JMS on CompuServe (Mar 23, 1996) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

[Brent Barrett]

 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
 upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.

 Continue at your own risk.

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 THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE
 RESPECTIVE MESSAGE AUTHORS AND CANNOT BE 
 REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED
 PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.  
 
 Note that JMS has expressed his public permission 
 that all of his messages may be reproduced freely.

 [ Note from Brent: Before you ask, no I cannot forward
   your questions to JMS.  He has asked that questions
   not originating from CIS accounts not be posted to
   CIS.  He encourages all of us to wait for the
   moderated USENET group, to which he plans to
   subscribe. ]
   
 [ Summary: Wonders if any of the novels are worth buying or if they all
   contains enough errors to make it not worth the money. ]

 #: 474397 S5/Babylon 5: General
    22-Mar-96  12:08:55
Sb: #474286-#<The Touch of Your...>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Gerald, the reality is that as humans, we're all flawed.  Errors and
inconsistencies in something as big as a novel, written by someone who doesn't
work on the show, isn't involved in it day to day, are gong to slip through.
That is inevitable.  I try to keep track of it all, read as much as I can, to
keep it in line, but the *only* way to keep it 100% canon is to invest all the
time I currently spend doing that on the series, which is a 24 hour a day job.

       A writer comes in, has a notion for a book, or gets one assigned to him;
the writer then goes away and around that notion writes 100,000 words or so.  I
don't see it again until the finished manuscript comes in, almost always at the
last minute.  The *only* way to make sure that every word of that is canon is
to work hand in glove with the writer through every page. The reason the B5
series is as consistent as it is, is because that's what I do, day in and day
out.

       So the broad strokes are always going to be pretty much consistent with
the series; of the next batch, we'll probably do some backstory in the B5
universe taken from my notes.  But some of the details will always be off a
bit, because you're turning the work over to the hands of others.  There is
simply no other way to do it short of my adding Editor and Publisher to my list
of hats.

                                                                       jms



 [ Summary: A list of conventions, dates and guests (not originally sent to
   JMS). ]

 #: 474402 S5/Babylon 5: General
    22-Mar-96  12:18:32
Sb: #474269-#Conventions
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       Just to add some info...Patricia Tallman, Stephen Furst and I will be at
Syndi-Con the weekend of April 12th; also, Pat, Richard Biggs and I will almost
certainly be at Marcon.  I'll also be at LACon, the Worldcon in Anaheim in
August.  (Oh, and Syndi-Con is in San Francisco.)

                                                                       jms




 #: 474486 S5/Babylon 5: General
    22-Mar-96  14:36:19
Sb: #Thought from jms
Fm: ROWAN KAISER

>>I opted to include the script for "The Coming of Shadows," since that seems
to be the most favorite overall thus far, though I suspect that may change
later this season.<<

Oooooo . . . which one will pass it? <Mg>

Sin wreak-oar  Mistie, Montie, PITAS, Emperor of RPMC and Kidism Patroler
"Intelligence has nothing to do politics!"
                -Ambassador Londo Mollari


 #: 474638 S5/Babylon 5: General
    22-Mar-96  18:19:03
Sb: #474486-Thought from jms
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       My guess is that "War Without End" may well pass by "CoS" as all time
favorite...until the next one comes along.

                                                                       jms


 [ Summary: Thanks JMS for his reply to the novel question above and then asks
   what Ellison works JMS would suggest for a newcomer to Ellison. ]

 #: 474639 S5/Babylon 5: General
    22-Mar-96  18:19:04
Sb: #474558-#<The Touch of Your...>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

       No, I think you'll like all of Harlan's work, though for a newcomer to
his work I'd probably recommend Deathbird Stories or Shatterday for the more
recent material.

                                                                       jms




/*********************************************
 * Brent Barrett    brent.barrett at 24stex.com *
 * Senior Software Engineer   Automedia, Inc *
 *          -- Watch Babylon-5! --           *
 *********************************************/

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