Category Archives: Novel

Outlander – Sassenach

Have you read the Outlander novels by Diana Gabaldon? Are you reading Outlander now, excited about the new TV show starting up tonight on STARZ? Are you just now picking up the novel and wondering if it is too late to start? Or has it been a decade (or more) since you read the first book in the popular series and you want to refresh your memory?

STARZ Outlander Season 1 Promotional Photo

As I’ve mentioned before, Outlander did not hit my radar as a novel when it first came out. When the show was announced I was interested, from the moment it was mentioned I was curious since I enjoy time travel and love stories that rely on the characters to get the audience caught up in the action and the drama.

A friend convinced me the books are worth the page count (the copy I have at hand of Outlander right now is 850 pages) and I totally agree. The book fills those pages with story, scenes I get caught up in… and yes, want to see fill my tv screen.

Here at PopArtsPlace we avoid giving away plot points in our PopArtsPlace.com/now articles… we like to talk about the general concepts, tempt you into getting caught up in shows, point you in the direction of what we are loving, highlight the strengths and draw your attention to places where we feel entertainment is excelling.

I am toying with the idea of doing a separate page discussing changes made to the story and characters in the Outlander series ‘along the way’, if there is interest, and if I feel I have something valuable to offer that would make such a page worth being made.

With the joint podcasts we do with ComicBookPage’s John Mayo we do include spoilers, after warnings, labels, and cautions that listeners should turn off the podcast if they are not prepared to listen to a spoiler filled discussion. That is where we dive into the details, discussing characters that have been merged, or removed from stories, plot points that have been dramatically changed, endings that have been altered between one medium and another, that kind of thing. Our Podcasts about tv shows are typically done at the end of a season, right before a season begins, or after a major turning point — in other words when something significant has happened and there is a decisive ‘reason’ to talk about the show.

It can be fascinating to talk with authors and discover that they considered from the moment an idea first occurred to them that it was “too big” in some way for the screen, that it had too many characters, too many threads, too much of something for them to feel they could contain it in a two hour movie, and so they turned to the format of a novel. Other times you might hear that the visual impact of a movie screen or the episodic nature of a television show simply felt like the right medium in which to tell a story. That a novel would not have the impact, or even a series of novels would not allow them to explore the life of the characters in the way they wanted to.

As a result I do not find it surprising when a story moves between mediums that characters disappear, that minor (or sometimes seemingly major) plot points fall away, rather I am often intrigued to see what held so much power and strength, what resonated so strongly with every collaborator in the project, that it remains in tact from one incarnation to the next.

Because I do not expect the STARZ series to be a word for word adaptation or following of the novel(s) I do not feel my experience of the show is spoiled by having read Outlander. If, however, you want to have no idea what is going to happen in the first episode, do not pick up the book before you watch it!

If you want to keep in step with the episodes, the plan here is simple — post an article an episode letting viewers know where in the book the show has progressed to.

Season One Episode One of Outlander, titled Sassenach, covers the first three chapters of the book Outlander. (Technically the episode ends about a page and a half into Chapter Four.)

Outlander airs Saturdays at 9 PM ET/PT on STARZ. Love the books and show? Share that love with other fans on the Starz Outlander Facebook Page

A few links that may prove useful:
Outlander on IMDB
Outlander on Goodreads
Outlander Series on DianaGabaldon.com

Klingon Art of War

The moment I saw The Klingon Art of War at San Diego’s Comic-Con International at the Simon and Schuster booth I knew this was a hard back book I wanted to add to my small library of Star Trek books. While I have only had a passing interest in the variety of encyclopedias and tech books that are available, there was something about this book that instantly attracted my eye, and my mind.

The concept of a book exploring the Klingon Art of War delighted me… I found myself instantly wondering ‘how has this book not been written sooner?’ The fact that it is a quality hard back book shows it is given the respect such a book would have been given by the Klingons.

Before each precept is a beautiful piece of Star Trek / Klingon Art, and at the beginning of each “chapter” is a quote from Kahless that captures the character and spirit of the Klingons.

It is a book I look forward to delving into. My first pass through shows that Keith R.A. DeCandido has explored the Klingon culture, and it’s warrior ways in a compelling manner, and presented it in a fun and accessible manner to fans of Klingons, and Star Trek.

Comic-Con International 2014 Madlibs

ComicCon-2014MadLibs

Every year at Comic-Con International in San Diego one of the highlights for my inner child is this little flash back to days gone by. This visit to my childhood days, to playing with friends and siblings and remembering all the fun we had with madlibs before cellphones and digital games / videogames took over the entertainment environment.

One book of madlibs provided hours and hours of not just entertainment, but bust your gut laughter! Perhaps it seems simple to the children of today, but that was part of the joy of it when I was growing up. A game anyone and everyone could play. All you needed was a pencil (and yes, a pencil was better than a pen.)

So while I may rarely reach for the madlibs as an adult, cosplay for beginners, a sampling of comic-con panels, and keeping cool around your idol were just a few of the pages in this years madlibs that tickled my funny bone when I flipped through the pages to see what fun awaited me when I went by the Penguin booth to pick up this years book.

Resurrection on ABC

Resurrection Cast Signing at the ABC booth

Resurrection is one of those TV shows where you watch the entire season, pretty sure you have an idea what is going on, fairly certain you understand where the twists and turns are leading, and yet, even as the final scene unfolds, and you realize you really have been following along and seeing what problems season 2 will leave the characters to face, Jacob grabs hold tightly to the man who has been standing up for him all along, Agent Bellamy (played by Omar Epps) and you realize there are even more layers to this story, and yes… you do wish you had read the book The Returned by Jason Mott, because while it may not answer any of your questions, it just might give you an idea of what some even better questions to be asking.

Four members of the cast of Resurrection, Omar Epps, Frances Fisher, Devin Kelley and Kurtwood Smith charmed fans at the ABC Booth during San Diego’s Comic-Con International. Barely able to see the convention hall floor, they remarked it was clear they were in the midst of an amazing event, and they were curious to see more of it, but it was equally clear to those of us lucky enough to get a chance to go down the line that while they were at that table we were the focus of their attention.

And a quick moment of clarification… several fans I bumped into at CCI mentioned having really enjoyed the french version of this show, and thought perhaps it was better… sad to say, a quick tour of google tells me that while there was a French movie with a similar premise, and it is indeed evolving into a French TV show, it is NOT based on the same book, and is not the same show/story. The two have similar names, and similar story-arcs by the sounds of it… but Resurrection is based on Jason Mott’s book The Returned, and the french movie/show is not.