Trials and Tribulations
J. Michael Straczynski talks good, evil and online publishing.
      by David Rosiak

A group of Minbari from Babylon 5.

"I've always had a knack for writing female characters, no idea why, so most of my concern was with getting the environment right." For J. Michael Straczynski, noted futurist and creator of the notorious science fiction television opus, Babylon 5, the environment of Tribulations, his newly published dark fantasy novel, proved a familiar one. Susan Randall, the novel's protagonist, is a crime reporter for the Los Angeles News-Tribune who grows increasingly dissatisfied with her job until a battle of wits with a vicious serial killer invests her with a new purpose, just as Straczynski himself was a reporter for various publications that included Time the Los Angeles Times, and the Los Angeles Examiner, who grew bored with journalism and later found a new purpose in the revitalization of televised sci-fi.

"A lot of the dynamics came from my own prior work in journalism, certain reporters who made me nuts, the competition with other reporters from other papers, that sort of thing," Straczynski explains. "I definitely wanted to give that stuff the proper sense of realism."

Anchored in topics ranging from the effects of interstellar war on the labor unions in Babylon 5 to the effects of invulnerability on someone unprepared for the sacrifices that come with it in Rising Stars, the best-selling miniseries from Top Cow Comics for which he pulls monthly scripting duties, that intense realism has been a dominant theme in all of Straczynski's work. And, as such, it ensures continued believability when the book's plot veers sharply into the realm of the supernatural. While the crux of the story lies in the fact that the killer may or may not in fact be demonically possessed, Straczynski takes hefty shots at such diverse subjects as the Los Angeles riots and the plight of America's homeless.

"I'd say it's about seventy-five percent contemporary scare stuff, and the other twenty-five percent is sort of an examination of the social issues behind this. One underlies the other. At the same time, I didn't want to get preachy about it because I have nothing moral to say so much as I simply have questions to ask about what the correct cultural position is for us to be in, and I'm asking the reader to think about these different issues."

Babylon 5's Captain Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner).

Although this marks Straczynski's first novel in over a decade, with most of his time in the interim devoted to television, comic books, and even radio dramas, he professes no preference for any certain medium.

"I can't say that I like one more than any other," he says. "You can work in television for a year and then say that you have a year's worth of writing experience, but you've really just spent a year writing the same thing. Working in all the mediums just strengthens you as a writer. Obviously, you're going to reach more people with television, but the book has been number one at Bookface.com for over seven weeks now, and that's pretty flattering, because you're never a hundred percent sure if you'll find an audience."

The audience, however, turned up in droves, and Straczynski initially received a tremendous response after the online publication of several short stories, as well as unproduced scripts for his short-lived series, Crusade.

"The first short story I published there, Cold Type, was put up with almost no publicity at all," he explains. "And people found it through word of mouth. The flood of people shut down the whole system. It was amazing."

Many of the fans he'd gained from the success of Babylon 5 were themselves amazed at Straczynski's ability to write evocative prose. But this is not surprising coming from a man who already published two novels to a great deal of acclaim, the first of which, entitled Demon Night, garnered the author a nomination for one of horror literature's most coveted prizes: the Bram Stoker Award.

"I'm still not sure how that happened," he quips. "Demon Night was my first novel, and I made just about every mistake you can make in your first book. But they gave me the nomination anyway."

More amazing still is that fact that the novel was published in installments on Bookface.com absolutely free of charge, a milestone in the world of online publishing. Hard copies are available through Darktales.com and are printed on demand.

Why the generosity?

"I've had a lot of connections with the internet over the years," Straczynski answers, "and the internet community has been very supportive, and I thought about it some more and said, you know, you owe a little bit back to the community that helped you all these years. So... why not say, you know what, the book is free for all to read, and really do an end run around the New York publishing establishment. I've always been inclined to roll the dice and take a chance on new technology. So it's both investing in a technology and my gift to fans who've supported me over the years."

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