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The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge
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DrNefario
Posted 2015-10-19 7:38 AM (#11521)
Subject: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		This thread is for the TIE-IN Fighter reading challenge, to read 3,6,9 or 12 pieces of tie-in fiction before the end of 2016.

I suspect this will be a lot easier for some people here than for others.

In my own case, I read quite a lot of tie-in fiction in my youth - Doctor Who, Star Wars, Dragonlance, etc - and kind of grew out of it. I don't think I've read any media spin-offs for many years*, but there are few pieces I've picked up and a few things I'd like to investigate, so I thought a challenge was in order. Even though I'd decided I wasn't going to take on any more challenges for the foreseeable future.



* although Stephen Baxter's The Time Ships would count under the rules of this challenge, and I read that last year.
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daxxh
Posted 2015-10-19 1:18 PM (#11525 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Great Lakes, USA		I will probably join this challenge since I own a lot of Star Trek books that I have never read. I have one that's a ST TNG meets X-Men that I haven't read. I probably have some SF movie tie-ins somewhere, as well. This is an excuse to read them. I doubt I'll read any this year, though. I am struggling to finish this year's challenges.
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Weesam
Posted 2015-10-20 2:56 PM (#11529 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: New Zealand		Can we do all the books from the same universe? Like all Doctor Who? Because I don't have any Star Trek or Star Wars or whatever, but I have loads and loads of Doctor Who.

My family think because I love Doctor Who the TV series, and I love reading, I should also love reading Doctor Who books. So they keep buying them for me, and I never read them.
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DrNefario
Posted 2015-10-21 7:24 AM (#11530 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		Sure you can, yes.

I haven't read any Doctor Who books since I was very young - I guess I haven't really read any tie-in fiction since then - when I remember reading the Target books by Terrance Dicks, which were clearly (usually) about John Pertwee's doctor, but it was always Tom Baker in my head. (I guess that dates me a bit. )
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Weesam
Posted 2015-10-21 3:07 PM (#11532 - in reply to #11530)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: New Zealand		Doctor Who is always and ever Tom Baker in my head as well.

I really should have told my family I didn't want Doctor Who books, but they are always so proud of themselves when they present me with a new one that I haven't the heart.
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devilinlaw
Posted 2015-10-22 2:50 AM (#11536 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Las Vegas, NV		Would this also include shared universes? For example Thieves' World, the Man Kzin Wars or Wild Cards?
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DrNefario
Posted 2015-10-22 7:18 AM (#11539 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		I guess it should, really, yes.
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DrNefario
Posted 2015-11-02 7:59 AM (#11676 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		I've been thinking of some weird books that ought to count towards this challenge:

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - novelisation of a radio play
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman - novelisation of a TV series
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke - I have a vague feeling that this was developed alongside the movie. It's a bit tenuous, this one, but in any case the sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two, is a sequel to the movie and not the book and so would definitely count.

My actual aim is to read some old classics of the tie-in field, from Star Wars and Forgotten Realms, etc, if I can get hold of them, but I can't help thinking of ways to slightly subvert the rules.
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devilinlaw
Posted 2015-11-02 11:54 AM (#11678 - in reply to #11676)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Las Vegas, NV		Well I might just have to change some of my selections, if that's the case. I am using this to read some classic Dragonlance, books I haven't read since I was in junior high school. I actually read the Hitchhiker's Guide for the first time in that same junior high school period so maybe I should re-read it again. All of the books I've marked as read so far on here are books I've read only in the last two years.
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Weesam
Posted 2015-11-15 2:25 PM (#11834 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: New Zealand		Finished this challenge. Doctor Who books are not exactly long or challenging. They're really just bite size reads. I surprised myself by actually enjoying some of these books. My favourites were Vampire Science (8th Doctor), Engines of War (War Doctor), and Illegal Alien (7th Doctor).

In the case of Illegal Alien, I could actually see the episode playing out in my mind as I was reading it. In fact, it was more like I was watching it than reading it. I wish they had made this one into an episode. It would have been a lot better than quite a bit of the 7th Doctor's episodes.
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pizzakarin
Posted 2016-02-05 1:26 PM (#12594 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Austin, Tx		Well, it's not going to get in the database for officialness (it's obscurish and only got an ebook release), but I just finished Eclipse Phase: After The Fall, a collection of short stories that tie in with the Eclipse Phase roleplaying game. I enjoyed it a lot.

The setting is a transhumanist smashup of all of the transhumanist stuff out there (Altered Carbon, The Expanse series, the Uplift War series, anything by Peter F Hamilton, anything by Alastair Reynolds, a lot of Kim Stanley Robinson, Ancillary Justice, Lord of Light, the Old Man's War series, etc) and the stories are about an even split of adventure stories meant to jazz people up for playing in the setting (these were originally included as shorts in the front of the RPG splat books) and stories from outside authors exploring themes within the world. I particularly enjoyed the latter category because I like to see where other people's thoughts take them within this setting that I love.
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chuhl
Posted 2016-05-06 7:03 PM (#13487 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Hey, can we do the Tie-In challenge a second time, and if so, how?
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-07-12 9:16 PM (#13996 - in reply to #13487)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Woo-hoo! I've finished my first book in the Tie-In Fighter reading challenge. Elminster: The Making of a Mage by Ed Greenwood, a D&D novel in the Forgotten Realms setting. I liked it quite a bit. My thoughts are over in my review. I tell you what, June was a weird month. For the first time in forever, I couldn't focus on reading. My chattering monkey mind wouldn't rest. Some sort of midlife crisis perhaps, or general existential discontent, or something. I don't know. But Elminster seems to have snapped me out of it. I enjoy reading tie-in fiction; visiting familiar worlds (franchises) and familiar characters is (or should be; stupid monkey-mind) soothing and relaxing; they're easy reads, usually, fast and friendly and a tasty bit of fun in between weightier works. So this challenge is just right for me. I was going to try to be clever and have each book in my challenge be from a different franchise, but I don't think I'll be able to muster that up (actually, I'd have enough books in my library to do it, but I'm reluctant to pester the already busy Uber Users with requests to add Red Dwarf and Buffy and Robotech and so on books; they've already got so much to do). So it'll probably boil down to the various incarnations of Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons.
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DrNefario
Posted 2016-07-13 6:52 AM (#14000 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		I must admit I've kind of been reinforcing my original prejudices with this challenge. I had grand plans to try to cover all sorts of ground and read some classics of the field, but to be honest I've been fairly disappointed with the Icewind Dale (D&D) and Thrawn (Star Wars) books - they aren't terrible, but they aren't really anything special - so I've decided I might not rush into Star Trek, Doctor Who and Halo.

Even Neverwhere has been my least favourite Gaiman novel to date.

For a while I extended my challenge to 9 books, and then I dropped it back down to 6 when I started to lose motivation. I'm hoping to use my last empty slot to read the Warhammer book which won the Morningstar award, since it's now the only Morningstar winner I haven't read, but I haven't yet been able to find it at a price I like.
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-07-24 11:32 AM (#14070 - in reply to #14000)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		I believe I understand where you're coming from, DrNefario. I sometimes get qualms as I'm reading a D&D or Star Trek or Star Wars book: "Why am I wasting my finite time on this light stuff when I could be digging into some true classics, some deeper literature?" But it doesn't bother me too much, because I like pulp, I like 'literary comfort food', and I do try to balance my light reading with works of more substance. Shortly before I joined WWE, I read for the first time the classic D&D Drangonlance Chronicles trilogy by Weiss and Hickman. The writing wasn't great, but I gave the books 4-star ratings anyway because of the nostalgia I felt for the bygone days when I was still playing D&D and because ultimately I enjoyed the books because of the fun and passion that shined through the prose, despite certain limitations of the prose itself.

Sometimes I get down on tie-in fiction. In certain moods, I can't deal with tie-in fiction if it's not written well. (Again before joining WWE, I abandoned some Battlestar Galactica (reboot) novels I had been looking forward to.) In other moods, nostalgic kicks in and I find myself being a lot more forgiving of the flaws in a piece of tie-in fiction because of personal connections with and nostalgia I feel for the franchise.
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-08-14 6:26 PM (#14198 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Like I think I mentioned up above somewhere, when I first signed-up for the Tie-In challenge, I was going to try to earn bonus points by having each read be from a different franchise. But I didn't have enough books in my library that were already in the WWE database to make this work. In a way, I'm glad this scheme didn't work out because I decided to finally get around to reading Ed Greenwood's Elminster saga and I am loving it. Two books in, Elminster is becoming one of my favorite D&D series, and Ed Greenwood is becoming one of my favorite D&D writers. I look forward to reading more in the series. The only other D&D series I liked enough to give a 4-star rating (most tie-in fiction gets a 3- or 2-star rating from me) are the Elven Nations Trilogy (Dragonlance) and the classic Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy (which I read before joining WWE).
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-08-28 4:31 PM (#14236 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		I've just finished The Temptation of Elminster, by Ed Greenwood, the third in his series of novels about that famous D&D Forgotten Realms wizard. This book was a hodgepodge mess. Enjoyable, yes, the writing engaging and vigorous, but still a mess. It read more like a barely connected series of vignettes, random smattering of plots from various novels, rather than a completely coherent novel. Three books in, the shine of the Elminster series is fading a bit, so I'm going to take a break until I move on to the next one. Instead, I'm going to jump into another of my favorite fictional universes, that of Original Series Star Trek, with Spock's World by Diane Duane.
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-09-08 4:09 PM (#14288 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Star Trek (original series) is probably my all-time favorite sci-fi franchise. I've read tons of Star Trek novels and Spock's World by Diane Duane (which I've just finished) is one of the best. She captures most excellently the essences of my beloved Star Trek characters, and she unravels a fascinating history of Spock's homeworld, from its formation to the evolution of its people to the time of the Enterprise. I really liked this novel and Diane Duane, based on this and a few other books of hers I've read, is becoming one of my favorite writers.
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-10-02 9:20 PM (#14380 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Another Tie-In challenge book completed. It was a whopper, but very entertaining. A D&D Forgotten Realms novel, Evermeet: Island of Elves by Elaine Cunningham. My thoughts are over in my review. For this reading challenge, one of the books I've read is another Forgotten Realms novel: Elminster in Myth Drannor. With this book, I became infatuated with the magical Elvish city called Myth Drannor. In the Elminster book, Myth Drannor is thriving, Elminster falls into a century-long magical slumber, and when he awakes Myth Drannor has fallen and is inhabited by monsters and fiends. The novel doesn't touch on what caused the fall. I want to know what happened. So I purchased a Forgotten Realms gaming module, Pool of Radiance, which is actually set in Myth Drannor. But alas, it is set in post-fall Myth Drannor and had no historical mention of what happened. So I picked up Evermeet, hoping, as it is a history of the Elves in the Forgotten Realms, to find out what happened to Myth Drannor, but the fabled city is mentioned only briefly and what caused its fall is never mentioned. But I will keep seeking and I will find out what happened to Myth Drannor!
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-10-09 6:15 PM (#14402 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		The Siege, a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel by Peter David (one of my favorite Trek authors) is finished. This quick and entertaining novel takes me to the halfway point of my second-ever WWE Reading Challenge. Onward!
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-10-20 9:24 PM (#14456 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Star Wars: The New Rebellion was just OK. But R2-D2 is pretty badass in it.
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DrNefario
Posted 2016-10-21 8:02 AM (#14460 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		I finished this challenge about a week ago, with the Warhammer novel Headtaker by David Guymer. It was so-so, which has really been my problem with the whole exercise. I had intended to do 9 books, but decided to cut back to 6 after some disappointments. I do still want to try to read the 3 missing books (I was thinking a Star Trek, a Doctor Who and a videogame tie-in of some sort) but I don't want to force myself to try to beat a deadline.
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-10-29 8:57 PM (#14514 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Earlier today I finished Triangle: Imzadi II by Peter David. Normally, I like David's Star Trek novels, but I didn't find much at all to like in this one. This is my second two-star book in a row (the first was a disappointing Star Wars novel). I gave both of these two stars because at least there were a few passages in them that I enjoyed. Because of this challenge, I'm discovering something about how I read tie-in fiction. Normally in the course of any given year, I read a few tie-in novels. Usually I read them as sort of light 'mental palate cleansers' between more substantial, weightier works. Now, as I work toward finishing this challenge by the deadline, I've been reading a number of tie-in novels back-to-back. This more intense concentration of tie-in fiction seems to cause the mediocre writing and substandard plots stand out more. I'm not saying all tie-in fiction is mediocre and substandard, but I'm beginning to think I'm more forgiving of a tie-in novel when I read it between heavier works. Maybe because it's so different from what went before, I'm willing to overlook more flaws. But then reading tie-in fiction back-to-back, if you get a few clunkers in a row, the flaws pile up and become too noticeable to ignore.
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-11-06 3:29 PM (#14534 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Finally, after a duo of two-star clunkers, the next novel in my Tie-In challenge, The Gully Dwarves by Dan Parkinson, is a winner. This DragonLance novel is a delightful blend of high fantasy and comedy, a particularly enjoyable read with smooth writing and tight storytelling.
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JohnBem
Posted 2016-11-18 7:39 PM (#14605 - in reply to #11521)
Subject: Re: The TIE-IN Fighter Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania		Battlestar Galactica (Classic) is a good fun read, much better than I anticipated. It inspired me to re-watch the 1978 TV show, which I was obsessed with as a child. The 1970s are my favorite pop-culture decade and I am enjoying the show all over again.
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