[Buchreihe] David Weber - Honor Harrington

[ThorKonnat]

WIe kurz solls denn werden ?

[Eagleeye]

WIe kurz solls denn werden ?

Laut Amazon soll das Buch etwas kürzer sein als Mission of Honor und 448 Seiten haben.

[Eagleeye]

Es gibt Neues zum Honorverse-Filmprojekt zu berichten:

Okay, according to my "Hollywood representative," we've officially closed the deal on the movie option for the Honorverse. I should be seeing the contracts in the next few days, and there are a couple of other legal documents that need to be traded back and forth, but We Have a Deal.

There was quite a bit of discussion on the forum a while back about what goes into a successful movie adaptation of a literary work, and whether or not a literary work can be "successfully" adapted at all. The Lord of the Rings was used as an example, and everyone involved (including me) trotted out the aspects of the Peter Jackson adaptation that didn't work for us. And now, if all goes well, it's going to be Honor's turn, beginning with On Basilisk Station.

I'm not going to lie to you — I feel a certain degree of trepidation. I think that's inevitable, given how many years I've put into creating the books and the characters in them. It's a given, inescapable, that there are going to be changes to the books to bring them to the movie screen and that some of those changes are going to tick off some of Honor's most devoted readers. It can't be any other way, if only because of the size of the books and the sprawling nature of the Honorverse.

At the same time, though, I'm very excited about the discussions we've had so far on this project. There are several things, I think, working in our favor.

(1) The studio involved is headed by people who have actually read the books, who like the characters, who know the characters, and who have pulled up blocks of actual dialogue from the books in face-to-face discussions with me to illustrate their understanding of Honor's character and the reason they're excited about the project.

(2) Although the studio is a cutting edge CGI/3-D studio, what they said to me more than once when we were discussing the option is that "All the special effects in the world cannot make a successful movie. Special effects may make a satisfying visual spectacle, but a successful movie requires storyline, and a successful series of movies requires characters. It's the characters and the fully developed background of the Honorverse which have drawn us to this project."

(3) The producer and the studio are the same entity, which is going to preclude or at least hugely reduce the kinds of pissing contests producers and studios can get into.

(4) They have not simply hired me on as a creative consultant, but we've already been in fairly intensive coast-to-coast videoconferences about the characters and the story line, and they are clearly listening to me.

(5) They are thinking in terms not of a single feature film but of a series of films, based not on generated-for-the-movie plots but on the actual storyline of the series. As a result, they have a very strong interest in treating the characters and the storyline with respect.

(6) One of the things they are especially excited about is the opportunity to bring actual fleet combat to the screen. Not a couple of starships dogfighting at visual range, but actual walls of battle engaging one another. Obviously, since they're starting with Basilisk Station, there is going to be the classic single ship duel between Fearless and Sirus, but that's not all they have in mind. I'm not going to tell you what else they have in mind at this point, but I will say that while I experienced a moment of reservations when they told me the first additional thing they were thinking about, I've since come to the enthusiastic conclusion that it's A Good Idea™, especially from a cinematic perspective, and enthusiastically aided and abetted them in making it work.

There are other points working in favor of a good outcome, as well. At the same time, clearly this is a very, very early stage in the process, and I'm learning quite a bit already about the nuts and bolts and the decisions that have to be made when you start adapting a novel to film. It is unfortunately true that there have to be cost-benefit trade-offs when you start looking at which characters to keep, which ones might possibly be merged with other characters, what parts of the original plot can be preserved, etc. You only get about 120 pages of script to work with, and that requires some fairly ruthless pragmatism when you start deciding what goes on those pages. When it works properly, what you get in the end is a movie which is faithful to the original but not identical to it. That's what we're looking at accomplishing at this point.

There are, obviously, certain characters who simply cannot be written out or written around or combined with someone else. In some cases, you actually find yourself having to give a secondary character more screen time because you want an especially good actor or actress to portray that character, and unless they have enough screen time you're not (a) going to be able to attract an actor or actress of the caliber you want or (b) going to be able, within the constraints of your budget, to pay an actor or actress of that caliber. I'm sort of thinking, for example, that Harkness could fall in that category, and possibly Klaus Hauptman. Certainly we need someone really good for MacGuiness, and we need to be thinking about Hamish Alexander for the future. So there's going to have to be some strategic horsetrading where dialogue and screen time are concerned.

The critical thing to me is that these people are interested in the Honorverse and in the characters who live in it, and they clearly don't see it as the opportunity to make one movie and then get out. That's what they told me when we originally began discussions with them; that's what I observed when Sharon and I flew out to LA to meet them face-to-face; that's what the option agreement is set up to produce; and that's consistent with all of the discussion we've had so far about characterization, technology, the back story of the characters and the universe, etc. I'm sure that everyone who options his literary works to Hollywood starts out filled with confidence, and we all know the process doesn't always end well, despite that. I genuinely don't think that's going to happen in this case, however. I think these people are going to treat Honor and the Honorverse with respect, and they clearly really, really know the characters and the books.

I'll probably be providing occasional, periodic updates on the project as we go along. Obviously, this is just the beginning of what will probably be about a five-year process to actually getting the picture released, assuming that everything goes well. Assuming we're living in the real world, it will probably take just a teeny bit longer than that. [G]

At any rate, the process has started, so far it looks good, and I'm really excited about the prospects.

Stay tuned.

Quelle: Davids eigenes Forum

[ThorKonnat]

Ich hab beim Surfen ein paar neue Bilder zum Honorverse gefunden die ich dann auch mal posten möchte.
Das erste Bild zeigt wohl eine Flottille der Flotte, das zweite ist ein Bild vom Battle of Manticore, das dritte zeigt Honor und Hamish, das letzte stellt eine Sultan der Volksflotte dar. Das 4te gefällt mir irgendwie am besten.

Hephaistus
Graser

[Dalek]

Ich hab beim Surfen ein paar neue Bilder zum Honorverse gefunden die ich dann auch mal posten möchte.
Das erste Bild zeigt wohl eine Flottille der Flotte, das zweite ist ein Bild vom Battle of Manticore, das dritte zeigt Honor und Hamish, das letzte stellt eine Sultan der Volksflotte dar. Das 4te gefällt mir irgendwie am besten.

Bilder 2-4 sind die Cover der französischen Ausgaben. Mehr vom selben Künstler gibt es auf seiner Deviantart-Seite:
Honor Harrington covers by Genkkis on deviantART

mfg
Dalek

[ThorKonnat]

Die 2 Links stammen aber vom Spiel

[Eagleeye]

Das E-ARC von "A rising Thunder" ist via Webscription erhältlich!

Edit: Link korrigiert

[Nighthawk_]

Tja das wars dann wohl mit den Plänen fürs Wochenende.
Dein Link is fehlerhaft übrigens

[Synti]

*sabbersabber* ich glaub heut muss der chef auf mich verzichten


btw eagleeye, der selbe wie im davidweber.net forum?

[Eagleeye]

*sabbersabber* ich glaub heut muss der chef auf mich verzichten


btw eagleeye, der selbe wie im davidweber.net forum?

Jep, bin ich

[Nighthawk_]

Hats jemand schon gelesen?

Mein kurzes Fazit ohne Spoiler:
Wahrscheinlich nur präsentabel in Verbindung mit Shadow of Freedom. Es war eine bescheidene Idee ART in zwei Bücher aufzuspalten. Man hat hier jetzt schon im Originial das selbe Problem wie bei den deutschen Übersetzungen: Bis die Handlung mal in die Gänge gekommen ist ist das Buch vorbei und das Ende kommt abrupt und unpassend.
Erschwerend kommt hinzu, das DW mal wieder einen Schritt zurückgeht und die Handlung mitten in Mission of Honor startstartet Das vor allem weil die Handlungsstärnge von ToF und SftS - halbherzig - fortgeführt werden. Meines Erachtens hätte fast die ganze erste Hälfte von ART in MoH gehört. ART hätte ohne Probleme dort beginnen können wo MoH aufhört. Die Szene findet sich sogar eins zu eins in ART.
Erschwerend kommt hinzu, das DW noch eine gefühltes Dutzend neuer Charaktere in die Story einbaut. Das ist nur teilweise notwendig und einfach zu viel, weil er eh schon so viele Handlungsstränge und Charaktere hat als das er sie alle venrünftig unterbringne könnte. Die Story die er erzählt ist zu groß geworden, er springt von einem Aspekt, von einem Charakter zum anderen ohne sich richtig auf etwas konzentrieren zu können.
Es bleibt aber zu hoffen das das jetzt besser wird, nachdem er zumindest einiges unter einen Hut gebracht hat.
Die Story and und für sich wird logisch fortgeführt. Wer bei DW.net oder bei Baen in den Foren am Ball geblieben ist erlebt nicht viel Überraschendes. Das Allermeiste war so erwartet worden, man hat noch eher Probleme gesehen wo nach DW offensichtlich keine waren - oder für die schlicht Zeit und Seiten fehlten. Nichts Kontroveres oder Unlgoisches also, was auch schon eine Leistung für sich ist.
Was bleibt? DW sollte endlich mal wieder anfangen Romane zu schreiben anstatt nur seine Story durchzuerzählen.

[Stratomunchkin]

Mein Kurzfazit: Hätte als Buch besser funktioniert, wenn man sich die ganzen Cachat/Zilwicki-Kapitel gespart hätte. Ansonsten bin ich recht zufrieden. Kein großer Wurf, aber es geht voran.

[Synti]

Ja mei, was soll man jetzt sagen, durch bin ich mit der geschichte hier im thread möcht ich auch nicht zuviel spoilern, eventuell treffen wir uns in einem anderen?

Was bleibt zu sagen, wir haben einen zeitsprung zurück und kommen erst relativ spät an den punkt der zumindest für mich das ganze wieder interessanter gemacht hat. es geht wieder mit der selben leiher wie meistens am anfang eines krieges los. wir haben die überlegen handelsmarine, wir bluten den feind ökonomisch aus, wir haben die bessere technik, zum glück gibts hier wieder neue verbündete (ach ich drifte zu weit nach safehold ab, is halt irgendwie das selbe).. aber ja, ich fühle mich grad wie bei der Safehold Reihe nur im Weltraum.

Nichts desto trotz, Honor geht weiter, mit ihren höhen und tiefen, und man bleibt halt dran, irgendwie hat es eben noch immer seinen reiz

[Eagleeye]

A Rising Thunder liegt jetzt zumindest als ebook in der endgültigen Fassung vor; die Papierausgabe kommt am 06. März.

[Eagleeye]

Neues von David. In dem im nächsten Jahr erscheinenden Companionband wird sich u.a. ein etwa 70.000 Wörter umfassender Kurzroman befinden, dessen Hauptfigur der Vater von Elizabeth III., König Roger III., sein wird. Es geht u.a. darum, welche Rolle Roger beim Ausbau der RMN zu einer erstrangigen Navy spielte.

Dies sind die ersten etwa 1700 Wörter der Geschichte, wie sie sich jetzt präsentiert; doch es ist gut möglich, daß sich am Text hinsichtlich des endgültigen Inhalts noch das eine oder andere ändern kann.

(This is the text of a letter from Lt. Roger Winton to the Proceedings of the Royal Manticoran Navy Institute in 1844 which may give a little insight into the thinking of the future King Roger III.

It's the first 1,700 words or so of a novella which will be appearing in the Honorverse Companion, House of Steel, sometime in 2013.

------------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant R. Winton -- Commander Janofsky ("Commerce Protection and Societal Disintegration," Proceedings, No. 3673) is to be commended for the clarity with which he makes his points. The continuing slide into even more pronounced and widespread civil disorder, privateering, terrorism, and outright piracy in the territory of the Silesian Confederacy must give any navy pause. Commander Janofsky rightly points out the increasing cost, not simply in financial terms but also in terms of manpower and platform availability, inherent in maintaining existing levels of security for Manticoran merchant traffic in and through the Confederacy. Indeed, his arguments assume even more cogency when one considers the still greater costs associated with any expansion of our secured trading zones, patrol regions, and roving piracy suppression missions.

Where Commander Janofsky's analysis may break down, however, is in its intense focus on commerce protection as the Navy's primary mission. I would suggest that it would be appropriate for Her Majesty's Navy to consider the potential requirements of additional missions. Not to put too fine a point upon it, we in the Navy have narrowed our professional focus to a potentially dangerous degree, concentrating upon the mission in hand rather than stretching our imaginations to consider other challenges and threats.

The function of the Royal Manticoran Navy, as currently defined (see "Naval Security and the Star Kingdom's Fundamental Interests," Office of the First Space Lord, 01-15-249 AL) is to "(1) defend and secure the Manticore Binary system, its planets, its population, and its industrial base; (2) defend and secure the central terminus of the Manticoran Wormhole Junction and the industrial and economic base associated with it; (3) defend, protect, and expand Manticoran commerce and the Manticoran merchant marine; and (4) in conjunction with (3) enforce the Cherwell Convention for the suppression of the interstellar genetic slave trade." It should be noted that, in fact, this formulation establishes that commerce protection comes only third in the hierarchy of the Navy's missions. In addition, it is, I think, significant that in Commander Janofsky's article the first two of these four objectives are taken as givens. That is, Commander Janofsky's emphasis is on how to provide for the third and (by extension) fourth of them, which appears to assume that the first three are already adequately provided.

That assumption may be in error.

At this time, Her Majesty's Navy's wall of battle consists of eleven Thorsten-class battleships (the youngest 250 years old) and eleven Ad Astra-class dreadnoughts (the youngest of which is a century old and three of which are presently mothballed while awaiting long overdue repair and refit). The Thorstens, while fine ships in their day, are barely half the size of younger, more modern battleships, with far lighter armaments and much weaker defenses than their more recent counterparts, and as the Ad Astras' delayed and badly needed refits indicate, even they are far from the equal of more modern units. We are currently in the process of building the first three Royal Winton-class dreadnoughts, which will be superior vessels for their tonnage when completed, and a single superdreadnought: Samothrace. This ship will also be a modern, first rate unit upon completion, but it is worth noting that the build number for the Samothraces was originally to have been a mere three ships . . . and -- in the event -- was actually reduced to only the name ship of the class with an "intent" to request additional units in later Naval Estimates.

While it is true that the Royal Wintons and the Samothrace will provide a significant boost in the defensive capacity of the Fleet against threats to the home system and, in conjunction with the Junction fortresses, to the security of the Manticoran Wormhole Junction, they can scarcely be classed as a true wall of battle when procured in such minute numbers. Moreover, it would appear that even less thought has been given to the development of proper doctrine for their employment than to developing a procurement policy which would maximize platform numbers and capability. Nor would it appear that any thought has been devoted at this time to their potential usefulness for power projection. One cannot avoid the conclusion that the mere existence of this relative handful of new and powerful ships is regarded as adequately providing for "the Star Kingdom's fundamental territorial security" and the protection of its subjects. The question is whether or not that faith is merited.

At this time, the Navy has clearly adopted the traditional tactical, operational, and strategic paradigm which has been developed over the past several centuries by the Solarian League Navy. It is scarcely surprising that the largest, most powerful, and most successful naval force in galactic history should be seen as an appropriate model from which lessons and best-practices approaches might be drawn. It might, however, behoove the Star Kingdom of Manticore to bear in mind that, as the paucity of our wall of battle demonstrates, we are not the Solarian League. Despite the unquestionable prosperity and generally very high standard of living which the Star Kingdom has attained due to the many favorable factors stemming from its possession of the Junction, the Star Kingdom remains a single-system polity. As such, it must lack the population base, the sheer economic and industrial breadth, and -- above all -- astrographic depth of the Solarian League. The unpalatable truth is that we have only a single star system to lose in any confrontation with any potential adversary.

The Star Kingdom overlooks that vulnerability at its peril. While three hundred T-years have passed since Axelrod of Old Terra financed the attempt to seize the Manticore Binary System before the Junction had been plotted, surveyed, and mapped, it is a lesson we would do well to remember. The very source of our wealth and industrial and economic power must make the Star Kingdom an attractive target to any aggressive adversary who believes he possesses sufficient combat power to take it. If that conclusion is granted, then the Navy's primary mission -- "to preserve the Star Kingdom's fundamental territorial security" -- requires the creation and maintenance of a genuine battle fleet capable of deterring any such ambition. Moreover, that battle fleet cannot, as is the case for the Solarian League Navy, depend upon sheer, irresistible numbers and the strategic depth available to the League. It must be demonstrably and visibly capable of defeating any attack not simply short of the Manticore Binary System's hyper limit, but short of the Junction itself. And that leads inevitably to a requirement on the part of that battle force of the capacity to project power against -- to take the war to -- that hypothetical aggressor.

In light of that requirement, I would submit that Commander Janofsky's eloquent appeal for additional light units, the doubling of our cruiser force, the establishment of formal naval stations and forward enclaves within Silesian territory, and additional tactical, training, and financial support for the Confederacy Navy, while fully logical from the traditional commerce-protection perspective should be reconsidered. The Royal Manticoran Navy's record in commerce protection is second to none. It is a mission we fully understand, one which we have the training, the doctrine, and -- for the most part -- the means to carry out. Indeed, what we do, we do very well.

What we have not done, and what we must do, is to acquire the capability to discharge the rest of our mission and our obligation. We must recognize that we cannot, as a single star nation of extraordinary wealth, afford to ignore the temptation we must present to less prosperous but militarily powerful star nations. As the ancient pre-space philosopher Machiavelli pointed out, gold will not always get you good soldiers, but good soldiers can always get you gold. The Star Kingdom, and the Junction, are that gold, and it will require good soldiers -- or, in our case, a qualitatively superior navy -- to protect it. We cannot continue to embrace a vague, poorly articulated strategic and tactical doctrine based on an uncritical acceptance of the Solarian model as the best and highest available to us. We must accept instead that we will not be able to match the numbers of platforms an adversary may bring against us, and we must capitalize upon the most precious tactical resource we have: the tradition of independent judgment and responsibility taking we have inculcated into our officer corps ever since the days of Edward Saganami and Ellen D'Orville. We must value that initiative properly, cultivate it, and integrate it into our operational and tactical doctrine at every level. And we must provide that initiative with the tools it requires -- the innovative approach to weaponry and war-fighting technologies -- to make it fully effective.

Initiative thrives upon exploitable asymmetrical relationships, upon the ability to oppose qualitative superiority to quantitative predominance. It is not sufficient for us to accept that the gradual, stable evolution of war-fighting technologies which has typified naval doctrine and capabilities for the past several centuries is inevitable. It is time that we began significantly investing in an aggressive search for new capabilities, innovative applications, to provide an officer corps trained to think for itself with levers it can use to offset its almost inevitable numerical inferiority when confronted by a powerful aggressor. Our wall of battle's ship strength must be increased, but it will never be possible for the Star Kingdom to produce, man, and maintain naval forces on the scale of a star nation such as the Solarian League or even the People's Republic of Haven. Since we cannot have the most numerous navy in space, we must instead strive to have the most efficient one.

Commander Janofsky's call to bolster our forward deployed presence in Silesia is clear, logical, and concise. Despite that, however, one cannot avoid the conclusion that from the perspective of our primary mission, it is time and past time for the Navy to look to its wall of battle and the acquisition of the true war-fighting capability absolutely essential for any single-star system nation to adequately defend itself against a much larger multi-star system nation.

(ED: Lieutenant Winton is currently assigned to HMS Wolverine, serving as her executive officer.)
-- From "On the Event Horizon: Letters from the Deck Plates," Proceedings of the Royal Manticoran Navy Institute, Issue number 3675, 12/10/249 AL