Dayton's Blog: A pimple on the ass of the Internet.

Hey, did you know there was a novelization for the first Librarian movie, Quest for the Spear?

I didn't.



I stumbled across a copy today at a local Half Price Books.

So far as I can tell, there were no novelizations for the next two films in the series. However, Amazon lists a graphic novel for Return to King Solomon's Mines (which I also somehow missed). The book was published by Atlantis Studios, and their website also indicates some sort of ongoing Librarian series in comic form. However, Mines was released in 2006, and the Atlantis site still lists the series as "coming soon."

The Librarian is a franchise I'd love to play around in, should a license for original tie-in novels ever come about. If the rumors are true and the next entry in the films series gets a theatrical release, a tie-in license isn't out of the question.

That'd be fun. :)

Earlier this week, Book View Cafe held a "Twitter Fiction" contest to celebrate the release of the first title to be released under their Book View Press imprint, Rocket Boy and the Geek Girls, a collection of favorite science fiction stories by writers who are members of BVC, and edited by Phyllis Irene Radford (ramblin_phyl).

The rules of the contest were simple: Create a story using the basic theme "Rocket Boy and the Geek Girls," and compose it for Twitter. In other words, the story could be no more than 140 bytes long. Well, 126, if you count the "@bookviewcafe " which had to precede your tweet.

On a whim, I dashed out the following and fired it through the Twittersphere:

-----

@bookviewcafe Rocket Boy shouted, "Prepare to be boarded!" The Geek Girls laughed. "Your rocket's too small to penetrate our shields!"

-----

This just in from the "No shit, Sherlock" Department: Even on Twitter, I'm able to find the gutter.

As luck would have it, somebody at BVC has a sense of humor that approximates mine, as evidenced when they posted the winners list.

I ended up winning a copy of Rocket Boy and the Geek Girls in e-Book form. Not too shabby for 140 bytes worth of work, eh?

Thanks to the kind folks at BVC for hosting the contest, and for selecting my goofy little story. Be sure to check out their site and all the cool stuff they offer, and for those of you looking to get in on the action for a bit of fun, be on the look out for their next TwitterFic contest. They hold them every few weeks or so.

If you think you're a nerd and you don't know who Wil Wheaton is, then you're not a nerd and you need to turn in your NerdCard. Right now.

Star Trek fans know him as Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Beyond that claim to fame, Wil is a geek of the First Order, having amassed a formidable online following with one of the most entertaining blogs on the 'net, as well as participating in numerous ventures which have all but cemented his place in the annals of Geek Lore. Recent examples include is guest stint on The Big Bang Theory, and his recurring role on the hit webseries The Guild. He's a frequent and welcome guest at Star Trek and other conventions. Oh, and he's also penned a few entertaining and even touching autobiographical tomes about his life in Hollywood. He possesses a keen wit, engaging writing style, and one hell of a wicked sense of humor.

His recent writings also include a series of reviews he wrote for TV Squad, offering up recaps of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes from his unique perspective as a member of the show's cast. The reviews are damned funny, but the venture was cut short when the budget for the website was cut, and the feature was dropped. Already asked if he might one day collect the reviews for a book, Wil at the time said he originally had not planned to. However, as he had already written several pieces which were never used, he later decided to finish out reviews for TNG's first season, and commenced organizing them along with other notes for a potential book release.

The result of those labors? Memories of the Future, Volume 1.

This first book covers the first half of TNG's first season, from "Encounter At Farpoint" to "Datalore," and it's a treat to read. Self-effacing and charming, Wil still manages to make with the zingers on damned-near every page. I thoroughly enjoyed this first volume, can't wait for Volume 2, and sincerely hope he keeps at it for the rest of TNG's run. Yeah, I know he wasn't there for the entire series, but he's a self-professed fan, so I'm hoping for the whole enchilada.

You can read what Wil has to say on the subject of the book's release by clicking on this linky-type thing right here. Be sure to give a listen to the podcast teasers he provides for some of the episodes, as well. He's releasing one a week, so be sure to revisit his site every so often for the latest updates.

Check it out, whydontcha?

I don't remember if I've mentioned it here, but some folks who know me from elsewhere may recall that Richard Matheson's I Am Legend is one of my all-time favorite books. I've lost count of the number of times I've read the story since discovering a battered copy of the book in a school library at the age of 11. Since then, a my own library has never been without a copy, and I still revisit it on occasion when the mood strikes.

I'm also very excited about the forthcoming (third) movie based on the book, due out next month and starring Will Smith in the role of the book's central character, Robert Neville. Recently, I've seen new editions of the book in both trade and mass market paperback formats in stores (which is actually a re-issue of a book containing not only the novel but also several of Matheson's short stories) as the new movie gets closer to its release date, but while perusing a local Borders today I happened upon a small slice of fanboy goodness.

An unabridged audio adaptation of the original novel.

I love audiobooks, particularly unabridged editions. They're great for long drives, or just for breaking the routine of listening to music or talk radio on the commutes to and from work. But, where the hell has this been? If it's been out before now, I'm afraid I'll have to plead ignorance, as I never knew. There was but a single copy on the shelf, and I snatched it up without a second thought. Neville's comin' out tonight, suckas!

Me am happy fanboy.