I recently got Dusted: The Unauthorized Guide To BtVS. I really like it a lot. It's informative, and enjoyable to read. I was also pleasantly surprised at how much I agree with their reviews and criticisms. There are only a few eps where I totally disagree with their review. I mean, they love "Amends!" Soulmates! But they hate "I Was Made To Love You." Boo!

For many eps, the "Glitches" section is the largest. This is where they discuss plot holes, stupid plot tricks, and other plotty issues. Often, they even helpfully provide fanwanks. There are plot holes that I never even noticed, including in many of the best eps. Well, I've always said the the show can't really stand close scrutiny of the plot.

There is only one major error in the book, that I noticed. The writers have the common and erroneous belief that appearing in the main credits means the cast member is supposed to appear in that episode. A little research would have taught them that this isn't true. There are a few other places where the writing is a bit shallow, I think. But overall, it's well written, and a valuable addition to my Buffy non-fic collection.

Tanker: Glad you really like the book. I think BJC had posted it here and I thought it sounded pretty interesting. A few questions for you:
About how long were the episode descriptions?- A decent sized paragraph hitting on the important plot points or just a few lines of summary. Some of the books I've read tend to write sparse episode descriptions and I really like some meat to the episode descriptions, even thought I know what they're about. Also, in the book description, it said it contains "behind the scenes details". Do they do a good job with that? Did you buy it at book store or at that Buffy Merchanise store?(Power Star)

The episode descriptions are very sparse. Under 200 words. There's more detail in the various notes sections (I was wrong above; the character notes is usually the longest section).

Much of the behind the scenes stuff (in the "Did you know?" section) is taken from DVD commentaries and interviews, plus IMDB data on guest stars. My favorite, from the CWDP entry: "Writer Drew Goddard claims the Buffy scribes don't go out of their way to write in endless Star Wars references... Goddard claims that if ever he needed the characters to say something geeky, he'd stick his head out of his office and listen to whatever Doug Petrie and Drew Greenberg were arguing about, then write it down."

I bought it at my local comic book store.

I mentioned over in the Buffy Merchandise thread that I got 'The Lost Slayer' four-books-in-one for Christmas. I don't normally read Buffy novels, but I started this on the way to work yesterday morning, and then stayed up until 11:30pm to finish it. I really enjoyed it as the character development seemed to be a believeable depiction of what might happen if Buffy was mysteriously 'removed' from Sunnydale for 5+years.

I'll put this part in spoilers for anyone who hadn't read the book but I did wonder why Willow didn't try to resoul Giles. Surely this would be a good way of stopping him if they knew they were unable to kill him?

Good point Katkins! I hadn't thought of that. Its been a while since I've read The Lost Slayer, it is definately one of the best Buffy books out there. I shall re-read it after I finish struggling with Cursed.

I'm not double posting I swear. Its two days later!

What Would Buffy Do? : The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide

Interesting.

Ooh, that looks like it could be very interesting, BJC. I can imagine that S1-4 may show examples of friendship, redemption etc., whilst the latter ones would probably just show examples of how to make situations into being all about yourself. Hmm.

I take it you don't recommend Cursed?!

Katkins, I'm about one third of the way through Cursed and at the moment, no, I wouldn't recommend it. The story line is very very confusing, too many extra and new demons with funny names and so far its just not making any sense.

I'll report back if it gets better.

I've been looking at my copy of Dusted :the unauthorized guide to BtVS. I have mixed feelings about it, on one hand it's lists the episodes in order with original air date, cast list, director, synopsis, character notes, any cross overs, best line, glitches, and a fairly interesting "Did you know?", on the other hand it's riddled with errors and the look of the book itself is unattractive. My advice is to either inter-library loan it or read it at the book store but save the $$s for something better. Most idiotic part of it is the cover art which has Buffy appearing to be challenged by what looks like Darth Vader, Elvira and someone resembling Billy Dee Williams.

Cursed got better about half way through, it finally started to make sense.

Its very strange to have a "Buffy" book that only has Spike and the Angel investigations team.

Thanks for the info on Dusted, petzipellepingo. I'll spend my money on the other several Buffy books I still want.

I don't tend to read the Buffy books but I picked up Cursed before Christmas to have something to read on the plane home. After reading the beginning and noticing the very sympathetic viewpoint it had to both Spike and Angel, I did something I never do with books - I started skipping on ahead b/c I was very curious how they would handle Spike and Angel meeting up. So when I read the book straight through, I actually had a pretty good idea what was going on with the plot and characters already, so I didn't find it particularly confusing. Don't know what it would have been like to read it straight through the first time. I agree that the fight sequences went on too long - when it's in words, I really don't need to know every punch and kick being thrown.

So far, from the few books I've read or scanned, I tend to think there's much better fanfiction out there than pretty much any of the commercial books I've looked at, though.

BTW I'm curious if Fighting the Forces is worth picking up. I've got the BtVS & Philosophy book, as well as the other older essay book on BtVS whose name is momentarily slipping my mind right now, but not Fighting the Forces.

The cover art for the new hardcover Nancy Holder book Heat is out and can be seen here.

Oooo, looks interesting.

Cursed turned out to be a good book, but I still think the first 1/3rd of the book is way to confusing.

Are you going to buy it BJC, or do I even have to ask?

If it comes out in paperback, yes. I don't like buying hard cover books.

Does anyone know what Heat is supposed to be about? I tried looking a summary up on Amazon but couldn't find one. Nancy Holder is not one of my favorite Buffy authors but the cover looks interesting.

I got Seven Seasons for Christmas, and for the most part was underwhelmed by the essays. Then I read “The Power of Becoming” by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and then I watched season 6 from start to finish. Wow. This essay did the unthinkable for me – it made me not only understand and appreciate Willow’s S6 arc, but love it.

Has anyone else read this and if so what did you think?

I actually loved every essay in Seven Seasons, but agree that "The Power of Becoming" was one of the best. The whole idea of BtVS as great literature has always resonated with me. (don't you just love when outside "experts" validate your own opinions about this phenomenal show?!)
I love her concept of BtVS being an "intimate adventure"---"where the real adventure demanding courage is on the field of relationships, not action." And I thought what the author stated about Willow's S6 story arc relating to power, her personal insecurities and her own usefulness/role within the group was far more illuminating than the whole "crack magic" theme ME seemed to embrace. As she says, "Willow is not addicted to magic. Willow is addicted to the surging hope that this deed or the next or the next will finally assuage her inner pain."
So, yes, I loved this essay...I wish the S6 scriptwriters had been required to read it before taking such a potentially fascinating development in Willow's character and IMO turning it into melodramatic drivel!

marlaas, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that loved that essay! However, unlike you, I think that the writer gives enough examples from the text, along with her interpretations, to show that this was what ME was embracing, and that the "crack magic" theme was just a smokescreen and another example of Willow avoiding dealing with her real problems.

My thoughts are still a little confused, but I will later try to explain them in the Willow topic. =)

I've actually considered buying Seven Season of Buffy at my local Borders, and seeing it being brought up here makes me think it might be worth it. I usually try to avoid the fiction because I find it sub-par quality wise, but the essay books might be better. Is Seven Seasons a worthy purchase?

cobalt, I'm sure opinions vary, but Seven Seasons was the best BtVS book I've read. Though some essays were much better than others, IMO the vast majority of them were insightful, well-constructed and clearly authored by men and women who themselves are huge fans of the show---their enthusiasm was palpable! It's a lot less dense than, say, the philosophy book ("Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale...") but definitely made me think about story arcs, themes and characterizations in a way that I hadn't before. So, yes, IMO head over to your local Borders!

Lvon, ITA that ME might have intended to make Willow's story arc more about power, personal insecurity etc., but for me the actual execution failed and instead made it into a really heavy-handed drug metaphor. I'll look forward to reading more of your thoughts in the Willow thread! By the way, which other essays in Seven Seasons did you like?

Cobalt Stargazer - Seven Seasons is a terrific book and worth every penny. There are essays on a whole range of topics so there is bound to be something you will enjoy. The writing is bright and often funny and it's very clear that the participants genuinely watch and enjoy the show.

I'll chime in with the Seven Seasons love, and mostly because of what petzipellepingo mentioned, i.e. the fact that all the participants seemed to be genuinely big fans of the show. Especially in the essays where I didn't agree with the author's premise, they often made me re-think my position. I also laughed out loud quite a lot. Very entertaining read.

I too loved 'Seven Seasons of Buffy'. Well worth buying, IMO.

Has anyone read this -Fighting the Forces: What's at stake in 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'?

The Amazon synopsis looks quite interesting:

Katkins - I've got the book in front of me. It's a pretty good read but IMO not as much fun as Seven Seasons. The essays are on a wide variety of topics but are more scholarly in tone and even have footnotes. If you were planning on purchasing only one book this year, I'd still say go for Seven Seasons.

Thanks petzi. I was particularly interested in reading about the fan-fiction & online discussion groups. Have you been to the online journal?

I'd agree with pezti. I'm reading Seven seasons now and it much more enjoyable and Fighting the Forces . Not that FtF was bad, just that Seven Seasons is better- its funnier, and I like that the essays are viewing the series as a complete finished product.
But I found both, plus the one about Philosphy (the title is escaping me) through my local library, two they had there, one they ordered for me. So you might want to give that a try, that way you don't have to choose.

Katkins - The section on on-line groups only talks about the Bronze Beta. The chapter on fan fiction is interesting but to be honest, it's very dry and academic. There a discussion on slash and the connection between sex and blood but it doesn't make fiction recommendation or anything like that. Does this help?

Thanks petzi, that helps a lot. Sounds like it's one to borrow from the library then!

Yay! I finally got a copy of Seven Seasons. I went to this excellent Sci-Fi store in Sydney where they had the best collection of Buffy books I've ever seen. I had to restrain myself to one purchase.

I recently picked up the first two issues of Tales of the Vampires and I'm liking it a lot so far. Reminds me a lot of the old school horror comics I like so much.

Particularly like the story about the teenage girl vampire at the end of issue #1. Creepy.

*Edit: I also finally, finally picked up Buffy #63, which I thought was a nice way to end everything. Although I got a little squicked out by the scene where Xander calls willow while he's, ahem, in his underwear and thumbing through a Playboy.

I've asked this before, but does anyone know anything about another volume of the Watcher's Guide? I'd like at least another for Buffy, even if I can't get another Angel Casefiles too.

woemcats, I'm pretty certain they will do a third Watchers Guide, but I can't find any official information on a release.

Yeah, I've been hoping to hear something about the third Watcher's Guide but I haven't seen anything either. I saw it listed on some Buffy related site that I can't recall and I got really excited about it - but I remember there was no link to it.

BJC- How are you liking Seven Seasons so far?

valny, I haven't had the chance to start it yet. I'd like to spend a morning/afternoon reading it, but its SO HOT here at the moment, my brain has melted and isn't capable of much more than watching TV.

I heartily reccomend Tales of the Vampires #3 to everyone here. The first story is a bit blah, but I really liked the second one with Dracula a lot.

It's written by Drew Goddard, and I like this Drac a lot more than the "blah blah blah darkness stupid Marti dialog" Drac in BvD. This one is a lot more comedic and mildly pathetic.

Plus,
We see Buffy leading some former Potentials, and find out that Xander has been Dracula's spider-eating man bitch (literally?) for a year. And Manservant Xander gets funnier dialog than Xander has gotten since, like, s4. Plus, I feel bad for Dracula at the end..

*Edit: And I just noticed something when I was re-reading Buffy #63 today. When they're done unpacking their stuff in the new Sunnydale house, they're complaining about how tired they are. Joyce is laying down on the couch and says "I could die right here!"

Didn't catch that before.

Of the recent books about the Buffy and Angel series. I thought Seven Seasons Of Buffy was very entertaining, especially the idea of Buffy as a testosterone-sucking "vampire"!
I can recommend "Reading the Vampire Slayer" edited by Roz Kaveney, recently updated to cover the latest Buffy and Angel seasons. The chapter on the Spike/Buffy relationship is especially interesting. "Fighting the Forces" had a great chapter on fan fiction, I thought, especially Angel/Spike slash - a subject dear to my heart!

Bought "The Quotable Slayer" last night--absolutely love it. Now I think I have to buy some of the novels from what I've read on this board.:)

So, are they still making Buffy/Angel fiction novels? It does seem like the Angel-specific ones, at least, are dead and gone, but crossovers and Buffy-specific ones might still live. Just curious if more are forthcoming, 'cause the Buffyverse is about to dry up on TV and I kind of want to know where to go from here now that my comics are dead as well.

The comics aren't completely dead. Tales of the Vampires has been pretty good (two more issues to go, for a total of 5). And they're supposedly working with Joss to figure out what to do next with the Buffy title. They've mentioned the possibility of a second Fray series. I'd like to see them do a 4-issue Buffy miniseries every year or so. The lack of a monthly deadline can be a help to the quality. The trick is to get them all done before you ship the first issue (something demonstrated the hard way by Fray).

Here's the first look at the new Watcher's Guide Nice looking cover.

Bishop2: I posted a new book I found in the Merchandise thread on Feb 20 if you want to check it out. It looks like it has to do with the DarkWillow storyline. I'm definitely getting it. It'll be out in July.

I've got a copy of Apocalypse Memories by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz in front of me. It's Season Seven with an AU apocalypse story of the world ending because of an angel. No, not the broody one this time its the Archangel Michael who looks beautiful to the good and horrible to the wicked (read Anya and Spike). Willow is still having magic issues, Dawn and Xander do pretty much nothing and Buffy is amazingly much kinder to crazy Spike than what we saw on the show. Like all of these, it's poorly written and the plot doesn't exactly gallop along but if you need the fix of a new story go for it.

A new Season Six paperback coming out in May titled Wicked Willow #1 : the Darkening by Yvonne Navarro. It's $6.99.

We were talking a little about the new Willow books in the Merchandising Thread but I didn't know exactly what they were about. Thanks for that little description on the first book petzipellepingo . The resurrecting Tara part, the destroying friends and mentor part....all of it sounds great. Can't wait!

I finally finished "Seven Seasons of Buffy". Damn, that was a good book.

I nearly died laughing at the essay Is That Your Final Answer...?, I thought the essay The Search for Spike's Balls was spot on, and loved how in the essay The Meaning of Buffy the cookie dough speech was "re-written", removing all cookie dough references. Heh.

Glad you like the book BJC. I know I asked you if you'd gotten around to reading back in February and you hadn't. How long did it take you to read? I've read parts of it when I was at the book store. I'd would have bought it but I didn't care for all of the topics/chapters. But what I did chose to read was pretty interesting, especially the Willow stuff.

Here's the info on a new Buffy book coming out in May.What would Buffy do? : The vampire slayer as spiritual guide by Jana Riess is described as It's $14.95.

Thanks for that new book info petzipellepingo. I like that they keep coming out with new books even though the show has been over almost a year. Did you notice in the description, the part that said, "The book includes an exclusive interview with actress Eliza Dushku". Mmmm. I wonder what she has to say.
Here's a picture of the book. I'd go with a different picture of SMG but whatever.

Has anyone gotten this first book in the Wicked Willow series yet? At Amazon it said the release date was May 1. I definitely want to pick it up.