Oh Lord, what next?

Post here about Alexander in film, TV, radio, other websites, YouTube etc.

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marcus
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Oh Lord, what next?

Post by marcus »

Just seen this come up via RogueClassicism. Difficult to understand what the heck it's all about, due to the very poor writing; but I think what they're saying is that Alexander is now appearing in a series of teen-market vampire books. :shock:

Oh dear! :(

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amyntoros
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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by amyntoros »

Just one book to date, as far as I can tell, and if you follow through with the links you will eventually find that the book is pulished only as an ebook via Amazon, using their Createspace tool. In other words, it's self-published. :D

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marcus
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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by marcus »

amyntoros wrote:Just one book to date, as far as I can tell, and if you follow through with the links you will eventually find that the book is pulished only as an ebook via Amazon, using their Createspace tool. In other words, it's self-published. :D

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I won't be reading it!
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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by bessusww »

Marcus

Can you really look at todays spiral of rubbish and be Suprised.

X factor...Lady Ga Ga..Cheryl Tweedy Cole...

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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by Alexias »

I think, Marcus, that there is a whole world out there awaiting your discovery!

This is by no means the first vampire story Alexander has appeared in. He has appeared in Japanese manga comics (anime cartoons too, I think), demon stories, AU stories (alternative universe where history is deliberately not adhered to), romance, erotica, pornography, modern times, gangster stories and so on. The online communities for Alexander stories are still going strong even 6 years after the release of Oliver Stone’s film, which I think pays tribute to the interest in his history as much as anything else. There are over 800 stories, many of novel length, on fanfiction.net alone, never mind the other communities and several self-published novels that I know of, together with mainstream published novels such as Jo Graham’s.

Admittedly, many of these online stories are dire and appallingly written, not least because the writers are young and/or English is not their first language, but I don’t think any of them should be decried for trying to breath life into Alexander. On the spectrum of Alexander interests, they are not much past Mary Renault’s blend of history and romance, but where would you place The Alexander Romance? Without this popular interest in Alexander, I suspect that half the historians who study him would find that their funding disappears. And aren’t historians fans of Alexander too?

I think Alexander would be delighted that people are still writing stories about him, however untrue, for surely that was what he wanted, immortality through myths?
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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by marcus »

Alexias wrote:I think, Marcus, that there is a whole world out there awaiting your discovery!

This is by no means the first vampire story Alexander has appeared in. He has appeared in Japanese manga comics (anime cartoons too, I think), demon stories, AU stories (alternative universe where history is deliberately not adhered to), romance, erotica, pornography, modern times, gangster stories and so on. The online communities for Alexander stories are still going strong even 6 years after the release of Oliver Stone’s film, which I think pays tribute to the interest in his history as much as anything else. There are over 800 stories, many of novel length, on fanfiction.net alone, never mind the other communities and several self-published novels that I know of, together with mainstream published novels such as Jo Graham’s.

Admittedly, many of these online stories are dire and appallingly written, not least because the writers are young and/or English is not their first language, but I don’t think any of them should be decried for trying to breath life into Alexander. On the spectrum of Alexander interests, they are not much past Mary Renault’s blend of history and romance, but where would you place The Alexander Romance? Without this popular interest in Alexander, I suspect that half the historians who study him would find that their funding disappears. And aren’t historians fans of Alexander too?

I think Alexander would be delighted that people are still writing stories about him, however untrue, for surely that was what he wanted, immortality through myths?
A very level-headed and reasonable argument, Alexias.

If only I could be so sanguine. I shall still hang my head, shaking it and moaning, in despair. :cry:

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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by Alexias »

No, not really sanguine, just a biased writer.
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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by Chiliarch »

Not to mention science fiction, where Alexander looms large. There are some very good novels by Arthur C. Clarke, Steven Baxter, Dan Simmons and Ben Bova.

And then there's poetry, operas and Restoration Plays. Modern plays and musicals. Heavy Metal.

Alexander lives and reigns and conquers the world, still 8)
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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by Chiliarch »

Sorry, not Dan Simmons. His books are about the Iliad (got things a bit mixed up there) :oops:
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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by amyntoros »

Chiliarch wrote:Not to mention science fiction, where Alexander looms large. There are some very good novels by Arthur C. Clarke, Steven Baxter, Dan Simmons and Ben Bova.
If I were to have any questions about Alexander fiction I would bow to your knowledge as I'm aware of your vast and remarkable collection of books on on Librarything. Very impressive. :D

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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by Chiliarch »

Why, thank you!

Your own collection at Librarything isn't bad either :D
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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by Semiramis »

Alexias wrote:He has appeared in Japanese manga comics (anime cartoons too, I think),
Hey, the Manga cartoon of Alexander is fun to watch. I recently went to a lecture where a Cambridge historian analyzed the cartoon as part of his study of Stone's Alexander movie. It was a conference about adaptations. He clearly got a lot more out of that cartoon than I did. :)
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Re: Oh Lord, what next?

Post by spitamenes »

The Japanese anime about Alexander is actually pretty interesting. It is called "REIGN". I got it as a gift a few years back. Its four discs long, But entertaining none the less.The writer and artist are both very well known and respected in they're fields. And its so far out there that its hard to bring yourself to complain when something isn't historically accurate. Its worth a watch in my opinion.
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