and Scully are forced to work with a skeptical and derogatory FBI agent, the poorly named Jack Colt (with that christening, Decandido assured that his character would be right at home in a Clive Cussler novel, and I spent most my time picturing Emilio Estevez’ character from Loaded Weapon). Colt dresses Mulder and Scully down over and over, calling Mulder “whackadoodle” and a member of the dumbest graduating class in Quantico history. It all starts to feel a little out of place. We get it, Colt doesn’t believe Mulder and Scully are real agents and takes a dim view of the X-Files. In a different setting, this kind of portrayal (Mulder and Scully as viewed by an agent from another branch of the FBI) might make for compelling storytelling, but here it just feels forced.

Ah well. Can’t please everyone……