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Not just another "Sword of Shannara"/"Belgariad"/"Wheel of Time" thing, I'm sure?

What didn't you like about the "Shannara" books? I've read most of them, although I sorta lost count on the last few editions.

Never could really get into the "Belgariad" series. Read a couple (or was it just one?).

Have you read Katherine Kurtzman's "Deryni Chronicles?" I think I may have missed the last of those as well.

Most of these I read pre-marriage/pre-children (yes, in that order).

> Tolkien-based fantasy series, eh? How so? Not just another "Sword of Shannara"/"Belgariad"/"Wheel of Time" thing, I'm sure?

No, no "Sword of Shannara"--that was a little *too* close to Tolkien IMO :) What I'm doing is inspired by the Christian theory of comparative mythology Tolkien advances in "On Fairy-Stories". IMO in "Silmarillion" one thing Tolkien is doing is using his "sub-creator" theory to generate a storyline that uses the Biblical tradition to interpret elements of a number of non-Biblical traditions. I'm doing something similar, except my backstory is set in ancient historical Earth rather than Middle Earth; and it's also got a horror element to it, combining the Jewish Pseudopigrapha's concept of the Watchers with H.P. Lovecraft's "Old Ones" demonology. So far I've finished a rough draft of the first book, but I've got a lot to do yet.

Hey, all... permit me to indulge in a bit of nostalgia...

I started a project this morning to transfer our collection of videotapes to video-CDs. I started with our Babylon 5 tapes. As I was watching them, I realized we had taped them from the original broadcast. I got curious, and looked up the original air date from one of the best sources for B5 info on the web, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. The episodes I transferred were originally broadcast in November, 1994... the tapes are nearly 10 years old.

Checking a little further, I found that the 11th anniversary of the broadcast of B5's pilot episode, "The Gathering", is just five days away. I remember watching it with Rose, back in our old apartment. I believe my comment at the time was along the lines of, "Interesting, but it needs some work."

Of course, I didn't realize at the time how big a part of our lives the show would become... we became such fans that we travelled to conventions to see the creator of the show (J. Michael Straczynski) speak. For a time, Rose wrote a magazine column about games based on the show. We even formed our own business (RoseBear Enterprises, Inc.) to sell licensed products based on the show.

(sigh) I didn't realize how long ago that was becoming.