Tag Archives: Novel

Outlander – The Book that prompted the Show

For those who have been enjoying the STARZ tv show Outlander, but have not yet read any of the books, or perhaps have only read the first one, today might be the day to fall off the fence, and go from being tempted to pick the novels up, to actually getting them. Why?

Amazon.com has the first 7 novels on sale as eBooks for $1.99. Here’s a link directly to the page: The Outlander Series 7-Book Bundle: Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in the Bone.

We do not know how long this sale will last — but 7 books for the price of 1 novella is certainly a price worth considering… and in our estimation, worth letting others be aware of.

Live Die Repeat – Edge of Tomorrow on DVD

The Tom Cruise/Emily Blunt film Edge of Tomorrow was based on the novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which John Mayo, of ComicBookPage, and Kay Kellam, of PopArtsPlace, podcasted about when it was in theaters in June of this year.

We discussed the novel All You Need Is Kill which was adapted both into a manga and the movie Edge of Tomorrow. The entire discussion contains spoilers of the various different versions of the story as we compare and contrast the difference in the story and storytelling across the different versions of the property.

With the movie coming out on DVD and BluRay October 7 we wanted to highlight the podcast again for those who have not already taken the time to check it out. All You Need Is Kill [58:04m]: Download the podcast now from the ComicBookPage.com site and feed.

John and I discussed the fact that All You Need Is Kill did not roll off the tongue as an easy to say title (perhaps the original Japanese had a better sound or meaning?), and we wondered at the title Edge of Tomorrow, since it was not an obvious title to connect in to the movie’s plot. It is a movie where a character keeps reliving the same 30 hours, with tomorrow seemingly never coming… the character constantly hovering at the Edge of Tomorrow but not able to make it through the events that will let his life move forward.

Live, Die, Repeat was the suggested hashtag for Edge of Tomorrow when it was in the theaters and it does beautifully sum up so much of the movie, and prompts reminders to some of the lighthearted moments in the film as well.

Live, Die, Repeat — Edge of Tomorrow is available now in Digital HD Download, and October 7 on DVD and BluRay.

Links:
Download the ComicBookPage All You Need Is Kill podcast
All You Need Is Kill (original novel) @ Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/All-You-Need-Is-Kill/dp/1421527618
All You Need Is Kill (movie tie-in novel) @ Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Edge-Tomorrow-Movie-Tie–Edition/dp/1421560879
All You Need Is Kill (manga) @ Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/All-Need-Kill-Graphic-Novel/dp/142156081X
Edge of Tomorrow @ IMDB.com: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867/
Edge of Tomorrow Movie Site: http://www.edgeoftomorrowmovie.com/

Edge of Tomorrow – Join The United Defense Force

Outlander – The Way Out

Outlander – The Way Out, the third episode of Season 1, is a particularly interesting episode. One of the subplots of the episode is directly from the book, and the entire episode feels like it could have been pulled directly from the book (and some scenes appear to have been shuffled into this episode out of earlier chapters of the book) but if you are reading along in the novel Outlander you need only finish chapter 9.

Chapter 10, approximately page 178 of the novel, is where The Gathering begins in earnest, and as it happens, the title of episode 4 is slated to be… The Gathering.

Episode three might be one of the best episodes for those wanting to get a feel for how the book is being translated to the screen. The plot-point that was taken as a subplot directly to the screen was the one that, as a reader, struck me as significant, and telling about multiple characters. In an earlier article I remarked that it can be interesting to see what scenes in the book are so significant that every person in the collaborative process that it takes to make it a tv show is struck by that scene and agrees it needs to be on the screen. As a reader this was one of those scenes I hoped they felt the weight and impact of.

The subplot they added, the character they created, to me made perfect sense, and again spoke volumes about every character that interacted with him.

Episode three had a nice balance to it, some moments that spun on the intonation with which lines were delivered, and the body language that characters made sure only one or two others saw… it was this deliberateness in some cases, and subtlety in others that kept my eyes on the screen, and kept me interested from start to finish… and had me wanting to re-read the book yet again, wondering if there were things I had missed, things I should have noticed, things I might now understand differently because I could quite literally see them differently having just seen them on screen.

It is quite safe to say Diana Gabaldon’s series of Outlander novels stand alone quite successfully. And the STARZ Outlander television series likewise stands alone, and can be viewed independently of the books and a compelling drama unfolds before your eyes. But the two, in combination, create this extraordinary experience, where one sets you up with questions to ponder and ask as you experience the other… whichever you experience first keeps you guessing during the other even though you are pretty darn sure you know the journey you are being taken on.

The Ruby Dice – Catherine Asaro

When I discovered The Ruby Dice by Catherine Asaro I was positively entranced. It was another book in a series (the Skolian Empire) I had been enjoying, and that was why I picked it up, but more than that, it introduced a dazzling concept I had never encountered before.

A means of communicating and exploring ideas through a dice based game. Elaborate concepts and structures were laid out, described as being somewhere between tremendous dominoes extravaganzas, and those multi-deck card houses my parents would demand I put away before going to bed because a card house simply was not meant to fill the entire carpeted floor of the living room — or so they thought. But these structures were made up of dice, each of which represented concepts, people, ideas, and the game functioned as a part of the plot and intrigue in the story.

By the time I reached the end of the book I almost understood the dice game, and suddenly I wanted to read the book all over again, wondering if with that new found understanding parts of the plot might play differently.

I have never been one to play the games that require 10 and 20 sided dice, and yet I can not help but wonder if The Ruby Dice is a book that would make even more sense, and hold more meaning to someone who is accustomed to seeing meaning in dice where all I see is painted numbers on an object I roll while praying.