If you have any interest in the Alien expanded universe, the odds are you’ve either read and share the overwhelming enthusiasm for Alex White and their novel Alien: The Cold Forge, or it’s been recommended to you! And it’s very well deserved. Fans have been clamoring for Alex’s return and Titan has kindly obliged!
Just announced via Bloody Disgusting, Alex White is returning to the Alien universe with Alien: Into Charybdis!
“Shy” Hunt and the tech team from McAllen Integrations thought they’d have an easy job—set up environmental systems for the brand new Hasanova Data Solutions colony, built on the abandoned ruins of a complex known as “Charybdis”. There are just two problems: the colony belongs to the Iranian state, so diplomacy is strained at best, and the colony is located above a series of hidden caves that contain deadly secrets. When a bizarre ship lands on a nearby island, one of the workers is attacked by a taloned creature, and trust evaporates between the Iranians and Americans. The McAllen Integrations crew are imprisoned, accused as spies, but manage to send out a distress signal… to the Colonial Marines.
For those curious, Charybdis was a sea monster in Greek mythology that was later thought to be inspired by a whirlpool in the Strait of Messina. Alien: Into Charybdis is currently slated for release on the 25th of February 2021. It’s not available to pre-order through Amazon yet, but it is being listed for pre-order on Forbidden Planet in the UK!
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https://www.avpgalaxy.net/literature/reviews/alien-into-charybdis/
Especially because I felt that The Cold Forge's as close as it gets to Alien³ with a cast of mostly unlikable people rooted around one decent person to hold onto trapped in a prison.
I felt Into Charybdis did Alien in it's first half with following the tightly knit crew, that then actually turns into Aliens halfway through, and I actually felt the end of it set up:
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I personally hope we will see
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Even if I worry it might undo the poetic ending of the last entry.
And we got a hint of it near the ending of the last entry but can you please tackle The Pathogen full on in the following one? You appear to really "get it"
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I think your books ought to be treated with the utmost respect and I hope the higher ups also see the value in them, in that respect do you worry at all at the possibility of people working on the films or other parts of Alien will contradict your stuff, or do you ultimately think of them as existing just unto themselves?
Please can you get on the phone with Noah Hawley and be on his writing team?
And finally can we get a hardback release of The Cold Forge with an illustrated cover?
I know he said no in another interview, but ask him again if Titan Books is planning for him to write any more novels.
Was it his intention from the start to go full Aliens with this, after the more Alien style of his first book?
Where did the eggs come from? The Blackstar, a Queen we never see or eggmorphing?
And lastly - can you write every Alien book from now on pls.
(The last one is a joke. Sort of.)
Bingo. Dorian starts as a believable manipulative monster but is twirling his moustache like a low rent Megatron after a few chapters. Blue is a unique combination of traits and situations, elements of which can be challenging, but is ultimately dull as dishwater to read imo.
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I think my feelings on everything Alien prequel inspired are well known, including the black goo concept, but I am actually looking forward to White's future content in the universe despite so many tie ins to prequel concepts and hope fox doesn't nuke the continuity whenever they start playing with Alien movies.
I did feel the first book was way overrated. It isn't terrible, but it isn't great either. My main gripe was also that there are two primary characters, and both of them are pretty uninteresting.
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Got some audiobooks, and started with The Cold Forge since it gets such rave reviews.
Honestly, I'm not feeling it. I suspect already knowing most of the science/worldbuilding before going in has diminished it somewhat, but it's more than that. So far it feels like there's only two "real" characters (you know which two I mean) while everyone else are just props or shadows. Possibly appropriate given that both "real" characters are psychopathic to greater or lesser extents, but it's not much fun to sit through.
"Patrick Bateman in space" is a fun idea for the franchise in theory, but frankly I'm already over Dorian and his gimmick, and I'm really struggling with Blue on several levels. If this were a physical book and not an audio file, I think I'd have given up on it by now.
Aw man, bury the lead why don't ya? What's the verdict on Infiltrator? On a scale of Isolation (novel) to Cold Forge, where are we at?
A bit north of Prototype or a bit south?
Isn't Titan a British company? Really weird that they keep pushing the release back like that. Also, Infiltrator is releasing April 20th so hopefully that doesn't push back its release as well.
That's so bizarre, is the audiobook unavailable to you guys as well? Are they trying to do a 4-26 cross promotion thing to make a big splash since the merger? CBS/Paramount was leaning hard into their ST First Contact day this year. I'm sure that May the 4th will be replete with High Republic stuff. In honor of the new dystopia, welcome to the era corporate holidays all around!
I'm not sad to have paid retail for this book. It was a one sitting read for me (medically retired army veteran with limited mobility), and it kept me entertained, though not enthralled.
The last issue of Volume 1, the one Dark Horse did (#17), is worth trying to get. There's an interesting piece about the development of Alien 3 in it, including all the directors and scripts that were attached. But like I said, I only ever saw the one copy for sale and I had to get all of Volume 1 to get it. Otherwise the earlier Trident issues are a bit pointless if you already have the comics, there's nothing else in them.
I never had any trouble getting the final issue of the run (#22). I know publication figures were well down by then though. Guess I just got lucky and there happened to be one available when I got into buying them. Anyway, happy hunting. If you wanna know what's in it, have a look here.
Every time the subject of this magazine comes up I get sad that it petered out like it did
I've got volume 2, issue 22 :-)
I don't have any issues from volume 1. All of mine are from volume 2: issues 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 and 22.
Ironically a bunch of the Volume 2 issues I bought shipped from the US.
I have still never been able to find issue 22 though
My white whale lol
Geez! I'm feeling even luckier now! Mine still has the cellophane belt too! Lol
Not only did I manage to get a copy of the issue with Countdown included, it still has the original cellophane belt that attaches it to the magazine.
f**king love Aliens mag.
No shit! I've read it three times and even on the third time I was twigging connections I hadn't made previously.
Had to buy the mini on ebay
I got lucky and nabbed a copy a few years back. Took me 10 years of searching to finally get a copy though. Totally worth it.
I love Countdown! Smooth as Silk... Didn't Mike Richardson the founder of Dark Horse himself write that one? Den Beauvais has some gorgeous panels in that one my favorite is the "...obstacles." reveal panel.
I have this ambition to do an audio drama adaptation someday and I put together a little timeline with the 5 or so comic series that make up the whole Earth War saga just to properly lay out the narrative. The countdown story is dead center in it. I put it chronologically into the early panels of Nightmare Asylum where
Hicks,Wilks, Hicks is agonizing over the random transmissions out of Earth.I'm reeeeally hoping Marvel republishes that story in a decent format in one of their upcoming collections, Den's art is really gorgeous in black & white.
You should checkout "countdown" not to be confused with 45 seconds. Countdown is another short B&W story. Incredible art imo. Ties in to the original 2 comic series too if I'm not mistaken.
You mean because of the way M types? I agree with that, but why do you think M would target Shy specifically? Or do you think they were just trying to ward off the Gardenia from the colony in general and Shy's address just happened to be the one that M spoofed?
Maybe M hacked into Rezza's e-mail and found the correspondence he had with Shy before they left Earth.
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The book is Crazy dense. I've been kinda looping the audio while doing chores and exercising and what not, it's taken quite a bit to lay it all out. Plus Alex is really good at dropping super revelatory tidbits and then immediately having a distraction pop up so both the character and us get caught up in the ensuing action and forget the subtle little thing that was just discovered or mentioned. It's good narrative sleight of hand.
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Totally agreed. "45 Seconds" is great too, but with regards to b&w stories, me and the partner recently got hooked on Westworld so "Tourist Season" also plays a special place in our hearts. I appreciated that Clara put a WW homage into the RPG map, Delos has a bit of a legacy insofar as fictional star maps go.
Helps create more atmosphere/mood
Need to dedicate some time to re-reading both TCF and IC.
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Right? Who needs color, it's the best.
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Praise be to Tulitu the great and mighty! Lord of the Great Void! Master of the Star-Ocean!
The Esoteric Brotherhood of Tulitu compels you...
Oh thank you, that's very sweet. I'm just an obsessive nerd, but what good people around these parts aren't?
Not too extensive, I'm still not sure who's the puppet master yet, but I think it's
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Once they received the anticipated call, the Benning arrived two days later to commence the operation under the guise of a hostage rescue situation, but with the intention to clear out and occupy the colony and the research facility in the ruins beneath for the UA in joint operation with corporate sponsorship from WY.
There were a ton of eggs found in cryostasis aboard the Blackstar beside where Kamran was found after Blue dragged him over from the old Weyland lab. Their origins are uncertain, and I have to review some more myself, but I think it's implied that Father and Blue were flying around in the three years since the theft of the Blackstar attacking secret facilities Zula and Davis style, working from information found in Seegson/WY databanks. Blue was pillaging bio samples and specimens anywhere she could find them, altruistically to remove them from the playing field but also selfishly to further her own research. She and Father were lead to HCC by mysterious Thien who provided them with the Ginza file and its information about the massive Engineer site beneath the current colony. So potentially she could have laid some of the eggs herself, but she and Father had also been hunting them and stockpiling them along with the drones they picked up along the way.
Plagiarus Preapotens (or the powerful mimic) to use AVP Extinction terminology either goes Transbreed or Purebreed, the former giving you either a Drone/Runner/Warrior/Defender, the other giving you a Praetorian or Queen.
The Pathogen itself's more open to manipulation provided you can obstruct it performing it's function.
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The face hugger jizz is David's version of the goo, but it's been twisted and only creates aliens. Blue tried to change it but what she used on herself was the most she could manipulate it without access to the original pre-david black goo... I believe.
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Thought it had mutagenic properties because it was finalized black goo.