Well, at least CGL claim that they managed to sort out the copyright issues which previously prevented them from publishing some of the FASA novels. Given the clusterfuck that is the FASA IP, I'm not quite ready to believe it


And yes, I know that every self-respecting grognard already has those books, with the old -- and obviously better -- covers

The Findley IP will be the big one since that sank out of sight some time back.

But it is nice to see the classics coming back and for like $0.99 for the first of the Secrets of Power trilogy and the other two being $2.99 and $4.99 respectively it makes it easy for new cubs to get and have a taste.

...after they already had the Findley Omnibus on sale for some time. Given several such instances where FASA or its heirs thought they had the copyright for something but somebody else disagreed, I'm still not 100% convinced

Corollary: If you don't have the books already, grab them before the papers get served!

And this is why split ownership of intellectual properties causes more problems than it solves.

Authors having rights over some bits while the publisher owns other bits SOUNDS good, but in practice it means that NEITHER party can do anything with the property unless both agree. Years down the line with ownership of various bits changing hands at different times or owners becoming unavailable to contact, it creates huge headaches.


-k

It would have been highly unusual for Roc to grant the authors a voice in that, most likely it was just something between Roc (which is again owned by Pearson and Bertelsmann) and CGL.

More likely Roc (Pearson, plc and Bertelsmann via Penguin) and CGL (via the Shadowrun license) and WizKids (Topps or, post-2009, NECA). It's also possible Jordan and individual authors or their respective estates (in case of late Nigel Findley) also hold some relevant rights here.

Kudos to Bills for sorting that out. Can't have been easy.

And dont' forget FanPro, who somehow had their fingers in the novel pie long after the RPG license had gone to CGL...

Even between company to company, split rights can be problematic.

Sorry, I have had to deal with stuff like this on a personal level, the deals seem fine at the time but years later when the various parties involved have gone their separate ways, getting the rights cleared to do anything further with the property becomes a cast iron bitch to deal with.

Whenever possible these days I prefer single ownership delineations with clearly defined end-dates on sub-license rights. Having to hunt down and deal with previous rights owners decades later is such a royal pain.

That said, I am happy to see CGL has cleared up their licensing woes. I think I am more emphasizing with their situation than anything else.


-k

Only with the German novels, I recon. They do still hold some publishing rigths to the original German stuff, which Heyne is printing some of (the Heintz and Rieslegger stuff, I think the Hallmann books too).

Really? The only SR novels I've seen in store are the Heintz ones in omnibus format

I've seen Heintz (Schattenläufer, Schattenjäger), Cash (the Rieslegger novels) and Gefallene Engel (Stephen Kenson's Kellan Colt trilogy). No Hallmann, unfortunatly, though her books are quite good. My mistake. They're on Thalia's webstore, too.

It'll be good to own the books again, even if it is only in electronic format.

Is this also a good place to ask which novels we should be interesting in? Shadowrun or battletech.

Tough call as I read a sizable portion of each and found them both highly enjoyable.

I own basically all of the Battletech and Shadowrun Novels. Yes, german translations of them, but still.
With Battletech, you can mostly just go on chronological order. There are some very bad duds in there sometimes though. ESPECIALLY once you stray into the MWDA Timeline or the "new" classic Battletech novels . .
With Shadowrun . . Generally the older the better.
SOME of the new ones are good to read, but most are not in my eyes.
The one MOST IMPORTANT RULE:
If you see either Hardy or Bills as the Author . . Drop the book, get a lighter.
I'd rate the new german novels of that writer mercenary Heitz higher than their crap and i strongly dislike Heitz stuff <.<


So now that the general gist has been dealt with, let us go into some specifics.
As for Battletech:
The first 3 Novels are the nitty gritty of how the Grey Death Legion, one of the few GREAT Mercenary Units got started.
It also does not really start with Company Sized Mech-Battles but with simple Infantry and then some Mechs later on.
READ THE WARRIOR TRILOGY! SERIOUSLY!
Blood of Kerensky Trilogy starts the first Clan War. The Invasion has begun.

Shadowrun:
Nigel Findley, Nyx Smith and Tom Dowd are names you will want to look for in terms of Authors.
These 3 basically wrote the first half of all Shadowrun Novels.

Infamous Mentions go here:
The Dragon Heart Trilogy for establishing Marty Stue Ryan Mercury and Nadia "Lusty Brown Elven Nipples" Daviar.

What is Mechwarrior Dark Ages? Something like that does not exist. Battletech without Battlemechs, get real. *putsfingersinearsandsingsloudly*

Just goes to show how tastes differ.

For one thing I agree with Hardy's books being generally less than enjoyable, the notable exception being the recent Lagos book (I forget the title). It was weird, yes, but it was surprisingly okay, apart from that ork samurai with a giant arsenal of n-dimensional weaponry under his cloak.
Admittedly I read it as part of the trio of new books that came out then, one dealing with some arctic shit and the other being an awful technomancer book starring Netcat and Slamm-somethingorother as supporting characters.
Both of those were so bad that I can't even remember details and don't want to.

OTOH, I avoid Nyx Smith from the older books like the plague. I passionately hate the shapeshifter fiction.
Jak Koke (I think?) of Dragon Heart infamy has a well written combat biking novel called Dead Air which shows that he really can write, IMO.

For things I'd like to add to stay away from: The Terminus Experiment.

What I really like to recommend are the novella Neat and the recent novel Shaken, the latter one being very enjoyable even for me as someone who generally dislikes vampire plots.

*nods*
i concour. that failed both in terms of novels and in terms of the plastic mini clicks game/toy series.


Have you READ the abortions they call Battletech Novels?
We make fun of Stackpole for so many FUSION REACTORS EXPLODING LIKE SUPERNOVAE . . but the books are at least still well written and very enjoyable.
While Both Bills and Hardy show their squick fetishes for rape and incest in both Battletech Novels that have them as authors . . without the books being EITHER well written OR enjoyable otherwise!

I exclusively referred to Shadowrun novels and not at all to Randall Bills.