The first volume of the “Asked and Answered” series is now available from Babylon5Scripts.com

OVERVIEW OF THE ASKED & ANSWERED SERIES
It’s true. The creator of Babylon 5 answers 5,296 fan questions covering every aspect of the show in over 100 categories in new Babylon 5 book series.

J. Michael Straczynski answered these questions as they surfaced over a period of 18 years as part of an online experiment he started in 1991 and continues to this day.

This makes Asked & Answered something that has never been done before with a television show: an oral history IN REAL TIME. No revisionism. Nothing forgotten. No detail spared. Because this dialouge with fans starts in 1991, it pre-dates the production of the Babylon 5 pilot, so you’ll discover JMS’ complete vision for the series, many aspects of which never made it to the screen.

Even better, these questions and answers include interactions on AOL Bulletin Boards, GEnie Forums, the moderated usenet group, CIS Discussion threads and Chat Transcripts, some of which are not available in archives anywhere.

In addition to Babylon 5, Asked & Answered includes JMS’ responses to personal questions about his life, politics, love, religion, writing and more. These responses are grouped with a related B5 topic showing fans – for the first time – the provenance of the Babylon 5 philosophy and culture. All that plus JMS’ real life stories behind the stories.

To make this the ultimate reference, this series took 2½ years and a crew of four B5 experts – in addition to J. Michael Straczynski – to compile, categorize and edit.

The Babylon 5 Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski: The TV Movies is now on sale for $29.99 through Feb. 5. After Feb. 5, the price will be $39.99

Featuring these Scripts:

• Thirdspace
• The River of Souls
• The Legend of the Rangers
• The Lost Tales

These TV Movie scripts are twice the length of a single episode of Babylon 5 and are the page count equivalent of EIGHT episodic scripts making it the second biggest book ever with more than 450 pages!

ALL THAT PLUS THESE SPECIAL BONUSES

• The included version of The Legend of the Rangers is an early draft that is 20 pages longer than the script that was filmed, which means you get to read scenes and exchanges of dialog that never made it to the screen.

• Exhumed from Joe’s vault, a 3-page fragment of an outline detailing the premise for a Psi Corps feature film . Focusing on The Telepath War, and appropriately titled “Wars of the Mind,” JMS’ notes reveal the background of the conflict — teeps vs. teeps, the cast of characters — including the identity of the Interstellar Alliance’s Vice President, and the explosive deaths of two B5 regulars — something hinted at, but never stated in an official series document.

• The lost tale from The Lost Tales. Did you know that there were originally three lost tales, not two? The middle segment, never produced due to production considerations, featured Michael Garibaldi making a startling discovery on Mars. Only a handful of people involved in the production have ever read this script, but now you can enjoy this “lost” installment.

• The original short story on which The Lost Tales segment “Over Here” was based. It’s called “The Darkness Between the Stars” and was originally published in the now out-of-print seventh issue of The Book of Dark Wisdom (Fall 2005). See how JMS adapts a story from one medium to another and witness a different ending than the one that concludes the B5 version.

• J. Michael Straczynski’s personal, behind-the-scenes photos taken on the set of The Lost Tales and The Legend of the Rangers — included in these 36 images are the last pictures taken of Andreas Katsulas as G’Kar.

And much more. Order here by April 30

My Babylon 5 kung fu is starting to feel weak. I found yet another book I didn’t know about… my self-esteem as a compulsive completist may be starting to waver!

The Babylon 5: Crusade Episode Guide. An Unofficial, Independent Guide with Critiques by Sandy Van Densen and Loriann DeGiacomo.

Quoting: “This unofficial, independent episode guide contains plot synopses, guest star and production crew credits, original airdates, production numbers and extremely detailed hard-hitting critiques of each Crusade episode, including the film that began it all: A Call to Arms. Join us in a trip through J. Michael Straczynski’s thought-provoking universe.”

This book came out 6 years ago, November 2002, and once again, I never knew about it until now. It seems to be still in print and still in stock at Amazon, so I may have to put this one on my wish list for now.

Anyone seen or read this book? Comments?

It’s the book Babylon 5 fans have waited years to own:

“But In Purple…I’m Stunning: Quotations from Babylon 5” compiles everyone’s favorite quotes into one comprehensive book. For easy reference, the quotes are broken down by character (who said it, and to whom) and by theme. J. Michael Straczynski has written 8 introductions, one for each themed section in addition to his foreword.

THEMED SECTIONS: Faith, Hope and a Little Charity, The Characters of Babylon, Relationships, War, Psi Corps, Power, Slapstick and Vox Populi.

CHARACTER SECTIONS: Sinclair, Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, Franklin, Londo, G’Kar, Delenn, Marcus, Lennier, Vir and Kosh.

“But In Purple…I’m Stunning: Quotations from Babylon 5” is the only book of Babylon 5 quotations ever to be published and contains 473 quotes from all 5 seasons. Each quote is annotated with its episode title, and all the quotes have been meticulously compared to the original scripts for accuracy.

This 317 page compilation will become a trusted resource when you’re making a speech or toast, writing a paper, or looking for a fresh viewpoint for a newsletter, blank greeting card or important email. (B5 quotations have previously shown up in wedding vows, prayer services, webpages, and is one of the biggest sources of sig lines on the net.)

Best of all, “But In Purple…I’m Stunning” is an instant connection that keeps you in touch with the Babylon 5 principles and philosophy.

Rediscover favorite quotes you’ve forgotten and quickly find the ones important to you. Best of all, flipping through “But In Purple…I’m Stunning” lets you relive your favorite moments from Babylon 5, one after another.

Click here to Order $24.95 until October 16; $29.95 after.

Remember that Babylon 5 collection that I’d mentioned on the show? The one published by the Science Fiction Foundation? My search for a copy of it yielded zero hits on eBay at the time, and the handful of copies available on Amazon.com were over $100, which was way more than I wanted to spend. But, interestingly enough, copies of it were available at Amazon.co.uk for less than half of that, including shipping to the US.

My copy of The Parliament of Dreams: Conferring on Babylon 5 arrived last week. The contents and other details about the book are available at the SF Foundation website. It never ceases to amaze me how much Babylon 5 work is out there… even when I think I’ve found just about everything, more stuff pops up. This book was published 10 years ago, and I didn’t find out about it until a couple weeks ago. That I was able to find a copy of it so quickly after discovering it’s existence… well, faith manages.

There’s also an essay about Cartagia available at the SF Foundation website, “I, Cartagia: a mad emperor in Babylon 5 and his historical antecedents” by Tony Keen, from an academic track presented at the 63rd Worldcon in Glasgow in 2005.

It’s here!

Across Time and Space: The Chronologies of Babylon 5

* For the first time ever available in print and authorized by J. Michael Straczynski

* Contains two complete chronologies: Terry Jones’ Babylon 5 Historical Database (parts of which were previously published in the now-defunct Official Babylon 5 magazine) and I. Marc Carlson’s “Time Line of the Babylon 5/Crusade Universe.”

* Together these two documents are the only sources that give you a complete picture of the Babylon 5 universe and how it fits in the history of the world

* Contains important Babylon 5 canon buried in the novels, comic, books and short stories.

* Up to the minute — includes “The Lost Tales”.

* Includes information that has not been published in a decade from out-of-print publications such as the Official B5 magazine.

* The ultimate Babylon 5 reference because it weaves the entire B5 universe into a cohesive narrative.

* Includes data from all televised episodes of Crusade and some that weren’t even produced.

* Includes an introduction by Fiona Avery, reference editor for Babylon 5 and Crusade (and writer of 3 Crusade episodes).

Now you guys know what project I was helping out on last month! Yay!

Also, you have until August 23rd to submit questions for JMS regarding any of the B5 movies, in “Babylon 5 Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski: TV Movies”.

Quote: With this book is a special opportunity. For the first time J. Michael Straczynski is letting fans ask any question they want about the four TV Movies “Thirdspace”, “The River of Souls”, “Legend of the Rangers” or “The Lost Tales”

Scroll down to the bottom of the babylon5scripts.com page for the submission link.

Featuring these 6 scripts
• “The Long Dark” by Scott Frost
• “Soul Mates” by Peter David
• “There All the Honor Lies” Peter David
• “Gropos” by Larry DiTillio
• “Knives” by Larry DiTillio
• “Day of the Dead” by Neil Gaiman

All scripts include an introduction/commentary by the writers, written exclusively for these volumes.

Deadline Extended–$10 off good through Wednesday July 23

Volume 3 will never be offered at a discount again.

This limited edition run of all three volumes ends on September 30, 2008

Click here for more details or to order.

Pete in Cincinnati spotted something on eBay:

If either of you are still looking for “Summoning Light” by Jeanne Cavelos, you might check ebay.

There’s a hardcover version of the whole trilogy up for auction. No bids yet, 99 cent minimum, 3.50 to ship. Ends on May 21st.

The Passing of the Techno-Mages by Jeanne Cavelos

I found the auction after I decided to try to pick up the novels but before I found them all at Half Price Books.

Feel free to pass this along to others if you don’t want to bid on it.

Thus, I pass it on to you guys.

I’ve never seen a hardcover omnibus collection of these before… if anyone out there knows where these came from, let me know. I’ll do some digging myself later.

Volume 14 is now available for order @ http://www.babylon5scripts.com/

The scripts included are “The Wheel of Fire”, “Objects in Motion”, “Objects at Rest”, and “In The Beginning”

You’ll also get a replica of the highlights of J. Michael Straczynski’s Producer’s Notebook for “In the Beginning. Volume 14 is also packed with other goodies, including the opening narration credit voice-over scripts, more exclusive photos and an appendix for the script books, and much more.

Short of having JMS visit your home, and explaining how it all happened, you won’t find a better resource.

Production of the script books is due to end in May, so please don’t hesitate any longer.

Now is the time to act!

 

Special Reminder:

JMS will be personally signing every copy of Volume 15.

The only way to get volume 15 is if you purchase all 14 books. You must purchase volumes 1-13 plus buy 14 to get volume 15 and if you haven’t bought them from Cafe Press you need to pay the “reasonable” price of $562.06.

Volume 15 will also include the Babylon 5 writer’s bible, a breakdown of the entire 5 year story arc, with Sinclair, a detailed analysis of cut and altered scenes between the scripts and the episodes.

To see all the goodies included in volume 15 go to http://www.babylon5scripts.com/vol15.htm

Thanks to Summer and Jim Carr for helping with this post.

From Claudia’s newsletter (via Jim Carr):

Claudia Christian’s book, “My Life With Geeks & Freaks” is now available at Amazon.

If you don’t already have a copy, you can order from Amazon at this link

According to Claudia’s newsletter, “She is working on more writing projects that will be longer next time, and your reviews will only help work our marketing.”

Jim also notes: “The first two posted reviews at Amazon are from Dean Haglund (X-Files) and Denise Crosby (Star Trek: TNG)”