Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1

[oyceter]

The title of the book is rather self-explanatory, if one is a Buffy fan ;). The only other Buffy tie-in I’ve read is Tales of the Slayers, the graphic novel. I'm usually not one for tie-ins, although I love fanfic. I think there's something about the boundaries of the world that is more limited in tie-ins -- the authors can't play around with the world or the characters that much, especially in an ongoing franchise. I like fanfic because it has the opportunity to be much more speculative, to drag the characters into situations that the writers of the show may not dare to, to bend and twist the world in shapes that may not happen otherwise.

That said, I really do enjoy these forays into the Buffyverse because they aren't about Buffy and the crew. Much more can happen. And it helps that the Buffyverse has a very enticing mythology for me, a Slayer in every generation, since the dawn of man or so.

This collection of stories has fun taking the concept and running with it, some with several rather obvious historical choices, not that I can blame them. I like the first story best, about a Greek Slayer in the battle of Marathon. I think it's because it's not a story on putting a Slayer in a cool historical period (again, not that I can blame them!), even though Thessily the Vampire Slayer is in a very cool historical period, during a very cool historical event. I like that Thessily is an old Slayer, given their short lifespans, and I like seeing her whole life as a Slayer.

I also liked the 1880s Kentucky Slayer because of the era and the voice and the wonderful ordinariness of it.

Some of the other stories just don't work for me, particularly the one on Roanoke Colony, which feels like it's trying to hard to twist itself into the Slayer mythology. Others feel like they're trying too hard to be dark and therefore artistic. It is rather silly complaining that a book on Slayers is too morbid, though. But one of the reasons why I like Buffy so much is because it's about the ordinary within the extraordinary, about those little touches of humanity.

Pretty interesting, though mixed. Will probably be seeing if I can borrow more in the series. (Ooo, vol. 2 has a Heian Slayer written by Kara Dalkey! Ok, I'm in.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Ooooh. And I passed over this at Hastings today because, well, I was confused--I had heard about the graphic novel(s?) of the same name--and also because I'd dipped into some of the Buffy tie-in novels at the library and was skeptical about the writing quality. The Heian Slayer intrigues me greatly, though!

--Yoon, who is a user on Madcow, the one cluster they don't have back up yet ^_^

[oyceter]

It's a lot like the graphic novel, just.. in story form. The writing quality varies, like most collections. I tried Buffy tie-in novels and gritted my teeth through the first few chapters and then gave up. For some reason, it works better when it's other Slayers not Buffy that I haven't spent hours of TV watching.

Btw, do you have access to all the Buffy and Angel DVDs? If not, let me know and you can borrow mine.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm obviously on MadCow too, because I'm not up yet either. Dammit. This is all of a piece with my entire month. I was going to write a long entry to LJ about my most recent visit to the Cliffs of Insanity, but I can't, because I'm OF COURSE on the only cluster they haven't fixed. Right now I feel like I AM a mad cow.

Um, I really want to read about the Heian Slayer too. Wonder if she had to disguise herself as a boy to go a-slaying.

Rachel

[(Anonymous)]

Eek, yeah, I hear you. I swear I'll restock on padded envelopes so I can send out your mix CD within the coming week, too! I'm sorry about this.

Heian Slayer! Heian Slayer! That was the thing about the one Korean Slayer fanfic I found--from even my limited knowledge of Joseon mores and the Japanese occupation, I found it slightly incredible that her Slayer-hood was so accepted, although I should probably read it through (I quit partway through) and see if it takes the mudang (shaman--they're low-status, but always female) angle on the whole shebang.

Or maybe the Heian Slayer was Tomoe? ^_^

Anyway, oyceter, vonnielake is already loaning me Buffy and Angel, but thank you very much for the offer. :-) I suspect I will be acquiring myself at some point, goodness knows...

--Yoon the Mad Sporker

[(Anonymous)]

Don't worry, the lack of a mix CD was not even on my list of annoyances, though I'm sure it will cheer me up when I get it. Anyway, I haven't mailed your stuff either yet. I was going to mail everything today, but couldn't because LJ was down so I didn't know what I was mailing to whom.

Ha, was Tomoe Gozen Heian? I had thought she was earlier. Or maybe the Slayer could be completely out of the social system and live in a cave or something, only emerging to steal food and slay.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, good point. I had thought Tomoe Gozen was Heian, but she might well be earlier. I'd have to look her up--I've got a couple of those Stephen Turnbull books on samurai around here somewhere.

Yeah, this whole thing has made me determined to be much better about paper "backups" for any information I need that I'd normally pull off LJ. (Fortunately, I do that already for addresses/contact info...)

Sorry to use your LJ as a discussion-forum, oyceter! I am feeling very, hmm, discombobulated right now. Miss...socializing...! Must report on Buffy 5.6-5.7 and Angel 5.7-5.8! etc. I am such a junkie. ^_^

--Yoon the sporker

[oyceter]

No worries!

LOL, for some reason when you wrote "Tomoe" I thought of the character in Kenshin. But she's Meiji, so... silly me.

Btw, I found a really cool back up LJ thing...LJ Archive. It basically synchs with the server when you use it (and gets all the comments as well!), and then it saves everything and you can browse through all your entries in there.