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The NY Public Library: Richard Castle Section: Tie-In Books & Fan Fiction!

Null 201

By Null 201
in Castle [V]

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S55

S55

I've read all in both the Nikki Heat and Derrick Storm series. I've enjoyed them; the Derrick Storm books are different, but still good IMO. Now I kinda want to re-"read" the Nikki Heat books but in audio format (I think you can pick up something new listening rather than reading). I also am trying to catch up on the graphic novels. 

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verdana

verdana

I've never Derrick Storm but I have checked out the Nikki Heat books. I found they've got progressively better with each outing, what I like about them is the personal relationship between Rook and Heat is fleshed out more than is allowed on the TV show. 

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S55

S55

The first two chapters of Raging Heat are available through iTunes/iBooks if anyone who has access wants to read. Pretty good start for the book so far IMO, including a Nathan-specific shoutout I don't think we've gotten before now. :) There's also a plot development in tune with show that I'm curious to see where it goes in the Heat/Rook universe. 

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madmaverick

madmaverick

Just read Ch.1 and it's quite an engaging read.  These books seem to be getting better though my memory of the last one is a bit hazy at this point.  

 

Heat & Rook exhibit FAR more heat and desire than Caskett so the book definitely wins over the show on that score.  Just in general, not even going into p.105 territory.  So sadly lacking on the show.

 

Quite a few nice shoutouts to Nathan and his history.

 

Should be an interesting relationship arc for Heat/Rook in this book.  Curious too to see how it goes and compares with how they handled this on the show.

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verdana

verdana

(edited)
I don't think Nikki and Rook have ever exchanged an "I love you".

 

Can't recall but that doesn't bother me in the slightest, not every couple have to say the words out loud for them to know it and for the audience to realise that - to me it's obvious by this stage they're in love with each other. 

 

I wish Castle and Beckett could display some of the same emotional substance and passion that I consistently see in the Nikki and Rook relationship.  

Edited by verdana
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S55

S55

I noticed on the credits page for Raging Heat that Alfred is credited with the cover design. I went back and looked at every other previous Nikki Heat novel, and he's not listed as the cover designer in any other books. Since the covers are so similar in design, I wonder if he's in fact designed them all (sans credit given in the actual book) and I missed this fact along the way or if this is his first one. And I also wonder why the cover design artists isn't credited (along with the editor) before RH. Just thinking aloud (I used to work in publishing editing these pages in books, so I tend to check them out in any book I read now, lol). 

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madmaverick

madmaverick

(edited)

Finished reading Raging Heat.  Castle's books are fast reads.  Read more for Rook/Heat than the case, to be honest.  And at this rate, I may end up enjoying Rook/Heat than Castle/Beckett.  There are certainly times when I wish they were more like them.  Heat. Sexual tension. Fun. Teasing. Romance. Actual conversations.

 

How do I know that it's not written by Marlowe (yes, I know he's said it isn't him)?

- Again, there's heat. Desire.  Sexual tension.  There is actually action in the bedroom and other areas. ;)

- Author pays more attention to continuity with the characters and details on the show and takes care to weave these into the book.

- The ending scene was much better than on the show.

 

Can the ghostwriter be a consultant for the show? ;)

 

Don't want to spoil people who haven't read the book, but in terms of the parallels to Castle/Beckett, I far preferred how it happened in the book at the end to how it was written on the show. 

 

Enjoyed that interview with 'Richard Castle' posted in the media thread.  Tonally, he just sounded like the Castle I want to see all the time on the show.

Edited by madmaverick
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S55

S55

I'm still reading it. I spoiled myself and read the ending though. Won't say anything here.

 

I really like this one so far. 

 

Ha, I read the ending first too. ;)  And I also really liked this one. 

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Lucynda

Lucynda

I read the acknowledgements - and without intending to - the ending. I was actually kind of mad at myself because I thought I'd ruined the book for me (or at least part of it) but so much stuff is happening from the beginning to the ending that it still got me on the edge of my seat.

 

Not all the way through yet, but like madmaverick, there were times for me where I wished Castle & Beckett were a little more like Rook & Heat.

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verdana

verdana

(edited)

I'm halfway through Raging Heat and it's amazing how much better Rook/Heat are written than Caskett. It's kind of comical.

Yeah I get that too, I haven't read the latest one yet, still waiting for it but I'm sure it will once again showcase their relationship in a much more realistic way than their TV counterparts. I really enjoy their dynamic, it's not always easy or perfect by any means but it feels real and most importantly like a proper grown up relationship which is something I don't always get from watching Caskett. 

Edited by verdana
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pepper

pepper

The books are the ultimate fanfic, no? But they're written in a tongue-in-cheek way that makes it believable that Castle used his writing to exorcise some of the demons in his relationship with Beckett. Like how he handles her control issues and tendency to hold things in and how what may have been his passive-aggressive response to her secrets would have affected her and undermined her confidence. 

 

Sorry I posted most of my book comments in the media thread by accident. :o

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McManda

McManda

In this last episode (7x04, for anyone reading this archived thread later?), Castle tells Mrs. Ruiz: "Even the wildest fantasies are based on a kernel of truth. As a master storyteller, I’m able to separate the make believe from the telltale details of thinly veiled fact."

 

I had to laugh, because the details that "he" puts into the Nikki Heat books are definitely based on a kernel of truth and thinly veiled fact.

 

I haven't read Raging Heat (long story, but none of the booksellers here seemed to have had it when I went looking, though Barnes and Noble had the latest Derek Storm book) and now I'm waiting because I don't know if I should buy it only or leave it on my Christmas list. But I enjoyed the others, even if the first was thrown together pseduo-fanfiction.

 

I read the first Derek Storm novella, but just that one. Are the other Derek Storm books as interesting as/quick reads as the Nikki Heat books?

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KaveDweller

KaveDweller

Like how he handles her control issues and tendency to hold things in and how what may have been his passive-aggressive response to her secrets would have affected her and undermined her confidence.

 

Okay, so like I said, I haven't read the books, but I am dying to know what this means.

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pepper

pepper

Okay, so like I said, I haven't read the books, but I am dying to know what this means.

In the latest book, Rook is hurt by Heat's decision to keep a job offer secret. He handles it by becoming distant and pursuing his own investigation where his theory of the crime differs from hers. She ends up doubting herself, handling her team badly and between that and Rook's obvious doubt, undermining just about all her important relationships. It's uncomfortable and it's realistic.

 

I've used spoiler tags just to be safe, even though I wasn't all that specific. But essentially, if you know the show, you know that Beckett's secrets were an issue for Castle and the matter of trust was something that had to be worked out in their relationship. But the way it's handled in the book is one where Beckett's/Heat's side of it is fully explored while Rook's motives are not clear, but his words indicate that he is hurt.

 

In a lot of ways it's subplot representing a message from Castle to Beckett that says, "You hurt me, but I get it and I know that I was no angel". At least that was my impression.

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KaveDweller

KaveDweller

That's one issue I do have with the idea of the books.  They are so similar to Castle/Beckett that it makes Castle seem like a less than great writer.  It seems like every character from the show has a book counterpart and important events from the series show up in the books.  I get they do that in the books to get more viewer interest, but it would be nice to see examples of Castle being more creative. 

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S55

S55

I read the first Derek Storm novella, but just that one. Are the other Derek Storm books as interesting as/quick reads as the Nikki Heat books?

 

I think so. They're different (not as much of a relationship-y focus as Rook & Heat), but I think they're decent reads for spy-ish/CIA type pulp novels. 

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pepper

pepper

That's one issue I do have with the idea of the books.  They are so similar to Castle/Beckett that it makes Castle seem like a less than great writer.  It seems like every character from the show has a book counterpart and important events from the series show up in the books.  I get they do that in the books to get more viewer interest, but it would be nice to see examples of Castle being more creative. 

I quite like that. It's done in a way that's deliberate, meta, but the crime plot is so much better than the show that in my mind I'm watching a really fun movie based on the TV series "Castle". Besides, the characters in the books are so well-established at this point, that changing anything major would be difficult for the writer to pull off and remain believable. All this brings me back to why he's got such an awful take on Jim Beckett. Especially since everyone else is a reasonably romanticized version of an already romanticized character.

 

Oh, and another plus for the books: no Alexis.

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KaveDweller

KaveDweller

Besides, the characters in the books are so well-established at this point, that changing anything major would be difficult for the writer to pull off and remain believable.

 

Oh, I wouldn't expect them to change anything now.  And I probably wouldn't hold it against the books themselves.  I just don't like what it says about Castle on the show, that his character writes books that are so tied to "real life."

 

Oh, and another plus for the books: no Alexis.

 

Now that's a selling point.

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madmaverick

madmaverick

Untimely interruptions are now so ingrained in my mind when it comes to Castle that I was half waiting for them to happen in that nicely passionate opening scene in the book, but of course they don't happen in the books! ;)  They may do the equivalent of a fade to black, but they get their business done!  And they don't play the love scenes for laughs either. Tonally quite different from the show.  All the action in the first few pages too, to get you hooked.  Whereas on Castle, they believe in giving us constant interruptions to get us hooked. ;)   If only we could get such an elevator scene on the show... the one going up to Castle's PI office had potential but we'll probably never see it again.  Even the precinct elevator had lots of potential for fun sexytimes when they were trying to keep the relationship a secret.  Another wasted opportunity.

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verdana

verdana

Their romantic interactions are certainly way hotter in the books.

I also enjoy the way they talk to each other like a couple in love should in a mature and they can have a row without having to make a big song and dance about it. On the show they're too terrified to have them argue properly.

Who actually writes them? I can't believe it's Marlowe. Unless he's got some split personality thing going on.

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McManda

McManda

Who actually writes them? I can't believe it's Marlowe. Unless he's got some split personality thing going on.

 

Rumors have been going around since the books started that they were written by Marlowe, with or without the help of Terri, or that Patterson, Connelly, or Canell had a hand in them, too. But commonly accepted (but not confirmed) is that the ghostwriter is Tom Straw - Nathan gave a hint in an interview with Kevin Pollock that he wasn't going to give it away, but that he'd been on the show and his name starts with a T. Tom Straw was the man Castle was talking with at the Nikki Heat launch party, before he sees Beckett's arrival and he's intercepted from talking with her by Paula.

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McManda

McManda

No, I know Cannell died in 2010. The theory was (which wasn't mine, just passing along what I saw online) he was involved before he died. Sort of the same with Patterson: he wasn't the one writing the books, but he was consulting, or at least giving ideas.

 

But it turns out none of that was ever founded in any sort of fact and it's most likely that the books are ghostwritten by Tom Straw. Heat Wave mentions that Castle's first book, In a Hail of Bullets "received the Nom DePlume Society’s prestigious Tom Straw Award for Mystery Literature." ... The Nom DePlume Society doesn't exist ... and there's no real Tom Straw Award. Put together with the fact Nathan mentioned the real writer's name started with a T and that he was on the show, and Tom Straw made a small cameo appearance, it's the most likely answer.

 

I'm still in love with the idea that they went to the trouble to create the books for real world purchase. It's a pretty genius piece of marketing really.

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femmefan1946

femmefan1946

I read Naked Heat-- well, I read part of Naked Heat. Put it down and never picked it up again.

When I found Frozen Heat at the Immortal Church Rummage Sale (apparently it has been running every Friday for over 10 years at Oak Bay United Church of Canada) I decided to try again, since I only had four other books on the go, two of them Terry Pratchett.

I'm more than halfway through and enjoying it almost as much as Lindsay Davies' Falco series. 

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tvchick

tvchick

I was killing time at Barnes & Noble last weekend and saw Heat Rising on the discount aisle.  My sister recently started binge watching Castle reruns on TNT and she was skeptical when I told her that there actually were Nikki Heat novels.  So, of course, I had to buy it for about $7 and found it to be very enjoyable read. Now it's hers.

 

A few comments:

 

Nikki and Rook do seem to communicate much better than Beckett/Castle do through most of the series.

 

There wasn't much description of the main characters' physical characteristics--does that happen in the earlier books?

 

A bit too much action for my tastes, but I still enjoyed it.

 

The acknowledgements confused me.  Name checking the characters, the actors who portrayed them, writers etc; behind the scenes, and so on--who is real and who isn't?

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pepper

pepper

The first book was awful so i don't remember details such as physical descriptions, sorry. But they have been getting progressively better despite the meta tendencies you've mentioned. My solution: pretend they look like Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic!

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madmaverick

madmaverick

I did love that slew of titles Castle threw out to Beckett way back in 102 to justify naming the title character Nikki Heat.  That conversation was so much fun.  I guess "In Heat" would be a bit too much heh.  Nathan and Stana reading out loud from page 105 of Heat Wave is still one of my favourite moments ever.  Too funny.

 

amensisterfriend, if you treat it as a version of fan fiction and not literature, you should enjoy the books.  They do get better as you go along.  I read it for the Heat/Rook relationship and as a comparison to the show rather than for the case at hand.

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DaynaPhile

DaynaPhile

I couldn't find an existing thread and it seemed too show related for the off topic thread. So...who reads fanfiction? Any good recommendations? I just finished season 3 and the first two eps of season 4 and I'm looking for one that deals with Beckett's recovery if she hadn't shut Castle out during those three months. I'm a member over at ff.net, but you can't sort by that type of requirement.

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tljgator

tljgator

I couldn't find an existing thread and it seemed too show related for the off topic thread. So...who reads fanfiction? Any good recommendations? I just finished season 3 and the first two eps of season 4 and I'm looking for one that deals with Beckett's recovery if she hadn't shut Castle out during those three months. I'm a member over at ff.net, but you can't sort by that type of requirement.

The best place to find lists of fic by different topics is probably this tumblr: http://castlefanfics.tumblr.com/(the "lists" and "tags" should take you in the right direction) ... hope that helps, DaynaPhile :)

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femmefan1946

femmefan1946

(edited)

I would heartily recommend pollylynn who posts on fanfiction.net and on Archive of Our Own.

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3454456/Polly-Lynn

Sometimes funny, often angsty, plus sexytimes. For the latter you'll need AOOO because someone reported her Mature stuff to the FanFic mods and a lot got taken down. I didn't think it was all that extreme, but I am old and have lived.

 

At this point , she has 94 Castle stories on FF.net which considering she is a full-time university student, is pretty impressive/obsessive.

Edited by femmefan1946
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verdana

verdana

(edited)

I haven't read any Castle fanfic in ages but the site recommended by tljgator is the best, the way she catagorises and updates everything is amazing, certainly a labor of love for her. If you are looking for something specific that's probably the best one to check out. 

 

There is also this site The Castle FanFic Archive that I used to check out with a lot of well known fanfic writers on here and on the page I've linked to you can find the A-Z summaries of the fiction they've stored on there.  Site seems not to have been updated in a few years but it might be worthwhile to check it out.

Edited by verdana
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Lamb18

Lamb18

I just read the latest Nikki Heat book and it is my favorite of the series. Derrick Storm is in it. But my favorite character is Derrick Storm's dad, Carl. I was thinking while I was reading what an awesome TV series that would be - Derrick and Carl Storm. But then I think the ending of the book could be the beginning of even a better TV series. But I won't spoil the ending.

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