I just saw this in my in box. Did I miss some previous thread about this?

Apparently Marc Miller has a kickstarter for a Traveller novel.

There are still 13 days left, though it looks like it is well over the minimum.

I chose to ignore it as my thoughts would just devolve into a rant about the need for a complete and functional T5.  5.09 it better but there's still a lot to do.  That said, I'll be buying and reading it.

I was interested until I heard the description in his promo video. The premise sounds godawful.  Plus I never liked the Imperium anyway so it's not a selling point.

Quote from: Bren;864972I just saw this in my in box. Did I miss some previous thread about this?

Apparently Marc Miller has a kickstarter for a Traveller novel.

There are still 13 days left, though it looks like it is well over the minimum.

Well, sounds good to me, thanks for posting:).

It's tempting just for the possible insights it will give into the Imperium from one of its creators. However, I agree the premise sounds lame and I have no confidence in Marc Miller's ability to write anything coherent. I'll wait until it's out (if that ever happens) and see what the reviews say.

I cannot reward Marc with any money until he actually completes 5th edition.

I will probably buy the novel when (or if) it hits the shelves.

Hopefully it will be better than Firefly fan fic!

I expect a Third Imperium novel from Marc Miller to be as good as a Greyhawk novel from Gary Gygax, and that's not a compliment.

Writing talent notwithstanding, both universes work brilliantly as game settings because they're essentially derivative of the fantasy and SF canon circa mid-to-late-1970s.

For a really good trilogy of Traveller novels, try this-

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345350200?keywords=angels%20luck&qid=1448238676&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1

To me traveller novels are anathema. That Marc now wants to write one tells me strongly that he has lost (what I considered to be) his Mojo.

Traveller had its roots in Sci Fi literature. It is a playground for scifi/history/engineering/military afficcionados and their friends, not a stage for would-be novelists or playwrights.
YMMV.

Marc can do as he sees fit, but this is where I, after nearly 30 years, leave the bus.

Well, I'll give it a shot anyhow.  I can identify with your feelings.  If it's as terse as his modules there might be a thousand years of detailed history in a two hundred page book.

But I'll admit that I want it to work.  The TNE novels were, not great but at least understood the setting.  The T4 novel was, reasonably solid Star Wars fan novel by someone who didn't understand the setting.  I'd have to read it again (shudder) to remember if it was a case of a professional writer dropping some setting terms into a pretty generic sf novel or just all together amateurish but by my recollection it was the former rather than the latter.

So, Mark will write his novel and I will read it.  I wish support for T5 was higher on his agenda but I know how it is.  You've got to get ideas down while they're fresh or you forget what you meant.  Which is what I am certain is what has happened to T5.

Quote from: mhensley;865714For a really good trilogy of Traveller novels, try this-

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345350200?keywords=angels%20luck&qid=1448238676&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1

I really liked those and then the author just seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth.

But I think the most Traveller-like novels are the Dumarest series by EC Tubb

Maybe not the background (there's no Imperium), but the travelling part. And a lot of the technology.

Quote from: Settembrini;865796Traveller had its roots in Sci Fi literature. It is a playground for scifi/history/engineering/military afficcionados and their friends, not a stage for would-be novelists or playwrights.
YMMV.

To be honest, there's a whole subgenre of SF revolving around the overlap of military aficcionados and novelists.

I still think the novel's going to suck, but that's because I'm prejudiced against gaming fiction in general.

Quote from: The Butcher;865601I expect a Third Imperium novel from Marc Miller to be as good as a Greyhawk novel from Gary Gygax, and that's not a compliment.

Writing talent notwithstanding, both universes work brilliantly as game settings because they're essentially derivative of the fantasy and SF canon circa mid-to-late-1970s.

Agreed, I'm very wary of gaming-derived fiction. TSR's novels about D&D sucked.

Quote from: JeremyR;865805I really liked those and then the author just seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth.

Looks like he dropped out of the bottom of the midlist and probably couldn't get published again. He's making a come back, though.