While I'm waiting for permission to talk about some of the big stuff that's
going on, some general news....

As announced today in a press release from the SciFi Channel, the network has
picked up all 13 episodes of Crusade for broadcast this Summer. This will be
the first time the series has been broadcast since its brief, original run on
TNT.

I received an email the other day from Fiona Avery (B5 reference editor,
columnist for the B5 Magazine and script writer for both Crusade and Earth:
Final Conflict) announcing that the first issue of her new, original comic, NO
HONOR, will be debuting next Wednesday the 21st from Top Cow/Image. (I've seen
the scripts/artwork and it's killer.)

On the topic of comics...I will be writing a one-off B5 Graphic Novel for
Wildstorm that will debut later this year. I figure on writing it as soon as I
get out from under my current deadlines.

One aside...as you know, most viruses that go out these days tend to attach
themselves to Microsoft Outlook email address books. Apparently there's an
*awful* lot of you out there that have me in your email address books, even
though you may not have actually used it in that way. Hence, whenever one of
these viruses gets out, as one came out today, I invariably get a bunch of them
in my email box. Just as a favor to me...if you don't actually *need* my email
address in your address book, can you delete it to help me out when this kind
of stuff happens? It ain't like I'm hard to find....

And finally...yes, it's true, B5 will be coming out on DVD starting with The
Gathering and In the Beginning, to be released in July. The series will start
soon thereafter. I've been going over the artwork and related issues for WB
Home Video, and though at this time there's no supplementary material involved,
at least as far as I know, it should be pretty cool. (Don't know yet which
aspect ratio they'll be using, but my *guess* would be widescreen, now that WB
is correcting the earlier versions.)

All of that said...as noted well above, there's some substantial TV-related
news sitting out there waiting for me to talk about it as soon as I'm given the
go-ahead to do so. Suffice to say that one very large deal has now been set
and closed, another is in heavy negotiations (with money now on the table from
those involved), and a surprise third project is also coming up fast and
furious.

More on these when I'm allowed to talk about them. Probably sometime next
week.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2001 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)