NEW jms novel available FREE online
Jms at B5
international B5 newsgroups, mailing lists and web sites, that would be a
wonderfulness, and you would earn my unending thanks.)
By now, most of you know about the Crusade scripts and the original stories of
mine that have appeared on bookface.com: "Cold Type," "Say Hello, Mister
Quigley" and "We Killed Them In the Ratings."
Well, we're taking it to the next level.
Previously, I've had two novels published in hardcover from E.P. Dutton: "Demon
Night" and "OtherSyde." They were published about a year apart, and did very
well (the former was nominated for a Bram Stoker award). I always wanted the
time and opportunity to write another novel.
That was over ten years ago. Then I fell down the TV black hole and never had
a chance to catch my breath and tackle another novel.
After Crusade, I saw that I had a chance that I might not get again soon. In
general, show runners go maybe a year or so between shows, and that would be a
great window to try for a new novel before I got dragged into TV land again
(and I'll have more info on that topic soon).
As a result...I recently completed my first full-length (100,000 word) novel in
nearly twelve years. I'd considered taking it to auction in New York, but the
more I thought about it, the more I felt this one should be done differently.
So through special arrangement with bookface.com, I'm making my new novel
available to be read FREE online, as a thanks to all the Babylon 5 fans who
supported us over the years. It will be serialized in four installments
beginning in August, so you may want to keep an eye out for it.
TRIBULATIONS is a contemporary dark fantasy novel (not a horror novel) set in
present-day Los Angeles. The main characters are SUSAN RANDALL, a crime
reporter with the Los Angeles News-Tribune, and RAYMOND WEILL, a man with a
dubious background who believes that the series of crimes she is investigating
has a supernatural origin which only he truly understands.
It is, oddly enough, a fun book. It has scares, humor, action, and strong,
colorful characters. It takes some all-in-good-fun pot shots at the journalism
profession (somewhat from my own experience, working for the LA Times, Time
Inc. and others), new age bookstores, the LAPD, psychics, politics, show
business, TV news, fringe groups and agents.
It has a crusade of sorts, plus priests, tears, blood, voices in the night,
carnage, corned beef, soldiers of light and emissaries of dark, the lost and
the dispossessed, fights over an air conditioning system and at least one major
Los Angeles riot.
It is also a book about the ways we do, and should, treat each other. It is
about trust, and hope, and respect, and the responsibility we bear to stand,
alone if necessary, against impossible odds if we believe we are right. It's
about taking chances, and rebirth; about the nature of evil, the story of Job,
and the different forms of love. It's about some of the things we've
forgotten, and some of the things we need to discover anew.
It is, I think, the best book I've ever written. I'm very proud of it, and if
you liked B5, I think you'll like this one.
Two other important notes in this regard:
Upon casually mentioning a while ago that this may be on the horizon, I
received a small flood of emails from people asking if there was *any* way to
get this book in physical form... because not everyone is on the nets, and not
everyone who IS on the nets can access the site.
So for those who can't wait for the ending, or who really want to have this in
actual book form, I've arranged with Dark Tales Publications (darktales.com) to
make a limited number of copies of the book available in trade paperback form.
They've done a great job on design, it looks great, and they're vastly excited
about publishing it. To make finding the book easier the bookface.com site
will link to their site starting with the third installment.)
Now, here's the kicker. This is just for fun.
If you've seen any of the photos taken in my office at the BABYLON 5 stages,
you've probably seen me working at a Kinesis ergonomic keyboard. It's an odd
looking thing, with two recessed wells where the keys are located. I bought
this keyboard right around the end of the first season/start of the second
season of B5.
On this keyboard, I wrote the lion's share of all the scripts for BABYLON 5,
wrote all my CRUSADE scripts...wrote all the memos to various departments and
some rather heated memos to TNT...posed with it for pictures appearing in
British SF magazines...wrote 90% of my online postings done from the B5
stages...wrote the MURDER, SHE WROTE TV movie that aired recently on
CBS...wrote the script for my project with Chris Carter, THE WORLD ON
FIRE...and, finally, this is the keyboard on which I wrote TRIBULATIONS. I
used it until just recently. It works fine, though the cord has a tendency to
come loose inside the keyboard and may need to be reinstalled.
I've been offered substantial sums for this keyboard, probably the most iconic
symbol of my 5 years spent making BABYLON 5 and talking with fans online. One
person suggested that on Ebay it would pull in an astonishing amount of money.
So, being the contrary person I am...I'm giving it away.
Each person who buys a copy of TRIBULATIONS from darktales.com will have the
option of being included in a raffle. At a date still being set, we will
finish the raffle at a convention, and the keyboard will be given away to one
of those participants.
In addition, I will personally sign the keyboard and include a certificate of
authenticity.
My hope is that whoever gets it will use it to create the story that could
become the next BABYLON 5. And, in time, pass it along to the next person in
line.
Meanwhile, starting in August, the book will be freely available to read online
at bookface.com.
Hopefully it won't take another 12 years before I get around to writing the
next book....
jms
(jms...@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)
Jms at B5
was actually going to be up...the first installment of TRIBULATIONS is up now,
at www.bookface.com.