Whew! I can't believe it. I have completed the rough cut of the long-promised Raven meets Matt Logan story. It is now in beta. I am hoping to have it posted by the end of March! It only took, what, a year? I'm excited to finally make some progress in my writing. Once that is done, I'm going to try to finish "Dawn Child". I'll keep everyone updated as things progress.
Teen Titans Writer Change
I am greeting this change with mixed emotions. I am sad, because Geoff is leaving the title. He's the one who started the BB/Rae relationship in the comics. Unfortunately, after all of the build-up, we never really got to see it unfold as a true relationship. I am also sad to lose Tony Daniel as the artist, who has really come into his own with the characters on the team.
At the same time, I was kind of excited. Geoff is spread rather thin over multiple books, and I don't think he had the time to give the Titans the kind of attention he would like to. I was looking forward to Mr. Beechen's take on some of my favorite characters. However, it looks like those characters are going to get moved off of the Titans, which makes me very sad indeed. Where will Raven and Cyborg go, if they are the ones to leave? Will Beast Boy have a chance of appearing somewhere in the DC universe soon (with or without the Doom Patrol)? I would hate to see these wonderfully crafted characters go off into limbo. I am hoping that we'll hear word of spinoff Titans title that will give them (and hopefully Beast Boy) a home. I haven't heard anything yet, so I'm not sure it will happen. It's just my hope. Only time will tell.
I'm willing to give the new writer a chance, to see what kinds of stories he has to tell and what new characters he might give us. Raven was new to me once, too. But if she's not around, I'll miss her. Having a mini is great, but it only lasts for a few months. I'd like to know she's going to have a permanent home.
What I'm Reading Now
I had the great fortune to meet Kevin J. Anderson at Chattacon this year. He is a prolific author of science fiction novels. If you've read any of the Dune prequels (which he co-authored with Brian Herbert) or some of the many Star Wars tie-in novels, you have probably read his work. He gave me an autographed copy of the first novel in his series Saga of the Seven Suns, Hidden Empire. I've been reading it as I've had time ever since the end of January. It's an epic of gargantuan porportions, with a large cast of characters. You get to make a lot of friends in this book. There's a lot of starships and politickin'.
Humans have spread out over space for the past two hundred years. A group that left the planet in 'generation ships' to see new worlds wandered the cosmos. A subset of them became 'space gypsies', known as the Roamers. They developed a culture and family structure all their own. Among many hidden businesses that they have, they mine gas giants for the raw materials to create stardrive fuel. They have a near-monopoly on the mining. (Political caveat number one -- one group has a monopoly on a basic item that everyone needs!)
Another group landed on the planet Theroc, where they found the worldforest. The worldforest is a group of sentient trees that have a constant telepathic link with every other worldtree in a kind of 'hive mind'. The humans learned that some of them could maintain telepathic links with the trees and that they could communicate with other humans on other worlds if they are trained to use the trees. They just take a potted tree with them! These special humans are known as 'green priests'. They are literally green-skinned, and their ordination is nicknamed 'taking the green'. The worldforest embues them with a special symbiant lifeform that turns their skin green and gives them some photosynthetic abilities. (Note to Titans fans, of course I start picturing Gar Logan when I think of these guys.) Once again, we have a monopoly: Therons are the only ones that have access to the tel-link and the worldforest. They are the sole source of the instantaneous communication needed by everyone else.
Then we have the rest of the humans, in the Hanseatic League! They need the resources provided by the other independently governed groups. There are always power plays between these groups, and that makes for an interesting read.
Aside from the humans, we have one alien race, the Ildirans. They found many of the generation ships as they wandered across space and gave them a helping hand. They gave us their stardrive capability so we could move around the galaxy at a more reasonable pace. The Ildirans have great technology, but they are slow to change. Humans quickly made improvements to their technology. The two races have an uneasy friendship between them, and the aliens' outside influence is just another part of the political mosaic of the book.
A human experiment on a gas giant planet has awakened a long-slumbering threat to all of the players in this game. Who will unite and who will divide to face this dire (and possibly empire-ending) menace?
If you're looking for some good science fiction and some good character studies, I highly recommend this book. I am about 3/4s of the way through it. Once I'm done, I do intend to go on to the next book in the series.
1 comment:
Whaaaaaa? Where have you heard that Raven and Cyborg are leaving the team whenthe new writer comes on board?
Not that I mind. I need to start saving up for a new car and I've been thinking of dropping Titans, along with a few others...*sigh* But if Gar AND Raven ANd Kory aren't on the team, then there's just no point to me reading it.
Even though I do like some of the new additions... and Joey. Gah!
But the more important matter is: you've finished the rough cut!! Horray! I'm glad for you, and excited to know we might see the story at the end of the month. We need all the Matt Logan we can get. :)
-Sara
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