Thanks, I had just "helpful'd" your Amazon review. But Amazon has Joss's script book "shipping soon" for me but not the "in stores now" novelization. :(

Edited to add:

Here's something from the author on the Serenity OB I was able to find again:



[ edited by Ying on 2005-08-30 07:36 ]

Ying | August 30, 09:12 CET

I'll pick up the Visual Companion instead (since, with my budget, I can't have both). Still, nice to know people are liking what krad did with it.

The Dark Shape | August 30, 09:54 CET

Yay! I'll have to get this when I get paid on Thursday. I read the last excerpt and it's very well written.

electricspacegirl | August 30, 10:01 CET

Just a question, What is the Visual Companion and/or What is the difference? Thanks.

WheelsOfJoy | August 30, 10:04 CET

WheelsOfJoy: The Visual Companion is Joss's full script and making-of essays/photos. The novelization is an expansion of the script into a novel that gets inside the characters heads (including River's).

[ edited by Ying on 2005-08-30 08:14 ]

Ying | August 30, 10:09 CET

Ying - Joss's script book, that sounds awesome - post the amazon link for that, I couldn't find it anywhere on amazon when i searched but I'd love to Order. Think you could show me the page where all I gotta do from there is "add to shopping cart" button and check out... :D

RIPWesley | August 30, 10:10 CET

I'm getting both books and will have to put them in a padlocked box until after I see the movie!! Oh it will be so tempting to peak at that visual companion book but I will resist!!!

Edited to add that I just checked my Amazon account and because I chose the cheapest shipping and am also getting season one of BSG in the same order I shouldn't be getting these until around October 1st so I shouldn't have to worry about being tempted. But, I bet this will be the one time that Amazon sends me something early!!

[ edited by Firefly Flanatic on 2005-08-30 08:15 ]

Firefly Flanatic | August 30, 10:12 CET

Oops sorry Ying, apparently you were reading my mind while I was typing that bit. Thanks though - and really weird... Could you kill me with your mind?

RIPWesley | August 30, 10:14 CET

RIPWesley: Good call. I edited my link above. I'll also add a link to
this Whedonesque thread that discusses Gossi's and Simon's reviews of the Visual Companion.

Edit: No mind reading. I just already had the page open, so I was quick on the draw. :)

[ edited by Ying on 2005-08-30 08:19 ]

Ying | August 30, 10:18 CET

(please change link to include whedonesque affiliate code)

We don't really do that, cause it doesn't seem right. But thanks for the heads up, I'll add it to the amazon links in the sidebar.

Caroline | August 30, 10:21 CET

Thank you Ying!!

WheelsOfJoy | August 30, 10:41 CET

And here's a couple of links for those of us who use Amazon.co.uk. although the Visual Companion isn't out until 1st September and the novelisation on the 5th.

Serenity Novelisation

Serenity Visual Companion

I'm going to preorder both and perhaps Finding Serenity soon.

Razor | August 30, 10:52 CET

A reminder to those of you attending Dragon*Con, that I will be giving away 50 copies of the novelization to folks who attend my first autographing Saturday at 10am (and, if there are any left, at my second autographing Sunday at 1pm).

krad | August 30, 10:58 CET

Spent two weeks checking bookstores every day and almost as soon as I return to the UK the book comes out, knew it wasn't officially out yet but quite often you can get books a few days or even a few weeks before their release dates. Doesn't really matter as I won't read it till after I've seen the movie, just a little annoying. Going to be have to careful when they arrive not to look, maybe a look at the first few pages of either book but that'll be it, I've already been accidentally majorly spoiled and I don't want to know anymore.

Ghost Spike | August 30, 12:22 CET

krad - if I could, I would be there 100% but sadly the tyranny of distance......

Have you ever thought of doing in-store personal appearances in Mandurah, about 100km south of Perth, Western Australia?

Did I mention that I just happen to live 100km south of "the most isolated capital city in the world"? (You have got to love that as a slogan for a tourist destination - or not, I guess!)

catalyst2 | August 30, 12:55 CET

I got my amazon order last night. The visual companion is amazing!

nakedandarticulate | August 30, 16:25 CET

The visual companion is out now? I've ordered it from my local independent bookstore here in Toronto but they thought it might take weeks and weeks to get it. Maybe if I call them and say it is out in the States NOW, that might help.

Lioness | August 30, 16:36 CET

Caroline - will you also be adding the visual companion to the sidebar? If so, I'll postpone my order till it's there.

purplehazel | August 30, 16:54 CET

I also got my visual companion from Amazon last night. Incredible! Amazing! Run, don't walk or crawl to get this. Reading the script and looking at the oodles of stunning accompanying pictures/stills/storyboards/sketches/diagrams is the next best thing to seeing the movie. There's stuff in the script that was cut for the movie which adds some depth to the onscreen doings. There's a faboo interview with Joss as well, plus a history by Joss of why and how humans left Earth-That-Was. Simon posted a link to his glowing review of the visual companion a week or so ago on Flickr and I agree with him wholeheartedly. I stayed up very, very late last night reading and gazing and admiring. And smelling the shiny new pages. (Is that wrong?) I chose the cheapest shipping and it came early nevertheless. You can never predict with Amazon.

The novelization sounds great. I have never bought a novelization in my life but in this case, I will. It's Serenity. I'm so glad it was written by a fan.

phlebotinin | August 30, 17:42 CET

Just checked on Amazon, and they shipped my copies of both books yesterday. Should have them soon. Am really looking forward to both books! :-)

sandyg | August 30, 19:04 CET

Most novelizations, sad to say, are crap. They're written quickly and read like someone describing a script to you.

The good ones are the ones that add depth and motivations to the characters that the movie simply can't do, using the strengths of the written form to make up for the cinematic impact the book can't match. Peter David is particularly good at this. So, apparantly, is krad :)

C. A. Bridges | August 30, 19:23 CET

I've added the Visual companion to the sidebar too.

Caroline | August 30, 19:38 CET

I just went and ordered both the novelization and the visual companion from Amazon. I don't think I have bought a novelization since I was a teenager, but this one, I have to have.

Mal'sGal | August 30, 20:03 CET

Well, I'm waiting expectantly for both of these. It bothers me when preorders take longer than regular shopping. (The Serenity comic being Exhibit A in that respect). *fingersdrumroll* Yep, still waiting. :)

BTW: New Zealand Browncoats should be aware that Whedonesquer Giles(yes that's my real name) is offering to pick up tickets from the theatre for the Serenity premiere in Wellington for those who can and want to go.

SoddingNancyTribe | August 30, 20:15 CET

Have you ever thought of doing in-store personal appearances in Mandurah, about 100km south of Perth, Western Australia?

Did I mention that I just happen to live 100km south of "the most isolated capital city in the world"? (You have got to love that as a slogan for a tourist destination - or not, I guess!)

Well, that depends -- can someone in Mandurah pay for me to fly down there? *laughs*

Seriously, only been to Australia once, in 1999, and I'd love to go back at some point (saw Sydney and Melbourne on that trip), but it's a big trip from New York City....

Most novelizations, sad to say, are crap. They're written quickly and read like someone describing a script to you.

Just for the record, speed and quality are not equal things. I wrote Serenity very quickly, too. Two of the novels I've written that I've got the highest praise on I wrote in three weeks. *grin*

krad | August 30, 21:25 CET

Well, krad, it must be your love for the material then.

brownishcoat | August 30, 21:29 CET

Krad, you were in the ZONE. My best work is written very quickly to.

electricspacegirl | August 30, 21:36 CET

Well I sincerely wish you good luck, Krad, and I will definitely be picking up the novelization.

I agree that most novelizations tend to be bad. The majority of the Buffy books were poor, in my opinion, because the action was really stagnant and the characterisations were usually off. I never felt that they offered anything the TV show couldn't, any original ideas or themes, they just borrowed those that the TV show had already used. They didn't feel like something that the TV show would do, lacking that magical Buffy feeling.

Tales of the Slayers was an exception, but I felt that way for most of them. I think that action tends to be very difficult to convey in the written word, and its usually less satisfying than on screen. It's hard to make "Buffy kicks him" interesting throughout a novel. That's why the good ones focus on story and characterisation, like Chris Bridges said.

Action/adventure films like Lord of the Rings, for example, can only express a certain amount of characterisation in without slowing down the plot too much, so Return of the King had to maintain a very frantic plot. The source material coupled with the film is much more satisfying.

A good novelization should be able to get into the minds of the characters and help the reader to understand them better because the film may not have enough time to deal with them all in great detail. I'm sure Serenity will be a great film and I hope the book is too, that they compliment each other.

Razor | August 30, 21:44 CET

Speaking of literature and Serenity, Simon , when will comic No. 3 be out? Must be soon . . . ish?

SNT You still haven't recieved your comics? Both No. 1 and 2? Unbelievable. I seem to remember you missed buying it at the shops too. Or was that Simon. Yeah, maybe it was.

On topic: I'm buying the KRAD novelization. Probably same store as Lioness.

Drifter | August 30, 22:03 CET

No, Drifter, I got Serenity ish #1, but haven't received #2 - maybe this is within the normal timeframe for such things, but it seems to me that people were discussing that one weeks ago on this board. It's quite aggravating really.

I see that my estimated delivery date for both the Visual Comp and krad's book is September 8th. Since both books are available now, I'm not clear why it'll take another 9 days to get them. Huh.

SoddingNancyTribe | August 30, 22:21 CET

SNT: my estimated delivery date from Amazon for the Visual Comp was September 8th, too. And yet I received it last night. Let's hope your order will also go through more quickly than indicated. As for the Serenity comics, I'm in the same boat as you. tfaw has me biting my nails in annoyance over this. The damned movie will come out well before I receive all three comics at this rate. And I preordered *well* in advance. I meet your "huh" and raise you one.

phlebotinin | August 30, 22:25 CET

Tales of the Slayers was an exception,

Probably helps that it was written by Joss and other Buffy writers! You can't get better than that!

Rogue Slayer | August 30, 22:43 CET

Comiserating on the pre-ordered comics. I pre-orded all three as well, and #2 still hasn't arrived yet.

MissKittysMom | August 30, 23:04 CET

I'm waiting for the trade paperbacks of Serenity, so who knows how long that will take?

Razor | August 31, 00:16 CET

If it make you feel better, my local comic book store has been ordering all covers and get one or another and have yet to receive everything they have ordered. They have been waiting for the Book cover for almost a month now.
Just called Book City (my independent store) and they said I should get my copy of the Visual Companion in a week and 1/2 or so. I'm seeing Serenity again tommorrow night (Can't stop the bouncing!) and this will then hold me over until the end of Sept. Hoorah!

Lioness | August 31, 00:50 CET

I am also still waiting for Serenity #2 and am quite annoyed about the whole thing. I chose not to wait for the TPB because I wanted to be able to read all three comics before the movie came out and if the lateness of #1 & 2 are any indication of how long it will take three to arrive I might as well have waited for the tpb.

Krad, definitely looking forward to reading your book but I'll have to wait until after I've seen the movie first. It will be tempting to not take a peek though! I'm so happy that you are such a fan as well so I'm sure you've done a wonderful job with the book!

Firefly Flanatic | August 31, 03:16 CET

None of six bookstores visited in Portland, Oregon, today had either Serenity book in stock, nor knew when they'd have it. One had it listed as available out-of-store but "ships in 1-7 days".

The One True b!X | August 31, 04:50 CET

Well, this thread has been quickly archived but...

On the day they were supposed to hit shelves (yesterday), my local Borders didn't have it but Barnes and Noble did. I'm into about the third chapter and I'm loving it!

Yes, I've read some novelizations that weren't great, but this one is really good, KRAD!!! You've hit the characters dead on, so many thanks to you for the great work. I'm liking the new details, and I hope you were given the freedom to create some of them yourself. Let me emphasize, I can hear everyone speaking and acting just as they would on screen. (I've seen the BDM.)

Thanks again, and I'm sure many other fans are enjoying it as much as me. :)

April | September 01, 01:48 CET

The details are a mix of mine and Joss's. As to which was which -- I'll let you guys guess.... *evil grin*

krad | September 01, 05:41 CET