Atlantis novels will be world-wide

Fandemonium’s upcoming line of Stargate Atlantis novels will be available throughout the English-speaking world when the first book arrives next month — including North America. “Rising,” the novelization of the spin-off series’ pilot movie, hits the shelves on December 15.

The book was penned by author Sally Malcolm, who previously wrote the SG-1 novels “A Matter of Honor” and “The Cost of Honor” (available now).

The company’s Stargate SG-1 novels are not available at bookstores in North America, due to licensing issues. Novel publisher ROC is still distributing its SG-1 titles in the U.S., though the company is not producing any new titles.

Unlike the SG-1 series, Fandemonium will limit the new line of novels to professional writers rather than opening submissions to fan authors.

“We are using writers with a lot of experience for Stargate Atlantis, writers who are used to writing for different TV shows and are adept at taking on new characters, and finding their voices,” Malcolm told Stargate SG-1: The Official Magazine. “That’s something new for us, but was necessary because of the time scales involved.”

“Rising” will be followed by two original Atlantis stories, written by sci-fi authors Martha Wells (“The Wizard Hunters,” “The Gate of Gods,” “Wheel of the Infinite”) and James Swallow (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Judge Dredd”). The preliminary titles for the books are “The Chosen” and “Reliquary.”

“We’re encouraging our writers to be as up to date as possible with Stargate Atlantis, given that it’s a new show and everything is developing,” Malcolm said. “Of course, the timescales mean that the books are written way before publication, so they will always be six months to a year behind the show. That can’t really be helped, but we’re encouraging our authors who are coming back at the end of next year to write more to focus on Season Two. But the first couple of books will be set in Season One.”

On the SG-1 front, the next novels to be released will be “Siren Song” and “Survival of the Fittest,” which will see the return of familiar faces from the team’s past.

“‘Siren Song’ sees the return of Aris Boch, who has need of Daniel Jackson’s skills and Jack’s Ancient gene in order to save his people from the Goa’uld,” Malcolm revealed to the magazine. “This was one of the novels we pulled from our open submission process, and is being co-written by Jamie Duncan and Holly Scott.

“‘Survival of the Fittest’ deals with Simmons (played in the series by John deLancie) and a plot to create an army of human Jaffa.”

Look for The Official Magazine‘s complete interview with Sally Malcolm in the November/December issue (#7), now on news stands! The new novels are expected to be released sometime in 2006.

Read more about the Stargate novels and find out how you can order them from Amazon.co.uk in GateWorld’s Books section!