SF Media Tie-Ins: A Brief History, Page 1
This
is not a collectors' guide. Nor is it an exhaustive and complete history of
science fiction books based on movies and TV series. As for what it is, well,
it's a short, illustrated overview of a decades-long publishing phenomenon.
Consider it a quick look at the broader context that Star Trek books are
part of, as filtered through one fan's book collection.
As a longtime fan of real science fiction (from Cordwainer Smith to Bruce Sterling, Philip K. Dick to Iain M. Banks), I find it tempting sometimes to think of media tie-in novels as a small and insignificant part of the genre. But then I remember that I've been reading media SF as long as I've been reading any other kind. And people have been writing and publishing media SF almost as long as any other kind of SF. Some fans tend to think of media SF mainly as a new development spurred by the success of Star Trek and Star Wars, but (despite the shelf space they take up in bookstores) they're hardly the whole picture. For that matter, neither Star Trek nor Star Wars is exactly new. The first Trek book was published in 1967. The first Star Wars book, the novelization of the first movie, was published in 1976, months before the movie was actually released.
But you can go much farther back than that. Consider Fritz Lang's classic science fiction film, Metropolis, released in 1927. The story of a city of the future divided between the rich, who live in luxury in the city's towers, and the poor, who live and work in wretched conditions, Metropolis was a visually stunning work that has influenced many artists and directors. Lang worked on the story with his wife, Thea Von Harbou, whose novel was published shortly before the film's release. The cover image used here is from a 1970s reissue of an English translation from Ace Books, with art by Vincent Di Fate. A 1986 edition from Donning was heavily illustrated by Michael W. Kaluta. The movie has been edited and cut several times over the decades, and the book retains some scenes that have been lost from most or all remaining prints of Metropolis.
This essay copyright Steve Roby, 2001, 2009. Book covers copyrighted by the respective property owners.