Now, Matthew Wayne Selznick asks us to help him decide if he should write another Sovereign Era book.

Selznick says:

I’ve prepared a six-question survey to assess if it makes sense for me to allocate time, energy and resources toward writing, producing and marketing a new Sovereign Era novel featuring characters from “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” like Nate Charters, Byron Teslowski, Lina Porter and the gang. While the book — likely called “Pilgrimage” — has been on the backburner for some time, I’d like to figure out if there’s good cause to actually write it.

Go on over to Selznick’s website and take the survey. Let’s get a new novel. I’m looking forward to this.

For the first two chapters, I was getting aggravated with the overuse of ‘look at me I’m 1337‘ dialogue. As a person who understood every reference, I found it distracting and felt that to book was trying to hard. It’s possible that someone who doesn’t completely get the references would not be as distracted, so I won’t hold this minor issue against the book.

All of that aside, this is a great story. It is both educational and entertaining, as well as heartwarming. Doctorow is always very outspoken against government surveillance, DRM, and other “Orwellian” practices. “Little Brother” illustrates with great force Corey’s views and fears. He illustrates how the U.S. government is slowly eroding the Bill of Rights, and taking away the foundation of our great nation…our freedom.

It’s educational, but not preachy and the characters are very engaging. “Little Brother” is a great thriller, and the best fictional book I’ve read in years. It’s labeled a ‘young adult’ novel, but it’s a great read for both young and old alike.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…

–The Declaration of Independence

“There is definitely Hitchhiker’s crossover,” explains Dirk Gently adapter-in-chief and director Dirk Maggs. “In this second series there is one particular idea from Douglas’s notes for the third [unfinished] Dirk Gently book which at one point he thought might be a Hitchhiker’s book. It’s a very simple idea that puts one of the Hitchhiker’s characters in the same universe as Dirk Gently in a way that I thought had enormous potential. In this series we find that the characters in both universes are inhabiting the same world, and I think where we’re going with this is something that actually resolves later on in Hitchhiker’s. It’s turning into a bit of a prequel!”

As a huge fan of Douglas Adams, any news about his works tend to excite me. I’ve read the Hitchhiker’s series many times since I first discovered them at the age of 16. But, the Dirk Gently books have been less of an interest to me. I read the first one, but never got around to the second.

With the revelation (unbeknown to me before this article) that Adams was considering making them a prequel to Hitchhiker’s, I am now excited to finally read Tea Time. Hopefully, this new radio drama will be a better tribute to such a great man than the barely passable Hitchhiker’s feature film.

If you’ve read them, what do you think of the Dirk Gently series? Does it make sense that they fit in the Hitchhiker’s universe?

Towel Day is celebrated every May 25 as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams.[1] The commemoration was first held in 2001, two weeks after his death on May 11, 2001.[2] On this day, fans carry a towel with them during the day to demonstrate their participation and mourning of the author. The towel is a reference to Adams’s popular science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

So don’t forget your towel!

My God, the obits today are full of stars. Celebrated author and science-fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke died today at his Sri Lanka home from apparent breathing problems. He was 90.
…
“Someone asked me, how would I like to be remembered,” he said in a 90th birthday address last December. “I want to be remembered most as a writer, one who entertained readers and hopefully stretched their imaginations as well.”

He inspired a generation of readers and writers. There are many a successful author that can point to Clarke as an inspiration and/or role model. He will be remembered for generations.

They story gives a background into how and why Steve Martin came to standup. Having read books by Tim Allen, Jerry Seinfeld, Drew Carey and Paul Riser, I found Martin’s style completely different, and his journey unique. He describes his drive to be “different”, to bring the unconventional to the stand-up world. We all know that he was very successful in that quest.

Steve Martin is a legend in comedy. Often confused with his characters, many people don’t recognize his intelligence and genius. It was a sad day when he packed his stand-up trunk for good, but for good reasons. Read the book, and you will understand.

It is the story of a teenage boy who is struggles with being different. He has the attributes of a cat, and a strength proportion more than his own. An outcast, but not for those reasons. This is the story of his coming of age. From boy to man. From human to Sovereign.

In reading the novel, fans of NBCs “Heroes” will undoubtedly see parallels to the books backdrop, and that of the TV show. Myself, I wondered if the producers of “Heroes” hadn’t read this novel before developing their show. But, each work can exist separate, and the similarity should not detract from either.

The main character of Nate is well written, and reacts in situations more like a real person than a storybook character. His handling of situations from bullies to girls bring a sense of realism to the story. He is worthy of his quest.

Matthew Wayne Selznick is currently working on a sequel, “Pilgrimage”. At this time, he’s 35% done. I will pre-order it as soon as possible.

I highly recommend “Brave Men Run”, and suggest you pick it up for your next flight.

One would think that Rusty Miller, now in 36/37 years old, would be an Internet celebrity geek for his early success. When the “Star Wars Page at Texas A&M” debuted (now theforce.net, it was the most popular (and nearly only) website for Star Wars fans. I would have expected Rusty to flock to it, to be found by leagues of fans who at one time wanted to be him. Also, when “the prequels” finally were released, what an opportunity to develop yet another quizbook and capitalized on previous fame. But Rusty is still unknown.

Where is Rusty Miller? He doesn’t even have a wikipedia entry. He was to the 1980s fandom as Kevin Rubino was to the 1990s. Rusty, where are you?

Update:
My post inspired another post, and eventually StarWars.com found Rusty!.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy was my gateway back into reading. In 1986, I had stopped reading for pleasure at the tender age of 15. Prior to that, I was an avid reader. But then, I got stuck trying to start the brownian motion machine on my Atari 800XL playing Hitchhikers Guide. If to only “cheat” at the game, I proceeded to read the novel. I never went back to the game.
I was fairly new to the internet in 1993. My first ‘net access was MERIT dialup through school. A command-line interface, gopher, ftp, ELM, no DNS. But there were these things called newsgroups that allowed you to talk to other people. Some of the most ‘net savvy people today have never used the USENET. But in the early 90s, that was where you wanted to be (those who weren’t already sucked into AOL). Recalling my fondness for The Guide, I stumbled across a group: alt.fans.douglas-adams. To my surprise and amazement, Douglas himself was a participant. He would answer questions, discuss dialog, and even respond to occasional emails. I had discovered that not only was Adams’ work amazing, but the man was amazing as well. I myself received an email reply from Douglas. To my disappointment, backups on 15 year old floppies, doesn’t work.

His death greatly affected me. I felt that I had gotten to know the man behind the Universe, and he was gone. He is rarely spoken of in the same breath as Tolkien, Asimov, and Bradbury, but deserves to be. Were Douglas still with us, he would most definitely have a podcast, and interact with his fans daily. So, if you don’t know that you ‘need your towel’, and to you “42″ is just 2×21, then please do yourself a favor and experience the Universe of Douglas Adams.

The movie was my favorite movie of 2007, and in my top 10 of all time. If anything, it should have been ‘at least as enjoyable’ as the movie. I actually didn’t finish the book. It was so convoluted that I couldn’t stand to.

Do yourself a favor. Pick up the the movie.