tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77038563413034886082024-03-19T08:48:39.700+00:00The WertzoneSF&F In Print & On ScreenAdam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.comBlogger5305125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-35857532536274925072077-01-16T17:49:00.000+00:002019-06-14T10:52:23.287+00:00Support The Wertzone on Patreon<b>STICKIED POST</b><br />
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After much debate (and some requests) I have signed up with crowdfunding service Patreon to better support future blogging efforts. <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220">You can find my Patreon page here</a></b> and more information after the jump.<br />
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<b>What is Patreon?</b><br />
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Patreon is a crowdfunding site that allows people to support their favourite bloggers, authors, artists and creators, from as little as $1 a month.<br />
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<b>What do people get out of it?</b><br />
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The writer gets financial support. In my case, this will allow me to spend more time blogging and writing and delivery more content to a higher standard. In the contributor's case, they get exclusive or earlier access to material.<br />
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<b>What more stuff will you be able to do?</b><br />
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I'll be able to devote funds to buying new PC equipment like cameras and mikes to move into video blogging (it's where the cool kids are these days), with a video version of <i>The History of Epic Fantasy</i> at some point. I'll also have the time to pursue <i>The History of Science Fiction</i>, which lots of people have asked for. That's an absolutely massive project and would only be viable if I could dedicate full-time work to it.<br />
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I'll also be able to attend more events, meet more authors and writers and expand the range of content on the blog.<br />
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<b>Wait, does this mean supporters get stuff normal readers don't?</b><br />
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In my case, no. Patreon supporters will get early access to my next blogging series, <i>Cities of Fantasy</i>, with each article to be published on Patreon one month before it is published on the Wertzone. Everything that appears on Patreon will appear either here on the Wertzone or <a href="https://atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpress.com/">Atlas of Ice and Fire</a>, if a few days or weeks later.<br />
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<b>I like the idea of supporting you, but not on a monthly basis. Can I make a one-off contribution?</b><br />
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Absolutely! You can use the Wertzone tipjar account to make donations via PayPal. I've moved the tipjar into a more prominent position in the top-right of the blog to help with that.<br />
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<b>UPDATE (27 November 2017)</b><br />
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Thanks everyone. So far we're up to about $178 a month, which has made a big difference in allowing me to afford to do more stuff for both this blog and <a href="https://atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpress.com/">Atlas of Ice and Fire</a>. More stuff is coming down the pipe, so if people have been thinking about donating now is a good time to do so!<br />
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<br />Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-60552030960782672362024-03-18T19:28:00.001+00:002024-03-18T19:28:23.180+00:00MACROSS and ROBOTECH to join Disney+, with some caveats<p>The history of the Japanese anime series <b>Macross</b> and its American adaptation, <b>Robotech</b>, is <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2018/03/franchise-familiariser-robotech.html">a frightening cobweb</a> of rights, lawsuits and legal shenanigans that have persisted for a large chunk of the forty-two years the franchise has existed. A few years ago, the Japanese consortium of companies that created <b>Macross</b> signed a new deal with American rights-holders Harmony Gold that would allow Harmony Gold to develop new <b>Robotech</b> projects (including the long-mooted live-action movie) whilst the numerous <b>Macross</b> sequel and prequel shows that Harmony Gold had been blocking from reaching the west would finally be released.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4BqHcRgJqTGcnNn-2dlMWj1lUznwwinG-Gn7tJx4M9ritVbWxyj-kpIPVn0HHMNsxc_j19Wnil8MPJMW_hoQucbFwqfZTLGEa_Ex4D9ghH7efTHF74KXxuR3g6chJGiTqfMWvVZkCDqy332abuSLWX2rrwbHHeD1ONLZOtiaWrLjGQc0BZwVDUXvgreM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1002" data-original-width="1920" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4BqHcRgJqTGcnNn-2dlMWj1lUznwwinG-Gn7tJx4M9ritVbWxyj-kpIPVn0HHMNsxc_j19Wnil8MPJMW_hoQucbFwqfZTLGEa_Ex4D9ghH7efTHF74KXxuR3g6chJGiTqfMWvVZkCDqy332abuSLWX2rrwbHHeD1ONLZOtiaWrLjGQc0BZwVDUXvgreM=w469-h245" width="469" /></a></div><p></p><p>It's taken a while for that to be fully sorted out, but now we have the information on how the initial release will be handled.</p><p>Harmony Gold and Big West/Studio Nue have reached an agreement with Disney+, which will become the official home of both the <b>Macross</b> and <b>Robotech</b> franchises.</p><p>Globally, the following shows will be included on the service:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Super Dimension Fortress: Flash Back 2012 </i>(music video collection)</li><li><b>Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers, Again </b>(6-episode mini-series, non-canon)</li><li><i>Macross Plus Movie Edition </i>(115-minute movie cut of the original 4-episode TV show)</li><li><b>Macross 7 </b>(49-episode animated TV series)</li><li><i>Macross 7 The Movie: The Galaxy's Calling Me! </i>(animated film)</li><li><i>Macross Dynamite 7 </i>(animated film)</li><li><b>Macross Zero </b>(5-episode prequel series)</li><li><b>Macross Frontier </b>(25-episode animated TV series)</li><li><i>Macross Frontier: The False Songstress </i>(theatrical adaptation of the TV series)</li><li><i>Macross Frontier: The Wings of Farewell </i>(animated film)</li><li><b>Gekijo Tanpen Macross Frontier Toki no Meikyu </b>(short film)</li><li><i>Macross FB7: Ore no Uta o Kike! </i>(animated film)</li><li><b>Macross Delta </b>(26-episode animated TV series)</li><li><i>Macross Delta the Movie: Passionate Valkyrie</i><b> </b>(theatrical animated adaptation of the TV series)</li><li><i>Macross Delta the Movie: Absolute Live!!!!!! </i>(animated film)</li></ul><p></p><p>There will then be a divergence based on location.</p><p>In Japan, this list will be bolstered by:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Super Dimension Fortress Macross</b> (36-episode animated TV series, the OG entry in the franchise)</li><li><i>Super Dimension Fortress: Do You Remember Love?</i> (animated feature film)</li></ul><div>In much of the rest of the world, it is believed (but so far not 100% confirmed) that these will be replaced by:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Robotech </b>(85-episode animated TV series, including the Americanised version of <b>Macross</b> plus the unrelated anime series <b>Super Dimension Fortress: Southern Cross</b> and <b>Genesis Climber Mospeada</b>, edited into one single story spanning three generations)</li><li><b>Robotech II: The Sentinels </b>(3-episode animated TV series)</li><li><i>Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles</i> (animated TV movie)</li></ul><div>This news does seem at odds with <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2021/04/harmony-gold-and-studio-nue-confirm.html">the announcement</a> of friendly relations between Harmony Gold and Studio Nue in 2021, which seemed to indicate that all <b>Macross</b> shows including the original would be available outside of Japan for the first time, and the possibility that <b>Robotech</b> might be available in Japan (for the minuscule number of people who'd be interested), and the more important idea that the mooted <b>Robotech</b> movie could be eventually released in Japan.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>The live-action movie remains in development at Sony Pictures. A big 2016 push with director James Wan (the <b>Fast and the Furious</b> franchise) stalled when Wan decamped for other projects, although it gave us <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2024/02/concept-art-for-abandoned-robotech.html">some excellent concept art</a>. Andy Muschietti, hot off his two-part adaptation of Stephen King's <i>IT</i>, <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2018/02/robotech-movie-gets-new-director-writer.html">then took over</a> and spent several years developing ideas before bailing himself. <b>Hawkeye</b>'s Rhys Thomas took over and remains at the helm of development. </div><div><br /></div><div>Some other ideas have been rumoured, including Netflix doing a new animated version of the franchise similar to <b>Voltron</b>, but that's never been officially confirmed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Both <b>Robotech </b>and <b>Macross</b> start with the same premise: the human race is on the verge of annihilating itself in nuclear war when a colossal alien spacecraft warps into our solar system and crash-lands on Earth, coming to rest on a remote island in the South Pacific. The human race, sobered by the realisation they are not alone, bands together and rebuilds the alien spacecraft, dubbing it the SDF-1 (Super Dimensional Fortress One) and building a huge city to support the effort. In the Japanese version, the ship also has a name, the <i>Macross</i>, whilst in the American version Macross the name of the island the ship crashes on, the civilian city in its cavernous hold and later a rebuilt version of that city near the US-Canada border. In both versions, the ship is being prepared for launch ten years after its arrival when the alien Zentraedi - towering giants with advanced spacecraft and war machines - attack in an attempt to reclaim the SDF-1. However, humanity has reverse-engineered technology from the alien ship to build their own formidable defences. The SDF-1 hyperjumps to try to outflank the alien fleet but accidentally warps itself and the civilians of the island to the orbit of Pluto, burning out the hyperdrive in the process. The SDF-1 returns to Earth under constant attack, but the Zentraedi are stymied by the need to recapture the ship intact rather than destroy it. During the battles, various infiltration efforts and even some limited communications, the Zentraedi are exposed to human culture and become fascinated by it, particularly by singing sensation Lynn Minmei, who becomes a major star both on the SDF-1 and later on Earth. The Zentraedi later split into factions and some join forces with humanity. Events climax in a major battle with the Zentraedi Grand Armada in Earth orbit, followed by a two-year mopping-up exercise on Earth.</div><div><br /></div><div>The two franchises diverge significantly at this point. In <b>Robotech</b>, the action splits between deep space, where the newly-built SDF-3 goes in search of the Zentraedi homeworld and a showdown with the enigmatic Robotech Masters, and Earth, where a military dictatorship takes control of the planet but is ill-prepared to fight a war against the Robotech Masters when they unexpectedly attack. Further battles see the arrival of the Invid, the shapeshifting aliens who are the source of much of the technology and energy sources that are being fought over by the three other species, who then occupy Earth, leading to the development of a resistance effort. <b>Robotech II: The Sentinels</b> (the curtailed sequel series to the original) was supposed to tell the story of the SDF-3 crew as they united various alien races into a coalition to fight the Invid and then return to liberate Earth, although the show was never completed.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Macross</b> takes a divergent view, with humanity and Zentraedi joining forces to build massive colony ships and sending them into deep space, where they encounter new alien threats. Another show, <b>Macross Zero</b>, acts as a prequel to the original show, set between the SDF-1's crash and the arrival of the Zentraedi. The <b>Macross</b> franchise is considerably longer and more prolific than <b>Robotech</b>, with the most recent new entry in the franchise being released in 2021.</div><div><br /></div><div>There has been ill feeling over the differences for many years, with anime purists and the original Japanese creators being unhappy with the show being cut up and edited with unrelated shows to create something different. However, it is the <b>Robotech</b> version of the franchise that most Americans (north and south) and Europeans are familiar with, and is by far the better-known brand name. Several attempts to release the <b>Macross</b> version of the show on DVD met with financial failure, whilst <b>Robotech</b> was a perennial bestseller for the various companies that released and re-released it. These ill feelings have complicated work on the live-action movie, with fans divided on whether it should follow the <b>Macross</b> version of the story or the <b>Robotech</b> version, and the original Japanese creators (who still control some rights to mecha likenesses) seem unwilling to work or advise on something based on the <b>Robotech</b> version of the story.</div><div><br /></div><div>Expect the confusion to run and run, but at least people outside of Japan can experience most of the <b>Macross</b> franchise for the first time when it launches on Disney+ later in 2024. Hopefully the original incarnation will follow suit.</div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-24517413600811968302024-03-06T23:17:00.004+00:002024-03-06T23:17:47.795+00:00AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER renewed for two more seasons at NetflixNetflix <a href="https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/avatar-last-airbender-renewed-season-2-3-1235931746/">has renewed</a> its live-action take on <b>Avatar: The Last Airbender</b> for two more seasons, which will also conclude the story. With each season mirroring that of the original animated series (2005-08), which also only lasted for three seasons, that's hardly surprising.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXUbS1mSISCnuu8zg2zBNNujislTX0cw115IfV5qLAJyc_KFgTXD-XreboGydGJV525T4CnakoNaA57zP_Smw8OWtUXtlkomolpp0m-aLHzdBruhtbqHQDQzej-Q0mT5vcUfvso13BTIlaTJYDj35c5fKedxnCua6xSV-Tm2HfyfIlHvi3STA3hULoaGA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3600" data-original-width="2880" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXUbS1mSISCnuu8zg2zBNNujislTX0cw115IfV5qLAJyc_KFgTXD-XreboGydGJV525T4CnakoNaA57zP_Smw8OWtUXtlkomolpp0m-aLHzdBruhtbqHQDQzej-Q0mT5vcUfvso13BTIlaTJYDj35c5fKedxnCua6xSV-Tm2HfyfIlHvi3STA3hULoaGA=w347-h433" width="347" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Avatar: The Last Airbender</b> dropped two weeks ago on Netflix to a mixed reception from fans and critics. However, casual viewers seemed much happier, with the show jumping to the top of Netflix's "most-watched" list. The show has also maintained a healthy viewership for a second week, comparable to earlier animation-to-live-action hit <b>One Piece</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The renewal will allow the team to complete the story in full, which is sure to be a great relief for viewers frustrated by Netflix constantly cancelling shows before their time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Although the original series concluded after three seasons, spin-off show <b>The Legend of Korra</b>, set seventy years later, lasted for four seasons (2012-14) and could provide material for a similar adaptation. There are also substantial numbers of <b>Avatar </b>spin-off comics and novels, and the original creators are producing an original animated movie for release in 2025 featuring the original characters as adults.</div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-40967711893156161822024-03-06T22:26:00.003+00:002024-03-06T22:26:46.232+00:00Ciaphas Cain: The Last Ditch by Sandy Mitchell<p>Commissar Ciaphas Cain and the Valhallan 597th are deployed to Nusquam Fundumentibus to deal with an incursion of orks. The campaign promises to be standard, although still dangerous, until Cain learns of a far greater threat lurking on the planet, one which sees both the humans and orks as enemies.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQfHeCphGzXIgdcEuWirj9qY89-q8lzfidUNgG20ZF3Rys3M5ZGGmETfJ_JqednEeeCOADDT8tcbij4SY01C4d0RnE8vU95ASDbzXLfb05gHwQPfHbmbGhbT4sPPVDdsa84tCk7sGBTU9qgvir3sbOp97peqXsJe0USi0rU1dEdT1SLqeEyZ0pcSoUHE/s889/The%20Last%20Ditch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="600" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQfHeCphGzXIgdcEuWirj9qY89-q8lzfidUNgG20ZF3Rys3M5ZGGmETfJ_JqednEeeCOADDT8tcbij4SY01C4d0RnE8vU95ASDbzXLfb05gHwQPfHbmbGhbT4sPPVDdsa84tCk7sGBTU9qgvir3sbOp97peqXsJe0USi0rU1dEdT1SLqeEyZ0pcSoUHE/w268-h397/The%20Last%20Ditch.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><p>The redoubtable Ciaphas Cain - the science fantasy by-product of an unholy union between Flashman and BlackAdder - returns in his eighth novel. Once again, Cain is deployed to a trouble spot which seems a bit iffy, but practical to deal with. Also once again, complications ensure which gives Cain an enormous headache and results in a highly enjoyable adventure for the reader.</p><p>The previous <b>Cain</b> novel, <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2023/12/ciaphas-cain-emperors-finest-by-sandy.html">The Emperor's Finest</a></i>, was solid but did not represent the series at its best, with too much of Cain and Jurgen running around in isolated corridors where the opportunities for Cain - and Mitchell - to show off their skills with entertaining dialogue and character observations were limited. Fortunately, <i>The Last Ditch</i> is a return to form. Whilst we once again get a lot of action sequences, we also get a lot more character development and even politics, as Cain has to balance the needs of the 597th in fighting the ork incursion with the civil administration of the planet, who are trying to hold things together in the face of collapse. Of course, Cain (and the aromatic Jurgen) ends up at the hot end of the fighting despite desperately trying to find reasons to stay behind the lines.</p><p>The timeline means we get to spend more time with the characters of the 597th, including the batty Sulla, whose insane hero worship of Cain (further enhanced by excerpts from her later-published, badly-overwritten memoirs) remains extremely amusing. However, by this time Cain has been fighting (successfully) alongside the 597th for so long that Colonel Kasteen and Major Broklaw just go along with anything he suggests, which means relatively little tension in that quarter.</p><p>Tension is restored by the difficult relationship between the 597th, Cain and the planetary governor, who for once is (relatively) immune to Cain's charms and tries to continue politicking even in the face of an overwhelming alien threat. This is promising, but Mitchell punts off this storyline for Kasteen and Broklaw to deal with off-page, meaning we only get edited highlights from the subplot whilst Cain is off elsewhere.</p><p>Another potential source of rich conflict is Cain encountering a younger, more gung-ho Commissar fresh out of the academy, all too eager to start executing Imperial troops the nanosecond they slack off. Cain's more pragmatic, cooperative approaching clashing with the raw orthodoxy of the Commissariat would again be an interesting storyline, but again it's cut short by Commissar Forres relatively quickly coming around to Cain's way of thinking and becoming a useful ally.</p><p>Still, if Mitchell dodges these potentially engaging storylines, what we have is fun enough. A relatively epic narrative featuring a raging war across an entire planet told in a commendably concise number of pages, with enough plots twists, reversals, action sequences and wry humour to satisfy fans of the series, <i>The Last Ditch</i> (****) is entertaining. The novel is available now as part of the <i>Ciaphas Cain: Saviour of the Imperium</i> omnibus, along with the preceding and succeeding novels and several short stories.</p><p><br /></p><div><b><u>Ciaphas Cain Novel Timeline</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div><b>919.M41 (40,919 CE)</b>: <i>Fight or Flight</i> (Novella #1). Cain meets Jurgen, deploys with the 12<sup>th</sup> Valhallan Field Artillery to Desolatia IV.</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>924</b>: <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/03/ciaphas-cain-death-or-glory-by-sandy.html">Death or Glory</a></i> (Book #4): Perlia campaign.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>928</b>: <i>Echoes of the Tomb</i> (Short Story): Adeptus Mechanicus mission, fights necrons.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>928</b>: <span><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2023/12/ciaphas-cain-emperors-finest-by-sandy.html">The Emperor’s Finest</a></i> (Book #7):</span> Cain joins Reclaimer Space Marines, aids in Space Hulk retrieval mission.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>931</b>: <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2010/12/ciaphas-cain-for-emperor-by-sandy.html">For the Emperor</a></i> (Book #1): Gravalax campaign, formation of the 597<sup>th</sup> Valhallan Regiment.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>932</b>: <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2010/12/ciaphas-cain-caves-of-ice-by-sandy.html">Caves of Ice</a></i> (Book #2): Simia Orichalcae campaign.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>932: </b><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/03/ciaphas-cain-duty-calls-by-sandy.html">Duty Calls</a></i> (Book #5): Periremunda campaign.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>937: </b><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2010/12/ciaphas-cain-traitors-hand-by-sandy.html">The Traitor’s Hand</a></i> (Book #3): Adumbria campaign.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>942</b>: <i><span style="color: red;"><b>The Last Ditch</b></span></i> (Book #8): Nusquam Fundumentibus campaign.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>c. 951-954</b>: <i>Choose Your Enemies </i>(Book #10): Ironfound campaign.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>992</b>: <i>The Greater Good </i>(Book #9): Siege of Quadravidia.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>c. 993</b>: <i>Vainglorious </i>(Book #11): Eucopia engagement.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>999 (40,999 CE)</b>: <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/04/ciaphas-cain-cains-last-stand-by-sandy.html">Cain’s Last Stand</a></i> (Book #6): Thirteenth Black Crusade. Chaos assault on Perlia, Cain comes out of retirement to lead defence.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6293802150515273468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6391335258389069969" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-1555203231751090744" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3488689926063781405" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6051356532078955896" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3584737981146652428" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8392845815664266421" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2980028004944052172" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7654px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2728258081410492426" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4181310503382987568" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-685386918370488300" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2319600828858071854" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3454085629752184017" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4381970201761469627" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7654px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7762872045295446866" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6422615848948787113" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4875431302612635115" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-388156845064350006" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7635610486801814968" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7765442774844048292" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3046147124191075232" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2871132475153029903" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2507382321279943565" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7770699671595811619" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7301082713203487735" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7654px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-690429416597207204" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8602128902799659468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 26.3077px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-76771249005669901762024-02-21T21:19:00.003+00:002024-02-21T21:32:50.092+00:00Marvel changing plans to recapture the zeitgeist<p>In <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/marvel-fantastic-four-avengers-movies-1235830951/">an in-depth article</a> for the <i>Hollywood Reporter</i>, it has been revealed that Marvel Studios is pivoting hard as it tries to overcome a series of recent obstacles to recapture the zeitgeist it imperiously commanded for over a decade.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYlvZ6WRTGEfr8YVxF9agc-mYn92q4gkDVr9xWCPOK6B-dpJiYu8391BTw3720t4v8pd9kiAuW3sYdiWk2coCzBKbogd2stQs5s6Y1r0k8NEy5xQ4N7B_NT2GTzxghzJ5C5iN3MvgIbuXmxWR43SjgswXEqQSA10xOp1NRwGyaMcfjSDxC9kefdM12gI/s1500/Deadpool%20and%20Wolverine.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYlvZ6WRTGEfr8YVxF9agc-mYn92q4gkDVr9xWCPOK6B-dpJiYu8391BTw3720t4v8pd9kiAuW3sYdiWk2coCzBKbogd2stQs5s6Y1r0k8NEy5xQ4N7B_NT2GTzxghzJ5C5iN3MvgIbuXmxWR43SjgswXEqQSA10xOp1NRwGyaMcfjSDxC9kefdM12gI/w449-h299/Deadpool%20and%20Wolverine.jpg" width="449" /></a></div><p>In 2008 Marvel Studios launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an interconnected series of superhero films which shared a single continuity, canon and cast of characters, who could pop up in one another's movies and occasionally team up for big "event" pictures. From 2008's <i>Iron Man</i> to 2019's <i>Avengers: Endgame</i>, a mind-boggling run of twenty-two films, the series rarely put a foot wrong. It dominated the box office and the cultural discourse of the time. Even its weakest entries, like <i>Thor: The Dark World</i> or <i>Iron Man 2</i>, remained watchable.</p><p>Since 2019, the franchise has faltered. Box office receipts have fallen - <i>The Marvels</i> became the first Marvel movie to definitively lose money at the box office in November 2023 - and critical acclaim has also dropped off sharply. Eleven further films have been released since <i>Endgame</i> and only a few of these - particularly <i>Spider-Man: No Way Home</i> (2021) - have garnered the type of critical and commercial success the franchise once wracked up almost automatically. There has been much discussion over why the franchise has suddenly started faltering so badly, with several problems identified:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The loss of the franchise's most charismatic and best-written characters and the actors going along with them, most notably Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) in <i>Endgame</i>.</li><li>The failure of most of the succeeding new heroes in making an impression that they can pick up the slack moving forwards.</li><li>An increasingly tiresome inability to break free from the "Marvel format," namely a lot of quips, some action, some moderate character development and then a large setpiece CGI battle at the end, which is rarely outstanding. The few films which did experiment with this, such as <i>Eternals</i> adopting a more serious tone, ended up doing poorly with audiences.</li><li>The conclusion of the mostly straightforward and well-defined Infinity Stones storyline with a well-realised villain (Thanos) and their replacement with the much murkier, more confusing Multiverse storyline and a lower-key villain (Kang) who has not resonated as strongly.</li><li>Simple superhero fatigue: thirty-three films and ten TV series (sixteen, if you include the recently canonised Netflix series) in sixteen years is <i>a lot</i>, not to mention dozens more films and TV shows about superheroes from rivals DC and numerous other studios and streamers.</li><li>An over-expansion into television as part of the streaming wars and then during COVID, bombarding audiences with new shows every few months.</li><li>The increasing feeling that keeping up with the MCU requires having to do "homework," watching shows and films that don't appeal to you because they're going to be referenced in the next <b>Spider-Man</b> movie that you <i>do </i>care about.</li><li>Plans to use the always-popular Spider-Man as a lynchpin for the next generation of movies hit a snag with the Sony/Marvel legal disagreement of a few years ago, which means Marvel can't use Spider-Man as a key character moving forwards when they can lose access to him at almost any time.</li><li>The relatively rapid transition of films from the cinema to Disney+ now means that people can sit out films that look uninteresting or middling until they hit streaming, rather than having to see them in the cinema or risk falling behind the curve.</li></ul><p></p><p>Marvel has also had to contend with a major problem from one of its tentpole actors for the next slate of films. Actor Jonathan Majors had debuted in the TV series <b>Loki</b> as Kang, a charismatic villain who exists in millions of different incarnations and versions across the Multiverse, a multitude of parallel universes and different timelines. The development of the Multiverse has been a major focus of the films since <i>Endgame</i> and has allowed Marvel to rule that other movie series using their characters - such as the <b>X-Men</b> and <b>Deadpool</b> film series from Fox and the <b>Spider-Man</b> and <b>Amazing Spider-Man</b> films from Sony - exist in the same Multiverse. Kang was supposed to be the lynchpin of this story moving forwards, as different versions of the character appeared in <i>Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania</i> and <b>Loki</b>'s second season, setting up a confrontation between Kang and the Avengers in two big movies coming down the pipe.</p><p>But in March 2023 Majors was arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, whom he had met on the set of <i>Quantumania</i>. Marvel refused to take any action whilst legal action was ongoing. In December he was found guilty of two misdemeanour counts of assault and harassment. Marvel quickly confirmed they had terminated their relationship with the actor. Despite initial speculation that the character would be recast - previous different versions of characters across the Multiverse had been portrayed by different actors, with three versions of Spider-Man showing up in <i>No Way Home</i> to great success - it now appears that Marvel is moving away from the character and storyline altogether, minimising him in future projects and pivoting to another villain (speculated in other sources to be Doctor Doom) to be the "big bad" in the next two <b>Avengers </b>films coming down the line.</p><p>According to the HR article, Marvel are taking a number of further steps to address their issues. The first is a reduction of output: 2024 will see the release of just one Marvel movie, <i>Deadpool and Wolverine</i>, which will introduce the Merc With a Mouth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and also cement the Multiverse connections between the older <b>X-Men</b> films and the MCU. Only one more TV show is expected this year, <b>Agatha: Darkhold Diaries</b>. 2025 is expected to focus hard on the arrival of Marvel tentpole characters the Fantastic Four in the MCU, with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2024/02/marvel-casts-fantastic-four.html">recently announced</a> in the starring roles for the film. Marvel is hoping that the integration of the <b>Fantastic Four </b>into the MCU, followed later by new versions of Blade and then the X-Men, will give their franchise new legs as it - improbably - heads towards its third decade of production.</p><p>Whether these steps are going to be enough to right the ship remains to be seen, or whether at some point Disney and Marvel will have to accept that the MCU's time has simply run out and it needs to be rested for a few years before the inevitable reboot with new actors playing Iron Man, Thor and Captain America.</p>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-90665341950278408932024-02-14T19:42:00.001+00:002024-02-14T19:42:40.556+00:00Marvel casts the Fantastic FourMarvel <a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/news/fantastic-four-cast-marvel-studios-1235875766/">has announced</a> the casting for their forthcoming new <b>Fantastic Four </b>movie. Pedro Pascal (<b>The Last of Us</b>, <b>The Mandalorian</b>, <b>Game of Thrones</b>) will play Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (<b>The Crown</b>) will play Sue Storm / Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (<b>The Bear</b>) will play Ben Grimm / The Thing and Joseph Quinn (<b>Stranger Things</b>) will play Johnny Storm / The Human Torch, in a film directed by Matt Shakman (<b>WandaVision</b>).<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAD0P-gcSJMXFV6bsfbZA8TCEkHhlDlbQUG3RDmQrkOmLP2qmMLevbssM1Rjzq2EssPRPXjgVRjTSjO17XxX-gwePhMY1mzR2vydqzQMSWHcRtM_cnARYRbB1P0daZ2-NRWHlBpIWb6lsBIpZPHue5boOU7zsR-0TWgtTPkCY3mzoLRM34-f7N8GBs4Zk/s1350/Fantastic%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAD0P-gcSJMXFV6bsfbZA8TCEkHhlDlbQUG3RDmQrkOmLP2qmMLevbssM1Rjzq2EssPRPXjgVRjTSjO17XxX-gwePhMY1mzR2vydqzQMSWHcRtM_cnARYRbB1P0daZ2-NRWHlBpIWb6lsBIpZPHue5boOU7zsR-0TWgtTPkCY3mzoLRM34-f7N8GBs4Zk/w352-h440/Fantastic%204.jpg" width="352" /></a></div><br /><div>The film, apparently titled <i>The Fantastic 4</i>, introduces the team to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time. It will, however, be the fifth movie to feature the characters. Roger Corman directed the ultra-low-budget <i>The Fantastic Four</i> in 1994 as a rights-holding exercise. 20th Century Fox released <i>Fantastic Four</i> in 2005, starring Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm, a pre-Captain America Chris Evans as Johnny Storm and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm. Despite mixed reviews, the film was financially successful and spawned a direct sequel, <i>Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer</i> (2007), which was less successful.</div><div><br /></div><div>A new version of the team appeared in 2015 as <i>Fantastic Four</i>, starring Miles Teller as Reed Richards, Kate Mara as Susan Storm, a pre-Killmonger Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm. The film was poorly received both critically and commercially.</div><div><br /></div><div>Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige confirmed in 2019 that the team would be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Marvel's parent company, Disney. Originally Jon Watts was going to direct, but he was later replaced by Matt Shakman.</div><div><br /></div><div>The team are iconic because they were the first superhero team created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics in November 1961 as part of a revamp of the company's lines, designed to compete with DC Comics'<b> Justice League of America </b>(which saw Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and other characters joining forces). Lee and Kirby created the <b>Fantastic Four </b>as a similar team out from scratch. Lee, with Kirby and other artists, later added new superheroes to the same universe, resulting in <b>The Incredible Hulk</b>, <b>Spider-Man</b>, <b>Thor</b>, <b>Iron Man</b>, the <b>X-Men</b>, <b>Black Panther</b>, <b>Doctor Strange</b>, <b>Captain Marvel</b>, <b>Falcon</b> and <b>Daredevil</b>. He also resurrected characters Marvel had the rights to from years earlier, resulting in the comics <b>Sub-Mariner</b> and <b>Captain America</b>. Periodically these heroes would team up to fight greater threats, in a run known as <b>The Avengers</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Fantastic Four</b> was also notable for debuting many other characters who would go on to have huge success for Marvel Comics: Namor the Sub-Mariner, Doctor Doom, Black Panther, the Kree and Skrull, Adam Warlock, the Inhumans, Silver Surfer and Galactus. The comic ran almost without interruption until issue #645 in 2015. The comic was rested, although the characters would appear in other titles; fan speculation at the time was that Marvel was downplaying those characters whose movie rights they did not control, as they felt they were giving free advertising to competitors. However, the comic relaunched in late 2018, fans again cynically noting that the 20th Century Fox/Marvel deal was in the wind at the time so it was assumed that Marvel Studios would shortly gain control of the film rights, as was proven to be the case.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Fantastic 4</i> will be released on 25 July 2025. It will be one of four Marvel movies scheduled for the year, following <i>Captain America: Brave New World</i> in February and <i>Thunderbolts</i> on 2 May and preceding <i>Blade</i> in November. This will mark a return in force for Marvel, who only have a single film out this year: <i>Deadpool & Wolverine</i> on 26 July.</div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-77413466823564619072024-02-10T14:05:00.001+00:002024-02-10T14:05:03.737+00:00StarfieldBack in the mists of time, or 1998 to be precise, I bought my first-ever gaming PC (233mhz, Pentium II). The very first game I purchased for it was <i>The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall</i>, from Bethesda Game Studios. I thoroughly enjoyed the huge, open-world roleplaying adventure with its interesting quests and main story, obfuscated as it was by a vast number of bugs and by a huge amount of jank generated by its world being so vast it had to be procedurally generated. Bethesda themselves seemed to agree this was a problem, dropping the procedurally-generated part of the game to focus on smaller, more handcrafted worlds through sequels <i>Morrowind </i>(2002), <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/11/elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion.html">Oblivion</a> </i>(2006) and <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2012/04/elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.html">Skyrim </a></i>(2011), as well as the similar games in their Fallout series: <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2008/12/fallout-3.html">Fallout 3</a></i> (2008), <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2012/05/fallout-new-vegas.html">Fallout: New Vegas</a></i> (2010, not made by Bethesda but using their tech and game design paradigm), <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2016/01/fallout-4.html">Fallout 4</a> </i>(2015) and <i>Fallout 76</i> (2018). I played and enjoyed all of these, some more than others.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiuC27g82lNUdUcnvNRZaXYjoh-j_pQ2Gj6oEOC-54sYna6nbjfseCa8LIxh-uUvQoI9UBNZgxivuyQNAhKX2p4V7gBpEUyjWFmxGvoIIC4yQh4mlfqKaGYPTDTSYHQAy2WG_yfxX7IceeW1T4YeC5p5P5DhyphenhyphenzMhha6vq4TasNLrJUtx28RGc-FqOczM4/s3840/20230901174349_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiuC27g82lNUdUcnvNRZaXYjoh-j_pQ2Gj6oEOC-54sYna6nbjfseCa8LIxh-uUvQoI9UBNZgxivuyQNAhKX2p4V7gBpEUyjWFmxGvoIIC4yQh4mlfqKaGYPTDTSYHQAy2WG_yfxX7IceeW1T4YeC5p5P5DhyphenhyphenzMhha6vq4TasNLrJUtx28RGc-FqOczM4/w485-h273/20230901174349_1.jpg" width="485" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div>Launched in late 2023, <i>Starfield </i>is Bethesda’s latest take on their traditional gaming structure, in a brand-new universe. If the <b>Elder Scrolls</b> series is high epic fantasy and <b>Fallout </b>is post-apocalyptic SF, then <i>Starfield</i> is full-on space opera. Set 300 years in the future, after Earth has been rendered uninhabitable and a human diaspora to other worlds has taken place, Starfield casts you as a space adventurer. You choose your gender, name, homeworld, stats, skills and even things like if you have parents or not (and if you say yes, your parents periodically show up throughout the game to offer support, with appropriate levels of embarrassment). <br /><br />The game opens with you taking part in a mining operation, but it’s not long before you have encountered a Weird Space Rock™, touching which grants you mystical visions. An organisation called Constellation soon gets in touch. Other Weird Space Rocks™ have been found and they think these objects hold the key to proving whether or not sentient alien life exists elsewhere in the galaxy. Soon you find yourself with a spaceship, a credit balance and a growing arsenal of weapons as you scour the Settled Systems for more Space Rocks™. Along the way you bump into a vast array of factions, corporations and individuals who are eager to employ you to sort their problems out for them (which you do, easily and almost instantly), resulting in a vast tapestry of missions and options on how to proceed. As you complete missions you gain in experience and money, allowing you to level up your skills and get better equipment, weapons and ships.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg2DZxYvcZizCFhbj5snP8DQlTszGAtTvMRpDDUbxRjaJj1UHTtT-DtaIn26i2mMuufFiw88hieu2cbfbyPytfwiVXZyeluZTaUhSRWOIUxDAGVAd5eyXfPcpP8YXgSObqQxKYuqj-fkV1Lzl9XeioZToSGhnqM2TT_z8cEL5u4ySMexyeJn-8T-dOXus/s3840/20230901190154_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg2DZxYvcZizCFhbj5snP8DQlTszGAtTvMRpDDUbxRjaJj1UHTtT-DtaIn26i2mMuufFiw88hieu2cbfbyPytfwiVXZyeluZTaUhSRWOIUxDAGVAd5eyXfPcpP8YXgSObqQxKYuqj-fkV1Lzl9XeioZToSGhnqM2TT_z8cEL5u4ySMexyeJn-8T-dOXus/w480-h270/20230901190154_1.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div><br />This is all pretty standard for a computer/console roleplaying game in 2024. The gameplay loop here is also very familiar to anyone who’s played a Bethesda RPG before, as you cycle through missions, gain faction loyalty and occasionally have to make morally murky, tough decisions. You can be helped in this by a growing crew of companion characters, some of whom you meet at Constellation, others encountered throughout the game. These companions can be assigned to your ship or to outposts, bases you can build on planets through the game to mine resources at a larger scale. These in turn allow you to build better bases, ships and equipment. One companion at a time can also join you on missions, lending an extra gun and inventory space, and occasionally generating new missions. <br /><br />Again, nothing shockingly original here. We’ve seen it all before, but it works, and is indeed quite a lot of fun. Customisability is a cornerstone of the game’s design and getting just the right combination of gear, ships, spacesuits, jetpacks and guns can be quite entertaining.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR2gGwT5mVVhF9YISHE8MQtObIFlzoYlDfEZmCho7bJFzFUkn6XBGSBIZHw6q0fBoVbuB8vZFI30EK_deXBMnbpISvQAvnT4gGbz_ZepDOTNw8Jf0bw6Lrp9J4RLPTkSqoZr74BQEv42iqSAOmEEdg4fngFj3x85rqph7SfgRq61nUxw82BS1JxGto1zY/s3840/20230901222053_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR2gGwT5mVVhF9YISHE8MQtObIFlzoYlDfEZmCho7bJFzFUkn6XBGSBIZHw6q0fBoVbuB8vZFI30EK_deXBMnbpISvQAvnT4gGbz_ZepDOTNw8Jf0bw6Lrp9J4RLPTkSqoZr74BQEv42iqSAOmEEdg4fngFj3x85rqph7SfgRq61nUxw82BS1JxGto1zY/w496-h279/20230901222053_1.jpg" width="496" /></a></div><div></div><div><br />Where the game starts to falter is in something it can’t really afford to falter on: its core structural design. Every previous Bethesda game back to <i>Morrowind </i>has worked in an identical manner. You have a reasonably large map and you explore each map, going to specific locations to fulfil quests but having random encounters along the way. In a Fallout game you might be directed to go to an abandoned factory to root out some bandits, but along the way you bump into a band of rogue droids and then some Brotherhood of Steel soldiers who you have to fight or ally with, leading to other missions. In an Elder Scrolls title, you might be on your way to a cave to locate a missing magical artifact only to end up in a desperate duel with a dragon. In either, you might spot a weird-looking structure in the distance and decide to investigate, leading to more encounters. The earlier games combined hand-crafted quests with random events to generate memorable moments, what some people like to call emergent gameplay. <br /><br /><i>Starfield</i>’s very design makes this harder to enact: you can’t walk 15 light-years to your destination, so obviously you have to traverse the distance in your spacecraft. And you do control your spacecraft directly, and you can get into space battles and boarding actions and all kinds of cool, fun stuff in the space part of the game. But this is limited. You can only fly around a small area of space before doing anything else becomes impossible, at which point you have no choice but to hyper-jump to another system, and then land on a planet’s surface wherever the mission is going to take place. Often the ship lands right next to your objective, leaving little opportunity for exploration.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZW3PlURJBeKVI1EmOqEPfy2Ix0glJjzQRWzCTyDee8TpUOjLrabqa9KIAQ2Q6PLtuzvJcu3vSpAbBW29T_d-_1POKpvVB7ApLlc46hkNiUe-FOWFncCLnj6mDdU6wlES0Fjp_40i3KhervvW9RTxdiiwX_3ZtytOn_mpb2RELqln0Ludbm9wrzXR7oqY/s3840/20230901224000_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZW3PlURJBeKVI1EmOqEPfy2Ix0glJjzQRWzCTyDee8TpUOjLrabqa9KIAQ2Q6PLtuzvJcu3vSpAbBW29T_d-_1POKpvVB7ApLlc46hkNiUe-FOWFncCLnj6mDdU6wlES0Fjp_40i3KhervvW9RTxdiiwX_3ZtytOn_mpb2RELqln0Ludbm9wrzXR7oqY/w490-h276/20230901224000_1.jpg" width="490" /></a></div><div> <br />Even if you do decide to strike out to explore random areas – and to the game’s credit, it does allow you to land anywhere on a planet’s solid surface, although you are restricted to a radius of around 4km from your ship – you’ll quickly start to find things getting predictable. The game dynamically generates points of interest around you, and these can vary a bit depending on the type of planet or moon, but these will quickly descend into being the same few types of caves, or abandoned installations, or a spaceship landing nearby (generating a rescue mission because the ship has crashed or combat because the ship is full of pirates, or sometimes an opportunity to buy and sell because it’s a merchant). Even worse, there seem to be very few combinations of some of these points of interest: if you encounter a randomly-generated base on a random planet, there seem to be maybe three different layouts for them resulting in extreme fatigue setting in as you keep encountering them copy-pasted everywhere. <br /><br />You can do other things on planets, like gather survey data on them. This involves scanning for flora (plants), fauna (animal life) and mineral resources. However, the Settled System seem to have been pollinated from the same, relatively small pool of such things. The same animals and plants can be found repeated across planets dozens of light-years apart, which seems unlikely. Scanning each planet in full requires repeatedly scanning these elements, sometimes relocating if an animal or plant species only exists in another biome (particularly notable with aquatic species). The limitations on the game also become more obvious over time: clearly not having enough resources to develop undersea biomes, the game just makes almost every single ocean, lake and pond in the game about two feet deep, which is bizarre.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3EEb343MMpy6WlRFivqFbeZVZdVZIvWoUQb7056Py5B8dDsKGG575bxQjgdkTCrf7Wm-zBYQqsZEG0ZPuzWt1DDD6XgqBR27w_iPD6vj7YgbTWWol7AaCPedoW4FBLG3OsFIzb_3-6hgerRwY2bR7tULEtghDnZT6wvL6TppB5oZoLuom2fXzOrwFhU/s3840/20230901230857_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3EEb343MMpy6WlRFivqFbeZVZdVZIvWoUQb7056Py5B8dDsKGG575bxQjgdkTCrf7Wm-zBYQqsZEG0ZPuzWt1DDD6XgqBR27w_iPD6vj7YgbTWWol7AaCPedoW4FBLG3OsFIzb_3-6hgerRwY2bR7tULEtghDnZT6wvL6TppB5oZoLuom2fXzOrwFhU/w493-h278/20230901230857_1.jpg" width="493" /></a></div><div> <br />I have to admit the first couple of times I surveyed a planet in full like this it could be fun, and the game occasionally generates those moments of sparse beauty that <i>Skyrim </i>and <i>Fallout 3 </i>could be famous for, with you feeling alone in a hostile but scenic landscape. <i>Starfield </i>goes a step further by making you feel like you might be the only living, sentient being for many light-years in any direction (at least until walking around for another ten minutes invariably triggers a landing spaceship or a pirate base spontaneously appearing three kilometres away). As the game continues, you invariably start seeing through the illusion more and more quickly, and eventually visiting these random locations loses its lustre. <br /><br />The game’s spine is its core storyline, which is heavy on the Space Rocks™. Bethesda at least have poured more time and attention into this story than some of their others. The story is not ultra-urgent, giving you plenty of time and reasons to pick up side-quests (unlike <i>Fallout 4 </i>where you were tracking down your recently-kidnapped son but also had time to cosplay as a 1930s pulp action hero for the sake of random comedy). But it’s also surprisingly interesting, unpredictable and the direction it goes in is way more <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> or <i>Interstellar </i>than <i>Mass Effect</i>. It’s a cerebral SF story that takes the game in a gratifyingly weird direction as it goes along. It’s more original than I was expecting from Bethesda, although as usual it’s not very long (maybe 20-25 hours and that’s being generous).</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTt32ODr80zzTQoo_z7lNgOpSUEloVJUEhBzb6d6XYT4HHQyt-bsgvt2faaIH2lbhctpFFbx8ytpH4TaP5H9BGVpvjQCfTTnNMwhdvBQWh4yNsX1rFWaXFJ74SYOOlPcFmhhoxdzmbpAQsrHt9uIhCF2_RI6ZO4Hx75rV48ChrgLp1ynKSfCa-00ev0Vw/s3840/20230903120145_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTt32ODr80zzTQoo_z7lNgOpSUEloVJUEhBzb6d6XYT4HHQyt-bsgvt2faaIH2lbhctpFFbx8ytpH4TaP5H9BGVpvjQCfTTnNMwhdvBQWh4yNsX1rFWaXFJ74SYOOlPcFmhhoxdzmbpAQsrHt9uIhCF2_RI6ZO4Hx75rV48ChrgLp1ynKSfCa-00ev0Vw/w493-h277/20230903120145_1.jpg" width="493" /></a></div><div> <br />The meat of the game lies with side-quests and especially the faction storylines. The United Colonies, Freestar Collective, Ryujin Industries, Constellation and the Crimson Fleet pirates all have their own storylines, some of them quite long and detailed, with their own array of sub-quests and objectives. Doing each faction storyline takes some time, and allows you to level up and build up new networks of allies and assets, some of which you can continue to tap later on. These questlines have different focuses, with some on undercover operations and stealth, and others on all-out combat. For the most part they are entertaining, although there are also a few fetch quests which may make your eyes roll in boredom. <br /><br />There are also the offbeat, weird quests that Bethesda have become known for, like having to negotiate a legal dispute between a generation ship crew who arrive at their destination to find it having been colonised decades earlier by FTL-equipped explorers, or arriving on a planet inhabited by clones of famous Earth figures who are having an almighty barney over who’s in charge (similarities to the classic <b>Red Dwarf</b> episode <i>Meltdown </i>are, I’m sure, purely coincidental). There’s definitely fewer of these than in some of their prior games, but their deranged nature comes as a sharp relief after so many po-faced missions lacking in humour or originality.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpbmxGmk8Mmj0GSk4i2qKa102_xnq-UcDJJfGY0Ok3431LwdfjoQZp5gt7tiZc1RQr-83VJ20jPA4WTce7YkUY_VCrghIRyT_VDKmU7bhJhiXFISAS7i06X5KYcjW6oZt4r9xmgJqi9y70gf7wujl8nrFWjyiM3dRoYn7A1GNymzZN-bYnw3AiwIljbs/s3840/20230903231207_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpbmxGmk8Mmj0GSk4i2qKa102_xnq-UcDJJfGY0Ok3431LwdfjoQZp5gt7tiZc1RQr-83VJ20jPA4WTce7YkUY_VCrghIRyT_VDKmU7bhJhiXFISAS7i06X5KYcjW6oZt4r9xmgJqi9y70gf7wujl8nrFWjyiM3dRoYn7A1GNymzZN-bYnw3AiwIljbs/w496-h279/20230903231207_1.jpg" width="496" /></a></div><div> <br />Combat is very solid and the best it’s ever been in a Bethesda game, with a reactive feel to weapons and a solid choice of guns and grenades. Enemy AI is slightly better than earlier games, with more attempts to flank you and flush you out with explosives, but still no great shakes. Your Weird Space Rock™ encounters grant you superpowers which nobody else has, which soon allows you to curb-stomp any opposition with ease. Space combat is less accomplished, with you simply keeping an enemy ship in your sights until they explode, occasionally executing an afterburner boost to lose missile locks or ordering an emergency repair. <br /><br />Graphically, this is easily Bethesda’s best-looking-on-release game since Oblivion, with well-rendered environments. Unfortunately, people still look plasticky and firmly in the uncanny valley, with dead, bulging eyes. Character animation is also stiff and uncomfortable. NPC characters also don’t have the schedules they did in other Bethesda games, working in the day and sleeping at night, instead staying where they are at almost all times. The cities are busier than in any previous Bethesda game, but the cities are still microscopically tiny for what they are supposed to be, still feeling like the medieval towns of <i>Skyrim </i>rather than bustling future metropolises. The worldbuilding is also dubious, particularly merchants having tiny amounts of money on them to buy things and almost nobody having a car, mobile phone, bank account or email account, forcing you to traipse 50 light-years to just report to somebody in person that you’ve completed a mission for them.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmiD2fNo8Fig93NSS3BMulAE_TBtEcuhULzNOu08IdFS9Hso7HexxfPmWq0br61Oc2YUjW_LNKBpqowoSk9E1jy9yTBtm8Wdpa8gNJdMOhueGYbZX1xeQ6F75j6zHkWtBZQ0YIXI-bDuklxDm1hVeuQfAQ2A2PesAPkqwvlQKDgGVhaZlfR9cb1Lg9uOc/s3840/20240131215651_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmiD2fNo8Fig93NSS3BMulAE_TBtEcuhULzNOu08IdFS9Hso7HexxfPmWq0br61Oc2YUjW_LNKBpqowoSk9E1jy9yTBtm8Wdpa8gNJdMOhueGYbZX1xeQ6F75j6zHkWtBZQ0YIXI-bDuklxDm1hVeuQfAQ2A2PesAPkqwvlQKDgGVhaZlfR9cb1Lg9uOc/w491-h276/20240131215651_1.jpg" width="491" /></a></div><div><br /><br /><i>Starfield</i>’s problems also feel exacerbated by a very poor choice of release date. The game came out a month after <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2023/12/baldurs-gate-iii.html">Baldur’s Gate III</a></i>, one of the best-written, most reactive, funniest and most characterful RPGs of the last decade. It makes <i>Starfield </i>feel undercooked, underwritten, predictable and flat in comparison. It also came out a month ahead of <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2021/01/cyberpunk-2077.html">Cyberpunk 2077</a>: Phantom Liberty</i>, whose dynamism, amazing character animation, superb voice acting and excellent first-person action all show up <i>Starfield </i>fairly badly. Bethesda got away with a lot of iffy design decisions on their earlier games due to a lack of competition (<i>Fallout 4</i> did start to suffer from comparisons, as it came out just after <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2018/01/wertzone-classics-witcher-3-wild-hunt.html">The Witcher 3</a></i>). In the face of high-quality alternatives, Bethesda can’t really afford to keep on pretending it’s still 2006. <br /><br />Still, <i>Starfield </i>is very far from unenjoyable, or awful. There are some great moments, some fun quests and some very solid battle sequences. The main quest, although artificially extended and repetitive in places, goes in a cosmic, weird SF direction that is pleasingly unconventional. Some of the planets are downright gorgeous and fun to explore. The game has a very chill atmosphere which I found welcome after very intense sessions of playing <i>Baldur's Gate III</i> where your brain needs to be in first gear. There is enormous, untapped potential here. Whether Bethesda can extract that potential through updates and expansions remains to be seen. As it stands, <i>Starfield </i>(***½) is solid but underwhelming.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl0zDTzhXvqbbL1DqdgFqnoW-qzv6JX6pb16LBpwGTv8rGqJr0EISgGfiIGUD7VVafYM8Qyx-azN_t_ay4K6pgpJwfgEFeIvX7kEN0vfySRM7ewtEUwIXI9nl4UPlFMmfwEOo7RfwJjPRAlhXMcWSadvSDtcnfvmoqw7GaM7BK7zmzTym-N5CcLOPtDTw/s3840/20240125200548_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl0zDTzhXvqbbL1DqdgFqnoW-qzv6JX6pb16LBpwGTv8rGqJr0EISgGfiIGUD7VVafYM8Qyx-azN_t_ay4K6pgpJwfgEFeIvX7kEN0vfySRM7ewtEUwIXI9nl4UPlFMmfwEOo7RfwJjPRAlhXMcWSadvSDtcnfvmoqw7GaM7BK7zmzTym-N5CcLOPtDTw/w486-h273/20240125200548_1.jpg" width="486" /></a></div><div> <br />The game is available now on PC and Xbox. A PlayStation 5 version is rumoured for latter this year. The first expansion to the game, <i>Shattered Space</i>, is expected later this year.</div><div><br /></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5547046157511678123" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2655412920470136318" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-690429416597207204" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8602128902799659468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 26.3077px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-13419248969606031132024-02-03T22:16:00.003+00:002024-02-03T22:16:29.781+00:00Concept art for abandoned ROBOTECH movie emerges<p>This was a few months ago now, but <a href="https://kotaku.com/robotech-macross-movie-canceled-concept-art-live-action-1850546078">Kotaku published</a> a look at some of the concept art created in 2018 for the abandoned live-action movie version of <b><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2018/03/franchise-familiariser-robotech.html">Robotech</a></b>. The original source was concept artist <a href="https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OGPg3b">Col Price</a>, who has also worked on video game series like <b>WipeOut</b> and <b>Battlefield</b>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoQDSqcryLwtG0EWPkVTDvlJ4rF7kpZjS1LicYqQDqRGt6WuN1wnZ7bfgKkDqB9lxR338hDUC3zmsbwM9hlbitsVD-47d6FzSCSq09JBhR9DREe0Xe40lSgUiSZkHFF6quMoBzYTuC0ZC7DQf36NLboJIoiJozXgd_TGFZyG68yZMFsJrClfnxRbWSRc/s1920/Robotech%2003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1002" data-original-width="1920" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoQDSqcryLwtG0EWPkVTDvlJ4rF7kpZjS1LicYqQDqRGt6WuN1wnZ7bfgKkDqB9lxR338hDUC3zmsbwM9hlbitsVD-47d6FzSCSq09JBhR9DREe0Xe40lSgUiSZkHFF6quMoBzYTuC0ZC7DQf36NLboJIoiJozXgd_TGFZyG68yZMFsJrClfnxRbWSRc/w454-h237/Robotech%2003.png" width="454" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Due to various legal issues, the film couldn't use the original design for the Veritech (aka Valkyrie) fighters, so had to create their own. I have to say, these look pretty badass as replacements. In the foreground one of the fighters is in Guardian mode for VTOL and hovering.</span></b></div></b><p style="text-align: left;">The artwork is mostly faithful to the original concept and premise. In the original 1985 <b>Robotech </b>- itself derived from the 1982 Japanese anime <b>Macross</b> - a massive alien spacecraft crashlands on an island in the South Pacific. The world, which is on the verge of a catastrophic war, agrees to together to explore the alien spacecraft. They then decide to rebuild it, and use the technology they loot from the remains to build a whole new military to defend the planet in case the aliens come looking for their missing ship. Over the course an entire settlement of over 70,000 people, Macross City, springs up to support the reconstruction effort.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOCGoxF6jZnz-Y4N0T5JwVLs3W7_D1fds0U0WC9J_dCt2UWWLa2WdKV6pTbbxcr_H7QD99GScXJMvHlr2Pq-t3ijrJuvxQVf1QmXARGe_RGAjRYi3DrChHggYYfNRPvLYSwjREgwhDHJYFgKPR583M56hcScdLRDv3S57eco1jAjbF4Eg4CoD36NxevI/s1920/Robotech%2005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="937" data-original-width="1920" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOCGoxF6jZnz-Y4N0T5JwVLs3W7_D1fds0U0WC9J_dCt2UWWLa2WdKV6pTbbxcr_H7QD99GScXJMvHlr2Pq-t3ijrJuvxQVf1QmXARGe_RGAjRYi3DrChHggYYfNRPvLYSwjREgwhDHJYFgKPR583M56hcScdLRDv3S57eco1jAjbF4Eg4CoD36NxevI/w470-h229/Robotech%2005.png" width="470" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The concept art gets across the sheer scale of the SDF-1, which is almost two miles long, with Macross City (pop. 75,000, although that starts dropping very quickly) utterly dwarfed by its bulk.</span></b></div></b><p style="text-align: left;">Ten years later, the worst-case scenario comes true and thousands of alien ships belonging to the Zentraedi - towering forty-foot humanoids - enter our Solar system to recover the ship, which by now has been renamed the SDF-1 (Superdimensional Fortress One). The SDF-1 and the Robotech Defence Force mount a ferocious defence of the planet, with the SDF-1 crew planning to hyperjump the ship behind the alien fleet and destroy it in a flanking maneuver. Unfortunately, they don't fully understand how the hyperjump works and end up warping themselves and all of Macross City to the orbit of Pluto. The hyperjump system vanishes in transit, forcing them to recover survivors from the (fortunately airtight) shelters and return to Earth under normal engine power, which takes almost three years. Fortunately, the alien fleet ignores Earth to track down the SDF-1, resulting in pitched battles at Saturn and Mars.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJfE5Xu1su-T9tA-dU0kRPU7k23-RQhnPy_FyOHGj67Xe51YzwuyXeSGrhRPnogKZDjdSCWzv3W3CiUaw06qCn39tnRR34vBQu_N3_hzWwyjSCOxjJW9ZIEvnONhVpuUHJdGvvdBcYQk14IMDHEumGZ7E-mMJXRTr-uxnFOPyKU3_P9B9BUa70VOsH-4c/s1920/Robotech%2019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1920" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJfE5Xu1su-T9tA-dU0kRPU7k23-RQhnPy_FyOHGj67Xe51YzwuyXeSGrhRPnogKZDjdSCWzv3W3CiUaw06qCn39tnRR34vBQu_N3_hzWwyjSCOxjJW9ZIEvnONhVpuUHJdGvvdBcYQk14IMDHEumGZ7E-mMJXRTr-uxnFOPyKU3_P9B9BUa70VOsH-4c/w460-h206/Robotech%2019.png" width="460" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiweR9jBdXbV2m9BzpqxKDwCEMmU8JTrZ12D_jBMmrvoVbVu2NNmpKFa0Laxlrq4rDyQr7vVaRTWCSOz3P0XgYQNd-TmM-f6gZrpnU9aYDCrX58ize6tQGh2LliNHD5xj2bESAfKK_y1T3dwYvoOD071HdEWpLj_MBiKbkoq4Igsy7IB2yUnyRHKOnHSPo/s1920/Robotech%2020.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1920" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiweR9jBdXbV2m9BzpqxKDwCEMmU8JTrZ12D_jBMmrvoVbVu2NNmpKFa0Laxlrq4rDyQr7vVaRTWCSOz3P0XgYQNd-TmM-f6gZrpnU9aYDCrX58ize6tQGh2LliNHD5xj2bESAfKK_y1T3dwYvoOD071HdEWpLj_MBiKbkoq4Igsy7IB2yUnyRHKOnHSPo/w463-h207/Robotech%2020.png" width="463" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">An interesting new idea is having massive rail guns located on rigs in Macross Harbour to provide AA cover for the SDF-1, as this Zentraedi gunship finds out to its cost.</span></b></div></b><p style="text-align: left;">The concept art is from the earliest part of the story, after the SDF-1 has crashed on Earth and the fortress is being rebuilt by humanity. This section is skimmed over in the original source material, which has a series of slides and a voiceover explaining what happened in the interim. However, Japanese prequel series <b>Macross Zero</b> explores this period in more detail.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPXBX76haC6jOHKkeFDUB0Sxl26F0yVahQOd627B_m9PmvPcKojAypS5DZ7H2K8_JtUHH7gPxwcRl2FkqnF7lShyphenhyphenUm3cxzM1HLL6AJYK58jSbccwETD2RxJ9v30RfAHVja1sIT-JQdvTssXwNXXrfztaaHN4sHKxYUHjTo9HdkIy1IgQN8vgzXmVD8XN4/s1920/Robotech%2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1002" data-original-width="1920" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPXBX76haC6jOHKkeFDUB0Sxl26F0yVahQOd627B_m9PmvPcKojAypS5DZ7H2K8_JtUHH7gPxwcRl2FkqnF7lShyphenhyphenUm3cxzM1HLL6AJYK58jSbccwETD2RxJ9v30RfAHVja1sIT-JQdvTssXwNXXrfztaaHN4sHKxYUHjTo9HdkIy1IgQN8vgzXmVD8XN4/w470-h245/Robotech%2014.png" width="470" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The CVS-01 <i>Prometheus</i>, a supercarrier manned with Veritech fighters assigned to patrol the area around Macross Island. The <i>Prometheus</i> goes on to play a continuous role in the story (not pictured: its submersible assault sister-carrier, the <i>Daedalus</i>, which has an even more impactful one).</span></b></div></b><p style="text-align: left;">This version of the movie was never made, as James Wan decamped to make <i>Aquaman</i>. Andy Muschietti (<i>IT: Chapter One</i> and <i>Chapter Two</i>) stepped in to develop a different version of the film but he ultimately left as well. In 2022 it was confirmed that Rhys Thomas (<b>Hawkeye</b>) was developing yet another version for the screen.</p><p style="text-align: left;">It has to be said this concept art is extremely impressive, even though this iteration of the script (which reportedly was more of a generic SF flick with the Zentraedi just attacking Earth and the rebuilt SDF-1 defending against them) barely bore any resemblance to the original story outside of the premise, so from that point of view it's probably a good thing the project did not make it any further.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-W12SRXM1C9JmlXICGCT1HCvk6BKs7lGoUVd1wKseCl_n0yyqjcOfGz8RWH_mZBjmozYRcFaP8bfsSg75izB5pmrP7rOpy149iCHGRo-CVSNbYt5TeSjj_fF4z_2mwSxrGXvooLdquWVjE378t2XTIsDySFgT6yDUkL6ck_4xxcbEEh115JwYZLpnNkw/s1920/Robotech%2004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1002" data-original-width="1920" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-W12SRXM1C9JmlXICGCT1HCvk6BKs7lGoUVd1wKseCl_n0yyqjcOfGz8RWH_mZBjmozYRcFaP8bfsSg75izB5pmrP7rOpy149iCHGRo-CVSNbYt5TeSjj_fF4z_2mwSxrGXvooLdquWVjE378t2XTIsDySFgT6yDUkL6ck_4xxcbEEh115JwYZLpnNkw/w452-h236/Robotech%2004.png" width="452" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"I feel the need, the need for speed. And to sometimes transform into Jetfire, I guess."</span></b></div></b><p style="text-align: left;">This version was also stymied because Sony did not have access to the original <b>Robotech</b> designs due to ongoing litigation between the Japanese creators of <b>Macross </b>and Harmony Gold, who redeveloped the show as <b>Robotech</b>. Most of these legal issues were resolved in 2021, opening the door to a live-action movie using the original designs, or perhaps at least more faithful versions. It may also be the project might now have more legs due to the success of <i>Top Gun: Maverick</i>; a film which emphasises the fighter pilot storyline more heavily could do well (as an aside, the original Valkyrie/Veritech fighter was inspired by the F-14 Tomcat). Skull Squadron reprezent!</p><p style="text-align: left;">A <b>Robotech/Macross </b>live-action project will probably make it to the screen at some point in the future, but who knows when.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="post-footer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #8e8e8e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><p></p><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5471228400830796794" itemprop="description articleBody" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.4; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 578.667px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5547046157511678123" itemprop="description articleBody" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.4; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 578.222px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2655412920470136318" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-690429416597207204" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8602128902799659468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 26.3077px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-50735642052224374242024-02-03T12:46:00.001+00:002024-02-03T12:46:49.941+00:00RIP Christopher Priest<p><a href="https://twitter.com/gollancz/status/1753706811151032443">News has sadly</a> broken that Christopher Priest, one of British SFF's most inventive and confounding authors, has passed away at the age of 80.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8NJNQ8tJlRvVJBngl55Bdc6Q4eqXmtTKjOdWfD_eF1-E1SbF7lF55ZE2R31YOja9w5_X-XfUv0HyThrtgOKTqEQePqgr9u3ubrk5UjGCQ24jytEr5WPG4cbZtAZtpsRzBbKQTTHAxNsjnr8rW-puBH-Aj0LLmAvUG1j8lDpON7kPFxgr-nBqc8wCzQ0/s997/Christopher%20Priest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="997" data-original-width="996" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8NJNQ8tJlRvVJBngl55Bdc6Q4eqXmtTKjOdWfD_eF1-E1SbF7lF55ZE2R31YOja9w5_X-XfUv0HyThrtgOKTqEQePqgr9u3ubrk5UjGCQ24jytEr5WPG4cbZtAZtpsRzBbKQTTHAxNsjnr8rW-puBH-Aj0LLmAvUG1j8lDpON7kPFxgr-nBqc8wCzQ0/w399-h399/Christopher%20Priest.png" width="399" /></a></div><p>Born in Cheadle, Cheshire in 1943, Priest had various jobs as a young man, including an accountant and audit clerk. He discovered an enjoyment of writing at school, and began penning fiction shortly after leaving school. His first story he was happy to have published was "Going Native" (1963), although his first work to actually see print was "The Run" (1966, in <i>Impulse</i>). Priest began publishing short fiction prolifically and became a familiar figure on the nascent British SFF fandom scene.</p><p>In 1968 he was able to become a full-time writer and published his first novel, <i>Indoctrinaire</i>, in 1970, in which an Arctic researcher is kidnapped and taken to a location in Brazil subject to bizarre timeslips. Whether the SFF elements in the story are real or a product of the character's mind is a recurring theme in Priest's work. <i>Fugue for a Darkening Island</i> (1972) achieved a higher profile with a timely (then as now) story about a near-future Britain whose politics are pushed to the extreme by an influx of refugees from an Africa scarred by war.</p><p><i>The Inverted World</i> (1974) is arguably Priest's most overtly science fictional novel, featuring the City Earth, a massive machine-city rumbling constantly across a hyperboloid world. The book won Priest his first BSFA Award, although in later years he seemed to regard its overt SF-ness with amusement, and wrote a satirical sequel short story with the memorable title "The Making of the Lesbian Horse" (1979).</p><p>The next phase of Priest's career saw him predicting the rise of major new subgenres. <i>The Space Machine</i> (1976) ambitiously combines the events of H.G. Wells' <i>The Time Machine</i> and <i>War of the Worlds</i> into a single universe and acts as a sequel to both, with Wells himself playing a role in the narrative. The novel has a decidedly steampunk feel, some years before that subgenre became more widespread. His subsequent novel, <i>A Dream of Wessex</i> (1977), deals with human-machine brain interfaces and virtual reality, and was subsequently cast in the nascent cyberpunk genre, which had already been given great impetus by Priest's fellow Brit John Brunner (after early work in this mode by Philip K. Dick) and would later explode again in the United States in the mid-1980s.</p><p>In 1974 Priest penned "An Infinite Summer" as a commission for Harlan Ellison's anthology <i>The Last Dangerous Visions</i>, his third massive, genre-spanning anthology work. After repeated failures on Ellison's part to communicate the status of the collection or the story, Priest withdrew the story. The story became Priest's most seismic work for two reasons. The first is that that setting - a beautiful but mysterious world called the Dream Archipelago - inspired him, unusually, to write four stories set in the same milieu. These were later collected as <i>An Infinite Summer</i> (1979). Priest revisited the setting through his career, becoming the closest thing he had to a signature series.</p><p>The second is that Priest felt his treatment by Ellison had been unprofessional, and as he consulted other writers whose stories had vanished in the black hole of <i>The Last Dangerous Visions</i>, he realised some had been treated far worse than he had. He embarked on a journalistic investigation of the situation, publishing the results as "The Last Deadloss Visions" in 1987. Ellison initially reacted with bonhomie, comparing himself to Michelangelo completing the Sistine Chapel whilst "an angry Priest rants below," but his amusement was short-lived. His predictably explosive reactions as the situation continued did not deter Priest from covering the story further in new editions of the work, and in 1994 expanded this to a full volume, <i>The Book on the Edge of Forever</i>, which was nominated for a Hugo Award. Allegedly, Ellison would spend some time going around dealers' rooms at conventions and threatening anyone stocking the book with legal action or trying to have them thrown out.</p><p>Priest returned to novel-length work with <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2009/02/wertzone-classics-affirmation-by.html">The Affirmation</a></i> (1981), one of several contenders for the title of his best novel. The novel is also partially set in the Dream Archipelago, but sees the protagonist slipping between that milieu and life in contemporary London, with the fantastic events bleeding over into the mundane and the reader left unsure about what is happening. In one of Priest's boldest moves, the novel has a looping narrative that ends where it begins, which allows the novel to be immediately reread as its own sequel. The book won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award.</p><p><i>The Glamour</i> (1984), a spin on the invisibility trope, marks a return to a more conventional narrative, although as always this is only relative to Priest's own extremes. <i>The Quiet Woman</i> (1990) revisits the idea of Britain collapsing into a dystopia, with the southern countries becoming contaminated by radiation.</p><p>Not for the last time in his career, Priest undertook a career hiatus, but returned in 1995 with his best-known, most accessible and approachable novel. <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2008/03/wertzone-classics-prestige-by.html">The Prestige</a></i> is a story of warring magicians in 19th Century England which feels pretty conventional, although engrossing, until its conclusion, when Priest undertakes one of his finest finales. The novel won the World Fantasy Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was nominated for both a Clarke and BSFA award. It's non-appearance at the Hugos remains bewildering. The novel is the only one of Priest's works to be filmed, by no less than Christopher Nolan and staring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie. <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2010/01/prestige.html">The Prestige</a></i> is a fine film, though perhaps a tad less accomplished than the novel.</p><p><i>The Extremes</i> (1998) was something of a thematic sequel to <i>A Dream of Wessex</i>, dealing with virtual reality, but Priest also examines the notion of what he calls "spree violence," manifesting as explosive outbursts of violence by hitherto apparently sane individuals. In 1999 he collected various short fiction as <i>The Dream Archipelago</i>, something of a thematic follow-up to the earlier <i>An Infinite Summer</i> (whose stories it also contains).</p><p>In 2002 he returned to fiction with <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2008/03/wertzone-classics-separation-by.html">The Separation</a></i>, another contender for his best novel. The book deals heavily with duality, as identical twins take on different roles in World War II, one as an ambulance driver and the other as a bomber pilot, with a framing device set in the present day. The book is possibly Priest's most ambitious and brain-melting, and defies easy summary.</p><p><i>The Separation</i> also apparently did poorly in sales, with low print runs. Priest did not publish another novel for nine years, leading to speculation of an unofficial retirement.</p><p>However, when Priest did return, it was in force. <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/09/islanders-by-christopher-priest.html">The Islanders</a></i> (2011) is a confident return to the Dream Archipelago, tying in with his earlier <i>The Affirmation</i> but also acting a travelogue narrative somewhere between novel, gazetteer and story collection. <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-adjacent-by-christopher-priest.html">The Adjacent</a></i> (2013) is a mystery-SF novel about a mysterious weapon that kills thousands of people in an apparent terrorist attack on contemporary Britain, but also ties in with events during World War I and II, including stage magicians aircraft pilots and the Dream Archipelago. In that sense it feels a bit like "Priest's Greatest Hits" assembled as a single novel.</p><p><i>The Gradual</i> (2016) and <i>The Evidence</i> (2020) both revisit the Dream Archipelago more directly, with a musician touring the islands experiencing temporal dislocation and, in the latter a crime novelist who finds his sojourn on one of the islands somehow embroils him in a murder that took place many years in the past.</p><p>Inbetween he wrote <i>An American Story</i> (2018), perhaps his weakest work, which explores how conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 emerged. Priest's novels have often challenged orthodoxy, so his examination of why people believe counter-narratives in an absence of proof is interesting, but not especially revelatory.</p><p><i>Expect Me Tomorrow</i> (2022) returns to a favourite theme of twins, this time with two sets of twins in the 19th Century and the late 21st Century. The advent of an ability to communicate across time leads to intriguing ideas.</p><p>Priest's final novel is now <i>Airside</i> (2023), in which a film critic goes in search of a missing movie star amidst the infinitely-recessing perspectives of modern airports. Unusually, Priest includes his influences and inspirations for the novel, including the film <i>La Jetée </i>(1962).</p><p>In addition to the fiction penned under his own name, Priest wrote media tie-ins under a variety of pen names: he has only admitted to the 1986 novelisations of the films <i>Short Circuit</i> and <i>Mona Lisa</i>, and <i>eXistenZ</i> in 1999 which he penned under his own name after finding the premise intriguing (although the finished film underwhelmed). How many more stealthily Priest-penned novelisations are out there is unknown, but intriguing.</p><p>Priest wrote novels and stories that were accessible - his prose was always smooth and engrossing - but completely confounding in their approach to genre, their linearity and if the events were even really happening. Priest's friend and occasional collaborator David Langford dubbed this "The Priest Effect," the moment in a Priest novel when the reader "gets it," either what's going on or at least grasps the strand that things are not as they seem and the floor of the narrative is dropping away beneath their feet. Arguably Priest could over-indulge with this; its notable that his best-regarded novels are those which anchor the narrative on firmer ground and keep their powder dry, deploying the Effect at just the right time and with restraint, to the achieve the greatest impact. For that reason, and its very fine film adaptation, <i>The Prestige</i> will likely emerge as Priest's most enduring work. But all of his nineteen novels are at least interesting and thought-provoking. </p><p>The fact that Priest also managed to pass away shortly before the actually-for-real-this-time, posthumous publication of <i>The Last Dangerous Visions</i> may be a sign that the universe is not entirely without a sense of cosmic irony. "An Infinite Summer" will not be among its contents.</p><p>Priest is survived by two children and his long-term partner. One of Britain's most fascinating, enduring SFF talents, working at the outer edges of the genre and occasionally reporting back, he will be missed.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Novels</u></b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Indoctrinaire</i> (1970)</li><li><i>Fugue for a Darkening Island</i> (1972)</li><li><i>The Inverted World</i> (1974)</li><li><i>The Space Machine</i> (1976)</li><li><i>A Dream of Wessex</i> (1977)</li><li><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2009/02/wertzone-classics-affirmation-by.html">The Affirmation</a></i> (1981)</li><li><i>The Glamour</i> (1984)</li><li><i>Short Circuit</i> (1986, as Colin Wedgelock)</li><li><i>Mona Lisa</i> (1986, as John Luther Novak)</li><li><i>The Quiet Woman</i> (1990)</li><li><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2008/03/wertzone-classics-prestige-by.html">The Prestige</a></i> (1995)</li><li><i>The Extremes</i> (1998)</li><li><i>eXistenZ</i> (1999)</li><li><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2008/03/wertzone-classics-separation-by.html">The Separation</a></i> (2002)</li><li><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/09/islanders-by-christopher-priest.html">The Islanders</a></i> (2011)</li><li><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-adjacent-by-christopher-priest.html">The Adjacent</a></i> (2013)</li><li><i>The Gradual</i> (2016)</li><li><i>An American Story</i> (2018)</li><li><i>The Evidence</i> (2020)</li><li><i>Expect Me Tomorrow</i> (2022)</li><li><i>Airside</i> (2023)</li></ul><div><b><u>Short Story Collections</u></b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Real-Time World</i> (1975)</li><li><i>An Infinite Summer</i> (1979)</li><li><i>The Dream Archipelago</i> (1999)</li><li><i>Ersatz Wines</i> (2008)</li><li><i>Episodes</i> (2019)</li></ul></div><p></p>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-7747238473573152732024-01-29T19:54:00.001+00:002024-01-29T19:54:58.982+00:00New DEUS EX game cancelledA new <b>Deus Ex </b>game in early development at Eidos Montreal <a href="https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/new-deus-ex-game-in-the-works-for-two-years-reportedly-cancelled-almost-100-staff-laid-off-at-eidos-montreal">has been cancelled</a>. The news broke as Embracer Group, who acquired Eidos Montreal in 2022, confirmed over 100 layoffs at the company.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjq9s8NIktGYvKcazUhFXFyjTVnJKs6wWBszCVuiEo9MhJk_9WvuupRKwYBn3LI_hQ-zaoS3ImamtSKs3yAxoYDuFtfH0VX0hlagnkLDaYrdiC9oLx35hMUe5R-O6DbrinZqrp-Ze-pEI0jmhpanWxvBspalNvo1MJlx_0eDBZsavJvuDFdoIb7PT1wLys" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjq9s8NIktGYvKcazUhFXFyjTVnJKs6wWBszCVuiEo9MhJk_9WvuupRKwYBn3LI_hQ-zaoS3ImamtSKs3yAxoYDuFtfH0VX0hlagnkLDaYrdiC9oLx35hMUe5R-O6DbrinZqrp-Ze-pEI0jmhpanWxvBspalNvo1MJlx_0eDBZsavJvuDFdoIb7PT1wLys=w484-h272" width="484" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"I never asked for this."</span></b></div></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"A new Deus Ex game? I'm pretty sure <i>everyone</i> asked for that."</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"No, I was referring to the layoffs and cancellation."</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Oh, that was unclear."</span></b></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Yeah, I get that now."</span></b></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Embracer Group went on a buying spree of IPs and development studios during and just after the COVID pandemic, when video game stocks were riding high. Embracer planned to leverage a huge portfolio of talent to do a massive deal with a Saudi investment company. However, as the post-COVID video game bubble burst, the Saudi company pulled out, leaving Embracer suddenly flapping in the breeze. The company <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2023/08/descent-freespace-red-faction-and.html">has since been shedding jobs and closing down studios</a> at a rate of knots as it tries to balance its books.</div><div><br /></div><div>The <b>Deus Ex</b> franchise is one of the best-regarded in all of video gaming, with original entry <i>Deus Ex</i> (2000) still often cited as one of the greatest video games ever made for its iconic story, characters and incredible freedom of choice. It is often cited as a shining example of both the RPG and immersive sim genres, with the player allowed to follow the story and events however they wish, no matter how implausible or seemingly game-breaking. Console-centric follow up <i>Deus Ex: Invisible War</i> (2003) was much less successful, both critically and commercially, and was believed to have killed the franchise. However, the series was brought back from the brink of extinction for <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2013/11/deus-ex-human-revolution-directors-cut.html">Deus Ex: Human Revolution</a></i> (2011), which was regarded as another modern classic and sold extremely well. Sequel <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2016/09/deus-ex-mankind-divided.html">Deus Ex: Mankind Divided</a></i> (2016) was critically praised, but sales were cooler, with anger over an attempt to monetise the single-player-only game with cosmetics and a cliffhanger ending which some believed made the game feel incomplete.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eidos Montreal were moved to other projects, spearheading development of <i>Shadow of the Tomb Raider</i> (2018) and working with Crystal Dynamics on <i>Marvel's Avengers</i> (2020). Eidos Montreal then developed the well-received <i>Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy</i> (2021) before the Embracer sale, and <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2022/11/new-deus-ex-game-in-development.html">apparently began work on a new <i>Deus Ex</i> at that time</a>. It was unclear if this game was a follow-up to <i>Human Revolution </i>and <i>Mankind Divided</i> (which followed the same cast and storyline) or a new story in the same universe, or even a remake of the original game.</div><div><br /></div><div>The <b>Deus Ex</b> series has bounced back from total extinction the past, so hopefully that will be the case here.</div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-54712284008307967942024-01-26T20:20:00.000+00:002024-01-26T20:20:31.229+00:00Happy 50th Birthday to DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and the tabletop roleplaying genre<p><b>Dungeons & Dragons</b> turns 50 years old today, <a href="https://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2013/12/when-dungeons-dragons-turns-40.html#more">or at least today-ish</a>. The first few copies of the original release of the game hit the wild in late January and early February 1974, although the ad hoc nature of the game's development and release means there's always been ambiguity over the precise date.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVsp7DtZeDMGv0I0tSKDVorqze2Ow3n9v3JqpPfN7JrVToLZ8tg5NR-9jq60-sY5LKQXnIsGgoV082AGz0N-TEw8mLB8vxYc03A-iye41ldK2Qfk9PBvS5iHl_BZF1r7ruBCCyZTN2sCSeAxeGhP8nPy8016v5k8ApLPic_F-PGSVNJYD6hjJHz9UaTvc/s634/image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="634" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVsp7DtZeDMGv0I0tSKDVorqze2Ow3n9v3JqpPfN7JrVToLZ8tg5NR-9jq60-sY5LKQXnIsGgoV082AGz0N-TEw8mLB8vxYc03A-iye41ldK2Qfk9PBvS5iHl_BZF1r7ruBCCyZTN2sCSeAxeGhP8nPy8016v5k8ApLPic_F-PGSVNJYD6hjJHz9UaTvc/w486-h296/image.png" width="486" /></a></div><p><b>D&D</b> was co-developed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, two wargamers from Wisconsin. Since the 1960s they'd been playing and designing wargames, starting off in traditional arenas like Civil War and Napoleonic War games, as well as naval titles (including their first co-designed game, <i>Don't Give Up the Ship!</i>). By the end of the decade they had developed an interest in fantasy fiction, with Gygax particularly driven by his love of the works of Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Michael Moorcock and Robert E. Howard. Arneson and some of their friends were also fans of <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>, which had recently blown up big time (Gygax was cooler on <i>Rings</i>, which he considered boring, preferring the shorter, more focused adventuring of <i>The Hobbit</i>).</p><p>Merging fantasy with wargaming seemed an obvious move, and as early as the late 1960s Gygax was organising a play-by-mail campaign set in a fantasy land called "the Great Kingdom." However, assembling a large army of elves, orcs and goblins was difficult, forcing players to substitute models of, say, French line infantry or Prussian hussars. In 1971 Gygax and Jeff Perren collaborated to create a wargame, which they named <i>Chainmail</i>. Drawing on 1968 wargame <i>Siege of Bodenburg</i> for inspiration, the game focused on medieval battles but also had a "fantasy supplement" with rules on incorporating elves, dwarves and magic into the game.</p><p>Arneson was a fan of <i>Chainmail </i>but had also been working on a fantasy variation of <i>Braunstein</i>, an experimental rules system allowing for the control of individual characters on the battlefield. As he developed the project, Arneson added elements including character classes and levels, experience points and armour class, as well as a background setting, which he called "Blackmoor." Arneson invited Gygax to play the game and Gygax immediately saw the potential for it. He developed many of the ideas in greater detail and play-tested the first variations at home with his wife and children. He and Arneson agreed to develop the game as a commercial project; according to legend, Gygax's then-two-year-old daughter picked the title "<b>Dungeons & Dragons</b>" from a list Gygax had been mulling over.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHct2e3N_-IRtKTaz67c23crjLkXLcb-2FSROD8NGRKpbMXHJoB6zF00-lYzPZ85MjUEC8JX8X7sFQwk3Nz7umFpoI0I-amD5Z0J5sczoRtecbCE1Wa1Q6NGkqIQxyMZSSJZzuzMQdgA2HnXJ5lAfoQHGlG4gS-j5gBVP_ETzXYJSOvWPm-1aTa7s6AXA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="363" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHct2e3N_-IRtKTaz67c23crjLkXLcb-2FSROD8NGRKpbMXHJoB6zF00-lYzPZ85MjUEC8JX8X7sFQwk3Nz7umFpoI0I-amD5Z0J5sczoRtecbCE1Wa1Q6NGkqIQxyMZSSJZzuzMQdgA2HnXJ5lAfoQHGlG4gS-j5gBVP_ETzXYJSOvWPm-1aTa7s6AXA=w239-h337" width="239" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The original Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set from January 1974.</span></b></div></b><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>Arneson and Gygax set up the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) in October 1973 to handle the project. Their budget for the project was just $2,000 (about $12,450 in today's money), with only around $100 budgeted for artwork. With the budget limited, they were only able to print 1,000 copies, which they sold through local conventions and mail order ads in magazines and fanzines. Arneson and Gygax did not expect big success, but all 1,000 copies were sold within a few months and they rushed through a reprint; more than 3,000 copies were sold in 1975.</p><p>To Gygax and Arneson's surprise, they quickly had interest from overseas. In mid-1975 they were contacted by Ian Livingstone and Steven Jackson, who had set up a London-based company called Games Workshop, which was designing boards for popular games like Backgammon and Go. GW became the exclusive European importer of <b>Dungeons & Dragons</b>, which drove the success of both companies. GW later invested in miniatures, co-founding Citadel Miniatures in 1978 and developing a generic line of high-quality (for the time) fantasy figures for use with <b>D&D</b> and other fantasy games like <b>Runequest</b> and <b>Middle-earth Roleplaying</b>. When Games Workshop lost the exclusive distribution licence for <b>D&D</b>, they decided to create their own tabletop wargame using their fantasy figures...although that is a different story.</p><p>The popularity of <b>D&D</b> rapidly grew. Arneson and Gygax published several supplements and expanded TSR, launching a tie-in magazine (called <i>The Dragon</i>, later shorted to <i>Dragon</i>) and incorporating new rules and ideas. Notably, <b>D&D </b>did not launch with an established setting or world, instead encouraging Dungeon Masters to create their own world. Gygax and Arneson eventually detailed their home campaign worlds, named the <b>World of Greyhawk</b> and <b>Blackmoor</b> respectively, for supplements, but these remained optional.</p><p>The encouragement was well-taken, however, with a young Canadian teenager named Ed Greenwood converting a world he'd created as a little kid for short stories into a <b>D&D</b> campaign world, which he dubbed <b>Forgotten Realms</b>, and started writing <i>Dragon </i>articles in the setting. A very young British writer, Charles Stross, was also encouraged to create his own monsters, "borrowing" the name "githyanki" from an obscure novel called <i>Dying of the Light</i> (by an ultra-obscure writer called George R.R. Martin) for a memorable species for the <i>Fiend Folio</i> tome. Meanwhile, a writer in South Carolina called Oliver Rigney, Jr. agreed to run <b>D&D</b> campaigns for his young stepson and started pondering his own ideas for a fantasy world. In California, the Abrams Brothers were inspired to create their own <b>D&D</b> world, which they called Midkemia. They quickly moved beyond <b>D&D </b>to other rules systems and developed the world further; when a friend from university called Ray Feist asked if he could write a novel called <i>Magician </i>based on the same world, they said okay. Over in the UK a press officer working for a nuclear power plant, named T. Pratchett, invited his co-workers to a <b>D&D</b> night at the local pub and was dismayed when they went totally off the rails and trashed the campaign; he was at least satisfied with one of his creations for the game, an ambulatory chest which ran around on tons of little legs, carrying the adventurers' gear.</p><p>Up north in Canada, two archaeology students started playing a <b>D&D</b> game. They quickly tired of the focus on killing monsters and looting their stuff, but became intrigued by applying archaeological principles to the game: who are the monsters, who built these dungeons, and what history led to these events? In 1986 they switched their gaming to the newly-released <b>GURPS</b> system and developed what became known as the <b>Malazan</b> world, with Ian Esslemont penning the first proto-<b>Malazan</b> novel, <i>Night of Knives</i> in 1986 and Steve Lundin (aka Steven Erikson) writing a film script in the same world called <i>Gardens of the Moon</i>; with zero interest from Hollywood he redeveloped it into a novel in 1991, and the rest was, as they say, history.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVXT_9zcT0GWc0__lutVsUm6Xf1M0_usOy4B6jrFlSeI2ZZ3W0bxoWxnSP1klks1oM-GSRYOKVkYjvCTG0Uv7Q8jHtk0rsNNIHLF44kZOSGSALC5R_2-Lp2_57IghHmWTsAWzez9AzVblW0nekToYpvuL9tC3F0oXObYCogTlO8sVv_Jh3e7SahFvX1YA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2303" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVXT_9zcT0GWc0__lutVsUm6Xf1M0_usOy4B6jrFlSeI2ZZ3W0bxoWxnSP1klks1oM-GSRYOKVkYjvCTG0Uv7Q8jHtk0rsNNIHLF44kZOSGSALC5R_2-Lp2_57IghHmWTsAWzez9AzVblW0nekToYpvuL9tC3F0oXObYCogTlO8sVv_Jh3e7SahFvX1YA=w345-h450" width="345" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The AD&D Player's Handbook, 1st Edition, 1978.</span></b></div></b><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>Back in the late 1970s, Arneson was not hugely interested in working in a corporate environment and bailed on the game, instead happy to collect his royalties as the game's success began to explode exponentially. This irked Gygax, who continued to work in the trenches of game development, writing and making new business deals. According to some theories, Gygax began development of a new <b>D&D</b> derivative which Arneson which would not be involved in, allowing Gygax to claim sole copyright (and thus royalties) over. This resulted in <b>Advanced Dungeons & Dragons</b>, aka <b>D&D 1st Edition</b>, which appeared in 1978. Arneson's lawyers were unhappy with Gygax's argument, and later legal deals were settled in both parties' favour. However, the existence of <b>"Advanced"</b> <b>D&D</b> kind of required the continued existence of a <b>"Basic" D&D</b>, which appeared in 1981 (after a prototypical version was tested in 1977). The Basic D&D line eventually became the biggest-selling line of <b>D&D</b> projects, shifting over six million copies.</p><p>In 1983, TSR shifted strategies by planning a "multimedia event," one of the first of its kind, with a major new campaign set in a brand new world focusing on dragons. This resulted in the <b>Dragonlance</b> setting, spearheaded by a 16-volume adventure series and a novel trilogy, <b>The Dragonlance Chronicles</b>, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The novels became bestsellers, shifting four million copies before the end of the decade. </p><p>In the early 1980s, Gygax decamped to Hollywood to work on a <b>D&D</b> movie and TV show, eventually resulting in the release of a <b>Dungeons & Dragons</b> animated series, but no movie. With Gygax apparently distracted by partying at the Playboy Mansion (as you do), TSR recalled him and manoeuvred him out of the company in 1985.</p><p>With Gygax gone, designers felt uncomfortable carrying on using his <b>Greyhawk</b> setting. With <b>Dragonlance</b> featuring many deviations from "core" <b>D&D</b> rules, it was decided to develop a new campaign world. TSR called on Ed Greenwood, who'd been contributing to <i>Dragon Magazine</i> for a decade with articles set in the <b>Forgotten Realms</b>, and bought the setting from him, publishing it in 1987. Tie-in novels also appeared, with the third novel published, <i>The Crystal Shard</i> by R.A. Salvatore (featuring a dark elf protagonist, Drizzt Do'Urden), becoming an immediate big hit. The success of the Realms encouraged a whole slew of new campaign settings, although none became as big as the Realms or the earlier setting: <b>Spelljammer</b> (1989), <b>Dark Sun</b> (1991), <b>Al-Qadim</b> (1992), <b>Planescape</b> (1994) and <b>Birthright</b> (1995).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRz8GpHeed5IbN0pA5ocqP3P7PWlaoMpLG4QfXMDQIPUcr3i58_lf0f2H2TeMCU2-SlkLfQSeRSy8_YCY4yCZjztQlOST5puukOCMPnu3ZoJ5saynkmNIewOsCMfxd6wWCNK_1_JdF1H_G7fQc75219BNROpOm0jqvf-x7KgBa6UB3So4zMrgxCBqsTxg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1680" data-original-width="1265" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRz8GpHeed5IbN0pA5ocqP3P7PWlaoMpLG4QfXMDQIPUcr3i58_lf0f2H2TeMCU2-SlkLfQSeRSy8_YCY4yCZjztQlOST5puukOCMPnu3ZoJ5saynkmNIewOsCMfxd6wWCNK_1_JdF1H_G7fQc75219BNROpOm0jqvf-x7KgBa6UB3So4zMrgxCBqsTxg=w277-h367" width="277" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The 2nd Edition D&D Player's Handbook, 1989.</span></b></div></b><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>The 2nd Edition of <b>Dungeons & Dragons</b> launched in 1989, but the game started dropping sales in the early 1990s. <b>D&D</b> had effectively created the entire tabletop roleplaying game industry, resulting in a bunch of other games soon appearing: <b>Empire of the Petal Throne</b> (1975), <b>Boot Hill</b> (1975), <b>Traveller</b> (1977), <b>RuneQuest</b> (1978), <b>Gamma World</b> (1978), <b>Call of Cthulhu</b> (1981), <b>Champions</b> (1981), <b>Star Trek</b> (1982), <b>Palladium </b>(1983), <b>Heroes Unlimited </b>(1984), <b>Paranoia</b> (1984), <b>Doctor Who</b> (1985), <b>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</b> (1985), <b>MechWarrior</b> (1985), <b>Robotech</b> (1986), <b>GURPS</b> (1986), <b>Star Wars</b> (1987), <b>Cyberpunk </b>(1988) and <b>Shadowrun</b> (1989), among many others.</p><p>Hugely important was <b>Vampire: The Masquerade</b>, which appeared in 1991. With a streamlined rules system and a cool setting with a ton of deep lore, the game quickly became hugely popular, eclipsing <b>D&D</b> in sales. Weird Western <b>Deadlands</b>, which launched in 1996, was also hugely successful in a similar vein. <b>D&D</b> was increasingly seen as old-fashioned and old-hat, with its rules system feeling archaic (with many core features largely unchanged since 1974, despite three distinct versions of the game having existed) and its overwhelming focus on combat over the social side of roleplaying feeling dated. Unbeknown to fans and players, TSR was also in financial trouble, trouble that continued to expand through bizarre business decisions and the policy of creating more product to push through publishers to create churn, even though the products were not selling.</p><p>In 1997 TSR effectively collapsed and had to be rescued by Seattle-based Wizards of the Coast, the company founded just a few years earlier to sell the <b>Magic: The Gathering</b> card game. <b>Magic: The Gathering</b> was a colossal, ludicrous sales success and it was easily able to buy TSR and settle its immense debts. Goodwill towards <b>D&D</b> was starting to build again, thanks to the success of the tie-in video games from BioWare and Black Isle Studios, including <i>Baldur's Gate </i>(1998), <i>Planescape: Torment</i> (1999) and <i>Icewind Dale</i> (2000), along with the various sequels. Wizards of the Coast released <b>Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition </b>in 2000 to immediate success and acclaim, reasserting the game's position as the market-leading roleplaying game. The d20 rules system pioneered by 3E soon spawned a whole host of other games.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiA1HQslc-27irM20fmyWS1Ez7o2nXBeQxeTo7oeF8hY_veZg7r-mkqKoImUXKTtF4NT5uPIc6zfkeTISYQVqa3wa9nIgTO97RCrqYh3HeahZWmOeIujoHZhTNMvdmqzgfd18yxPEiCrB95Gkfeviexmu88eYpqrKVHRW-435dtc8uRguvvtCdfLxnUp5A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="380" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiA1HQslc-27irM20fmyWS1Ez7o2nXBeQxeTo7oeF8hY_veZg7r-mkqKoImUXKTtF4NT5uPIc6zfkeTISYQVqa3wa9nIgTO97RCrqYh3HeahZWmOeIujoHZhTNMvdmqzgfd18yxPEiCrB95Gkfeviexmu88eYpqrKVHRW-435dtc8uRguvvtCdfLxnUp5A=w271-h357" width="271" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The D&D 3rd Edition Player's Handbook (2000), the first recognisably "modern" iteration of the game.</span></b></div></b><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>However, 3rd Edition lacked the long tail of earlier versions of the game, something the release of a "3.5 Edition" in 2003 seemed to exacerbate rather than solve (fans angered by the release of new rulebooks barely three years after the last). Faced with dwindling sales, WotC released the 4th Edition of the game years ahead of schedule in 2008, but the game saw a huge move away from <b>D&D</b>'s original rules, resulting in a lot more anger from fans. Many decamped to rival fantasy game <b>Pathfinder</b>, established in 2009 and carrying on the 3rd Edition line of rules. <b>D&D</b> went through a nadir of sales and popularity in the early 2010s, with WotC rumoured to be considering cancelling the game outright. The 5th Edition, released in 2014, was a big improvement, at least in the eyes of the game-buying public, and livestreams of games over the Internet (particularly the <b>Critical Role</b> webseries) soon triggered high sales. The game also got a boost from the major role it played in Netflix series <b>Stranger Things </b>(2016-present). 5th Edition's sales became the healthiest seen for the game since the early 1980s. A revision of 5th Edition is due for release later this year.</p><p>It's not always been plain sailing. WotC have been criticised in recent years for ambiguity over AI artwork, trying to cancel the Open Game Licence (allowing third parties to produce compatible material) and a lacklustre approach to <b>D&D</b>'s heritage, with very few novels or decent setting material being published. An overzealous approach to copyright protection (resulting in private detectives storming a YouTuber's house after he received a product before its review date) has also proven controversial.</p><p>In its fifty years on sale, <b>D&D</b> has shifted around 20 million core rulebooks and sourcebooks, over 100 million spin-off novels and around 30 million video games. A minimum of 50 million people are believed to have played <b>D&D</b>. It spawned the entire tabletop roleplaying industry and played a key role in the development of video games. At least dozens and likely hundreds (maybe even thousands) of published fantasy authors have played the game. Its impact on fantasy, especially secondary world, epic fantasy, might be second only to that of <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>. Hopefully it can enjoy at least fifty more years of success.</p><p></p><div class="post-footer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #8e8e8e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><p></p><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5547046157511678123" itemprop="description articleBody" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.4; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 578.222px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2655412920470136318" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-690429416597207204" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8602128902799659468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 26.3077px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-88644805164174363482024-01-23T17:35:00.003+00:002024-01-23T17:57:46.678+00:00Netflix releases trailer and release date for AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER<div>Netflix have unveiled the trailer and release date for their live-action take on the animated series <b>Avatar: The Last Airbender</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="340" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ByAn8DF8Ykk" width="409" youtube-src-id="ByAn8DF8Ykk"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>The original animated show ran for three seasons from 2005 to 2008 and won significant critical acclaim, which has only increased over the years through reruns and re-releases. It spawned a spin-off show, <b>The Legend of Korra</b>, which ran for four seasons from 2012 to 2014.</div><div><br /></div><div>The main cast includes Gordon Cormier as Aang, Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as General Iroh, Elizabeth Yu as Princess Azula, Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Azula. Recurring castmembers include Ken Leung as Commander Zhao, Maria Zhang as Suki, Lim Kay Siu as Gyatso, Amber Midthunder as Princess Yue, Yvonne Chapman as Avatar Kiroshi, C.S. Lee as Avatar Roku, Danny Pudi as the Mechanist, Utkarsh Ambudkar as King Bumi, James Sie as the Cabbage Merchant, Arden Cho as June the Bounty Hunter, Momona Tamada as Ty Lee, Thalia Tran as Mai, Meegwun Fairbrother as Avatar Kuruk, Hiro Kanagawa as Fire Lord Sozin, George Takei as Koh the Face-Stealer and Sebastian Amoruso as Jet.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn0ODwEZhtnejgEGr02BANCsFpjw3xgDKS6aTlrkHKX5XuWz40H3yLuRGZSKFZ4IMi3se0lRglGulEsw64_iHTtmNLxOrXZ7Kb_9HtWaMUWWo5WSOwifiptZJhzCav6cxXhZH3OLBjS4jG_XxzdLCeTgNnjSUk7Nwnq-3NLSyWCASIr7CG5_4qlygMh4Q/s6712/Avatar%20Last%20Airbender%20Base%20Map.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2832" data-original-width="6712" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn0ODwEZhtnejgEGr02BANCsFpjw3xgDKS6aTlrkHKX5XuWz40H3yLuRGZSKFZ4IMi3se0lRglGulEsw64_iHTtmNLxOrXZ7Kb_9HtWaMUWWo5WSOwifiptZJhzCav6cxXhZH3OLBjS4jG_XxzdLCeTgNnjSUk7Nwnq-3NLSyWCASIr7CG5_4qlygMh4Q/w486-h205/Avatar%20Last%20Airbender%20Base%20Map.png" width="486" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The first season consists of eight episodes. Original <b>Avatar</b> creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are listed as the writers of the first episode and the co-writers of the sixth episode, despite parting ways with the project early in development. DiMartino and Konietzko are developing new <b>Avatar</b> animated projects with Nickelodeon, including a new animated sequel movie to the original series.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Avatar: The Last Airbender</b> arrives on Netflix on 22 February.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="312" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wVmyBda1G6I" width="375" youtube-src-id="wVmyBda1G6I"></iframe></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-34224319163050747552024-01-21T20:55:00.009+00:002024-01-21T21:14:21.126+00:00Franchise Familiariser: BattleTech (2023 update)<p>There has been a recent surge of interest in <b>BattleTech</b>, the venerable franchise about people piloting giant robots and trying to beat up or destroy other giant robots, all in a well-realised setting (think of <i>Pacific Rim</i> meets <b>Game of Thrones</b> and you're halfway there). The science fiction tabletop wargame is now one of the best-selling in its field, and more people are trying it out thanks to recent successful video games and Kickstarters for the wargame.</p><p>There’s more interest in the franchise than there has been in maybe a decade, but what to do if you’re intrigued but have no idea what it’s all about? Time for a Franchise Familiariser course!</p><p>(A previous version of this article <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2018/04/franchise-familiariser-battletech.html">was published</a> in 2018.)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tqNrO38JtM86dGzdfk9_8MFu2PVuTtAwtpQ6co6QyvthhDZeqx77o9gPscXbxyenl81iBVjgS3pXmQMOd37cxhzQHUREs5QbLZKpDW4dVxTJ4Re9S9F1LQfOUPRNNYdwWUPZaPCtWcs/s1600/BattleTech.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="267" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tqNrO38JtM86dGzdfk9_8MFu2PVuTtAwtpQ6co6QyvthhDZeqx77o9gPscXbxyenl81iBVjgS3pXmQMOd37cxhzQHUREs5QbLZKpDW4dVxTJ4Re9S9F1LQfOUPRNNYdwWUPZaPCtWcs/s400/BattleTech.jpg" width="305" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The second edition of BattleTech and the first to use that name, released in 1985.</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Basics<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech</b> (and its related brand, <b>MechWarrior</b>) – neither to be confused with <b>Robotech</b> – is a franchise that merges elements of space opera, feudalism and military science fiction, all influenced and inspired (at least early on) by Japanese manga and anime. It was originally created as a tabletop wargame, followed by a pen-and-paper RPG, but gained its greatest exposure through video games and a lengthy series of novels. A short-run animated series which ran for half a season in 1994.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech</b> was created by Jordan Weisman and L. Ross Babock III for FASA Corporation in 1984 as a tabletop wargame. The original idea had been to create a wargame using large, human-piloted robots known as BattleMechs or ‘mechs. Originally called <b>BattleDroids</b>, the game had to change its name after a few months due to a copyright claim by Lucasfilm (who claimed that they had copyrighted “droids” as part of their <b>Star Wars</b> franchise, a questionable tactic but one that FASA did not have the legal firepower to fend off). A companion tabletop roleplaying game, <b>MechWarrior</b>, was published in 1986. The first <b>BattleTech</b> video games, <i>The Crescent Hawk’s Inception </i>and <i>The Crescent Hawk’s Revenge</i>, were released in 1988 and 1990 respectively.<br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The franchise received a significant boost in popularity, however, through the <b>MechWarrior</b> video game series. The original <i>MechWarrior</i> (1989) was well-received but it was <i>MechWarrior 2</i> (1995) that took the series to new heights. Released at exactly the right moment to capitalise on the 3D gaming craze and more powerful PCs, the game was a huge success. It was followed by <i>MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries</i> (1996), <i>MechWarrior 3</i> (1999), <i>MechWarrior 4: Vengeance </i>(2000), <i>MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries</i> (2002), <i>MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries</i> (2019) and <i>MechWarrior 5: Clans</i> (2024).<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 2001 FASA almost went bust and sold the <b>BattleTech </b>and <b>MechWarrior </b>properties to WizKids. In 2003 WizKids was bought by Topps but continued to release new material under the WizKids name. They have also provided companies such as FanPro and Catalyst Games with licences. Since 2007, Catalyst Game Labs has been releasing new versions of the classic wargame and the roleplaying game, whilst Piranha Studios and Harebrained Schemes have released new video games.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal">In 2018 the franchise had one of the biggest boosts to its popularity from the extremely successful turn-based strategy game <i>BattleTech</i> from Harebrained Schemes, overseen by franchise creator Jordan Weisman. The game sold millions of copies and produced several expansions. A sequel to the game was proposed in 2023 but it's unclear if that project is moving forwards.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal">2018-19 was dubbed the “<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/29/16702346/battletech-mechwarrior-5-mercenaries">year of <b>BattleTech</b></a>”, with two new video games (<i>BattleTech </i>from Harebrained and <i>MechWarrior 5</i> from Piranha) and a refreshed version of the wargame from Catalyst. Since this time the franchise has maintained its franchise, producing add-ons for both video games and more wargaming material, as well as a new tabletop RPG, <i>MechWarrior: Destiny</i>.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>MUCH MORE AFTER THE JUMP</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b></b></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBPEEeTaWvs2ounJ1xjvHxIx8E-749UE3tJ_YkrMI8CLpvxUcGlRlguCa-xm99nKaG4gWI4eHKANLLFE7HOccE6NoFzILK-FCTPy5TLVl11Yq_7EzMsvqurSWvxKVx_pLAppbwAehcgBM/s1600/MechWarrior+2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="696" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBPEEeTaWvs2ounJ1xjvHxIx8E-749UE3tJ_YkrMI8CLpvxUcGlRlguCa-xm99nKaG4gWI4eHKANLLFE7HOccE6NoFzILK-FCTPy5TLVl11Yq_7EzMsvqurSWvxKVx_pLAppbwAehcgBM/s400/MechWarrior+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The video game <i>MechWarrior 2</i> was a massive success in 1995, expanding the BattleTech universe to a new legion of fans.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Canon<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The <b>BattleTech</b> canon consists of the background “fluff” or “lore” from the various editions of the wargame, the background material to the video games and the story told across over 120 novels, novellas and story collections. Despite changing owners and creative teams several times across thirty-four years, the <b>BattleTech</b> lore has remained remarkably consistent and largely free of retcons or changes, the few that have taken place being driven more by rights issues over the original 'mech designs than creative problems.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Wargames<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleDroids</i> (1984)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: 2nd Edition</i> (1985)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: The Succession Wars</i> (1987)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: 3rd Edition </i>(1992)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: 4th Edition</i> (1996)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior: The Dark Age</i> (2002)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Classic BattleTech</i> (2003)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Classic BattleTech: Introductory Set</i> (2007)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Classic BattleTech RPG </i>(2007)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: 25th Anniversary </i>(2011)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: Introductory Set</i> (2014)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: Starterbox</i> (2017)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: Beginner Box</i> (2019)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: A Game of Armoured Combat</i> (2019)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: Clan Invasion</i> (2020)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: Beginner Box, 2nd Edition</i> (2022)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: Mercenaries</i> (2023)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Roleplaying Games</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior</i> (1986)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior: The BattleTech Roleplaying Game, 2nd Edition</i> (1991)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior: 3rd Edition</i> (1999)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: A Time of War Roleplaying Game</i> (2010)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div><i>MechWarrior: Destiny </i>(2020)</div><div><i>BattleTech: A Time of War Roleplaying Game, Reissue</i> (2022)</div></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Video Games<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk’s Inception</i> (1988)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior</i> (1989)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk’s Revenge</i> (1990)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior SNES</i> (1993)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 3050</i> (1994)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 2: 31<sup>st</sup> Century Combat</i> (1995)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bear’s Legacy</i> (1995)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries</i> (1996)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechCommander</i> (1998)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechCommander: Desperate Measures</i> (1999)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 3</i> (1999)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 3: Pirate’s Moon</i> (1999)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 4: Vengeance</i> (2000)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 4: Black Knight</i> (2001)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechCommander 2</i> (2001)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries</i> (2002)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechAssault</i> (2002)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf</i> (2004)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechAssault: Phantom War</i> (2006)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior Online</i> (2013)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior: Tactical Command</i> (2013)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech</i> (2018)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>BattleTech </i>Expansions: <i>Flashpoint</i> (2018) • <i>Urban Warfare</i> (2019) •<i> Heavy Metal</i> (2019)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries</i> (2019)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries</i> Expansions: <i>Heroes of the Inner Sphere</i> (2020) • <i>Legend of the Kestrel Lancers</i> (2021) • <i>Call to Arms</i> (2022) • <i>Rise of Rasalhague </i>(2023) •<i> The Dragon's Gambit</i> (2023)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>MechWarrior 5: Clans</i> (2024)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-w8p94qtGXI2AxuH8_ko61G76hI8xxwignwR6n6DGGihPQvCILyIWqdwmzXBjgc262APcrjZgWYZ9BWwdnl_CQufLXaQTRry6WX4Pp2lyffGEpJvqJWGFOZ08KBt-zE7TNwRC1jrPMaM/s1600/BattleTech+Stackpole.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="269" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-w8p94qtGXI2AxuH8_ko61G76hI8xxwignwR6n6DGGihPQvCILyIWqdwmzXBjgc262APcrjZgWYZ9BWwdnl_CQufLXaQTRry6WX4Pp2lyffGEpJvqJWGFOZ08KBt-zE7TNwRC1jrPMaM/s400/BattleTech+Stackpole.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Michael A. Stackpole is the best-known BattleTech author. His work on BattleTech led him to working in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, where the penned the well-receivd X-Wing and Corran Horn novels.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech Novels<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>The Sword and the Dagger</i> (1987) • <i>Wolves on the Border</i> (1988) • <i>Heir to the Dragon</i> (1989) • <i>Wolf Pack</i> (1992) • <i>Natural Selection </i>(1992) • <i>Ideal War</i> (1992) • <i>Main Event</i> (1993) • <i>Blood of Heroes</i> (1993) • <i>Far Country </i>(1993) • <i>Assumption of Risk</i> (1993) • <i>D.R.T. </i>(1994) • <i>Bred for War </i>(1995) • <i>I Am Jade Falcon</i> (1995) • <i>Highlander Gambit</i> (1995) • <i>Tactics of Duty</i> (1995) • <i>Star Lord</i> (1996) • <i>Malicious Intent</i> (1996) • <i>Operation Excalibur</i> (1996) • <i>Impetus of War</i> (1996) • <i>Double-Blind</i> (1997) • <i>Binding Force</i> (1997) • <i>Ghost of Winter</i> (1999) • <i>Roar of Honour </i>(1999) • <i>By Blood Betrayed </i>(1999) • <i>Dagger Point </i>(2000) • <i>Illusions of Victory</i> (2000) • <i>Path of Glory </i>(2000) • <i>Flashpoint</i> (2001) • <i>Test of Vengeance</i> (2001) • <i>Patriots and Tyrants</i> (2001) • <i>Initiation to War </i>(2001) • <i>The Dying Time</i> (2002) • <i>Imminent Crisis </i>(2002) • <i>Storms of Fate </i>(2002) • <i>Endgame</i> (2002) • <i>Embers of War</i> (2015) • <i>Betrayal of Ideals</i> (2016) • <i>The Nellus Academy Incident</i> (2018) • <i>A Splinter of Hope</i>/<i>The Anvil</i> (2018) <i><o:p></o:p></i>• <i>Forever Faithful </i>(2019) • <i>Redemption Rift</i> (2019) • <i>Kell Hounds Ascendant</i> (2019) • <i>Shell Games</i> (2020) • <i>Divided We Fall </i>(2020) • <i>Rock of the Republic</i> (2020) • <i>Honor's Gauntlet</i> (2020) • <i>Icons of War</i> (2020) • <i>Children of Kerensky</i> (2020) • <i>Hour of the Wolf</i> (2021) • <i>Blood Will Tell</i> (2021) • <i>Hunting Season</i> (2021) • <i>No Substitute for Victory</i> (2022) • <i>Redemption Rites</i> (2022) • <i>A Question of Survival </i>(2022) • <i>The Damocles Sanction</i> (2022)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Saga of the Grey Death Legion</b>: <i>Decision at Thunder Rift</i> (1986) • <i>Mercenary’s Star</i> (1987) • <i>The Price of Glory</i> (1987)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Warrior Trilogy: </b><i>En Garde </i>(1988) • <i>Riposte </i>(1988) • <i>Coupé </i>(1989)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Blood of Kerensky: </b><i>Lethal Heritage</i> (1989) • <i>Blood Legacy</i> (1990) • <i>Lost Destiny</i> (1991)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Jade Phoenix Trilogy: </b><i>Way of the Clans</i> (1991) • <i>Bloodname</i> (1991) • <i>Falcon Guard </i>(1991)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Carmacho’s Caballeros</b>: <i>Close Quarters</i> (1994) • <i>Hearts of Chaos</i> (1996) • <i>Black Dragon</i> (1996)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Twilight of the Clans: </b><i>Exodus Road</i> (1997) • <i>Grave Covenant</i> (1997) • <i>The Hunters</i> (1997) • <i>Freebirth </i>(1998) • <i>Sword and Fire </i>(1998) • <i>Shadows of War</i> (1998) • <i>Prince of Havoc </i>(1998) • <i>Falcon Rising</i> (1999)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Capellan Solution: </b><i>Threads of Ambition</i> (1999) • <i>The Killing Fields</i> (1999)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Archer Christifori: </b><i>Measure of a Hero </i>(2000) • <i>Call of Duty</i> (2001) • <i>Operation Audacity</i> (2002)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Rogue Academy Trilogy: </b><i>Iron Dawn</i> (2019) • <i>Ghost Hour </i>(2020) • <i>Crimson Night</i> (2021)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Highlander Covenant Duology: </b><i>Grey Watch Protocol </i>(2020) • <i>Paid in Blood</i> (2021)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Elements of Treason: </b><i>Duty</i> (2022) • <i>Opportunity</i> (2022) • <i>Honor</i> (2023)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech: Dark Age Novels<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Ghost War</i> (2002) • <i>A Call to Arms</i> (2003) • <i>The Ruins of Power </i>(2003) • <i>By Temptations and By War </i>(2003) • <i>Fortress of Lies </i>(2004) • <i>Patriot’s Stand</i> (2004) • <i>Flight of the Falcon </i>(2004) • <i>Blood of the Isle </i>(2004) • <i>Hunters of the Deep </i>(2004) • <i>The Scorpion Jar</i> (2004) • <i>Target of Opportunity</i> (2005) • <i>Daughter of the Dragon </i>(2005) • <i>Heretic’s Faith </i>(2005) • <i>Blood Avatar </i>(2005) • <i>Trial by Chaos </i>(2006) • <i>Principles of Desolation </i>(2006) • <i>Wolf Hunters</i> (2006) • <i>Surrender Your Dreams </i>(2006) • <i>Dragon Rising </i>(2007) • <i>Masters of War </i>(2007) • <i>A Rending of Falcons</i> (2007) • <i>Pandora’s Gambit </i>(2007) • <i>Fire at Will </i>(2007) • <i>The Last Charge </i>(2007) • <i>To Ride the Chimera </i>(2008) • <i>A Bonfire of Worlds</i> (2009)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Proving Grounds Trilogy: </b><i>A Silence in the Heavens</i> (2003) • <i>Truth and Shadows </i>(2003) • <i>Service for the Dead</i> (2003)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Republic in Flames: </b><i>Sword of Sedition </i>(2005) • <i>Fortress Republic</i> (2005)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech: German-language Novels<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Phoenix</i> (2001) • <i>Madness and Method</i> (2004) • <i>Above the Law</i> (2005) • <i>The Albatross File </i>(2005) • <i>Bitter Fruits</i> (2006) • <i>Fall from Grace </i>(2007) • <i>In Passing</i> (2007) • <i>Infernal Duo </i>(2007) • <i>Karma</i> (2007) • <i>Royal Flush </i>(2008) • <i>Cradle of the Basilisks </i>(2011) <o:p></o:p>• <i>The Guns of Thunder Rock</i> (2015) • <i>In the Shadow of the Beast</i> (2016)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Clan Founder: </b><i>Renunciation </i>(2004) • <i>Dream</i> (2006) <o:p></o:p>• <i>Hunted</i> (2015) •</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Bear Cycle: </b><i>Cat Among Bears </i>(2006) • <i>Clan Guard </i>(2007) • <i>Mission Kiamba </i>(2007) <o:p></o:p>• <i>First Contract</i> (2013) • <i>Brothers-in-Arms</i> (2014) • <i>Risky Objectives</i> (2015)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Andurien Wars: </b><i>Prelude </i>(2012) • <i>Wrath</i> (2012) • <i>Greed </i>(2014)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Arc-Royal: </b><i>Assault on Arc-Royal</i> (2014) • <i>Bloody Hunt</i> (2016)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Nobility Destroys: </b><i>The Heir </i>(2015) • <i>Calculated Chaos</i> (2016)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Griskan Orlov: </b><i>Soldier and Spy </i>(2016) • <i>Slave and Mercenary </i>(2017) • <i>Traitor and Defender</i> (2018)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech TV Series<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech</b> (1994, 13 episodes)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHy-TqtO_K5N8gRcbKno9Cw6C1M1cH4gLDUHXVmPH6HP-HJ1teynZNbxd-O_1zRwPxktHBTdrQGPKGuaWTU_8LdtmYl1laPCWTohuLg9bBKE8xOl7brrwqCTx-fPbHENHL23a4b2hRks/s1600/Battletech+History.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHy-TqtO_K5N8gRcbKno9Cw6C1M1cH4gLDUHXVmPH6HP-HJ1teynZNbxd-O_1zRwPxktHBTdrQGPKGuaWTU_8LdtmYl1laPCWTohuLg9bBKE8xOl7brrwqCTx-fPbHENHL23a4b2hRks/s400/Battletech+History.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Promotional artwork from the video game <i>BattleTech</i> (2018).</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Backstory</span><o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech</b> is set in an alternate history to our own, with the point of divergence being the collapse of the Soviet Union; in the <b>BattleTech </b>timeline the Soviet Union did not collapse until 2011, resulting in a bloody civil war. Outside forces intervened to end the war and secure the USSR’s nuclear arsenal by 2014, preventing a nuclear exchange.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 2020 humanity developed workable fusion power, solving the world’s energy and pollution issues rapidly. By the end of the century humanity had established colonies on Mars and numerous moons across the Solar system.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 2107 mankind developed the Jump Drive, capable of making faster-than-light (FTL) jumps to other star systems. In 2116 the first extrasolar colony was established at Tau Ceti. By 2235 some 600 extrasolar colonies had been founded, resulting in the first human diaspora from the overpopulated homeworld.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 2242 Earth’s government, a descendant of the United Nations now called the Terran Alliance, set a demarcation zone of 30 light-years from Sol. All worlds within this sphere were claimed by Earth, whilst colonies outside the zone were granted independence. Six Great Houses, evolutions of corporations, sovereign governments and wealthy families into dynastic organisations, took control of the region beyond the demarcation line: Houses Davion, Cameron, Kurita, Liao, Marik and Steiner. This was followed in 2315 by the overthrow of Earth’s democratic government by the military dictator James McKenna.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 2412 the planet Tintavel was devastated by weapons of mass destruction, with over 300,000 deaths. In the wake of this catastrophe the Great Houses and Earth – now usually called Terra – signed the Ares Convention, both enshrining ritualised warfare as a means of solving disagreements but also banning the use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. New weapons were instead developed, culminating in the creation in 2439 of the <i>Mackie</i>, the first BattleMech. A building-sized robotic exoskeleton, the BattleMech combined the abilities of a naval battleship and tank in a single unit, with a bipedal structure allowing it to operate in all terrain types. In 2455 House Steiner stole the plans to the BattleMech, resulting in ‘mech technology spreading among the Great Houses.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">With the human powers tiring of war, in 2571 the Star League was founded. Consisting of Earth and all of the Great Houses, whose combined territory was now known as the Inner Sphere, and many dozens of small powers beyond, in the Periphery, the Star League became the dominant governing body of humanity, dedicated to peace. Several minor powers rebelled against the Star League and attempted to undermine it, resulting in the Reunification War of 2577-97, which ended with the surrender of the Taurian Concordant.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfRGdhC5GsAr2FMP4GXgf277INuN3-_jOssX1y0F3ftsJLn_L-fjkZRX1ZIK6cBUr4D48-bxWK_ekqiyDFur9GwZtFREJoYEiPOMFfHhQYxY13_4Fo1rpPiQC4VZ7VUfl5gTWYxhuK1YTPu8AH2TXaKIwIek7w1bfhzpdKe6AGUMQT5B27LEZzcrtCos/s4018/Deep%20Periphery%203025.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4018" data-original-width="4000" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfRGdhC5GsAr2FMP4GXgf277INuN3-_jOssX1y0F3ftsJLn_L-fjkZRX1ZIK6cBUr4D48-bxWK_ekqiyDFur9GwZtFREJoYEiPOMFfHhQYxY13_4Fo1rpPiQC4VZ7VUfl5gTWYxhuK1YTPu8AH2TXaKIwIek7w1bfhzpdKe6AGUMQT5B27LEZzcrtCos/w385-h386/Deep%20Periphery%203025.png" width="385" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">A long-range view of explored human space, circa 3025. For more info, see <a href="https://atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpress.com/2021/05/29/stellar-cartography-the-deep-periphery-of-battletech/">here</a>.</span></b></div></b><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The Star League became more powerful and technologically advanced. In 2630 the first hyperpulse signal was sent, linking all the worlds of humanity together through FTL communications. Despite this prolonged period of peace, humanity maintained their weapons of war and built new ones: BattleMech fighting tournaments became huge draws on hyperpulse entertainment, resulting in the construction of ever-more-elaborate ‘mechs.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 2766, First Lord of the Star League Richard Cameron was killed and his position usurped by Stefan Amaris, President of the Rim Worlds Republic. The Star League Defence Force (SLDF) refused to recognise the usurper’s claim and, commanded by General Alexander Kerensky, fought its way to Terra and unseated the usurper. The war ended in 2780, but the conflict had been devastating, wiping out almost three-quarters of the SLDF. With no central military to keep the worlds in line and maintain the peace, various Star League member worlds began breaking away.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Seeing the collapse of the Star League was imminent, Kerensky and his closest advisors and allies left for deep space, taking with them over six million people in Operation Exodus. They headed out beyond the Periphery, with the League collapsing behind them. Shortly after this, the Star League’s former Ministry of Communications broke away to become an independent super-corporation, ComStar. ComStar seized control of the hyperpulse network and the banking system, allowing the various worlds to continue talking and trading with one another, whilst also ensuring their own survival.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The collapse of the Star League led to the First Succession War (2786-2821) and Second Succession War (2830-2864). During these conflicts the Great Houses and their nation-states reasserted themselves: House Kurita’s <b>Draconis Combine</b>, House Davion’s <b>Federated Suns</b>, House Liao’s <b>Capellan Confederation</b>, House Marik’s <b>Free World League</b> and House Steiner’s <b>Lyran Commonwealth</b>. The Great Houses fought one another, sometimes breaking the ban on the use of weapons of mass destruction. These conflicts were devastating, killing millions and undermining the massive economic foundations of the former Star League which allowed the building of BattleMechs on a vast scale. As more timed passed, the economic cost of building ‘mechs became ruinous, forcing the various powers to horde their supply ever more jealously. Some scientists made strides in finding new ways of building new ‘mechs, but they were assassinated during Operation Holy Shroud by ComStar, who believed that they alone should hold these secrets.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 2866 the Third Succession War began. This conflict raged for a massive 159 years. However, the conflict was not really one single, massive military war, instead consisting of a complex series of interlocking smaller wars and border skirmishes that gradually petered out over time and was finally declared over in 3025 AD. The original <b>BattleTech</b> tabletop game and many of the novels and video games are set during this era, which is also called the “Classic <b>BattleTech</b>” period.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 3028 a cache of Star League-era knowledge was discovered on the planet Helm. Despite ComTech’s best efforts, the cache was retrieved and disseminated to the Great Houses, allowing the worlds to begin rebooting their technological and scientific development.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PAGY4UMScyU" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 3028 House Davion and House Steiner joined forces by marriage, uniting the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth as the Federated Commonwealth. The two houses then immediately invaded House Liao’s Capellan Confederation, triggering the Fourth Succession War. Much shorter than the previous wars, the two-year conflict saw Capella lose a lot of territory to the two other powers, but the conflict was unsuccessful in completely overrunning its territory. Despite great military successes, House Steiner was unable to completely consolidate its holdings and in 3034 lost several systems to a secessionist movement, which formed the Free Rasalhague Republic.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Fifteen years later the galaxy was shaken by a massive invasion of new, advanced ‘mechs. It was revealed that after leaving the Periphery almost 300 years earlier, the SLDF had fallen into internal squabbling and its original plan, to establish a colony of the Star League far beyond explored space, had faltered. Alexander Kerensy’s son, Nicholas, instead founded a society based on ritualised combat, honour and religion. This society divided into seventeen groupings known as the Clans. The Clans ultimately decided that their religious imperative was an invasion of the Inner Sphere and the reclamation of Eden, which they identified as being located on Terra, with a possible view to reestablishing the Star League. Despite a strong bloc protesting that the Clans did not have the manpower to mount such an invasion, they lost a key vote (helped by the arrival of ComStar exploration ships in Clan space and the news that the Houses were on the verge of rediscovering lost Star League technology via the Helm Memory Core, eradicating the Clan’s technological advantage).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 3049 Clans Wolf, Jade Falcon, Ghost Bear and Smoke Jaguar invaded first the Periphery and then the Free Rasalhague Republic, conquering it in the first wave of the assault, as well as mounting flanking attacks into the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The resulting Clan Invasion, known as Operation Revival, was a brutal, fast-moving conflict. ComStar allied with the invaders (respecting their desire to restore the Star League) and shut down communications between the targeted worlds and the Great Houses, throwing the situation into chaos and confusion. The Periphery worlds were quickly overrun, but many called in mercenary units to defend them. Founded during the Succession Wars, the mercenary companies consisted of only a few ‘mechs each, but working in conjunction with one another they were able to help slow the invasion (if only slightly), gained battle experience facing the Clans’ superior ‘mechs (most notably their highly adaptable OmniMechs) and also learned of the Clans’ rigid concepts of honour, chivalry and ritual combat. Far worse, from the Clans’ point of view, these mercenary companies refused to surrender and switched to guerrilla fighting, continuing to pin down Clan resources even after the civilian population had surrendered in defiance of honour. This rapidly began to eat away at the Clans’ limited man and ‘mech power, as they had to redeploy units marked for the front line to police and guard duty on seized worlds.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The first wave of the invasion ended in early 3050 with 35 worlds under Clan control. The Federated Commonwealth and Draconis Combine made an alliance of convenience and redeployed their forces usually held in reserve to fight one another to the warzone. Although they were unable to retake territory, they firmed up the lines and strategically withdrew from tactically unsound positions. Although the Clans seized another 27 worlds, they found themselves increasingly bogged down in tedious ground fighting. This allowed Clan Wolf, which had only reluctantly taken part in the invasion, to gain the political ascendancy in the campaign. During the third and fourth waves Clan Wolf, helped by superior intelligence on Inner Sphere politics and culture, seized a dizzying number of worlds whilst their supposed allies, the Jade Falcons and Smoke Jaguars, suffered a series of military defeats.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1vbb17ijm6RRH52Cft4dE9lusZnD5w0zqj9W9Qb-TCbPz9_bgBwVgxunAi67FzAz0ysRMkrZJKjEtbF_SrTexCgS5iIYJSQhz7K2tlic2ZLX_U97sW2wInVsyZthxNINLqbAGRDMCct1oua1g0JRqhAWS8ktZSkiZ9BnElAdJMKG4Gfjx9Eb3aY8h_dM/s11500/Battletech%203025.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="8571" data-original-width="11500" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1vbb17ijm6RRH52Cft4dE9lusZnD5w0zqj9W9Qb-TCbPz9_bgBwVgxunAi67FzAz0ysRMkrZJKjEtbF_SrTexCgS5iIYJSQhz7K2tlic2ZLX_U97sW2wInVsyZthxNINLqbAGRDMCct1oua1g0JRqhAWS8ktZSkiZ9BnElAdJMKG4Gfjx9Eb3aY8h_dM/w423-h315/Battletech%203025.png" width="423" /></a></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">A map of the Inner Sphere and the near Periphery in 3025. For more information, see <a href="https://atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpress.com/2021/06/07/stellar-cartography-the-inner-sphere-of-battletech/">here</a>.</span></b></div></b><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Events culminated in a ship of the supposedly conquered Free Rasalhague Republic suddenly ramming the Clan invasion flagship, killing the ilKhan, the supreme leader of the invading forces. Honour forced the Clans to suspend the invasion to return to their homeworlds and undertake a new rite to appoint a new ilKhan. This bought the Houses a year to prepare for their return.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Clan Wolf assumed the seat of ilKhan and prosecuted the invasion with a renewed zeal, bringing in three additional Clans to support the invasion. The resumed invasion was a mixed affair, with the Wolves seizing a wide swathe of Federated Commonwealth territory and Clans Smoke Jaguar and Nova Cat launching a daring and devastating invasion aimed at the very heart of the Draconis Combine itself. The Combine formally allied with the Commonwealth and halted the Clan invasion at the Battle of Luthien. The two Clans suffered massive losses and had to pull back in disarray.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">With the fighting ongoing, ComStar and the Clans held additional talks, during which it became clear that the Clan invasion was aimed at Terra itself, which ComStar currently held. Abruptly realising they were helping the invaders to undermine their own power, ComStar switched sides and re-opened communication channels and provided intelligence to the Houses. They also challenged the Clans to ritual combat, a massive battle between their forces and those of ComStar on the planet Tukayyid.<br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The Battle of Tukayyid in May 3052 was possibly the largest and bloodiest single engagement since the First Succession War and saw thousands of 'mechs destroyed. At the end of the fighting the Clans had failed to achieve their objectives and were forced to withdraw, whilst the Com Guards had lost almost half their entire military force in the engagement.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">As a result of the conflict, a fifteen-year truce was agreed, to the Clans’ fury as it meant losing momentum and also their technological advantage: during those fifteen years ComTech and the Great Houses made good on much of the technological difference between their factions. Even more infuriating, it allowed the Inner Sphere to re-unify in 3058 with the declaration of the Second Star League, although this was more of an ambition than a reality. Still, it allowed an expeditionary force to be launched to the Clan homeworlds in the Kerensky Cluster, located some 1,000 light-years from Sol. A further ritualistic combat in 3061 resulted in the Clans agreeing to abandon the invasion, although those worlds they had seized would be retained. The Second Star League’s collapse in 3068 led to the Clans revoking their agreement in 3071, declaring it null and void, but an internal conflict rooted in growing xenophobic horror that the Sphere was “corrupting” the Clans prevented the invasion from resuming. Instead, the Clans already in the Inner Sphere were cut off from their homeworlds and effectively abandoned, whilst the Cluster became embroiled in the Wars of Reaving.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">ComTech’s treachery during the war was exposed and a splinter group, the Word of Blake, seized Terra and overthrew ComTech’s rule there in 3058; by 3081 the group had been overthrown and the Republic of the Sphere declared instead.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The aftermath of the Clan invasion saw a tremendous period of instability; despite their attempts otherwise, the Clans-in-Exile became gradually embroiled in the politics of the Great Houses and other factions, and a complex series of minor wars unfolded. In 3132 the HPG Grid, which underpinned the hyperpulse communications network, collapsed and cut off all FTL communications galaxy-wide. Whilst various forces attempted to repair the grid, the Houses had to switch to using jumpship couriers to remain in contact. With immeasurable damage done to the galactic economy, this resulted in the onset of a new “Dark Age”.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The Dark Age lasted until 3150, with the last few years seeing the Inner Sphere descend into all-out war. At the end of this period, the Clans finally succeeded in taking Terra, marking the beginning of the ilClan Era.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The ilClan Era is the setting for the chronologically-latest events in the <b>BattleTech</b> universe, with the “current” (or most recent) year in the setting being 3145. However, more recent <b>BattleTech </b>products have focused on earlier time periods, due to a mixed fan reception to both the Clan Invasion and the Dark Age time periods.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBfxFx89dO_IXA30MVBi6-oU-MSZzI7nH7mNyeTUDe7Ig8ffjA4XNomwe_r17vp5iVCOse1YAYTe-0shsYIizRTeIDWoC3NMmrby-qRivZ93AVKYndEMxDkU-TpsVV8BP6QshbF3Vpm6w/s1600/BattleTech+Map.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="1600" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBfxFx89dO_IXA30MVBi6-oU-MSZzI7nH7mNyeTUDe7Ig8ffjA4XNomwe_r17vp5iVCOse1YAYTe-0shsYIizRTeIDWoC3NMmrby-qRivZ93AVKYndEMxDkU-TpsVV8BP6QshbF3Vpm6w/s400/BattleTech+Map.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">A map of the BattleTech universe in 3067, after the Clan Invasion but before the Dark Age. Clan homeworlds not shown.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Setting</span></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech </b>takes place across a relatively small area of the Milky Way Galaxy, with the action almost entirely constrained to an area within 1,000 light-years of Earth. The primary or “classic” setting is the <b>Inner Sphere</b>, a region centred on Terra, in the year 3025 AD at the close of the Third Succession War. At this time the Inner Sphere is dominated by six factions: the <b>Draconis Combine</b> ruled by <b>House Kurita</b>; the <b>Federated Suns</b> ruled by <b>House Davion</b>; the <b>Capellan Confederation</b> ruled by <b>House Liao</b>; the <b>Free World League</b> ruled by <b>House Marik</b>; and the <b>Lyran Commonwealth</b> ruled by House Steiner. At the very heart of the Sphere is <b>Terra</b>, Old Earth, which is controlled by <b>ComTech</b>, the corporation/nation which controls all interstellar communications and banking.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Surrounding the Inner Sphere is the <b>Periphery</b>, a hinterland region consisting of smaller powers (although some are notable, still consisting of dozens of planets), independent worlds and dominated by mercenary companies. The Periphery is a frontier region where the law rarely extends beyond the reach of a laser cannon.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The “classic” <b>BattleTech</b> setting allows for massed combat between large armies of ‘mechs and interstellar warships, but more typically the focus is on skirmishes between small formations of ‘mechs (typically four), known as <b>Lances</b>. The idea is that a sort-of peace exists between the major powers, but lots of smaller scale conflicts and border skirmishes are occurring, allowing for a great deal of combat against a reasonably stable backdrop.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The second major era of <b>BattleTech</b> is the <b>Clan Invasion</b> period of 3049-61, which introduces the seventeen <b>Clans</b> as a series of new factions. The Clan Invasion saw the balance of power between the Houses upset in a dozen years or so of war, but this eventually ended in a new balance of power being established between the Houses and the Clans who took part in the invasion, who were ultimately exiled from their homeworlds after being “corrupted” by the dishonourable “Sphereoids.” This period saw the introduction of new technology, such as <b>OmniMechs</b> (‘mechs with easily-swappable hardware pods rather than the more intricate hardpoints of the older kind). This period is controversial with fans, some of whom felt it upset the old balance of power (which allowed for a more interesting focus on small-scale conflict) and was a big event for the sake of it. Other fans welcomed the shake-up to the status quo. The event also allowed FASA to retire some of the ‘mech designs they’d been using under legally dubious circumstances in favour of new, custom designs.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The third major era is <b>The Dark Ages</b>, beginning in 3132 with the collapse of interstellar communications and the outbreak of a complex series of small and medium-sized wars involving mixed alliances of House and Clan forces. This period met a lukewarm response from fans, and has now been succeeded by the <b>ilClan Era</b>, commencing in 3151 with the final conquest of Terra by the reinvigorated Clans. What happens next remains to be seen.<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60VfZYhAcG5MNjbCFXnNL0mnG4r1B8BzWIDF2lf9HLoMqa1auUo3Va2VAmvPld91JQZlIFWXBNmVnBjBak0NVWo3n9QVKd7OoxBvRLsPGM76GY4HIeqMqTa8HG_RnA0caSdq3-f78z78/s1600/Atlas.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="721" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60VfZYhAcG5MNjbCFXnNL0mnG4r1B8BzWIDF2lf9HLoMqa1auUo3Va2VAmvPld91JQZlIFWXBNmVnBjBak0NVWo3n9QVKd7OoxBvRLsPGM76GY4HIeqMqTa8HG_RnA0caSdq3-f78z78/s400/Atlas.png" width="311" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The 100-ton AS-7 Atlas (Assault-class) is arguably the best-known modern BattleMech. Entering service in 2755, the Atlas typically wields a Type-20 Autocannon, a Type-20 long-range missile battery, a Type-6 short-range missile battery and four medium laser cannons, making it a formidable machine at both long and short ranges.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><span style="font-size: large;">BattleMechs</span></b><br /><br />At heart of all iterations of <b>BattleTech</b> are the BattleMechs themselves. These towering bipedal war machines combined elements of main battle tanks, aircraft carriers and powered suits in a single military unit. BattleMechs tend to be slow-moving, but can unleash tremendous amounts of firepower. They can also capture and hold territory and are extraordinarily rugged: the Superheavy class of 'mech can withstand everything but a direct hit from a nuclear weapon, and due to the importance of territory and resources, the use of such weapons is extraordinarily rare.<br /><br />BattleMechs are divided into the following classes:<br /><br /><b>Light</b><br />Light 'mechs act as scouts, artillery spotters, fast-moving interceptors (especially when fitted with jump jets) and reconnaissance units. They can't take a lot of punishment, but their high speed makes them extremely difficult to hit. They can only fit one or two armaments but the stories of a lowly Locust firing the last blast to finish off a heavily-crippled Atlas are legion. The Locust, Commando, Spider, Jenner, Panther and Firestarter are all Light-class 'mechs.<br /><br /><b>Medium</b><br />The most commonly-encountered 'mechs, Mediums are versatile workhorses. They can fulfil many of the roles of the Light 'mech but their much greater weapons payload and armour means they can hang in a firefight even with heavier 'mechs for a while. The Cicada, Blackjack, Vindicator, Centurion, Griffin, Shadow Hawk and Wolverine are all Medium-class 'mechs.<br /><br /><b>Heavy</b><br />The heavy tanks of the battlefield, Heavy 'mechs are missile platforms, heavy cannon machines or close-up brawlers. They can withstand tremendous amounts of damage whilst dishing it out themselves. They tend to be slow, but a few specially-adjusted models are capable of surprising turns of speed. The Dragon, Quickdraw, Catapult, Jaegarmech, Thunderbolt, Grasshopper, Black Knight and Orion are all Heavy-class 'mechs.<br /><br /><b>Assault</b><br />Assault 'mechs are relatively rarely seen, and spark terror into the hearts of their enemies. A single Assault can wipe out several lances of Lights without too much issue, and can hold off several Mediums at once. Assault 'mechs can unleash a terrifying amount of firepower, withstand ridiculous amounts of enemy fire and obliterate everything in their path. On the negative size, they are slow, ungainly, tend to attract the fire of absolutely everything on the battlefield, are mind-bogglingly expensive and very rare to find on the open market. The Awesome, Victor, Zeus, Battlemaster, Stalker Highlander, Banshee, Atlas and King Crab are all Assault-class 'mechs.<br /><br /><b>Superheavy</b><br />The Superheavy class of 'mech is an extremely rare class, with maybe only a few hundred ever built in total. 'Mechs of this type weigh in at over 100 tons and usually require specialist equipment to function correctly: some have two or three pilots instead of one and some are "tripods", with a third leg to help with stability. Their firepower and armour is staggering, but their speed is ponderous and the expense of building them ruinous; most commanders would prefer to have three Heavies or five Mediums instead. Still, they are a formidable sight on the battlefield. The Stone Rhino, Omega, Ares and Poseidon are Superheavy-class 'mechs.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdKEOBKcqv4aM1ZVDrQLbCiR0fDTAGt85MGwV-jMmpO_VKX-Gb8UrgaZ9r7e50LMgoP2DW0jyc4-82uyYvKlHHqXPz6MReXgfRYNmQl1BHIwgYVcHwkJ3_af9E42Zq9o3L75FCaflEd4/s1600/Atlas+Firing.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdKEOBKcqv4aM1ZVDrQLbCiR0fDTAGt85MGwV-jMmpO_VKX-Gb8UrgaZ9r7e50LMgoP2DW0jyc4-82uyYvKlHHqXPz6MReXgfRYNmQl1BHIwgYVcHwkJ3_af9E42Zq9o3L75FCaflEd4/s400/Atlas+Firing.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">An Atlas firing four laser cannons.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>BattleMechs utilise the following armaments:<br /><br /><b>Lasers</b><br />Divided into Small, Medium and Large categories, lasers are useful as they do not use ammo (and thus don't require a separate, vulnerable ammo container), do additional heat damage to the enemy and can operate at a variety of ranges. Their weaknesses are that they are not the best at shooting through armour and generate immense amounts of heat whilst firing (to the detriment of the firing 'mech).<br /><br /><b>Plasma</b><br />Plasma cannons do exceptional damage at both long and close ranges, and are a favourite of snipers. However, they generate far more heat than lasers and enemy 'mechs will usually focus fire on plasma-wielding units to wipe them out as fast as possible.<br /><br /><b>Missiles</b><br />'Mechs have a variety of missiles which can be fired at both long and short ranges. "Missile boats" are a common 'mech variant, which strip out as much armour as possible and use Light 'mechs as spotters. Once the enemy are located, the missile boat fires a truly staggering amount of missiles (up to 50 in a single volley) to try and destroy enemy forces before they close to short-range combat. Their weakness is they require an ammo container, which can be vulnerable to fire and explosions.<br /><br /><b>Autocannons</b><br />Powerful weapons which chew up armour and internal systems with aplomb, Autocannons are a favoured weapon of many MechWarriors. A Type-20 AC can punch through the armour of even the strongest Assault 'mechs if wielded by a skilled pilot. Their weakness is they require an ammo container, which can be destroyed, leaving the weapon useless.<br /><br /><b>Gauss Guns</b><br />An electromagnetically-charged weapon, the secret of Gauss Gun mass production was lost some time ago, making this a very rare but utterly formidable weapon if encountered on the battlefield.<br /><br />BattleMechs also rely on several key pieces of equipment to keep functioning. Their <b>actuators</b> allow them to keep walking, moving and deploying weapons: crippling these slows down the 'mech or blows off their limbs altogether. Their <b>heat sinks</b> manage heat disposal and waste. Having insufficient heat sinks causes the 'mech to shut down, fry the pilot or, in rare cases, explode if it tries to fire too many weapons. <b>Armour</b> is relatively self-explanatory, but some MechWarriors have a cavalier approach to personal safety and strip off armour plating to fit on more guns, which results in the occasional sight of a formidably weaponised Assault 'mech strolling onto the field only for the pilot to be one-shotted through the cockpit by a Jenner. Finally, <b>jump jets </b>are a handy and oft-overlooked bit of kits which allows the 'mech to make tactical jumps from one position on the battlefield to another, flying over obstacles. Some pilots throw out the jets to get more guns and armour, but jump jets are a versatile advantage, allowing a 'mech to take cover from enemy fire in a hurry or, under extreme circumstances, launching a kamikaze strike from above on an unsuspecting enemy unit.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQVe4xJiS7F484XNhz_jZ8tzJDkBVUhXVHH72eR879dTlaW1dC9hO44M4CypmZ-FBZH6jK3_YjhsRZginrLYbEkeNxq9ZtIXEBgLoJ4tE5hViIKOMy-o1fDe3vC9A1onTptWlk154wRA/s1600/BattleDroids.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1414" data-original-width="1600" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQVe4xJiS7F484XNhz_jZ8tzJDkBVUhXVHH72eR879dTlaW1dC9hO44M4CypmZ-FBZH6jK3_YjhsRZginrLYbEkeNxq9ZtIXEBgLoJ4tE5hViIKOMy-o1fDe3vC9A1onTptWlk154wRA/s400/BattleDroids.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The original release of the game under the "BattleDroids" name, which had to be changed after Lucasfilm claimed to own the copyright on the word "droid."</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Conception and Development<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech</b>’s beginnings date back to the 1984 Hobby Industry Trade Show in Anaheim, California. Jordan Weisman and L. Ross Babcock III had founded FASA a couple of years earlier to publish roleplaying games and had found great success with modules and materials for Marc Miller’s seminal space opera RPG <b>Traveller</b>, as well as their first major licence, <b>Star Trek: The Roleplaying Game</b>, and <b>Behind Enemy Lines</b>, a niche-but-acclaimed RPG set during World War II.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Whilst walking the floor, Weisman found an importer who had acquired a number of model kits for “mecha,” giant walking war machines found in numerous Japanese animated TV shows. The bulk of the models were from the Japanese show <b>Super Dimension Fortress Macross</b>. Weisman placed a bulk order and created a fictional backdrop for a game explaining where these machines came from. Drawing on the Fall of Rome and the Mongol Invasion, he developed a space opera setting in the 31<sup>st</sup> Century depicting two distinct eras: an earlier period with the various powers fighting one another for supremacy in the aftermath of the collapse of a vast empire known as the Star League and, later on, an era where the descendants of a massive fleet which left the Star League before its fall returned and invaded established space, the so-called “Clan Invasion” (still a controversial story decision among hardened fans).<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A line of novels began with <i>Decision at Thunder Rift</i> by William H. Keith, Jr. (1986). Around seventy books have followed in the core <b>BattleTech </b>line, establishing the career of Michael Stackpole (who went on to write some of the most popular <b>Star Wars</b> novels of all time) and several other writers such as Robert Thurston and Loren L. Coleman. Victor Milan, best-known for his contributions to the <b>Wild Cards</b> shared superhero universe, also wrote numerous books in the series.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">More than thirty books followed in a separate line, <b>BattleTech: The Dark Ages</b> which advanced the timeline to the 32<sup>nd</sup> Century. In addition, German publishers have released an additional twenty novels exclusively for the German-language market. Recently, new novels have appeared (under the original <b>BattleTech</b> title) acting as prequels to the entire saga. The <b>BattleTech</b> novels have won a surprising degree of acclaim for the focus on massive ‘mech combat, memorable characters and the political situation. With its interesting take on interstellar feudalism, the <b>BattleTech</b> universe has drawn comparisons with both the <b>Dune</b> saga and fantasy sagas such as<b> Game of Thrones</b>: more than one commentator has called <b>BattleTech</b> “<b>Game of Thrones</b> in space” (with ‘mech lances replacing knights and armies), complete with its Great Houses, complex web of political alliances and internal warfare whilst a greater threat is gathering offstage.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>BattleTech</b> has also been blighted by legal issues. It had to change its original name (<b>BattleDroids</b>) after Lucasfilm threatened to sue them (slightly nonsensically) and it then ran into a major problem when many of the original ‘mech designs used in the first wave of products were also purchased for use by Harmony Gold for their television series <b>Robotech</b> (which directly used <b>Super Dimension Fortress Macross</b> as one of its constituent TV series). FASA had to sub-let a licence from Harmony Gold to keep using their designs, which then ran into another problem when it turned out that Harmony Gold’s licence was itself legally dubious. In 1994 FASA retired these ‘mechs, dubbing them “the Unseen,” to focus on newer, Clan and post-Clan designs, to the annoyance of fans who were long-standing fans of those designs. More recently, many of the “unseen” designs have been slightly or completely redesigned to eliminate these copyright issues.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The success of <b>BattleTech</b> was buoyed by the video game adaptations, particularly the much-praised <b>MechWarrior</b> series which ran to six games and three expansions, putting the player in the role of a ‘mech pilot fighting battles in real-time 3D. The series sold several million copies and was critically acclaimed. This series was accompanied by the <b>MechCommander</b> companion series (two games and an expansion) which is a real-time strategy series allowing players to control entire lances of BattleMechs in combat. FASA set up its own video game company to develop these games, which was subsequently bought by Microsoft.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 2001 FASA effectively went bust (although it was resurrected a few years later) and sold the <b>BattleTech</b> and <b>MechWarrior</b> licences to WizKids. WizKids were subsequently bought out by Topps in 2003. <b>BattleTech</b> and <b>MechWarrior</b> material continued to be produced under the WizKids name until Topps eliminated the subsidiary in 2007. Topps then licenced out the properties to other companies. Catalyst Game Studios took over development of the <b>BattleTech</b> miniatures and roleplaying games, whilst Piranha Studios took over the video game licence. Piranha began development of <i>MechWarrior 5</i> but, needing more funds, switched to developing <i>MechWarrior Online</i> instead, which focused on multiplayer combat. Released in 2013 and somewhat controversial among fans (particularly for the monetisation of new ‘mech designs), the game nevertheless attracted a significant fanbase. Piranha resurrected their <i>MechWarrior 5</i> plans and released it as <i>MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries </i>in 2019, following it up with a series of expansions. A successor game using the same engine, <i>MechWarrior 5: Clans</i>, is due for release this year.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile, the franchise’s original co-creator, Jordan Weisman, had gone on to other projects. He had created or co-created the extremely popular roleplaying and wargame properties <b>Earthdawn</b>, <b>Shadowrun</b> and <b>Crimson Skies</b> and in the early 2010s set up his own video game studio, Harebrained Schemes. After developing three highly successful <b>Shadowrun</b> RPGs, he licensed <b>BattleTech</b> and developed the first-ever turn-based video wargame in the series, entitled simply <i>BattleTech</i>. The game was released in April 2018 to critical acclaim and was followed by a series of expansions. In 2023 Harebrained released an unrelated game, <i>The Lamplighters League</i>, and revealed they had proposed a <i>BattleTech 2</i> to potential publishers.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 2024 <b>BattleTech</b>, at first glance one of the most 1980s of SF franchises, is continuing to undergo an unexpected renaissance. New video games, roleplaying titles and a reinvigorated wargame industry have seen it reach new heights of success. The franchise has suffered from some “lore fatigue”, where the designers made some story and background choices that alienated and splintered the fanbase, but recent entries seem keen to hearken back to the original setting of the game, before such controversies, and re-invoke the wild west and fun frontier feeling of the early game. It will be interesting to see how the franchise develops in the years to come.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5547046157511678123" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2655412920470136318" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-690429416597207204" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8602128902799659468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 26.3077px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-55470461575116781232024-01-20T20:22:00.004+00:002024-01-20T20:25:38.799+00:00The Last of Us: Part ITwenty years after a fungal parasite devastated humanity, killing billions and transforming millions more into mindless animals, Joel and his partner Tess are surviving in the ruins of Boston, working for and amongst other groups to get by. When Joel is contracted by a freedom-fighting group known as the Fireflies to escort a 14-year-old girl, Ellie, across the country to a research base, his first instinct is to refuse. Convinced to undertake the mission, Joel and Ellie find their journey to be arduous, difficult and beset by betrayal and dashed hopes.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvuKsknaJys1hnbVWXW5pm1ctsEjXFCMeBBHhRPxwoNxDzwE3iUJ0zPb7MyyK3HY_5I6s2ZC1HX2yixAjj-xwaLvRNCg3B26p_invk2iiUA2oNNoHaPc53TjdVUMOyndtNpXXxlDk8_L6KbkhF0m_OfHiEVchIcyfKpEGUqWZLisQeBTBYyVVvmUEYDs4/s3840/20240115230541_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvuKsknaJys1hnbVWXW5pm1ctsEjXFCMeBBHhRPxwoNxDzwE3iUJ0zPb7MyyK3HY_5I6s2ZC1HX2yixAjj-xwaLvRNCg3B26p_invk2iiUA2oNNoHaPc53TjdVUMOyndtNpXXxlDk8_L6KbkhF0m_OfHiEVchIcyfKpEGUqWZLisQeBTBYyVVvmUEYDs4/w460-h259/20240115230541_1.jpg" width="460" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Originally released in 2013, <i>The Last of Us</i> became one of the torchbearer games of its generation, arguably the last classic game released for the PlayStation 3. It was later remastered for the PlayStation 4, <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-last-of-us-season-1.html">turned into a critically-lauded HBO TV series</a>, and it's now been fully remade in the same engine as its successor, and (finally!) given its first release on PC. So how does the game hold up in 2024?</div><div><br /></div><div>For the most part, reasonably well. <i>The Last of Us: Part I</i> (as this edition is now known) is an effective game combining a linear, narrative-driven adventure with elements from the survival, horror and action genres. The game is played in third person and sees the player controlling Joel - and, occasionally, Ellie - as they traverse each level. Levels can vary from being very tight and linear to more open, with more choices of what routes to take and what side-areas to explore for supplies. Ammo and materials are in low supply throughout the game, encouraging thorough exploration, but some areas are also extremely dangerous, with huge waves of enemies threatening to attack if you linger too long or make too much noise. <i>The Last of Us</i> is an effective game of choices and trade-offs.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzNw2akuVuevJ3-I_Y5oVGFeqwZkQL0r2U5H8PXAKuOkwH5YldUDOqH0ySqIeNFMGo0gb0QzbiFt7CTBme-Ny4xQSnf9tY0yfLqJs2wSNxQOVvota57v3qPjUJSoNZwaBn7Zmucz2HSDSUxr_6RJb1RnXzG56NxqEYRvpcdNkfsseSJEY-sIRquy59xUg/s3840/20240107000601_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzNw2akuVuevJ3-I_Y5oVGFeqwZkQL0r2U5H8PXAKuOkwH5YldUDOqH0ySqIeNFMGo0gb0QzbiFt7CTBme-Ny4xQSnf9tY0yfLqJs2wSNxQOVvota57v3qPjUJSoNZwaBn7Zmucz2HSDSUxr_6RJb1RnXzG56NxqEYRvpcdNkfsseSJEY-sIRquy59xUg/w459-h258/20240107000601_1.jpg" width="459" /></a></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Still, those used to the dominant open-world genre of the present day may find the game confining. Although you can go off the beaten path a little, it's not long before a locked door, surprisingly dense hedge or inconveniently-crashed car stymies all progress in a particular direction and you're forced back onto the exact path the game wants you to take. As someone who's occasionally railed against the often-needless bloat of open-world games and felt nostalgic about more directed game experiences, I did find the lack of choice in the game quite old-fashioned. Of course, the game is almost a dozen years old at this point, so it's hard to entirely hold that against it.</div><div><br /></div><div>The game's combat and stealth systems are fairly robust. It's possible to fully stealth most missions, and this can turn the game into a very tense game of cat and mouse as you study enemy patrol routes, sneak up on them from behind and take them down without anyone else realising they're gone. There's some awkwardness in how this is done - you can force enemies at gunpoint to relocate to an area where their body will not be located, but you can't carry their dead bodies around - but it is an effective and tense way of picking enemies off without alerting the whole lot. However, once you realise that combat is rarely loud enough to attract enemies from more than a couple dozen feet away, the temptation is go in all guns blazing. The game accounts for headshots (and sometimes tries to stymie them with armoured helmets) and close-range weapons like shotguns can take out all but the hardiest enemies with one shot.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwOHjz_xX76lCqmqAoqFbhEyUIMsnTJKH3iMxAmbHAnMaroRlmQ0xc7mbQbEK3-cytgM6lgl9uuwz6SzMinGFCOBoYh-_fG_IAoMveQZQCqTmeOX4IEMf7VrztgmWjbYVrthm1RwwLZKy4JqNo6AA73N5jhlgSinnGW41HPYBwrSw_C6dB_1fSkmwaBD4/s3840/20240114193803_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwOHjz_xX76lCqmqAoqFbhEyUIMsnTJKH3iMxAmbHAnMaroRlmQ0xc7mbQbEK3-cytgM6lgl9uuwz6SzMinGFCOBoYh-_fG_IAoMveQZQCqTmeOX4IEMf7VrztgmWjbYVrthm1RwwLZKy4JqNo6AA73N5jhlgSinnGW41HPYBwrSw_C6dB_1fSkmwaBD4/w501-h282/20240114193803_1.jpg" width="501" /></a></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>The weapons roster is robust, with pistols, shotguns and hunting rifles sitting alongside knives and the stealthy bow. Depending on the situation (indoors or out), weather conditions and enemy (human, animal or cordyceps), your weapons shine in different situations. The only awkward fit is an assault rifle, which is not very fun to use and shows up so late in the game that they might as well not have bothered.</div><div><br /></div><div>The narrative is pretty solid, although I found the experience of having watched the TV show first did make the game narrative less tense: obviously the show spoils the general direction of the story and also has time for much more dialogue and in-depth characterisation, which can't help but leave the game's story feel a little undercooked in comparison. It's still a pretty solid story, but does not land as well as it did in 2013. The <i>Left Behind</i> DLC - included here at no extra charge - has better writing and a more refreshing, original structure. The voice acting is, famously, excellent throughout.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8mYVfBMZUuXMH2dOpdMsXRIXiWFURCrSE7W3ajO9U1o0CDaaOkILBCz99GcdvZmI3HLE9tOqnwcVDldvuG75i8iEyppS0vYtZZhz-Dj3vuHSRbOnrzV01vIEhcOqVXOAf2ehIKb4XL-jJSLprfjxub5xvh0IL0PJ9IWYNHDVcVMUHkIktPZaDTykbYU/s3840/20240108221042_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8mYVfBMZUuXMH2dOpdMsXRIXiWFURCrSE7W3ajO9U1o0CDaaOkILBCz99GcdvZmI3HLE9tOqnwcVDldvuG75i8iEyppS0vYtZZhz-Dj3vuHSRbOnrzV01vIEhcOqVXOAf2ehIKb4XL-jJSLprfjxub5xvh0IL0PJ9IWYNHDVcVMUHkIktPZaDTykbYU/w454-h256/20240108221042_1.jpg" width="454" /></a></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>The game's status as a remake does create a rather schizophrenic feel. Graphically, it looks amazing with some of the most well-detailed environments you can see in a current video game (only the fantastic <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2023/11/alan-wake-ii.html">Alan Wake II</a></i> reliably outshines it, with moments bordering on the genuinely photorealistic), and some terrific lighting and weather effects. However, movement and animation can both be clunky, and human characters look decidedly uncanny-valley-ish (the care lavished on Joel, Ellie and a handful of other characters is not shared by the random mook enemies or NPC allies). The suspicion here is that 2023/24-level textures have been dropped onto 2013-era level design and maybe even models, creating a weird duality that doesn't quite work. Don't get me wrong, it looks great and is preferable to playing the OG 2013 version, but the illusion isn't as sold as well as it could be. It also doesn't help that the game's original PC release was blighted with technical issues. These have mostly been resolved, but the game is fairly punishing on modern hardware.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfPcmtyKco8X_gYg3a92lXUplptBI90skkzuxF22SFhdtU_b0SuAXh0j0Ccm1kMtAKzkF7J8BiBP3_jOktkva6H8WZjb_c90xXyzEZIVdoldGexgkq1bRXxbM6qlD0nHOlSn3pruD5WWaenkHo3cXNnpgU4kHn92_ZM_WKEulbg-9gdbo4Vu1xJfZDuo/s3840/20240114201707_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfPcmtyKco8X_gYg3a92lXUplptBI90skkzuxF22SFhdtU_b0SuAXh0j0Ccm1kMtAKzkF7J8BiBP3_jOktkva6H8WZjb_c90xXyzEZIVdoldGexgkq1bRXxbM6qlD0nHOlSn3pruD5WWaenkHo3cXNnpgU4kHn92_ZM_WKEulbg-9gdbo4Vu1xJfZDuo/w447-h252/20240114201707_1.jpg" width="447" /></a></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Last of Us: Part I</i> (****) is a very solid, enjoyable game which tells its story with skill. It's no longer as fresh as it was back in the day and the remake doesn't feel as cohesive as it could, but it's still a thoroughly engrossing gaming experience, with some excellent set-pieces, vistas and voice acting. The game is available on PC and PlayStation consoles now. A sequel, <i>The Last of Us: Part II</i>, is available now on PlayStation 4 and 5, with a PC version expected a couple of years down the line.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2655412920470136318" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-690429416597207204" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8602128902799659468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-26554129204701363182024-01-16T20:47:00.002+00:002024-01-16T20:47:43.220+00:00For All Mankind: Season 4<p>2003. Happy Valley has expanded into a full-scale colony on Mars, where technology is being developed to allow humans to capture asteroids and swing them into Mars or Earth orbit to exploit their resources. The United States and Soviet Union are now full-blown allies, marching jointly into the exploration of space. The many workers who lost their livelihoods with the collapse of the oil industry are now finding fresh employment on the Moon and Mars, but the same problems of low pay and class divides follow them. The discovery of a metal-rich asteroid which can solve Earth's shortages in a single swoop spurs a dangerous mission, but political turmoil in Moscow and growing discontent at Happy Valley make the mission anything but straightforward.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsH-XE8u8A85sPtfBhIpwkAkwtClAsVysYybgiuYJqLeH3SA2BH_dOmw8GF8oK87HZvA28RGeY1YQwM150aeyL1FO-PIvPM62_rpTdKCdccUNREhfoPkHnIMngirwQ0qy4xyxevVfrvFHD3_cZ7r_QZhyphenhyphenTrG12cUSoyZWLLkKlBwj6EsrMx4pC0X5wfzw/s3000/For%20All%20Mankind%20S4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2000" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsH-XE8u8A85sPtfBhIpwkAkwtClAsVysYybgiuYJqLeH3SA2BH_dOmw8GF8oK87HZvA28RGeY1YQwM150aeyL1FO-PIvPM62_rpTdKCdccUNREhfoPkHnIMngirwQ0qy4xyxevVfrvFHD3_cZ7r_QZhyphenhyphenTrG12cUSoyZWLLkKlBwj6EsrMx4pC0X5wfzw/w258-h387/For%20All%20Mankind%20S4.png" width="258" /></a></div><p><b>For All Mankind</b>'s <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2021/09/for-all-mankind-season-1.html">first</a> <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2021/09/for-all-mankind-season-2.html">two</a> seasons staked a claim for the show to be the best slice of science fiction on television at the moment (certainly following the wrapping up of <b>The Expanse</b>). A cool alt-history take on the space race, fantastic visuals and pretty good writing all made for a compelling drama. <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2022/08/for-all-mankind-season-3.html">Season 3</a> abruptly reversed that course, with hackneyed love triangles and tedious personal drama threatening to undo all the good work achieved in worldbuilding (not the first time this has happened on a Ron Moore-produced show, to be fair).</p><p>Season 4 occupies a ground much closer to the former than the latter. Thankfully, it stops and reverses the rot from Season 3. The story is much better, the aggravating love triangle story from Season 3 has been fully exorcised from the show and we're back to the interesting mix of science and alt-reality politics that made the first two seasons compelling. However, the show hasn't fully swung back to that level of quality. There's still some rather far-fetched plotting, and the show's failure to commit to getting rid of its increasingly ancient central character is quite daft.</p><p>The season divides its plot between several character arcs. Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt) is a reluctant political refugee in the Soviet Union, where her space knowledge is being wasted, until a political realignment brings her to the attention of a new regime. Aleida (Coral Peña), still suffering traumatic after-effects from the bombing of NASA at the end of Season 3, decides on a new career path. Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman), now in his seventies, is comically squatting on Mars and refusing to leave, so NASA has left him in a command position (and, although it's under-explored, possibly studying the impact of low-gravity existence on his ageing body). Newcomer Miles Dale (Toby Kebbell) is a redundant oil worker who gets a new job on Mars, but finds the job isn't all that he thought it might be.</p><p>Season 4 balances these storylines well and ties them together nicely at the end of the season, creating a much more cohesive storyline than the spotty third season. This is no mean feat with multiple groups of characters active in the United States, Soviet Union, on Mars and on various spacecraft. The interaction of the storylines is pretty good.</p><p>However, the show continues to mix cool realism (the long travel times to Mars and the inability to engage in real-time conversation with Earth) with decidedly bonkers speculative elements (gigantic giga-engines that can steer asteroids). This mix was odd in Season 2 but has become de rigour for the show by this point, and does give us some cool visuals and awesome vfx sequences, so fair enough.</p><p>Anyone who's read Kim Stanley Robinson's <b>Mars Trilogy</b> can probably see some of the plot twists coming a mile off, with musings on capitalism-in-spaaaace and how it leads to the predictable repeating of patterns we see on Earth. So the Happy Valley colony quickly becomes a stratified society between the above-deckers and the maintenance workers belowdecks, complete with a black market and secret bars. We're not quite at the point of full independence (I suspect that will rear its head several seasons down the line) but this is a clear transitional story. It's not that original, to be honest, but Kebbell's solid performance as Miles Dale and fellow newcomer Tyner Rushing's great turn as Samantha Massey both help sell it.</p><p>On the negative side, the lengths the show goes to in order to keep previous main characters in the frame remains quite implausible. Ed should have been retired at least one season ago, and Kelly has relatively little to do. At least Margo gets a meaty storyline with some intriguing twists. And I'll forgive a lot of these problems for keeping Danny out of the picture this season. On another flipside, the absence of former-President Ellen feels jarringly abrupt, but I suppose her story purpose has been fulfilled.</p><p>Season 4 of <b>For All Mankind </b>(****) splendidly improves on the tedious third season and brings us back much closer to the quality of the first two. We're still not back to the show at its best, but this season is a big improvement over last year and opens the story up for a very interesting fifth season.</p><p></p><div class="post-footer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #8e8e8e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><p></p><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-690429416597207204" itemprop="description articleBody" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.4; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 578.222px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8602128902799659468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.4; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 578px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.4; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 578px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.4; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 578px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.4; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 578px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-19571308269270568402024-01-15T23:46:00.001+00:002024-01-15T23:46:50.782+00:00RIP Howard Waldrop<p><a href="https://locusmag.com/2024/01/howard-waldrop-1946-2024/">News has sadly broken</a> of the passing of Howard Waldrop, a highly-acclaimed author of science fiction and fantasy short fiction, at the age of 77.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGYtiZTLgH-VuHBG189HdiddlV8CgdlxHpMfmsIg_zPyW9942BgtRlHPsY0vf4NnuXjfHk9LC9K57EOsv1GpQfjnXQnjNwKaB4K91jGAjwrqNuhkUEZYDF7dtFASDuzYxv5gWlO2bxpOSfG7D8A1XS6FkAmMCuVTa_567-XR1vdOiODKtkvPZO7tG1fCM/s800/Howard%20Waldrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGYtiZTLgH-VuHBG189HdiddlV8CgdlxHpMfmsIg_zPyW9942BgtRlHPsY0vf4NnuXjfHk9LC9K57EOsv1GpQfjnXQnjNwKaB4K91jGAjwrqNuhkUEZYDF7dtFASDuzYxv5gWlO2bxpOSfG7D8A1XS6FkAmMCuVTa_567-XR1vdOiODKtkvPZO7tG1fCM/w422-h281/Howard%20Waldrop.jpg" width="422" /></a></div><p>Waldrop was born in Houston, Mississippi in 1946. He spent most of his life in Texas, and became a childhood fan of genre fiction and comic books. He began a correspondence with George R.R. Martin via nascent comics fandom in the 1960s and they became lifelong friends.</p><p>Waldrop's writing career began in 1972 with the short story "Lunchbox" in <i>Analog</i>. Notably, this was John W. Campbell Jr.'s last discovery before his death. Waldrop was best known for his short fiction, publishing only two full-length novels in his career: <i>The Texas-Israeli War: 1999</i> (1974) and <i>Them Bones</i> (1984), along with the novella <i>A Dozen Tough Jobs</i> (1989), which some have pondered as an influence on the Coen Brothers <i>O Brother, Where Art Thou?</i> (2000) (especially as the latter has a character called "Vernon Waldrip").</p><p>Waldrop was more at home with short fiction, penning around eighty published stories in his career. "The Ugly Chickens" (1980), about the extinction of the dodo, was probably his most acclaimed work, winning the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards and getting a Hugo nomination. "Night of the Cooters" (1990) was probably his joint-best-known tale. It was adapted for film in 2022 by Vincent D'Onofrio, and produced by Waldrop's friend George R.R. Martin.</p><p>His other joint-best-known story also owes something to Martin: in 1987 he contributed "Thirty Minutes Over Broadway!" as the very first <b>Wild Cards</b> story, in the very first collection in the series. The story depicts the adventures of Jetboy as the Wild Card virus is released over New York City and acts as the origin story for the franchise. The story also features the franchise's most-quoted line of dialogue: <i>"I can't die yet! I haven't seen the Jolson Story!"</i> Waldrop was offered the chance to pen more stories but he declined, only allowing that he might return to write the very last story in the series if Martin decided to wrap it up. Alas, that opportunity will now not arise.</p><p>His stories were assembled in numerous collections, most notably <i>Things Will Never Be the Same</i> (2007) and <i>Other Worlds, Better Lives</i> (2008). Waldrop's fiction was noted for its sense of humour and he became popular for his lively readings of his stories at conventions, including the annual ArmadilloCon in Austin, Texas. More than once, he was called "the court jester of SF."</p><p>A smart and interesting writer of idiosyncratic, lively fiction, Howard Waldrop will be missed.</p>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-61058417694251053672024-01-13T23:17:00.013+00:002024-02-03T16:50:06.294+00:00The SFF All-Time Sales List (2024 Edition)<p>After a lengthy break (six years since <a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-sff-all-time-sales-list-revised.html">the last version</a>),
the (non-) patented, utterly non-definitive Wertzone Official SFF All-Time Bestseller List returns.</p><p>There have been some changes this time. The last list was getting
on for 300 entries strong, and unreliable and variable reporting meant the
lower half of the list had more holes in it than Swiss cheese after being
visited by lactose-loving moths, due to patchy reporting. I have limited the numbered list to authors
with more than 1 million copies sold for the sake of sanity. I have left in the
remainder of the list from last time, but take those positions and sales figures with a pinch
of salt the size of Greenland.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The usual string of caveats: reporting of sales for authors
is bizarrely spotty, with some authors happy to broadcast their sales, some guarding
their figures with incredible tenacity and others happily admitting they don’t
have a clue what they are, reliant on intermittent reporting by various
publishers across the world. There is also frequent confusion over “books sold,”
“books in print” (i.e. the number of books that are currently sitting unsold on
shelves or in warehouses across the world) or “sales-per-book,” which can sometimes lead to conflicting information. There is also tremendous lag, with reports sometimes being many years behind sales themselves. Some of the sales figure sources are brand-new, some are a few years old and some are twenty years old with absolutely no interest from the publishers in updating them. The sources for the list are therefore all over the place (but noted where possible).</p><p class="MsoNormal">Still, some interesting trends can be discerned: the rise of "Romantasy" is quite notable, with a massive explosion of sales for Sarah J. Maas, whose sales growth is eclipsing almost everyone else in the field (she's catching Brandon Sanderson up like a freight train), and newcomer Rebecca Yarros selling around 2.4 million copies in a year, which is the type of explosive debut we haven't seen this side of Patrick Rothfuss. YA and younger category sales also remain a huge deal, with the enormous sales growth of the <b>Percy Jackson</b> series being particularly eye-popping. Traditional epic fantasy still does quite well but at a much lower level, with solid growth for the likes of Joe Abercrombie, Mark Lawrence, Michael J. Sullivan and James Islington. Brandon Sanderson remains a strong outlier, and Robert Jordan is doing pretty well for someone who passed away seventeen years ago, with <b>The Wheel of Time</b> recently joining the 100 million+ club.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Should you take this list as Gospel? Nope! But it is, hopefully, a reasonable indication as to what's going on out there.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg74zgKJONStrLHIhCn5OnZmd0nUq_gAvwvOwDD6eaup81k54hGKsLNooMm8FYeBjHODorbtHKxM9ImJ0KjnBk9w_nCZKZxL3xZC25xDQ5fuKHDITXv0XAgCk5xy3CfFbRY8sB_XHYEpG7dBxsBGxMHrDOyU7KMBMIrOkIpoUj4j-ApMR-RuRYs8-zKJY8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="975" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg74zgKJONStrLHIhCn5OnZmd0nUq_gAvwvOwDD6eaup81k54hGKsLNooMm8FYeBjHODorbtHKxM9ImJ0KjnBk9w_nCZKZxL3xZC25xDQ5fuKHDITXv0XAgCk5xy3CfFbRY8sB_XHYEpG7dBxsBGxMHrDOyU7KMBMIrOkIpoUj4j-ApMR-RuRYs8-zKJY8=w261-h402" width="261" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>1) JK Rowling (600 million)</b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Rowling completed her ludicrously successful <b>Harry Potter</b> series
seventeen years ago, and various attempts to follow up on that have not
garnered anywhere near as much success. Legacy sales for the series remain
strong but seem to be dropping; her reported sales in 2023 are not dramatically
higher than in 2018, and her once-thought-unreachable position does seem to be
in reach of several other authors. Still, sitting on her throne of dollar
bills, she probably does not care very much. <<a href="http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/scholastic-marks-25-year-anniversary-publication-jk-rowling-s-harry-potter-and-sorcere">source</a>></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>[Eiichiro Oda (500 million)]<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m generally not including manga in this list because
that’s a whole other medium, but will note some of interest. Eiichiro Oda is the
biggest-selling manga author in Japanese history, with his well-known <b>One
Piece</b> pirate fantasy series surpassing 523 million copies sold as of last year. With the
enormous success of the Netflix live-action adaptation, a second season on the
way, dramatically increased viewership of the existing 1,000+ episode anime and
a new, revamped anime for overseas audiences on its way, expect this figure to
just keep shooting up and up. <<a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2022-08-04/one-piece-manga-sets-guinness-world-record-with-over-500-million-published/.188352">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>2) R.L. Stine (400 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stine is best-known for his 62-volume <b>Goosebumps</b>
series of novels aimed at younger readers, as well as assorte spin-offs. His
other works include the <b>Fear Street</b>, <b>Rotten School</b>, <b>Mostly
Ghostly</b> and <b>Nightmare Room</b> series. <<a href="https://wordsrated.com/goosebumps-books-statistics/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>3) Stephen King (350 – 400 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stephen King had sold 350 million novels by 2006 and he
remains a perennial bestseller, with numerous books published since then and
two massive film adaptations of his novel <i>IT</i>, so I think it’s
comfortable to say he is in the 400 million range, although <i>The Encyclopedia
of Fantasy</i> (1996) makes a good argument that his sales/copies read are
incalculable given his myriad overseas rights and pirate copies. King’s <b>Dark
Tower</b> series, his most vital contribution to “regular” fantasy alongside <i>Eyes of the Dragon</i>, has sold
over 30 million copies by itself. <<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/6174256.stm">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>4) J.RR. Tolkien (350 million +)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Likewise, J.R.R. Tolkien’s sales are incalculable due to
vast numbers of pirate copies of his books and unauthorised overseas
translations and sales (madly, the first American paperback edition of <i>Lord
of the Rings</i> as an unauthorised edition exploiting a copyright loophole).
Conservative figures from around 1995 suggested 150 million for <i>Lord of the
Rings</i>, but some research suggest that figure was drawn from sales of <i>Fellowship
of the Ring</i> alone (!) and Tolkien’s true sales total, including 100 million
copies of <i>The Hobbit</i> and millions more for <i>The Silmarillion</i> and
various spin-off books, probably stands at well over 350 million. <i>The Lord
of the Rings</i> also sold around 50 million extra copies in the five years
after <i>The Fellowship of the Ring</i> was released in cinemas in 2001. Even
this figure may be highly conservative. <<a href="https://www.quora.com/Who-sold-more-books-J-R-R-Tolkien-or-J-K-Rowling">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[Jin Yong (300 million+)]<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The late Jin Yong has sold over 300 million copies of his
wuxia novels, which cross the boundary between fantasy and historical fiction. He is best known for his <b>Legend of the Condor Heroes</b> series. <<a href="https://edel-images.azureedge.net/ea/MM/images/illustrations/original/9781250220608_il_3_765ab.jpg">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>5) Stephenie Meyer (250 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <b>Twilight</b> series has sold over a quarter-billion
copies. Sparkly! However, there have been no updated figures for the series
since 2015, so even given a drop-off in sales (the books and films are no
longer dominating the cultural discourse as they were a decade ago), this
figure will likely be somewhat higher. <<a href="https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/stephenie-meyer">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[Dean Koontz (c. 200
million)]<br />
</b>Dean Koontz's official website claims sales of 450 million, which seem hard
to credit for an author with a big profile, but nowhere near that of King or
Rowling. Other figures suggest 200 million, which seems much more credible.
However, Koontz's eligibility for the list is questionable given that he has
written numerous non-SFF novels (though many of them still within the horror or
suspense thriller genres). Thus, his placement on the list is for those who
consider him to be a genre author. <<a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/19981214/22121-part-2-koontz-by-the-numbers.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[Michael Crichton (c.
200 million)]<br />
</b>Michael Crichton published 27 novels during his lifetime, selling more than
200 million copies. Only eight of those novels are SF, but these include most
of his best-known novels (including <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><i>Jurassic</i></st1:placename><i>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></i></st1:place>, <i>The Lost
World</i>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><i>Sphere</i></st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><i>Congo</i></st1:country-region></st1:place> and <i>The Andromeda
Strain</i>). He also created the <b>Westworld</b> franchise. His placement here is for comparative purposes and for those who
consider him to be a genre author. <<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/michael-crichton-10046#:~:text=His%20books%20have%20sold%20more,the%20hit%20television%20series%20ER.">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">6) Rick Riordan (190
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rick Riordan is the author of the <b>Percy Jackson</b>
series, which has so far spawned two successful movie adaptations, a Disney+ TV
series and driven renewed sales of the books. Riordan is easily the biggest
jumpers on the list, with almost 100 million newly-reported sales since 2018 and a probable increase in sales imminent due to the TV adaptation of the books. <<a href="https://rickriordan.com/about/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>[Star Wars (160
million)]<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Del Rey and Bantam sold over 160 million <b>Star Wars</b>
novels, mostly from the "Expanded Universe," between 1991 and 2012. This figure does not
include those books published by Lucasfilm directly and Disney. <<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111238313723995681?mod=googlewsj">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">7) Anne Rice (136
million)<br />
</b>Anne Rice's <b>Vampire Chronicles</b> series was a huge phenomenon through
the 1980s and 1990s, bolstered by the Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt movie, and additional adaptations. <<a href="https://www.gwinnettpl.org/news/a-brief-moment-with-anne-rice/#:~:text=Her%20son%2C%20Christopher%20Rice%2C%20has,selling%20authors%20of%20modern%20times.">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">8) CS Lewis (120 million+)<br />
</b>Lewis is best-known for his seven-volume<b> Chronicles of Narnia</b>
series, which has had multiple film, audio, stage and television adaptations
(with a new film and TV series incoming from Netflix). His other works include <b>The
Space Trilogy</b>. <<a href="https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">9) Sir Terry
Pratchett (100 million+)<br />
</b>Pratchett remains one of the biggest-selling SFF novelists in the world
and, because his <b>Discworld</b> books are mostly stand-alone novels, he may
actually have a lot more readers than several of the above. Despite his passing
in 2015 and only mixed success for various adaptations, Pratchett’s profile and sales seem to be accelerating as younger
generations of readers discover his accessible, prolific, thought-provoking and
funny fiction. <<a href="https://www.paulkidby.com/new-discworld-alliance-announced-on-sir-terrys-birthday-by-narrativia/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">10) Edgar Rice
Burroughs (100 million+)<br />
</b>Edgar Rice Burroughs was a hugely prolific author. He has sold more than
100 million copies of his novels, including the SF <b>Barsoom</b>, <b>Pellucidar</b>,
<b>Venus</b>, <b>Caspak</b> and <b>Moon</b> series and the non-SF <b>Tarzan</b>
series. <<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LyJqIfNPSgcC&q=%22million+copies%22&pg=PA421&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=%22million%20copies%22&f=false">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">11) Sir Arthur C. Clarke (100 million+)<br />
</b>Sir Arthur C. Clarke gains the distinction of being the only author on the
list to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and have an orbit named after
him. Clarke was already a well-known, big-selling SF author when the film <i>2001:
A Space Odyssey</i> and his television coverage of the first moon landing
catapulted him into becoming a household name in both the United States and
United Kingdom. A steady stream of best-selling, high-profile and
critically-acclaimed SF novels continued into the 1980s, when his profile was
again boosted by his TV series, <b>Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World</b>. As
well as his SF novels he also published a large number of non-fiction books and
volumes of criticism on matters of science. <<a href="https://www.audible.co.uk/author/Arthur-C-Clarke/B000APF21M#:~:text=CLARKE%20(1917%2D2008)%20wrote,million%20copies%20in%20print%20worldwide.">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">12) Suzanne Collins
(100 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Suzanne Collins's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Hunger Games</i> hadn't even been published when I created the very first list.
The trilogy has been published in full, sold over 100 million copies (over 65
million in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place>
alone) and generated four hit movies since then. Very impressive. Additional books have followed. <<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/books/suzanne-collins-talks-about-the-hunger-games-the-books-and-the-movies.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">13) Robert Jordan (100
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Robert Jordan’s <b>Wheel of Time</b> epic fantasy series
rapidly became the biggest post-Tolkien epic fantasy series after its launch in
1990, with enormous sales driving Tor Books to become the biggest name in
science fiction and fantasy publishing. Books 8 through 14 were each a <i>New
York Times</i> #1 bestseller, an unheard-of feat for epic fantasy. After Robert
Jordan passed away in 2007, the series was completed by Brandon Sanderson in
2013. Sales of the series have continued to grow since then, but got a sharp
boost from the launch of Amazon’s <b>Wheel of Time</b> television series in
2021, with more than 5 million additional sales in five years. <<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/8/#comment-8943774">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">14) Andre Norton (90 million+)<br />
</b>Andre Norton was one of science fiction and fantasy's most prolific
authors, penning around 300 books (either novels or story collections) in a
career stretching over decades. <<a href="https://www.communizine.com/andre-norton-1912-2005-always-remembered-by-scifi-fans/">source</a>></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_uwq7ku1oSJRMWL0Rukit23l-_Rx-paUhkqVg5-GBOhmo0rpNB7YPVSVY7IQB0BGbyPdCrN2KkqMxyzfZvaEz3F7lfIZ8BmDQdhqXBa5qkVqXMMimZnDl8pIZlTghuF967erMFrZVvUlavCCjWIHymY4bK3ZX3RphwDgo40eaKEw0bgFR9ImL5ZR8ysE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="690" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_uwq7ku1oSJRMWL0Rukit23l-_Rx-paUhkqVg5-GBOhmo0rpNB7YPVSVY7IQB0BGbyPdCrN2KkqMxyzfZvaEz3F7lfIZ8BmDQdhqXBa5qkVqXMMimZnDl8pIZlTghuF967erMFrZVvUlavCCjWIHymY4bK3ZX3RphwDgo40eaKEw0bgFR9ImL5ZR8ysE=w478-h200" width="478" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>15) George R.R.
Martin (91 million+)</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>A Song of Ice and Fire</b>’s sales growth was initially
modest: from 1996 to 2005 the series sold around 5 million copies. Thanks to
Internet word of mouth, sales accelerated to reach around 12 million by the
time <i>A Dance with Dragons</i> launched in 2011. Propelled by the explosive
success of the HBO adaptation, <b>Game of Thrones</b>, the series reached over
90 million sales by 2016. Further sales figures have not been given since then,
but have been presumed not to have surpassed 100 million just yet (but, with the success of <b>House of the Dragon</b>, is likely very close).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Martin has also sold over 1 million copies of the first
trilogy in his <b>Wild Cards</b> superhero anthology series, and over a million
copies of companion volume <i>The World of Ice and Fire</i> by itself.<<a href="https://winteriscoming.net/2022/08/09/when-uk-publishers-had-bidding-war-over-song-of-ice-and-fire/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[H. Rider Haggard (85
million+)]<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">H. Rider Haggard is an influential writer of the late 19th
Century, most famous for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">King Solomon's
Mines</i>. His novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">She: A Novel of
Adventure</i> features significant supernatural influences (such as the main
villain being immortal and killed by a supernatural force), but most of his
work can be classified as adventure fiction rather than SFF. <<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080312201204/http:/www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842147,00.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">16) Sherrilyn Kenyon
(80 million+)<br />
</b>Sherrilyn Kenyon is a prolific urban fantasy author who also publishers
supernatural-tinged historical fantasy under the pen name Kinley MacGregor. She
has over 80 million books in print in over 100 countries. She is best-known for
her <b>Dark-Hunter</b> series. <<a href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2018/10/22/tips-for-long-term-author-success-with-sherrilyn-kenyon/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[John Saul (60
million+)]<br />
</b>John Saul has sold over 60 million copies of his horror novels. Most of
them fall into the psychological horror or thriller sub-categories, with only a
few involving supernatural forces. <<a href="http://www.thecomputershow.com/computershow/previews/johnsaulsblackstonechronicles.htm">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">17) James Herbert (54 million+)<br />
</b>The late James Herbert has sold more than 54 million copies of his horror
novels, most of which had an SF or supernatural twist. His best-known work is <i>The
Rats </i>(1974). <<a href="https://www.davidhigham.co.uk/authors-dh/james-herbert/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">18) Terry Brooks (51.7
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Terry Brooks has sold over 30 million copies in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place>
alone with his international sales boosting this massively. He has also sold
some 1.7 million copies in German. He remains best-known for his <b>Shannara</b>
fantasy series, with its first volume, <i>The Sword of Shannara</i>, credited
with beginning the post-Tolkien epic fantasy boom in 1977. He has also written the <b>Magic
Kingdom of Landover</b> sequence. <<a href="https://store.orbit-books.co.uk/products/the-wishsong-of-shannara?pr_prod_strat=use_description&pr_rec_id=aaa3c5836&pr_rec_pid=7845058805938&pr_ref_pid=6977766490290&pr_seq=uniform">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">19) Richard Adams (50
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Watership Down</i> has
sold more than 50 million copies by itself, though its fantasy status is
debatable. I tend to count it as such, since aside from the talking rabbits
there's also the fact that ghosts and spirit guides play a role. Adams has also
sold not-inconsiderable numbers of his adult fantasy novels set in the Beklan
Empire, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shardik</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maia</i>, not to mention further works
related to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Watership Down</i>. <<a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/05/richard-adams-watership-down">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[Dennis Wheatley (50
million)]<br />
</b>Dennis Wheatley was the biggest-selling British author of the 1960s and
1970s, routinely selling more than a million copies a year for over a decade.
The majority of his books were crime, political or spy thrillers. However, he
also published novels featuring supernatural elements, resulting from his own
fascination with the occult. As a result, a small number of his books may be of
genre interest. <<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/mar/04/featuresreviews.guardianreview9">source</a>><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">20) Robert Heinlein
(50 million)<br />
</b>One of the grand masters of old-school SF and one of the "Big
Three" of late 20th Century SF alongside Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac
Asimov, Heinlein had sold 11.5 million books by the early 1980s and about 50
million in total to date. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><<a href="https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780345414007">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>MANY, MANY MORE AFTER THE JUMP</b></p>
<span><a name='more'></a></span><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">21) Cassandra Clare
(50 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cassandra Clare is the author of <b>The Shadowhunter
Chronicles</b>, made up of the <b>Mortal Instruments</b>, <b>Infernal Devices</b>
and the <b>Dark Artifices</b> sub-series. <<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/article-author-cassandra-clare-has-sold-50-million-books-but-nothing-beats/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">22) Diana Gabaldon (50
million)<br />
</b>The author of the <b>Outlander</b> series, in which a 20th Century nurse
time-travels back to Jacobite times and falls in love with a Highlander. The
immense success of the <b>Outlander </b>TV series has significantly boosted
sales of the series. <<a href="https://www.dianagabaldon.com/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[Jean M. Auel (45
million+)]<br />
</b>Jean M. Auel has sold over 45 million copies of her Earth's Children
sequence. Though written as speculative history, some have categorised the
books as alternate history and thus borderline SF. <<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/authors/1026/jean-m-auel">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">23) Stanislaw Lem (45
million+)<br />
</b>The Polish author of <i>Solaris</i> and numerous other SFF novels has sold
more than 45 million copies of his work worldwide. <<a href="https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/sci-fi-king-stanislaw-lem-is-still-considered-master-of-his-genre-7599">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYApaX26Q7Vh72XoTr_p_93TPOw_g9SniUhI5fJ0F7IEki3td2yDwq1V6oFX4x6S5lcXHBgnc3I1NwQQABMI49evEBsXrO4Uao2OFycMXU6lMitU3yXXAzgTTDDLWws8nzaYDsJF9kynJVdk3gHSRgz-LIhYbud5UuBCkJw4WbFsSBEIFOmwN7u9eRt9I" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="800" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYApaX26Q7Vh72XoTr_p_93TPOw_g9SniUhI5fJ0F7IEki3td2yDwq1V6oFX4x6S5lcXHBgnc3I1NwQQABMI49evEBsXrO4Uao2OFycMXU6lMitU3yXXAzgTTDDLWws8nzaYDsJF9kynJVdk3gHSRgz-LIhYbud5UuBCkJw4WbFsSBEIFOmwN7u9eRt9I=w253-h337" width="253" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>24) Neil Gaiman (45
million+ )</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Neil Gaiman has sold 30 million copies of the <b>Sandman</b>
series of graphic novels alone (before the sales boom caused by the Netflix TV
show) and over 15 million novels. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coraline</i>
(arguably Gaiman's least-well-known novel) has sold 1 million copies by itself,
as has <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Graveyard Book</i>, whilst <i>American
Gods</i> has sold over 5 million copies. This is a <i>very</i> conservative
figure. <<a href="https://wordsrated.com/neil-gaiman-statistics/">source</a>>
<<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/2/#comment-8332847">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">25) Wolfgang &
Heike Hohlbein (43 million+) <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Husband-and-wife team Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein are the
biggest-selling German authors of science fiction and fantasy, best known for
their <b>Magic Moon</b> series. <<a href="https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/leute/wolfgang-hohlbein-fantasy-autor-dreht-neue-folgen-fuer-rtl-ii-soap-a-899857.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">26) Veronica Roth (42 million+)<u><br />
</u></b>Veronica Roth's sales exploded from 22 million to 42 million between
2014 and 2018, no doubt due to the success of the movies based on her <b>Divergent</b>
series of YA SF novels. The financial failure of the last Divergent <b>movie</b>
does not seem to have impacted the impressive book sales. This figure will
likely rise further as Roth transitions into writing more adult fiction. <<a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/82299-veronica-roth-pivots-from-ya.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">27) George Orwell (41
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Orwell's prophetic SF allegory <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nineteen Eighty-Four</i> has sold more than 30 million copies by
itself, with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Farm</i> estimated to
have sold at least 11 million copies (likely a huge underestimate). <<a href="file:///C:/Users/werth/Desktop/38)%20George%20Orwell%20(41%20million+)">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[Morgan Llywelyn (40
million)]<br />
</b>Morgan Llywelyn is a best-selling Irish-American author whose work consists
mostly of historical novels. However, some of them have a supernatural or
occult twist, sometimes fairly minor and occasionally more notable. <<a href="https://www.barrykrostmanagement.com/morgan-llywelyn.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">28) Christopher
Paolini (40 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Christopher Paolini's <b>Inheritance Cycle</b> has proven
very popular, despite the relative failure of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eragon</i> movie. Additional novels and a recent return to the setting
have ensured steady sales. <<a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/93573-a-new-fantasy-and-a-20th-anniversary-for-christopher-paolini.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">29) Brandon Sanderson (40 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">One of the biggest names in modern fantasy, with a hugely prolific output dominated by <b>The Cosmere</b>, an interconnected universe including the <b>Mistborn</b> and <b>Stormlight Archive</b> series, amongst many others. He is also the architect of the most successful Kickstarter campaign of all time, which generated $40 million to create limited and luxury editions of four “surprise” novels he wrote during the COVID pandemic. Sanderson also finished the <b>Wheel of Time</b> series with three books in 2009-13, following Robert Jordan’s passing. A minimum of 12.5 million of Sanderson’s figure comes from his three <b>Wheel of Time</b> books, whilst <i>The Way of Kings</i> has now sold over 1 million copies by itself. <<a href="https://www.gollancz.co.uk/contributor/brandon-sanderson/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p><div><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">30) Margit Sandemo
(39 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Norwegian-Swedish writer Margit Sandemo is the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Legend of the Ice People</b>, a historical
series with fantastical elements. Spanning 47 volumes published between 1982
and 1989, the series is one of the best-selling series of Scandinavian origin.
<<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B00H8NXWE8/about">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">31) Charlaine Harris
(39 million)<br />
</b>Charlaine Harris has sold more than 30 million copies of her <b>Southern
Vampire Mysteries</b> series, driven by the success of its TV adaptation, <b>True
Blood</b>, and 9 million copies of her other books. <<a href="https://charlaineharris.com/about-charlaine/">source</a>></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEDabxS6vV6p6SuhC9XSZOY6-_Qgnk0_wXhskCCQ_eV3hCBTBQCIJmUu_PU4u5bXxWu9sbha6SBkg79QcIwCGfj9g1kaXz1vXnxsONWHoqG3OF4Rpgqt87Lt7VA6VsN8X9UY6Hlmg6BwGFWOuW9zBDQiCwn3uicRPOdnHj1BqldzOy3xP_qM9jDSXz1Ns" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="1136" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEDabxS6vV6p6SuhC9XSZOY6-_Qgnk0_wXhskCCQ_eV3hCBTBQCIJmUu_PU4u5bXxWu9sbha6SBkg79QcIwCGfj9g1kaXz1vXnxsONWHoqG3OF4Rpgqt87Lt7VA6VsN8X9UY6Hlmg6BwGFWOuW9zBDQiCwn3uicRPOdnHj1BqldzOy3xP_qM9jDSXz1Ns=w457-h343" width="457" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>32) Sarah J. Maas (37 million+)</b></p><p class="MsoNormal">The “Queen of Romantasy” is one of modern genre publishing’s biggest success stories since launching her career just a decade ago with <i>Throne of Glass</i>. Her series include <b>Throne of Glass</b>, <b>A Court of Thorns and Roses</b> and <b>Crescent City</b>. <<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/feb/02/romantasy-literary-genre-booktok">source</a>></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">33) Michael Ende (36 million)</b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Michael Ende has sold more than 16 million copies of his novel, <i>The
Neverending Story</i>, by itself and almost 20 million copies of his various
other books. The success of the series as bolstered by several films based on
his books. <<a href="https://www.thienemann-esslinger.de/autor/michael-ende-87">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">34) R.A. Salvatore (35
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">R.A. Salvatore is the best-selling individual <b>Dungeons
& Dragons</b>-related author. His <b>Legend of Drizzt</b> series, about a
renegade dark elf, has encompassed 44 novels. He has also written another five <b>Forgotten
Realms</b>-set novels, 14 in his own <b>Corona</b> series and eleven books in
other settings, including two <b>Star Wars</b> novels. <<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/10/#comment-9010120">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">35) Tad Williams (30
million)<br />
</b>Tad Williams had sold 30 million copies of his books, including the <b>Memory,
Sorrow and Thorn</b> trilogy, the <b>Otherland</b> quartet, the <b>Shadowmarch</b>
series and several stand-alones, by 2015. Since then, he has added more sales
from the <b>Last King of Osten Ard</b> series. <<a href="https://ostenard.com/2015/02/28/an-interview-with-tad-williams-part-1/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">36) Mary Stewart (30
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Mary Stewart wrote many adventure and historical novels, but
by far her biggest-selling work was the five-volume historical fantasy <b>Merlin
Series</b>, beginning with <i>The Crystal
Cave</i>. <<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/books/mary-stewart-british-writer-who-spanned-genres-dies-at-97.html">source</a>></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">37) Kaoru Kurimoto (30
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Japanese author Kaoru Kurimoto published a startling 130
volumes of her <b>Guin Saga</b> series of fantasy adventure novels prior to her
premature death in 2009. <<a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-05-26/guin-saga-author-kaoru-kurimoto-passes-away-at-56">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">38) Margaret Weis (c.
30 million)<br />
</b>Margaret Weis is best-known for her many collaborations with Tracy Hickman,
most notably in the the <b>Dragonlance</b> fantasy world, which they recently
returned to. She has also written several solo novels and in collaboration with
other writers, and for many years ran her own RPG company. <<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7245020-Weis.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">39) Tracy Hickman (c. 30 million) <br />
</b>Tracy Hickman is best-known for his work on the <b>Dragonlance</b> series
with Margaret Weis. He has also written solo novels and in collaboration with
others, not to mention working on gaming materials. <<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7245020-Weis.html">source</a>></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">40) Holly Black (26
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Holly Black is the co-author (with Tony DiTerlizzi) of <b>The
Spiderwick Chronicles</b> series for younger readers and numerous solo series
for younger and adult readers. <<a href="https://www.laurenceking.com/collections/author-holly-black-pid-34037">source</a>>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">41) Terry Goodkind
(26 million)<br />
</b>The late Terry Goodkind has sold over 26 million copies of his <b>Sword of
Truth</b> series and associated novels. <<a href="https://robinsonsbooks.wordpress.com/2020/09/24/remembering-terry-goodkind/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">42) Darren Shan (25 million+)<br />
</b>Irish author Darren Shan has sold more than 25 million copies of his
numerous YA and adult fantasy and horror novels, including <b>The Saga of
Darren Shan</b>, <b>The Demonata</b>, <b>Zom-B</b>, <b>The Saga of Larten
Crepsley</b> and <b>Archibald Lox</b>. <<a href="https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/i-was-in-my-late-20s-before-i-made-enough-to-move-out-of-home/34888980.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">43) Eoin Colfer (25
million)<br />
</b>The <b>Artemis Fowl</b> series remains one of the biggest YA series around.
<<a href="https://www.eoincolfer.com/about">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">44) Kevin J. Anderson
(23 million)<br />
</b><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city></st1:place>
has sold 20 million copies of his franchise tie-ins in the <b>Dune</b>, <b>Star Wars</b>,
<b>StarCraft </b>and <b>X-Files</b> worlds. However, he has also sold a reasonable amount of
his original series as well. <<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150221235426/http:/www.fantasycon.com/kevin-j.-anderson.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">45) Philip Pullman
(22 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Philip Pullman’s <b>His Dark Materials</b> trilogy and the
first two volumes of <b>The Book of Dust</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> sequel series have sold over 22 million copies, bolstered by the
well-received recent BBC/HBO TV adaptation of his works. <</span><a href="https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/bodley-medal-philip-pullman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">46) Laurell K. Hamilton
(22 million+)<u><o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Laurell K. Hamilton
is best-known for the </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Anita Blake</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series. <</span><a href="https://www.stlmag.com/culture/Literature/laurell-k-hamiltons-30th-anita-blake-novel-slay/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">47) James Dashner (21
million+)</b><u><o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">James Dashner is the
author of the extremely successful </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maze
Runner</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series, which has been
adapted to film. <</span><a href="http://www.jamesdashner.com/#/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">48) Isaac Asimov (20
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The seven volumes of the <b>Foundation</b> series alone have
sold more than 20 million copies. When coupled with Asimov's other numerous
books (he published more than 400 books in his lifetime, including non-fiction), including the
even-better-known <b>Robots</b> series, his total sales are massively higher than
this. In fact, if you told me he’d sold more than 100 million books, that’d be
easily credible. Comfortably the most under-reported author on this list. <<a href="https://booksofbrilliance.com/2023/12/25/the-bestselling-science-fiction-books-of-all-time/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYDnAWQumcwR7BstBcDruPp4SOvZ2gclOM6OyiH1rof07v5l4siJYMQbh8MYVrPR-m6QSM_Gk2gDspqYkemrLqtwYIpUiVCPehHvlWG_45a4M7Ty6FU5hwk0CGUb06DXEHNCk02HtYh_Zue-dQOiTN37U8Gi4K42w07-5fyTDX824rP_OS24SOgr37_48" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYDnAWQumcwR7BstBcDruPp4SOvZ2gclOM6OyiH1rof07v5l4siJYMQbh8MYVrPR-m6QSM_Gk2gDspqYkemrLqtwYIpUiVCPehHvlWG_45a4M7Ty6FU5hwk0CGUb06DXEHNCk02HtYh_Zue-dQOiTN37U8Gi4K42w07-5fyTDX824rP_OS24SOgr37_48=w418-h235" width="418" /></a></div><br /><b>49) Frank Herbert (20
million)</b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Frank Herbert's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dune</i> is
reportedly the biggest-selling SF novel of all time, shifting almost 20 million
copies by itself. His other sales – including five <b>Dune</b> sequels which
all sold extremely well – have never been reported, so this figure is
conservative in the extreme, especially given recent sales drives from the Denis Villeneuve movie adaptation. <<a href="https://openroadmedia.com/contributor/frank-herbert">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">50) Douglas Adams (20
million+)</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy</i> is the only
individual SF novel which can challenge <i>Dune</i> as the biggest-selling SF
novel of all time, with both books inching over 20 million sales individually.
Adams’ four sequels to the original novel, plus his <b>Dirk Gently</b> series,
likely push his total far beyond that figure as well. <<a href="https://rogersmovienation.com/2016/06/10/thumbs-up-hitchhikers-guide-lives-on/#:~:text=But%20with%20more%20than%2020,it's%20not%20exactly%20a%20secret.">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">51) Brian Jacques (c.
20 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The late Brian Jacques sold over 20 million copies of his <b>Redwall</b>
series of animal-based epic fantasies in his lifetime. <<a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-xpm-2011-feb-13-la-me-brian-jacques-20110213-story.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">52) Kazumasa Hirai
(c. 20 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The late Kazumasa Hirai is the author of the <b>Genma Taisen</b>
series of post-apocalyptic novels and graphic novels. <<a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-01-17/genma-taisen-rebirth-writer-harmagedon-8-man-creator-kazumasa-hirai-passes-away/.83397">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">53) Raymond E. Feist (20 million+)<br />
</b>Feist has sold more than 20 million copies of his Riftwar Cycle, which he
concluded back in 2013 after thirty volumes (although he is headed back).
Recent reports suggest that <i>Magician</i> by itself (in both its one-volume
and American two-volume formats) accounts for almost half those sales. His
German sales have now topped 750,000. <<a href="https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/riftwar-cycle-books-eyed-for-tv-series">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">54) Michael Moorcock (20 million)<br />
</b>Moorcock has sold an impressive 20 million copies of his numerous books
over the course of his lengthy career. <<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/michael-moorcock-880000021406">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">55) Mercedes Lackey
(20 million)<br />
</b>The prolific Mercedes Lackey has sold more than 20 million copies of her
fantasy novels, the best-known of which form the Valdemar series. <<a href="http://www.sgglit.com/russell-fiction.htm">source</a>></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKTYOvFzziAVBv1vpLxiDSQxi63X24n6ACTK1MZef_u7FxIsQ-XZvB24rK3EFf5mDgc9upRiKoYB2qvHmE9od2m0DayBW-lFfB0OMyACZlNDTjsOlNgRFiUqHEX_Sd3EaX8WbwF2e4qnQIfcyxSf48OBG9bwn-SEZyBPCNWQ9jHoPX2G0uHNDhapEsUJc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1505" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKTYOvFzziAVBv1vpLxiDSQxi63X24n6ACTK1MZef_u7FxIsQ-XZvB24rK3EFf5mDgc9upRiKoYB2qvHmE9od2m0DayBW-lFfB0OMyACZlNDTjsOlNgRFiUqHEX_Sd3EaX8WbwF2e4qnQIfcyxSf48OBG9bwn-SEZyBPCNWQ9jHoPX2G0uHNDhapEsUJc=w244-h323" width="244" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>56) Leigh Bardugo: (20 million+)</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The author of the <b>Grishverse</b> series of interrelated
series and novels, most notably <i>Shadow and Bone</i> and <i>Six of Crows</i>.
Sales have been boosted by a Netflix adaptation. <<a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/shadow-and-bone-author-leigh-bardugo-wme-1235565169/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">57) Orson Scott Card
(20 million+)<br />
</b>Orson Scott Card has sold over 20 million books, with over seven million
copies of <i>Ender's Game</i> by itself in print. <<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250773081/xenocide">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">58) Cornelia Funke
(20 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Author and illustrator Cornelia Funke was born in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place>
but is now resident in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">California</st1:state></st1:place>.
She is best-known for her children's fantasies, including the popular Inkheart
series. <<a href="https://www.faz.net/aktuell/karriere-hochschule/cornelia-funke-prophetin-im-eigenen-land-11913801-p2.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">59) P.C. Cast (20 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">PC Cast has written numerous supernatural and YA series, but
her biggest success is <b>The House of Night</b>, co-authored with her daughter
Kristin. <<a href="https://www.pccastauthor.com/house-of-night">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">60) Tony DiTerlizzi (20
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The co-author (with Holly Black) of the enormously
successful <b>Spiderwick Chronicles</b> series. DiTerlizzi is also an
accomplished artist, particularly famed for his work on the <b>Dungeons &
Dragons</b> campaign setting/world <b>Planescape</b>. <<a href="https://diterlizzi.com/about/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">61) J.R. Ward (15
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The paranormal-tinged pen name of romance author Jessica
Bird. The J.R. Ward-branded books have sold over 20 million copies by
themselves. <<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/J-R-Ward/139182007">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">62) David & Leigh
Eddings (18 million+)</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">David and Leigh
Eddings co-wrote the </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Belgariad</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Malloreon</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Elenium</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> and </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tamuli</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series, although
David alone was credited, with Leigh’s name only joining his on later prequel
novels. Both Eddings passed away in the late 2000s. Unfortunately, their legacy
has been tainted </span><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/05/it-has-been-revealed-that-fantasy.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">by revelations</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> that they were both jailed for child abuse
in 1970 and their adopted children withdrawn from their care. <</span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18362370/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">63) Anne McCaffrey
(18 million+)</b><br />
Anne McCaffrey has sold 18 million copies of her Dragonriders of Pern series,
with more than half a million copies sold of her collaborations with her son
Todd alone. <<a href="http://theauthorhour.com/todd-mccaffrey/extras.php?autoplay=y">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">64) Roger Zelazny (18 million+)<br />
</b>Roger Zelazny has sold more than 15 million copies of the Chronicles of
Amber series alone and another 3 million for <i>Lord of Light</i>. <<a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/stephen-colbert-chronicles-of-amber-tv-series-adaptation-1235492097/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">65) Hideyuki Kikuchi
(17 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hideyuki Kikuchi has sold some 18 million copies of his <b>Vampire
Hunter D</b> and <b>Wicked City </b>series, not including their <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">manga</span> spin-offs. <<a href="https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Gold-Fiend-by-Hideyuki-Kikuchi-Yoshitaka-Amano-artist/9781506720791">source</a>></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">66) Larry Niven (17 million+)<br />
</b>Larry Niven has sold 10 million copies of his collaborations with Jerry
Pournelle alone. His <b>Ringworld</b> books add a further 7 million sales on
top of that. <source: <i>Scifi.com Magazine Issue 44</i>><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">67) Madeline L'Engle
(16 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Madeline L'Engle's <b>Time Quartet</b> and its related
spin-off books have been hugely successful, with the first novel in the series,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Wrinkle in Time</i>, has sold over 16
million copies by itself. The sales of the rest of the series are unknown, so
the total may be noticeably higher even than this figure, especially given the
recent movie version. <<a href="https://nypost.com/2018/03/03/the-author-of-a-wrinkle-in-time-almost-never-got-published/">quote</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">68) Yoshiki Tanaka
(15 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Yoshiki Tanaka’s </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Legend of the Galactic Heroes</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series of epic SF novels has been adapted
several times for manga and anime. <</span><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/english/hollywood/news/legend-of-the-galactic-heroes-die-neue-anime-gets-a-sequel-on-its-fifth-anniversary/articleshow/104989937.cms?from=mdr"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_aY6HrmUConuUTfKPStv5AWgESZK-c3l8ZyNCTDVJeQJcwFlrpssPA9Ssj3Yg4Z8LLLLrEXM0882Mx6buDl3-sry3pyhKYdO2iZx7SFGFNFR_cDR_4vT6glD7gU-Q0Yw05QTPGP9WMMXfRI4Y9Ot7nxPqYqbImmjokhf3Z8ziPmlVrAK43sQK_l0D5tA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1628" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_aY6HrmUConuUTfKPStv5AWgESZK-c3l8ZyNCTDVJeQJcwFlrpssPA9Ssj3Yg4Z8LLLLrEXM0882Mx6buDl3-sry3pyhKYdO2iZx7SFGFNFR_cDR_4vT6glD7gU-Q0Yw05QTPGP9WMMXfRI4Y9Ot7nxPqYqbImmjokhf3Z8ziPmlVrAK43sQK_l0D5tA=w237-h298" width="237" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">69) Timothy Zahn (15
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Timothy Zahn has
been credited as “the man who saved </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Star
Wars</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">,” via his </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thrawn Trilogy</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> of novels in 1991-93, which has sold over 15 million copies by itself,
introducing the memorable characters of Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade. Zahn
has intermittently revisited the Galaxy Far Far Away ever since, both in the
original “Legends” continuity and the recent Disney reboot. Thrawn recently
made his live-action debut in the </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ahsoka</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series. <</span><a href="https://www.wuwf.org/local-news/2014-02-20/the-man-who-saved-star-wars-an-interview-with-pensacon-guest-timothy-zahn"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">70) Andrzej Sapkowski
(15 million+): The Witcher </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Andrzej Sapkowski started penning his <b>Witcher </b>stories for writing competitions in his native Poland in the early 1990s. Thirty years later, the series is one of the biggest in fantasy. The video game series from CD Projekt Red has itself sold over 50 million copies, with <i>The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt</i> frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. At least four more games in the setting are on their way. The Netflix TV adaptation starring Henry Cavill has also been immensely successful, despite rumoured behind the scenes shenanigans leading to Cavill's departure. All of this has been good news for Sapkowski and his publishers. <<a href="https://www.tvinsider.com/836558/the-witcher-henry-cavill-geralt-of-rivia-season-1-preview/">source</a>></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">71) James Blish (12
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A huge underrating,
but I can’t find better figures. James Blish is best-known for his huge-selling
novelisations of the original </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Star
Trek</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series in the 1970s, and his </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cities in Flight</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> sequence. His sales by 1979 were at over 12 million. <source: <i>Star
Trek #2</i> cover blurb,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1979><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">72) John Norman (12
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The author of the </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gor</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series. <</span><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120203163326/http:/server.theadvocates.org/celebrities/john-norman.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">73) Diana Wynne Jones
(10 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The author of the </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chrestomanci</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> and </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dalemark</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series, as well as the satirical work <i>The
Tough Guide to Fantasyland</i> and <i>Dark Lord of Derkholm</i>. Probably her
best-known novel is <i>Howl’s Moving Castle</i>, adapted as a Studio Ghibli
movie. <</span><a href="https://bellaonbooks.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/diana-wynne-jones/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">74) Robert E. Howard
(10 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One of the founding
fathers of pulp fantasy, best-known for his </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Conan the Barbarian</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series
of short stories and novels, but also the </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kull the Conqueror</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> and </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Solomon Kane</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> series, amongst others. His sales are incalculable, as some of the pulp
magazines he was writing for in the 1930s sold hundreds of thousands of copies
a week. Several reissues of his work in the 1960s, 1990s and 2000s also sold
millions of copies. This figure is extremely conservative, based on the Lancer
Books editions with Frank Frazetta cover art alone. <</span><a href="https://twitter.com/PulpLibrarian/status/1094677828791136256?lang=en-GB"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">75) Stephen Donaldson
(10 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The author of </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the
Unbeliever</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, one of the works
credited with starting the epic fantasy boom of the late 1970s. Donaldson has
written significant other works, including the epic science fiction series </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Gap</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">. <</span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Runes-Earth-Chronicles-Covenant-Covenan/dp/0575116676"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">76) Alice Sebold (10
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10259777/Author-Alice-Sebold-apologizes-man-cleared-1981-rape.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>77) Jerry Pournelle
(10 million+) </b><prior source
no longer available></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">78) Chris Bunch (10
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sten-Number-1-Chris-Bunch/dp/1841490075"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">79) Allan Cole (10
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sten-Number-1-Chris-Bunch/dp/1841490075"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">80) Peter Straub (10
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780671725921/Houses-Doors-Straub-Peter-0671725920/plp"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">81) Frederik Pohl (10
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://tangentonline.com/oldtimeradio/the-space-merchants-by-frederik-pohl-a-c-m-kornbluth/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">82) Cyril M.
Kornbluth (10 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://tangentonline.com/oldtimeradio/the-space-merchants-by-frederik-pohl-a-c-m-kornbluth/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">83) Gordon R. Dickson
(10 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/02/04/science-fiction-author-gordon-dickson-dies/08f7830a-05d2-4c6c-a1ce-23cef1414f22/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">84) Patrick Rothfuss
(10 million+): The King-Killer Chronicle</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, <i>The Name of the Wind</i> <</span><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/lionsgate-wins-rights-fantasy-book-828557/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">85) Gregory Maguire
(10 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.al.com/entertainment/2012/02/from_page_to_stage_author_greg.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">86) Lauren Kate (10
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fallen-series-exploration-lauren-kates-bookchor-com"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">87) Lois Lowry (10
million): </b><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Giver </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2014/07/10/the-giver-usa-today-best-selling-books-list-lois-lowry-movie/12379163/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">88) Ransom Riggs (9
million+): </b><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Miss Peregrine’s Home
for Peculiar Children</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <</span><a href="https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/announcements/cover-art-title-and-on-sale-date-of-ransom-riggs-next-book-revealed/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">89) Margaret Atwood (9
million+) (SFF figures only) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://wordsrated.com/margaret-atwood-statistics/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">90) Richelle Mead (9
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/60570-movie-alert-vampire-academy-blood-sisters.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">91) David Weber (8.75
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/David-Weber/486513089"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">92) Daniel Abraham
(James S.A. Corey) (8.3 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/have-you-ever-it-87701679">source</a>> <<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/5/#comment-8697410">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">93) Ty Franck (James
S.A. Corey) (8 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/have-you-ever-it-87701679">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">94) Ray Bradbury (8
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-popularizer-of-science-fiction-dies-at-91.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">95) Christopher
Golden (8 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://camelotbooks.com/prince-of-stories-many-worlds-of-neil-gaiman.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">96) F. Paul Wilson (8
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.lfs.org/newsletter/029/03/FPWilson.shtml"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">97) John Flanagan (8
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://bangzobookswholesale.com/products/rangers-apprentice-series-2-6-books-young-adult-set-paperback-by-john-flanagan"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">98) Alyson Noel (8
million+)</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <</span><a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/51479-q-a-with-alyson-noel.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">99) Liu Cixin (8
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/06/24/liu-cixins-war-of-the-worlds"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">100) Robin Hobb (8
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2018/05/28/robin-hobb-avec-la-fantasy-nos-cultures-et-nos-prejuges-sont-balayes_5305766_4408996.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">> (highly conservative extrapolation from French sales)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">101) Jonathan Stroud
(7 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/jonathan-stroud-moves-walker-six-figure-deal-1036276"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>101) Audrey
Niffenegger (7 million+) </b><<a href="https://dearauthor.com/features/interviews/interview-with-audrey-niffenegger/">source</a>></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">102) Kiera Cass (7
million+): The Selection Series </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/5/#comment-8697832">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">103) William Gibson
(6.5 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071029044328/http:/lrc.reviewcanada.ca/index.php?page=71---80"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">104) Peter S. Beagle
(6 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2013/06/05/last-unicorn-creator-peter-s-beagle-recalls-his-novel-revives-his-film/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">105) Jim Butcher (6
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">106) Barbara Hambly
(6 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">107) Robert Harris (6
million+) (SF only)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">108) Bella Forrest (6
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">109) Markus Heitz (5.1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">110) Joe Abercrombie
(5 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/17/joe-abercrombie-you-can-get-women-into-any-story-if-you-think-about-it-for-10-seconds">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">111) L. Frank Baum (5
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">112) Daniel Keyes (5
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">113) Garth Nix (5
million) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sir-Hereward-Mister-Fitz-Sorcerer/dp/1399606352/ref=sr_1_1?geniuslink=true&keywords=Garth+Nix+sir+hereward+and+mister+fitz+stories+of+the+witch+knight+and+the+puppet+sorcerer&qid=1705158336&sr=8-1">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">114) Robert R.
McCammon (5 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">115) Vonda N.
McIntyre (5 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">116) Sergei
Lukyanenko (5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">117) Michael Jan
Friedman (5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">118) Kami Garcia (5
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">119) Margaret Stohl
(5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">120) Andy Weir (5
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">121) Alan Dean Foster
(5 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(conservative figure
based on sales of the original <i>Star Wars</i> novel itself)</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Un-xvlJBL.jpg">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">122) John Scalzi (5
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://whatever.scalzi.com/2021/03/29/reader-request-week-2021-2-book-numbers/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">123) Brent Weeks (5
million) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/6/#comment-8831858">source</a>></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">124) Will Wight (1 million+): Cradle </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtxLzCArCuQ/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p><div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">125) Trudi Canavan (4.6
million+)</b></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">126) Peter V. Brett (4.5
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/9/#comment-8945940">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">127) Frank Schätzing
(4.2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">128) Fritz Leiber (4
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">129) Lian Hearn (4
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">130) David Drake (4
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">131) Tamora Pierce (4
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">132) Max Brooks (4
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">133) Scott
Westerfield (4 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">134) David Mitchell
(4 million+)</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">135) Mary Janice
Davidson (4 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">136) Janet Morris (4
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">137) Ursula K. Le
Guin (4 million+ )<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">138) Victoria Aveyard
(4 million+): Red Queen </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/6/#comment-8832023">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">139) Susanna Clarke (4
million+): </b><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jonathan Strange
& Mr. Norrell</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, <i>Piranesi
</i><<a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/susanna-clarkes-perfectly-constructed-next-novel-goes-bloomsbury-15-years-after-jonathan">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">140) Rick Yancey (3.6
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">141) Ben Aaronovitch
(3.5 million+): </b><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Rivers of London</span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/9/#comment-8946111">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">142) Deborah Harkness
(3.5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">143) Jeanne DuPrau
(3.5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">144) Steven Erikson (3.5
million+): The Malazan Book of the Fallen </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcXrW9oWsAEAihm.jpg">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">145) Jasper Fforde (3.5
million+): Thursday Next </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/5/#comment-8560964">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">146) John Ringo (3.3
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">147) Aaron Allston
(3.3 million+): Star Wars<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">148) Ally Condie
(3.3. million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">149) Peter F.
Hamilton (3 million+): The Night’s Dawn Trilogy<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">150) Guy Gavriel Kay
(3 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">151) Lloyd Alexander
(3 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">152) Dan Abnett (3
million+): Warhammer 40,000<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">153) Robert
Silverberg (3 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">154) Eric Flint (3
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">155) Robert Asprin (3
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">156) Rick Hautala (3
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">157) Brian Lumley (3
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">158) Neal Stephenson
(3 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">159) Rachel Caine (3
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">160) Bernhard Hennen
(3 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">161) L.E. Modesitt,
Jr. (3 million+): The Saga of Recluce</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">162) Joseph Delaney
(3 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">163) Melissa de la
Cruz (3 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">164) Ed Greenwood (3
million+): Forgotten Realms<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">164) Hugh Howey (3
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">165) Licia Troisi (3
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">166) Andreas Eschbach
(3 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">167) C.J. Cherryh (3
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">168) Erin Morgenstern
(3 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">169) Rebecca Yaros (3
million+): </b><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Fourth Wing <o:p></o:p></span></i><<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/books/rebecca-yarros-fourth-wing-iron-flame.html">source</a>, <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/93846-suzanne-collins-rebecca-yarros-drove-print-book-sales-up-over-thanksgiving.html">source</a>></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">170) N.K. Jemisin (3
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/9/#comment-8946111">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">171) Iain M. Banks (3
million)+ (SF only): The Culture </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/9/#comment-8946021">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">172) Simon R. Green
(2.7 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">173) Kim Stanley
Robinson (2.5 million+): The Mars Trilogy<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">174) Harry Turtledove
(2.5 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">175) S.M. Stirling
(2.5 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">176) Michelle Paver
(2.5 million+) <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">177) Lois McMaster
Bujold (2.5 million): The Vorkosigan Saga<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">178) Kim Harrison
(2.5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>179) Michael A.
Stackpole (2.3 million+)</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">180) Justin Cronin (2.2
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/7/#comment-8905999">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">181) Susan Cooper (2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">182) Hans Dominik (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">183) Katherine Kurtz
(2 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">184) Stephen Lawhead
(2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">185) Robert Rankin (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">186) Maggie
Stiefvater (2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">187) Gregory Benford
(2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">188) Greg Bear (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">189) Jacqueline Carey
(2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">190) Piers Anthony (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">191) David Gemmell (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">192) Kevin
Crossley-Holland (2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">193) Becca
Fitzpatrick (2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">194) Kai Meyer (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">195) Marie Lu (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">196) Brian Daley (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">197) Jack Williamson
(2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">198) Jack Campbell (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">199) Cinda Williams
Chima (2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">200) Dave Wolverton
(2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">201) Laura Gallego
Garcia (2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">202) Kerstin Gier (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">203) H.P. Lovecraft
(2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">204) Lev Grossman (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">205) Kelley Armstrong
(2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">206) Dmitry
Glukhovsky (2 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">207) Sara Douglass (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">208) A.G. Riddle (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">209) Blake Crouch (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">210) Christine Feehan
(2 million+)</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">211) Ernest Cline (2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">212) Pierce Brown (2
million+)</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">: </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Red Rising </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/werth/Desktop/223)%20Pierce%20Brown%20(1%20million+)"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">source</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">213) Michael J.
Sullivan (2 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://michaelsullivan-author.com/about-the-author/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">214) Anne Leckie (2
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://www.orbitbooks.net/2022/10/21/acquisition-announcement-translation-state-by-ann-leckie/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">215) Madeline Miller
(2 million+): </b><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Song of
Achilles</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, <i>Circe </i><<a href="https://authorsunbound.com/au_news/2022-6-11-congratulations-to-madeline-miller-the-song-of-achilles-reaches-2-million-copies-sold/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">216) Kevin Hearne (2
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/6/#comment-8832023">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">217) Mark Lawrence (2
million) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-prince-of-thorns-10th-anniversary.html">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">218) Naomi Novik (2
million+): Temeraire </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://ew.com/books/2020/02/07/naomi-novik-deadly-education-announcement-excerpt-cover/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">219) Melanie Rawn
(1.8 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">220) Jennifer
Roberson (1.7 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">221) Kristin Cashore
(1.7 million+): The Graceling Series </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0803741502?tag=westeros-21&geniuslink=true">source</a>></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">222) Alexander Kroger
(1.65 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">223) Carlos Rasch
(1.5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">224) Elizabeth Moon
(1.5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">225) Libba Bray (1.5
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">226) Heather Brewer
(1.5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">227) Amanda Hocking
(1.5 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">228) Dan Simmons (1.5
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">229) Lara Adrian (1.5
million)</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">230) Nalini Singh
(1.5 million)</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">231) Seth
Grahame-Smith (1.4 million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">232) Richard Schwartz
(1.4 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">233) Stan Nicholls
(1.25 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">234) Tanya Huff (1.2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">235) David Mack (1.2
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">236) Jennifer Estep
(1.1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">237) Joe Hill (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">238) Samuel R. Delany
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">239) William Goldman
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">240) Paul S. Kemp (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">241) Connie Willis (1
million)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">242) Alastair
Reynolds (1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">243) Ian Irvine (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">244) Richard A. Knaak
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">245) Katherine Kerr
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">246) Dave Duncan (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">247) A.C. Crispin (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">248) Joe Haldeman (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">249) Glen Cook (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">250) David Brin (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">251) Henry N. Beard
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">252) Douglas C.
Kenney (1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">253) Alexey Pehov (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">254) John Gregory
Betancourt (1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">255) Jo Clayton (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">256) Christie Golden
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">257) Dennis L.
McKiernan (1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">258) Drew Karpyshyn
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">259) Karen Miller (1
million+) <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">260) Elizabeth Haydon
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">261) Tim Powers (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">262) Walter Moers (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">263) Dacre Stoker (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">264) Laini Taylor (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">265) Kazuo Ishiguro
(1 million+) (SF only)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">266) Julie Kagawa (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">267) Melissa Marr (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">268) Kenneth Oppel (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">269) Richard Matheson
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">270) Guillermo Del
Toro & Chuck Hogan (1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">271) Anne Bishop (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">272) William F. Nolan
(1 million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">273) C.C. Hunter (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">274) Octavia Butler (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">275) Tahereh Mafi (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">276) Greg Keyes (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">277) Hao Jingfang (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">278) Lynsay Sands (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">279) Emily R. King (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">280) Anthony Ryan (1
million+)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">281) James Islington
(1 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Will-Many-Hierarchy-Book-ebook/dp/B0C6SXFCVM?tag=westeros-20&geniuslink=true">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">282) C.S. Friedman (1
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/7/#comment-8905999">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">283) Stephanie Garber
(1 million+): The Caraval Trilogy </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/7/#comment-8858481">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">284) Martha Wells (1
million+): The Murderbot Diaries</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">
<<a href="https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/JenniferJackson/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">285) Ian C. Esslemont
(1 million+): The Novels of the Malazan Empire </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/392879/night-of-knives-by-ian-c-esslemont/9781409057604">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">286) John M. Ford (1
million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.frp.misc/c/qz7XA5I6uT8/m/bO7GLBAR7NgJ">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>287) Samantha Shannon
(1 million+) </b><<a href="https://twitter.com/say_shannon/status/1707038517241491629">source</a>></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>288) </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brian McClellan (1 million+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><<a href="https://edel-images.azureedge.net/ea/MM/images/illustrations/original/9781250755698_il_2_d8cf7.jpg">source</a>></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Additional Figures</u></b></h2><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Chris Wooding (750,000+)</b></li><li><b>Pierre Bordage (900,000+)</b></li><li><b>Jay Allan (800,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">William King
(750,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">William Forstchen
(750,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Alison
Croggon (750,000+)</span></b></li><li><b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Craig Shaw Gardner (750,000+)</span></b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Lilith
Saintcrown (675,000+)</span></b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rachel Ward
(650,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Katherine Arden
(600,000+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/9/#comment-8981288">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Michael Peinkofer
(600,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gail Z. Martin
(600,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Charlie Higson
(600,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">M.R. Carey (600,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jeaniene Frost (600,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kate Elliott
(500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scott Lynch
(500,000+) </b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Janny Wurts
(500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Michael Gerber (500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">David Dalglish
(500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Patricia Briggs
(500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gail Carriger
(500,000)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sharon Lee (500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Steve Miller
(500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Daniel Arenson
(500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">James Lowder
(500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alexandra Ivy
(500,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tomi Adeyemi
(500,000+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://tomiadeyemi.com/the-writer/">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alfred Bester
(500,000+)</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <<a href="https://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/8/86/THDMLSHDMN1978.jpg">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tom Holt (KJ Parker)
(450,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hugh Cook (450,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lawrence Watt-Evans
(400,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Michael G. Manning
(400,000)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Henri Lœvenbruck
(400,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lynn Flewelling
(350,000)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Christoph Hardebusch
(350,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">G.A. Aiken (350,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mark Smith (Jonathan
Wylie) (300,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Julia Smith (Jonathan
Wylie) (300,000+) </b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">George Saunders
(300,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sara Prineas
(300,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Seanan McGuire
(300,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Catherine Webb (Kate
Griffin/Claire North) (300,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Royce Buckingham (290,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pierre Grimbert
(260,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">J.V. Jones (250,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maggie Furey
(250,000+)</b></li><li><b>Lauren DeStefano
(250,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nicholas Sansbury
Smith (250,000)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Adrian Tchaikovsky
(250,000+) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(<i>highly</i>
conservative estimate based solely on <i>Children of Time</i>)</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/7/#comment-8874435">source</a>></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Duncan M. Hamilton
(220,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Karen Russell
(210,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">James Barclay
(200,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">R. Scott Bakker
(200,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Paolo Bacigalupi
(200,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jaye Wells (200,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lauren Oliver
(200,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">James Lovegrove
(200,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ilona Andrews
(200,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Gwynne (200,000+)
</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/5/#comment-8697410">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Daniel H. Wilson
(160,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Richard Morgan
(150,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jeff VanderMeer
(150,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Adam Roberts
(150,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Glen Duncan (150,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Luke Scull (150,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Glenda Larke
(135,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Emily St. John Mandel
(1.5 million+)</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/5/#comment-8697832">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Benedict Jacka
(130,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Becky Chambers (131,000+)
(highly conservative) </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/5/#comment-8697410">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">R.J. Baker (120,000+)
</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/9/#comment-8946269">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">T.S. Orgel (50,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hannu Rajaniemi
(100,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Juliet Marillier
(100,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cecilia Dart-Thornton
(100,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vaughn Heppner
(100,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cherie Priest
(100,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sally Green
(100,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Miles Cameron (100,000+)
(fantasy only)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Michael Cobley (100,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vasily Mahanenko
(100,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jenn Lyons (100,000+)</b><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/5/#comment-8697810">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Andrea Stewart
(80,000+)</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><<a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/page/7/#comment-8874435">source</a>><o:p></o:p></span></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tom Lloyd (75,000)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tim C. Taylor
(75,000+)</b></li><li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Russell Kirkpatrick
(70,000+)</b></li></ul><div><br /></div><div>As usual, the diligent research by a few people over at <a href="https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/144621-the-sff-all-time-sale-list-vol-2-updated-dec-2018/#comments">Westeros.org</a> was most helpful in assembling the list, along with occasional updates by some authors and/or their agents, scanning various catalogues and further discussions online.</div><div><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="post-footer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #8e8e8e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><p></p><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2929647877271731885" itemprop="description articleBody" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.4; 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line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 26.3077px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-70355050339391619792024-01-11T20:59:00.002+00:002024-01-11T20:59:25.209+00:00BABYLON 5 reboot still in development, streaming services showing interest<p><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2023/03/rumour-babylon-5-reboot-dead-at-cw.html">Confirming what was rumoured last year</a>, the <b>Babylon 5</b> reboot project is officially dead at the CW. The CW has focused its attention away from drama towards cheaper television fare. As also expected, Warner Brothers has not junked the project entirely but, <a href="https://twitter.com/straczynski/status/1689784586878992384">after regaining the rights</a>, is now shopping the project to streaming services, <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/93997-hope-and-strange-pw-talks-with-j-michael-straczynski.html">with at least two apparently showing interest</a>. Original <b>Babylon 5</b> creator, showrunner and head writer J. Michael Straczynski remains attached to the project.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGYqaXjWJgR0hvZIDy8QcEbjyYS3IFn0pw6jB1LB_9-GwQQfpQw_bgcTPQeW0s6BHZh1yYzjUx_RjPdzIEbQgVUi3k1Dl0lypeAeT0_PvCqeLt7GfnOiGbBRVvITItNFAEXQq0GIXmdP6THV2Y3sAE1E3IL-Owq_6a2dgfGs2MTBwpm0IwQyUP9RIScOw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1278" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGYqaXjWJgR0hvZIDy8QcEbjyYS3IFn0pw6jB1LB_9-GwQQfpQw_bgcTPQeW0s6BHZh1yYzjUx_RjPdzIEbQgVUi3k1Dl0lypeAeT0_PvCqeLt7GfnOiGbBRVvITItNFAEXQq0GIXmdP6THV2Y3sAE1E3IL-Owq_6a2dgfGs2MTBwpm0IwQyUP9RIScOw=w435-h245" width="435" /></a></div><p></p><p>Which streaming services are interested is as yet unknown. The most logical option, HBO Max (recently retitled just Max), is seemingly out of the question because they have their own budget and development issues in the wake of their recent Discovery merger (one of the few shows to survive the merger process, <b>Our Flag Means Death</b>, was cancelled last week). HBO proper do not seem interested, despite the presence of self-confessed <b>Babylon 5</b> fan George R.R. Martin in the development process there.</p><p>Warner Brothers has excellent relations with Netflix, and is currently producing the<b> Sandman</b> live-action show for them. <b>Sandman </b>showrunner-producer Neil Gaiman is a good friend of Straczynski's, and wrote an episode for the original <b>Babylon 5</b> way back in 1998. One of <b>Babylon 5</b>'s myriad alien races, the Gaim, is named for him. Straczynski himself has a relationship with Netflix, having co-produced the first two seasons of <b>Sense8</b> for them almost a decade ago. Netflix also lacks a high-profile, ongoing, live-action space opera at the moment.</p><p>Amazon are also a possibility, as they currently lack a space opera show after the cancellation of <b>The Expanse</b> a couple of years ago.</p><p>Other streamers seem to be well set-up for space opera: Disney+ has multiple <b>Star Wars</b> shows in development and recently added <b>The Orville</b> to its streaming lineup, whilst Paramount+ is veritably drowning in <b>Star Trek</b> content, not to mention <b>Halo</b>. Apple TV+ has <b>For All Mankind</b> and <b>Foundation </b>as ongoing space-based shows.</p><p>An intriguing possibility is Tubi, an ad-supported streaming service which began operation in 2014 and has over 74 million users in the United States. Tubi is predominantly available in the United States and Central America, but GDPR issues have seen it unable to launch in the UK and European Union. Tubi has been airing <b>Babylon 5</b> itself for the past few months.</p><p> Tubi mostly airs content from other supplies, but has aired some original programming, including the animated comedy <b>Freak Brothers</b>, a cooking show, the second season of <b>The Nevers</b> (after it was dropped by HBO). Tubi has voiced an ambition to create more original content for its service, and <b>Babylon 5</b> might be an attractive franchise, especially if Straczynski can work his magic like it's 1993 all over again to produce the show on a competitive budget.</p><p>More news as it comes in.</p>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-35255336136313702082024-01-10T21:07:00.001+00:002024-01-10T21:07:18.671+00:00Marvel finally, officially canonises the Netflix Marvel-verseAfter many years of speculation, Marvel <a href="https://www.gamespot.com/articles/marvel-makes-daredevil-jessica-jones-other-netflix-shows-part-of-official-mcu-canon/1100-6520232/">has updated</a> their websites and Disney+ pages to confirm that the six television series which aired on Netflix from 2015 to 2019 are now officially counted as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhul0K5F4HaW1W8tcqKinVQ6v-6Slmzg3iSLsn3LmEuOjtn6ba4H4xmD2yvWJwVXyTsWeEcDyZSFFkOYI6tu7kcj2I1KriXralxmdfHr9B0kj1INer73BXP400poqU0nY5M7-bMbcuWv10CK-i4TM5PF0ZL4gSiHvn0p8LO_YGoua9jEz2udmJcG1JEQso/s2048/Marvel%20Netflix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="421" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhul0K5F4HaW1W8tcqKinVQ6v-6Slmzg3iSLsn3LmEuOjtn6ba4H4xmD2yvWJwVXyTsWeEcDyZSFFkOYI6tu7kcj2I1KriXralxmdfHr9B0kj1INer73BXP400poqU0nY5M7-bMbcuWv10CK-i4TM5PF0ZL4gSiHvn0p8LO_YGoua9jEz2udmJcG1JEQso/w316-h421/Marvel%20Netflix.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">As originally spotted by CanWeGetSomeToast <a href="https://twitter.com/CanWeGetToast/status/1744923077639803124">here</a>.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>The six TV series have been unofficially called the "Netflix Marvel-verse" or some other derivative, due to Marvel's prior reluctance to rule on their canonical status. The shows aired as part of a deal between Marvel Studios, ABC and Netflix, but which did not include MCU guiding light Kevin Feige as part of the decision-making process. The line of shows did not stick around for very long - just four years - but produced a stunning amount of content in that time: 161 episodes airing across 13 seasons in six distinct shows. Although each season stood alone, there were some shared characters and motifs which culminated in the event mini-series <b>Defenders</b>, which saw Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist join forces against a mutual threat. <b>The Punisher</b>, which had not been originally planned, spun out of the character's well-received guest role in the second season of <b>Daredevil</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>With Disney planning to launch its own rival streaming service to Netflix in the shape of Disney+, the deal was cancelled in 2019. The contract required Disney to wait two years before developing their own versions of those characters, but when the time came they intriguingly used the same actors. Vincent D'Onofrio reprised his role as Kingpin in <b>Hawkeye</b>, whilst Charlie Cox reprised his role as Daredevil in the film <i>Spider-Man: No Way Home</i> and then the Disney+ series <b>She-Hulk</b> and <b>Echo</b>. D'Onofrio, Cox and John Bernthal as the Punisher will all reappear in <b>Daredevil: Born Again</b>, currently in production.</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite this, some believed that these actors were nonetheless playing "new" versions of the characters, not necessarily the same ones we saw on Netflix. Fortunately, it appears that Marvel finally realised that was too weird and confusing. By officially canonising the shows and moving them into a more prominent slot on Disney+, they may also be hoping to pick up some fresh views. This also possibly opens the door to Krysten Ritter reprising her role as Jessica Jones, as well as Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple, Finn Jones as Danny Rand (I mean, if you really want to), Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing.</div><div><br /></div><div>The other pre-Disney+ Marvel TV shows which aired on ABC are still not listed in the official timeline, including <b>Agents of SHIELD</b>, <b>Runaways</b> and <b>Inhumans </b>(in the last case, that may be for the best). Their fans may hold out some hope that they may yet be reunited with the main timeline.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>The Netflix Marvel-verse in Release Order</u></b></div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Daredevil: Season 1</b> (2015)</li><li><b>Jessica Jones: Season 1</b> (2015)</li><li><b>Daredevil: Season 2 </b>(2016)</li><li><b>Luke Cage: Season 1</b> (2016)</li><li><b>Iron Fist: Season 1</b> (2017)</li><li><b>The Defenders </b>(2017)</li><li><b>The Punisher: Season 1 </b>(2017)</li><li><b>Jessica Jones: Season 2 </b>(2018)</li><li><b>Luke Cage: Season 2 </b>(2018)</li><li><b>Iron Fist: Season 2</b> (2018)</li><li><b>Daredevil: Season 3</b> (2018)</li><li><b>The Punisher: Season 2 </b>(2019)</li><li><b>Jessica Jones: Season 3</b> (2019)</li></ol></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-69077719458750550702024-01-10T20:43:00.005+00:002024-01-10T20:43:59.824+00:00RIP Tracy Torme, STAR TREK writer and SLIDERS co-creator<p>Genre scriptwriter Tracy Tormé <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/tracy-torme-dead-sliders-star-trek-next-generation-1235783832/">has sadly passed away</a> at the age of 64. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSbNYJ9uIi24NzNoqOK31g-U_2hr0ZsnLpFiGYDE31h2Z8Pd9FrQt7onhdZLuJScefXkPFm9sv94BsNSAlaUW1I7noWXb3szsV4qei_qjqeJg-HHYs02PQ5j36UAolPhnYkJOu6AQv2kWDgtrJNoTHIn8CGbbqlD4cYTJh3PS5KyjW9eVn41e0mnzhmuo/s1080/Tracy%20Torme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSbNYJ9uIi24NzNoqOK31g-U_2hr0ZsnLpFiGYDE31h2Z8Pd9FrQt7onhdZLuJScefXkPFm9sv94BsNSAlaUW1I7noWXb3szsV4qei_qjqeJg-HHYs02PQ5j36UAolPhnYkJOu6AQv2kWDgtrJNoTHIn8CGbbqlD4cYTJh3PS5KyjW9eVn41e0mnzhmuo/s320/Tracy%20Torme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Tormé was born in 1959 in Los Angeles, the son of singer Mel Tormé. He began his career in the 1970s as a writer on <b>SCTV</b> before moving to <b>Saturday Night Live</b> in 1982. He also wrote the 1988 film <i>Spellbinder</i>.</p><p>In 1986 he was hand-picked by Gene Roddenberry to work as a writer on Season 1 of <b>Star Trek: The Next Generation</b>, penning the episode <i>The Big Goodbye</i>, the only episode of the entire <b>Star Trek</b> franchise to win a Peabody Award. Roddenberry enjoyed his work so much he made Tormé the executive story editor for the entire last third of the season. He also wrote the less well-received episode <i>Haven</i> and the controversial script for <i>Conspiracy</i>. Tormé was given an in-universe role in <b>Star Trek</b> as the fictional author of the equally fictional novels featuring mid-20th Century detective Dixon Hill.</p><p>Tormé came into conflict with effective head writer Maurice Hurley, who was angry that Roddenberry had overridden his decision not to develop <i>Conspiracy</i> in Season 1. Tormé found his Season 2 scripts - <i>The Schizoid Man</i>, <i>The Royale</i> and <i>Manhunt</i> - being extensively rewritten by Hurley, to the point that he demanded his name be taken off them. Tormé was also moved sideways into the role of "Creative Consultant" on Season 2, in which he had less responsibility. Despite Hurley being fired at the end of Season 2 and Tormé being one of the few writers invited back for Season 3 by Rick Berman, Tormé declined.</p><p>Tormé worked on the 1992 TV movie <i>Intruders</i> and the 1993 film <i>Fire in the Sky</i>. His greatest success came in 1995 when he co-developed the TV series <b>Sliders</b> alongside Robert K. Weiss. <b>Sliders</b> ran for three seasons on Fox before being cancelled, but it was saved by the Sci-Fi Channel, who aired two further seasons. <b>Sliders</b> saw a group of characters moving from one parallel Earth to another, trying to get home.</p><p>Alongside and subsequent to <b>Sliders</b>, Tormé wrote for <b>The Outer Limits</b>, <b>Odyssey 5</b> and <b>Carnivàle</b>, and was a script consultant for the 1997 film <i>Contact</i>. He also wrote the original treatment for Will Smith vehicle <i>I Am Legend</i> (2007).</p><p>Tormé passed away on 4 January from complications from diabetes. A keen SF screen writer, he will be missed.</p>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-45262518428873598032024-01-10T20:18:00.000+00:002024-01-10T20:18:07.284+00:00RIP Jennell Jaquays, D&D designer and artist and video game designer<p><b>Dungeons & Dragons</b> designer and artist Jennell Jaquays <a href="https://www.shacknews.com/article/138239/game-design-pioneer-jennell-jaquays-passes-away-at-67">has sadly passed away</a> at the age of 67.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3u4ymE8PqKckT7dSQYmbmb7pnSPkzg0SzPOvCdyKf5qhLL_qBpd1JVqk62HHDJgcpNrsvJTDasuvPpo26DVkmPL4Pkw-6QnIpZQgEo8-4_kGTTbJD36Oz3SSmVm8KM7Fk4L3inENip04J2OgnZBiRrwSGgJVgt15gg5T0TO5qdtCOvUJlkr7KI1y3RfY/s1105/Jennell%20Jaquays.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1105" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3u4ymE8PqKckT7dSQYmbmb7pnSPkzg0SzPOvCdyKf5qhLL_qBpd1JVqk62HHDJgcpNrsvJTDasuvPpo26DVkmPL4Pkw-6QnIpZQgEo8-4_kGTTbJD36Oz3SSmVm8KM7Fk4L3inENip04J2OgnZBiRrwSGgJVgt15gg5T0TO5qdtCOvUJlkr7KI1y3RfY/s320/Jennell%20Jaquays.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Born in Michigan in 1956, Jaquays attended Spring Arbor College in the late 1970s, where she become interested in the nascent roleplaying industry. Jaquays began playing <b>Dungeons & Dragons</b> in 1975, shortly after the game came out, and started a fanzine for the game, <b>The Dungeoneer</b>, alongside Mark Hendricks. The fanzine proved successful, and Jaquays began writing for the official TSR magazine, <b>Dragon</b>. She also began working for Judges Guild and freelancing for TSR, producing the officially-licensed <b>D&D</b> modules <i>Dark Tower</i> and <i>Caverns of Thracia</i>, both of which became quite well-known in fan circles at the time. <i>Dark Tower</i> was the only none-TSR adventure included in <b>Dungeon</b> magazine's "Thirty Greatest <b>D&D</b> Adventures of All Time" list in 2004.</p><p>Jaquays expanded her remit to cover many of the popular roleplaying systems of the day, expanding from <b>Dungeons & Dragons</b> to work on <b>Traveller</b> and <b>RuneQuest</b>. In 1980 she was brought over to work at Coleco by Michael A. Stackpole (himself a wargaming and roleplaying legend for his work on <b>BattleTech</b>, as well as a <b>Star Wars</b> novelist), where she worked on home ports for popular arcade games like <i>Donkey Kong</i>.</p><p>Jaquays worked at id Software from 1997 to 2002, working on <i>Quake II</i> and <i>Quake III: Arena</i> as a level designer, before joining Ensemble Studios, where she worked on <i>Age of Empires III</i> and <i>Halo Wars</i>. After Ensemble collapsed in 2009, she moved to CCP to provide work for their game <i>EVE Online</i>. More recently she worked with her wife at Dragongirl Studios.</p><p>For <b>Dungeons & Dragons</b>, Jaquays is noted for her work on the classic <i>Castle Greyhawk</i> module for the <b>World of Greyhawk</b> setting, and for <i>The Savage Frontier</i> module for <b>Forgotten Realms</b> (large chunks of which were reprinted for <i>The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier</i> almost a decade later).</p><p>Jaquays co-won the 1989 Origins Gamer's Choice Award for Best Roleplaying Adventure. In 2017 she was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. She was also active in the LGBTQ+ community, for which she was a strong voice in the gaming world.</p><p>A key worker in the field of both tabletop and video games, and with some impressive credits to her name which have been played and enjoyed by millions, she will be missed. She is survived by her wife and two children. She passed away earlier today from complications of Guillain-Barré syndrome.</p>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-71475726223737453742024-01-10T18:55:00.001+00:002024-01-10T19:02:10.810+00:00Keanu Reeves and China Miéville to collaborate on new novelActor/icon Keanu Reeves <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/10/keanu-reeves-and-china-mieville-to-release-collaborative-novel-the-book-of-elsewhere">is to co-write his first novel</a> with British genre author China Miéville. The novel is called <i>The Book of Elsewhere</i> and is set in the <b>BRZRKR</b> universe co-created by Reeves for a comic series, which was published in 2021.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbZg1rX4fOaMjVJD0IE7tsC1fUIbqO6ArJBMq33m95cXyLuoFArwtYqmURlkrIF-JV3p7W0iEz-sMf7N6AYGCPMzP-54VWV3_g6s4zsStUt-gu7ocCaZXIt5paGJWaY8lAqrtnpdoHN1O3RMWYbzcdF9_M0mBu5I9IIosixQ3RhbTgT9p7TqdIMybP9c/s1538/Brzkr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1538" data-original-width="1000" height="405" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbZg1rX4fOaMjVJD0IE7tsC1fUIbqO6ArJBMq33m95cXyLuoFArwtYqmURlkrIF-JV3p7W0iEz-sMf7N6AYGCPMzP-54VWV3_g6s4zsStUt-gu7ocCaZXIt5paGJWaY8lAqrtnpdoHN1O3RMWYbzcdF9_M0mBu5I9IIosixQ3RhbTgT9p7TqdIMybP9c/w263-h405/Brzkr.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>China Miéville is one of Britain's most acclaimed science fiction and fantasy authors. He began his career with <i>King Rat</i> in 1998 but made his name with <i>Perdido Street Station </i>(2000), the start of his loosely-connected <b>Bas-Lag</b> series (also comprising 2002's <i>The Scar</i> and 2004's <i>Iron Council</i>). His other works include the novels <i>Un Lun Dun</i> (2007), <i>The City and The City</i> (2009), <i>Kraken</i> (2011), <i>Embassytown</i> (2011), <i>Railsea</i> (2012) and the novellas <i>The Tain</i> (2002), <i>This Census-Taker</i> (2016) and <i>The Last Days of New Paris </i>(2016).</div><div><br /></div><div>Miéville went on a hiatus from writing fiction to focus on academic work, writing <i>October: The Story of the Russian Revolution</i> (2017) and <i>A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto</i> (2022). <i>The Book of Elsewhere</i> will be his first published fiction in eight years and his first novel in twelve years. I don't think anyone would have bet money on his eagerly-awaited return to fiction being in the company of Keanu Reeves.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDYUIYJSavKWO5veMMTdNmbHOJzOJa7a6C_I6nktpCEdVsioRcqPc40Dn1GQyqe4o74YN506wH2KjYd64uYvKzW4xCf4e9u9xtT0fhXOqudt5J1e2ad4VrV_-38pPE8G4FOky3f9hyBP7g190ocPP1ezL09oQUjmlEMMlkoBdUrARIElzR8alwlQFBBG8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2775" data-original-width="1875" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDYUIYJSavKWO5veMMTdNmbHOJzOJa7a6C_I6nktpCEdVsioRcqPc40Dn1GQyqe4o74YN506wH2KjYd64uYvKzW4xCf4e9u9xtT0fhXOqudt5J1e2ad4VrV_-38pPE8G4FOky3f9hyBP7g190ocPP1ezL09oQUjmlEMMlkoBdUrARIElzR8alwlQFBBG8=w263-h390" width="263" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Reeves, obviously, is an acclaimed and iconic actor best-known for playing the titular character in the <b>John Wick</b> franchise (now at four films and a prequel TV show), Neo in the four <b>Matrix</b> movies and Johnny Silverhand in the video game <i>Cyberpunk 2077</i> and its recent expansion, <i>Phantom Liberty</i>. <b>BRZRKR</b> is a 12-issue limited series focusing on an enigmatic warrior character called the Berzerker, who is immortal and fights his way across time. Reeves developed the title with Matt Kindt, with Ron Garney providing the artwork. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Book of Elsewhere</i> will be published on 23 July this year. <b>BRZRKR</b> is also in development as a live-action Netflix project and an animated show.</div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-54595419579208006652023-12-31T20:11:00.004+00:002023-12-31T20:11:28.933+00:00RIP Bryan Ansell, WARHAMMER legend<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C1fVeDft9un/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=NTYzOWQzNmJjMA%3D%3D">News has sadly broken</a> that veteran British game designer Bryan Ansell <a href="https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/man-behind-one-nottinghams-most-9005580">has passed away</a> at the age of 68. Ansell was the co-founder of Citadel Miniatures and the boss of Games Workshop in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly the period when <b>Warhammer 40,000</b> was launched. Ansell was a hands-on boss and worked on books and material for both the <b>Warhammer</b> fantasy and <b>40K</b> universes.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw8D6yn3tiH7PwrvikIdc4kAhvf4BNm8Kic7rWf5tt31s9rkIWJjI6clE_-WZGWgJfrzUy30J8MrIhQZSj_p7uJJY3FOIwAn1dPoWkRIuSEZrmmCf4M_hLGlH9u63ofnGrD-gaQxjnzMmEIjLhuzoCayYQEDGmLt2lpx_x_YYvKb3C_ETODkSFm47z6O0/s797/Bryan%20Ansell.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="797" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw8D6yn3tiH7PwrvikIdc4kAhvf4BNm8Kic7rWf5tt31s9rkIWJjI6clE_-WZGWgJfrzUy30J8MrIhQZSj_p7uJJY3FOIwAn1dPoWkRIuSEZrmmCf4M_hLGlH9u63ofnGrD-gaQxjnzMmEIjLhuzoCayYQEDGmLt2lpx_x_YYvKb3C_ETODkSFm47z6O0/w388-h261/Bryan%20Ansell.png" width="388" /></a></div><p>Ansell was born in 1955 and became a key fan of science fiction, fantasy and wargaming at a young age. He sculpted his first miniature - a guardsman of Gondor - in 1966 after reading J.R.R. Tolkien's <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>. A few years later he acquired a pyrogravure heat pen and set about converting <i>Robin Hood</i> figures produced by Airfix into hordes of orcs.</p><p>Ansell further developed his artistic skills as a teenager and began sculpting models for wargaming, earning him a job at Skytrex and then Conquest Miniatures. At Conquest he worked on the <b>Age of Joman </b>range. He was inspired to start his own company, Asgard Miniatures, in 1976, along with Paul Sulley and Steven Fitzwater. Whilst at Asgard he met and worked with Jes Goodwin, Nick Bibby, Tony Ackland and Rick Priestley. In 1978 Priestley and his friend Richard Halliwell created the wargame system <b>Reaper</b> for Tabletop Games, with a second edition following in 1981.</p><p>Ansell left Asgard in 1978 to found rival miniatures company Citadel Miniatures, with funding from British gaming company Games Workshop. Citadel Miniatures began churning out large numbers of generic figures for use with roleplaying games, particularly <b>Dungeons & Dragons </b>(to which Games Workshop held the exclusive European distribution rights). The company initially focused on fantasy figures but also branched out to science fiction, producing figures for the SF roleplaying game <b>Traveller</b> and then the TV series <b>Doctor Who</b>.</p><p>Bryan Ansell was notable for not just his sculpting skills but also his business acumen, and he noted that from the sales patterns that people were buying some of the more generic figures - orcs, dwarves, elves - in large numbers, enough for entire regiments. This suggested they were playing full-on wargames with the figures, not just the very small skirmishes allowed for by roleplaying games. The suggestion was made for Games Workshop to create their own wargame, drawing on their immense catalogue of figures rather than having to invent things from scratch. Based on their work on <b>Reaper</b>, Ansell brought in Priestley and Halliwell to design a new game that could make use of their existing range. The result was <b>Warhammer</b>, published in 1983 and an immediate success story. A second edition followed in 1984.</p><p>Ansell contributed creatively to the worldbuilding for <b>Warhammer</b> by working on the Chaos and Orc factions, and created the infamous Chaos Gods for the setting.</p><p>In 1983 Ansell founded Wargames Foundry as a spin-off company run by his father after his retirement.</p><p>Ansell instigated a buyout of Games Workshop in 1985 and an effective merging of Games Workshop and Citadel Miniatures into a single company. Ansell oversaw a series of sustained growth for the company, first through the expansion of the <b>Warhammer</b> line and then the introduction of <b>Warhammer 40,000 </b>in 1987. Like <b>Warhammer</b>, the <b>40,000</b> line drew on GW's immense pre-existing SF figure line and even modifications of the fantasy line, sometimes literally taking orcs and removing their swords and bows in exchange for guns. As the line became hugely successful in its own right, bespoke models were introduced.</p><p>Ansell also redirected all Games Workshop offices and entities to be based in Nottingham. As the years passed, ex-GW employees would found their own companies nearby, leading to shared vendors and resources, creating an area known as the "Lead Belt," the centre of the British (and arguably European) warming miniatures scene.</p><p>Towards the end of his tenure Ansell saw the further expansion of the company, with the profile of their games raised by a strategic alliance with MB Games which resulted in the board games <i>Hero Quest</i> (1989) and <i>Space Crusade</i> (1990), as well as their first forays into video games. However, Ansell also directed the company to drop its work with other games and focus almost all of its creative efforts on the <b>Warhammer</b> and <b>Warhammer 40,000</b> brands, with its associated <b>White Dwarf</b> magazine also becoming solely focused on the company's own games rather than the hobby at large. This move was criticised by some employees and some critics in the hobby at large.</p><p>Ansell left Games Workshop in 1991 to focus on his family and returning to his first love, of sculpting miniatures. He established Guernsey Foundry in 1991, transforming it into a new incarnation of Wargames Foundry in 2000. The new company specialised in historical figures with some SF elements. Bryan retired from the company in 2005, but mismanagement led to him returning in 2012. A new company, Casting Room, was set up to help ease the problems and bring in new models. A further company, Warmonger Miniatures, was set up in 2015 to sell exclusively fantasy figures.</p><p>Bryan Ansell was an integral part of the Games Workshop story, and his combination of creative and business inspirations led to the company's mass expansion in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the creation of <b>Warhammer 40,000</b>. He left an indelible mark on the British wargaming industry, and can be credited with transforming it, turning into a world-leader in the miniatures field. He will very much be missed.</p>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-29296478772717318852023-12-31T15:25:00.003+00:002023-12-31T15:25:55.633+00:00Ciaphas Cain: The Emperor's Finest by Sandy MitchellHaving narrowly escaped from an encounter with the feared necrons, Commissar Ciaphas Cain finds himself assigned as liaison to the Reclaimers Space Marine chapter, noted for their formidable weaponry, immense bravery and sometimes over-eager interest in technology. When rebel insurgents launch an uprising on Viridia against the local government, Cain fancies they are in for an easy campaign against an inferior foe. Of course, it's not long before genestealers abound, and Cain finds himself stuck with an overeager noble lady keen to ensnare him in political games, and a hellbound pursuit of a rogue hulk through deep space.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SQplVRQjwwdIryxGf0ElpZjPnHNFzSDSTVnR733wciE3Tv0LV_aAm7BkmRKYqxCrL-KCxZuJUXdYQ7PDaobLzGG3HPar_5Y9l8QThqoGGBh-mRUDmpAwYEqrTgDXHBNXQ91WfmpjqfKhVGL3Jrk5-Q-Sj9EXl4m6x1bQX6dOKq6TV0IL9d57dkJDmZE/s2018/The%20Emperor's%20Finest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2018" data-original-width="1414" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SQplVRQjwwdIryxGf0ElpZjPnHNFzSDSTVnR733wciE3Tv0LV_aAm7BkmRKYqxCrL-KCxZuJUXdYQ7PDaobLzGG3HPar_5Y9l8QThqoGGBh-mRUDmpAwYEqrTgDXHBNXQ91WfmpjqfKhVGL3Jrk5-Q-Sj9EXl4m6x1bQX6dOKq6TV0IL9d57dkJDmZE/w252-h360/The%20Emperor's%20Finest.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The misadventures of Ciaphas Cain are probably among the most purely entertaining in the <b>Warhammer 40,000</b> canon. Whilst most books focus more on the "grim darkness" and "only war" bits of the setting, Sandy Mitchell's signature series instead tries to lighten things up, at least relatively. Commissar Cain believes himself to be blustering, cowardly and too eager to run at the first sign of trouble, but is constantly manoeuvred by fate into positions where he has no choice but to apparently-eagerly run to the front lines or into the most dangerous area possible, often surviving by the skin of his teeth and sometimes unexpectedly saving the day in such an outrageously public way. By this seventh novel in the series, things have gotten ludicrous enough that Cain is now getting full honour salutes from squads of Terminator Space Marines for his bravery (roughly akin to an angel saluting a particularly tenacious chimpanzee).</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, Cain's complaints about his cowardice and self-serving needs do seem to be contradicted by his actual proven ability to get tasks achieved and his impressive combat skills, and his constantly-present (via footnotes of varying degrees of bewilderment) editor-confessor, Inquisitor Amberly Vail, seems unsure about to what degree his "confession" is actual modesty, or even some psychological defence mechanism to rationalise a deeper-seated need to face death on a daily basis. This deep in the series it's a still a mystery (one I doubt will ever be solved), so it's probably best to move on and enjoy the ride.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Emperor's Finest</i> is, like most books in the series, fairly short but also packs a ton in. The book has three distinct sections, which less-disciplined authors might have tried to expand into a whole novel by themselves. The battle for Viridia is entertaining, with Cain acting as a liaison between the superhuman Space Marines and the ordinary human defenders, and getting into a <b>Warhammer 40,000</b> meetcute (which means moderate flirting over the roaring exchange of bolter fire) with the governor's daughter, Mira. A slightly more interminable middle section follows as the Reclaimers try to track down the origin of the tyranid infestation, a space hulk cheerily named the <i>Spawn of Damnation</i>, whilst Cain tries to both win the respect of the Reclaimers and fend off Mira's attempts to lure him into political intrigue. The final section sees Cain, Jurgen (Cain's aide, think of the product of an unholy union of Baldrick and Gregor Clegane) and the Reclaimers let loose aboard the space hulk and finding things are far more complicated then they first imagined.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mitchell delivers this with typical panache, with moments of humour and levity mixed in with above-competent action sequences and Vail's wry footnote interjections. However, the formula feels a tad off this time around. After a promising start, Mira never really develops into an interesting character and her storyline feels a bit rote. Cain's interactions with the Reclaimers and their crewmembers also hold a lot of promise but again are not fleshed out well: Cain's achievements in the book (from an outside POV) are highly impressive but I'm not sure he's done enough to earn the Reclaimers' overwhelming respect at the end. Cain is also at his best when in circumstances with lots of options for his natural self-serving tendencies to emerge and the reader to be left in doubt about his selfish/brave motivations. Here he spends a third of the book trapped on a space hulk with his back to the wall and no choice but to proceed to survive, which makes for a solidly tense adventure but doesn't service the character's best attributes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still, the book is short, to the point, has good action and some doses of light humour that the setting rather badly needs at time, so it's hard to complain too much. <i>The Emperor's Finest</i> (***½) delivers the required entertainment, but doesn't go above and beyond like the better books in the series. The novel is available now as part of the <i>Ciaphas Cain: Saviour of the Imperium</i> omnibus, along with its two succeeding novels and several short stories.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Ciaphas Cain Novel Timeline</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div><b>919.M41 (40,919 CE)</b>: <i>Fight or Flight</i> (Novella
#1). Cain meets Jurgen, deploys with the 12<sup>th</sup> Valhallan Field
Artillery to Desolatia IV.</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>924</b>: <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/03/ciaphas-cain-death-or-glory-by-sandy.html">Death or Glory</a></i> (Book #4). Perlia campaign.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>928</b>: <i>Echoes of the Tomb</i> (Short Story): Adeptus
Mechanicus mission, fights necrons.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>928</b>: <span style="color: red;"><b><i>The Emperor’s Finest</i> (Book #7</b>)</span>. Cain
joins Reclaimer Space Marines, aids in Space Hulk retrieval mission.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>931</b>: <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2010/12/ciaphas-cain-for-emperor-by-sandy.html">For the Emperor</a></i> (Book #1). Gravalax
campaign, formation of the 597<sup>th</sup> Valhallan Regiment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>932</b>: <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2010/12/ciaphas-cain-caves-of-ice-by-sandy.html">Caves of Ice</a></i> (Book #2): Simia Orichalcae
campaign.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>932: </b><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/03/ciaphas-cain-duty-calls-by-sandy.html">Duty Calls</a></i> (Book #5): Periremunda campaign.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>937: </b><i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2010/12/ciaphas-cain-traitors-hand-by-sandy.html">The Traitor’s Hand</a></i> (Book #3): Adumbria
campaign.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>942</b>: <i>The Last Ditch</i> (Book #8): Nusquam
Fundumentibus campaign.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>c. 951-954</b>: <i>Choose Your Enemies </i>(Book #10):
Ironfound campaign.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>992</b>: <i>The Greater Good </i>(Book #9): Siege of
Quadravidia.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>c. 993</b>: <i>Vainglorious </i>(Book #11): Eucopia
engagement.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>999</b>: <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/04/ciaphas-cain-cains-last-stand-by-sandy.html">Cain’s Last Stand</a></i> (Book #6): Thirteenth
Black Crusade. Chaos assault on Perlia, Cain comes out of retirement to lead
defence.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6293802150515273468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6391335258389069969" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-1555203231751090744" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3488689926063781405" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6051356532078955896" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; 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line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2319600828858071854" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3454085629752184017" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4381970201761469627" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7654px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7762872045295446866" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6422615848948787113" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4875431302612635115" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-388156845064350006" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7635610486801814968" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7765442774844048292" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3046147124191075232" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2871132475153029903" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2507382321279943565" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7770699671595811619" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7301082713203487735" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7654px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-690429416597207204" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8602128902799659468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 26.3077px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-62938021505152734682023-12-22T15:23:00.003+00:002023-12-22T15:55:30.880+00:00Blade of Dream by Daniel AbrahamGarreth Left is the heir to one of the merchant families of Kithamar, but their economic prospects have become dire. An alliance with a faction outside the city provides salvation, but at a price that Garreth is not willing to pay. Elaine ab-Deniya Nycis a Sal is a princess of the city, the daughter to the heir apparent to the throne. Moving into the palace for the first time, she uncovers mysterious secrets that she should - but cannot - let go. Elaine and Garreth's destines entwine with those of a city watch captain and the ruler of the city's criminal underground, and a tumultuous year continues to turn around the great city of Kithamar.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnzuDf9j_GkPble2GPb2rgJcZ8RC6eU1XRN_kDJnhpXB43TXRQPI_3McmaZ8yTGCFIbDTZ2jwGQh4U7JNpVirEuz8L_a9UNDYl9j0lJxkYjoqweRSXHYP2Ovy4EkMHaJw16FrXQdRgEH1SZj70CgwpbeusbQ3ckCjq37Z61CaZZKhm4461ODNLCkbxow/s1000/Blade%20of%20Dream.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnzuDf9j_GkPble2GPb2rgJcZ8RC6eU1XRN_kDJnhpXB43TXRQPI_3McmaZ8yTGCFIbDTZ2jwGQh4U7JNpVirEuz8L_a9UNDYl9j0lJxkYjoqweRSXHYP2Ovy4EkMHaJw16FrXQdRgEH1SZj70CgwpbeusbQ3ckCjq37Z61CaZZKhm4461ODNLCkbxow/w258-h388/Blade%20of%20Dream.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Kithamar Trilogy</b> is Daniel Abraham's latest fantasy work. The co-author of the <b>Expanse</b> space opera series and the solo author of the <b><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/search/label/the%20long%20price%20quartet">Long Price Quartet</a></b> and the <b><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/search/label/the%20dagger%20and%20the%20coin">Dagger and the Coin</a></b> series, Abraham has long been praised as an author of character-based fantasy with interesting, original worlds and forms of magic. This trilogy takes a new approach, with three books set in the same city at the same time but involving different characters, sort of a fantasy version of Krzysztof Kieslowski's classic <b>Three Colours</b> film trilogy. Each story more or less stands alone but reading the whole trilogy results in greater understanding of the epic events unfolding under the surface: each book has a piece of the puzzle that becomes clear when all three are read.</div><div><br /></div><div>Balancing this metaplot with the needs of the book at hand can be tricky, and the first book in the triad, <i><a href="https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2022/04/age-of-ash-by-daniel-abraham.html">Age of Ash</a></i>, did not always succeed in doing so. It remains an excellent book but there was a greater feeling that you didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle. <i>Blade of Dream</i> is much more successful in crafting a compelling narrative on its own as well as working as part of a broader whole.</div><div><br /></div><div>The story this time is perhaps a tad more traditional fantasy. Garreth is the young man unsure of his station and ambitions who rebels against the stifling destiny his family want to force on him. Elaine is the noblewoman likewise unsure of her station who has few friends she can trust, as opposed to those who want to take advantage of her station. They are thrust together by circumstances and find a new way forwards, through political intrigue, back-alley stabbings and full-on conflict between the city guard and a criminal organisation. <i>Blade of Dream</i> is literally a "higher" book than <i>Age of Ash</i>, taking place in the mercantile and royal districts whilst <i>Age of Ash</i> was more at home in the downmarket slums.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Blade of Dream</i> certainly works as a far above-average example of a medieval (ish) city-set fantasy, but it's also a powerfully emotional book. Abraham delves into his characters' heads to craft very three-dimensional and interesting protagonists, and what drives and motivates them. I've occasionally mused that Abraham could be the closest author we have to becoming a natural heir of Guy Gavriel Kay, but that feeling is hugely intensified by this book. The traditional fantasy trappings could be dropped altogether and this would still work wonderfully as a character study. But those traditional fantasy trappings are here, and realised well with a compelling mystery and some fascinating worldbuilding.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Blade of Dream</i> (****½) is an improvement on its forebear and marks this trilogy as Abraham's most mature and interesting work yet. The final novel in the trilogy, with the working title <i>Judge of Worlds</i>, is due out next year.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6391335258389069969" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-1555203231751090744" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.222px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3488689926063781405" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6051356532078955896" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3584737981146652428" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8392845815664266421" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2980028004944052172" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2728258081410492426" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4181310503382987568" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-685386918370488300" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2319600828858071854" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3454085629752184017" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4381970201761469627" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7654px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7762872045295446866" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578.667px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6422615848948787113" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4875431302612635115" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-388156845064350006" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7635610486801814968" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7765442774844048292" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3046147124191075232" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2871132475153029903" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2507382321279943565" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7770699671595811619" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7301082713203487735" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7654px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-690429416597207204" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8602128902799659468" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2845581556820135898" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 26.3077px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4733492474850952419" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 19.7653px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5474932011656389323" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 21.7419px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7315065658805425915" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 23.9161px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4285095421398476921" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7739650558614151001" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 17.9685px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4207042596141810" itemprop="description articleBody" style="font-size: 16.335px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 578px;"><b style="font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><i>Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4370220" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">my Patreon page</a> and <a href="http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/support-wertzone-on-patreon.html" style="color: #3413f0; text-decoration-line: none;">other funding methods</a>.</i></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div></div><div class="post-footer" style="background-color: white; color: #8e8e8e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px;"></div></div>Adam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.com0