I wouldn't hold my breath.

I have absolutely no knowledge about this, but I'm not holding my breath.

Jean Rabe did a writer's workshop at Gen Con a couple of years back. I think she's written stuff for D&D. Jason Hardy has a story up on the Fiction page of srrpg.com. Not sure about Stephen Dedman.

I think (but please don't quote me on this, 'cause I don't know for sure) that they'll be set in 2070.

Maybe they fill the gap between 2065 and 2070?

Nah... They'd never fill in or introduce major elements of the storyline through the novels.

Just to back this up, the announcement does say that these will be independent of the SR4 plotlines... and since SR4 will be set in 2070, it would make it difficult for these novels to be set during that time unless they each come up with a totally different vision of what things will be like.

Its not an "announcement" it is a "confirmation". They haven't announced it yet, they just said there are going to be 6 novels, including 1 trilogy, and gave the authors.

Yes, that differentiation makes me chuckle. But in PR speak i believe that an announcement would include titles and expected release dates.

Read the FAQ, stupid head!

Yup. The impetus for this "announcement" came out of my emailing WizKids awhile back about whether there would be novels. I was given this information then, but got permission a couple of days ago to post it in order to "get the information campaign started." I emailed Rob and he asked me to post it to Dumpshock after he posted it to srrpg.com. It comes directly from WizKids' publications department. I didn't get any information about when the books would be set, so the 2070 thing was just my guess.

It's sometimes difficult to know what I can and can't say, but I think I can say this--the first few books, at least, will be in 2065.

Jason H.

i think i'll let that speak for itself.

Jean was the head of the RPGA in the early-mid '90's. So, this would be the pre-WOTC era. She did a lot of writing and game develoment for TSR, at least one Forgotten Realms novel. It's safe to say that she's a veteran author of gaming fiction. (Take that whatever way you'd like. )

Speak of the devil

Cool - I've been waiting impatiently for new SR novels for what seems like forever! Thanks to anyone/everyone involved!!

Jean Rabe has written a lot of stuff for Dragonlance, most well known is when the Dragon Overlords arrive (yes that is all her fault) and the Dhamon storyline. Her writing is good and bad at the same time, she sometimes has a tendacy to think large world altering events. Her writing also can drag on. Overall, I belive she is a ok author, not the best but not the worst either. I will be interested in what she does for Shadowrun, doesnt seem her style

Awww.

What's wrong with lesbians, lesbian vampires, lesbian vampires with cyberware or troll lesbian vampires with cyberware and a vindicator minigun, or humanist self-sacrificing great dragons whose souls are bound to cyber zombies on a metaplane where they stem off a plotline that wasn't supposed to be yet, or the "IE r0ckz0rs yur s0ckzors!!!!11111" Sargent/Gascoigne attempt to mate SR with DragonballZ?

Really, I can't understand what you're saying.

Ah well, at least I can read FanPro's novels. So far, the three I read were decent and devoid of all world-altering, imortal elf, Great Dragon and lesbian vampire with cyberware and minigun related comic-esque-ness.

Why? Just because it promises it's going to stop hitting you doesn't mean it will.

Or Argent and his twin Supermach goodness and gravity-defying Osprey flight.

We also have the events in Dead Air which was for all intents and purposes the novelization of a sim released in 2056 which didn't have much to do with the rest of SR... And it was A Good Thing™.

Maybe she gets some guidelines what to write about and what not.

From what I've seen, this is the way it often happens. The author is given guidelines about events that need to occur, and sometimes even which major characters to use. Again, I have no knowledge, just speculation (okay, maybe a little knowledge, since this is the way it was presented to the other authors and me when we wrote the fiction pieces for the SR:Duels website), but I would guess that in the case of an author who's not intimately familiar with the SR universe (I assume Jean Rabe would be one of these, though of course I have no idea), that this would probably be the way to go.

Mike Stackpole. I liked his SR book and short stories--okay, they weren't quite canon, but they were entertaining.

Shadowboxer, on the other hand--sucked worse than a sucky thing covered in suck powder dancing in a suck field.

IMO, of course.

Tikki was overpowered, but compared to characters from later novels (Mercury, I'm looking at you!) she was tame. What ticked me off more was that she NEVER SAW AN AURA. I mean, isn't she supposed to be dual-natured, hunh? HUNH?

One thing I have to give Mr. Smith credit for is that he has his gay fences distributed equally in terms of sex. It's a step upward from cybered lesbian supermage troll dominas.

Personally, I stopped reading the novels after the first Dragonheart novel. It just became unbearable. I still own all I ever bought though, and the Nigel Findley books, the Changeling and even the Secrets of Power still have a place in my heart (and, occasionally, on my nightstand).

Maybe she was to cool to bother with nerdy things like the astral space.

Stopped reading SR novels after dragonheart too. It was so disappointing and full with uber-characters.

What if it doesn't matter if they happened or not? If the stories all involve smalltime players and the big picture stuff is a backdrop of information found in other books then the question of canon or not is moot (assuming the characters don't do wild and wacky things compared to what a by-the-rules PC/NPC could do).