So You Win A Billion Dollars
James Nicoll
Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
Which authors do you target and what books do you
commission?
--
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/
http://www.marryanamerican.ca
Peter Meilinger
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
I would immediately switch to Republican. Those goddamned
Democrats ain't taking my money!
Actually, I should probably flee the US altogether. I
shudder to think of how much of my hard unearned money
even the Republican government would take.
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
>various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
>easily outbid publishing houses if they like.
To be fair, there probably aren't many folks that a bored
billionaire can't easily outbid.
>Say you devote
>a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
>read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
>expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>commission?
Huh. Okay. David Gerrold. The rest of the Chtorr series. I'm
not entirely sure I want to read it anymore, but I know there
are people who do, and I'm a benevolent billionaire.
Last I knew, Sterling Lanier was still alive. Another Hiero
book would be wonderful. Or more Brigadier Ffellowes stories.
Or anything else he'd be willing to write, probably.
Would a book full of nude pictures of Salma Hayek be off
topic for this discussion? Personally, I think Salma nudity
should be on topic in any possible discussion.
How about movies? How much would it cost to get John Carpenter
to make a really good sequel to "Big Trouble In Little China?"
It'd probably necessitate building a time machine, but if we
could go back to the 80's the movie would cost a lot less to
make, so we might break even. Depends on how much a time
machine costs, I suppose. And come to think of it, once I've
got the time machine, I'd like to think I'm smart enough to
make it pay for itself. Was that a Mack Reynolds short story?
Interest accruing since the Renaissance, or something?
Anyway. Speaking of movies, what's Earl Mac Rauch up to
these days? I'd pay quite a bit for a new "Buckaroo Banzai"
book or movie.
And hey, now that I've got the time machine, I'd go back
and drag Jim Henson to a hospital, then get him to working
on a good update of The Muppet Show, or at least on putting
the entire old show out on DVD, dammit.
And there's another good use of my money, actually -
funding just a couple of big movies or TV shows could
take way too much cash, but putting up the funds to
get some old shows or movies out on DVD should be much
cheaper.
Good lord, the possibilities are endless! Whoever said
money can't buy happiness obviously never had a billion
dollars to play with.
Pete
Dreamer
"James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
news:cn34m1$1gm$1...@panix2.panix.com...
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
Okay, you asked for it...
First I bribe John Norman to finish the Chronicles of Counter-Earth so I can
find out what happens.
Then I bribe Mercedes Lackey to write some more Diana Tregarde books because
my wife loves them so much.
And now I bet you're sorry you asked.
D
--
-><-
Non curo. Si metrum non habet, non est poema.
Anthony Nance
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
>various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
>easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
>a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
>read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
>expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>commission?
Wow - great question. Allowing myself only three authors to keep
from writing all day on this, here goes:
Barry Hughart, for more Master Li and Number Ten Ox books.
Glen Cook, for more books in the _The Dragon Never Sleeps_ universe,
and perhaps in the Starfishers universe as well.
And just as an experiment, although $50K surely wouldn't even get me
a return email/phone call:
Stephen King, to write a focused, legitimately in-genre space opera,
(e.g. no horror aspects).
Tony
James Angove
@panix2.panix.com:
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
Walter Jon Williams. I hardly care what he does, I just want more stuff.
Robert Frezza. I have no idea what happened to him, but his first two
books about the 1/35th we're excellent, and a had the potential to take the
milsf sub-genre someplace interesting, which would have been a nice change
of pace. I want more of that.
Glen Cook, who could make the world a better place by producing more space
opera.
I want a sigularity free book from Ken Mcleod, set within the solar system.
I'd probably do the same thing to Charlie Stross.
I'd be interested to see what LM Bujold would do if she had to come up with
a completely new SFnal setting.
More will surely come to me soon.
--
James Angove
Dorothy J Heydt
Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu> wrote:
>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
>I would immediately switch to Republican. Those goddamned
>Democrats ain't taking my money!
>
>Actually, I should probably flee the US altogether. I
>shudder to think of how much of my hard unearned money
>even the Republican government would take.
I dunno. How much would you have to give to recognized charities
and other tax-exempt organizations to prevent you from having to
give the Feds anything? That's how much I would give. I'd even
give a whole bunch to my church; let W cavil at that.
Then I'd pay my bills. Then I'd put whatever was left into the
kind of stuff W has *his* money in, the kind that provides
tax-free income.
I don't know all the details hinted at above, but I know a guy wo
flies a fairly high-level desk in the IRS. I'd ask him. He'd
tell me.
>> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>>commission?
Um, I'd pay Barry Hughart a bundle to do more Master Li and Number
Ten Ox.
Trouble is, most of the people I want more books from are dead.
http://www.bluejo.demon.co.uk/poetry/interstichia/heaven.htm
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
Michael S. Schiffer
news:I732y...@kithrup.com:
> In article <cn36at$kk9$1...@news3.bu.edu>,
> Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu> wrote:
>>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>>> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>>I would immediately switch to Republican. Those goddamned
>>Democrats ain't taking my money!
>>Actually, I should probably flee the US altogether. I
>>shudder to think of how much of my hard unearned money
>>even the Republican government would take.
> I dunno. How much would you have to give to recognized charities
> and other tax-exempt organizations to prevent you from having to
> give the Feds anything?
There's no such amount, AFAIK. (IANACPA) First of all, charitable
contributions are only deductable-- they reduce the amount of income
you have to pay tax on only to the extent that you gave the money
away. So the simple answer would be "all of it", at least down to
the point that you had no taxable income. But even that doesn't
work, since there's a limit on deductible contributions (depending
on what sort of organization you give to) that maxes out at 50% of
your income, and I think the alternative minimum tax kicks in to
make even that problematic. I'm sure there are various ways of
manipulating the income stream to reduce your tax liability
somewhat, and you can certainly afford to put some high-powered
accountants to work on the problem. But absent some sort of
outright scam like donating to an organization that includes paying
all your expenses as its mission, charitable donations aren't going
to help all that much.
Mike
--
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS
msch...@condor.depaul.edu
James Angove
@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu:
>
> Glen Cook, for more books in the _The Dragon Never Sleeps_ universe,
> and perhaps in the Starfishers universe as well.
>
Hey! Thats two for more Glen Cook in Space! We should start a secret
club.
--
Dorothy J Heydt
>and drag Jim Henson to a hospital, then get him to working
>on a good update of The Muppet Show, or at least on putting
>the entire old show out on DVD, dammit.
A lot of the old show *is* out on DVD. I don't know if all of
it, but lots of it.
Mike Schilling
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
If Gordon Dickson were stil alive, this would be easy: pay him to knock off
the Dragon stuff and finish the Childe series.
I suspect GRRM really is writing as fast as he can, so there's no real point
in bribing him to finish _A Song of Ice and Fire_.
It's worth taking a flyer on asking Silverberg to go back to his late
60s/early 70s style of SF.
And it would be great fun to offer Ellison $50 million for TLDV completed
within six months, but not a penny for a day later.
Dreamer
"Mike Schilling" <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:0L9ld.8179$zx1....@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
> And it would be great fun to offer Ellison $50 million for TLDV completed
> within six months, but not a penny for a day later.
You are a cruel, cruel man.
D
Glenn Dowdy
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
By the same token, how about raising the ante ten-fold and paying ten
authors $500,000 each to never set pen to paper or words to screen again?
Glenn D.
Dorothy J Heydt
James Angove <ja...@ospf.net> wrote:
>Walter Jon Williams. I hardly care what he does, I just want more stuff.
I'd gladly read more Drake Maijstral, but I can't stand his other
stuff. Unfortunately, I believe he's stated that th Maijstral
stories are an order of magnitude harder to write than the other
stuff.
Justin Fang
Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>In article <Xns959F985456B...@130.133.1.4>,
>James Angove <ja...@ospf.net> wrote:
>>Walter Jon Williams. I hardly care what he does, I just want more stuff.
>I'd gladly read more Drake Maijstral, but I can't stand his other
>stuff. Unfortunately, I believe he's stated that th Maijstral
>stories are an order of magnitude harder to write than the other
>stuff.
Well, that's why you'd pay him an order of magnitude more money for one.
--
Justin Fang (jus...@panix.com)
Mike Schilling
"Glenn Dowdy" <glenn.n...@hpspam.com> wrote in message
news:heald.2868$p94....@news.cpqcorp.net...
Better yet, pay them $500K in return for all royalties on their work present
and future. By seeing who contnues to publish, you can distinguish the ones
that are just in it for the money from the ones that truly are, God help
them (and us), writers. I'd put Pournelle in the first group and Norman in
the second, but it would be fun to find out for sure.
Mark Atwood
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
Me, I would commission the movie and teevee series of
Kaze: Ghost Warrior, and then commission the resulting studio
to make miniserieses of some of my favorite text SF.
At the cost per second that the Kaze short took, 50K goes a long long way.
--
Mark Atwood | When you do things right, people won't be sure
ma...@atwood.name | you've done anything at all.
http://www.pobox.com/~mra | http://www.livejournal.com/users/fallenpegasus
Michael S. Schiffer
> other stuff. Unfortunately, I believe he's stated that th
> Maijstral stories are an order of magnitude harder to write than
> the other stuff.
Last December, he posted that "The problem with the Maijstral
books wasn't that they were hard to write (they weren't), but
that, as indicated above, nobody bought them." (And he indicated
that he could easily be convinced to write some more for somewhere
between $40,000 and $500,000-- different posts-- so presumably he and
our hypothetical billionaire could come to an arrangement.)
David Bilek
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
>various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
>easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
>a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
>read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
>expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>commission?
What the hell? You've been using your mind reading device on me
again? This is *exactly* one of my plans for when I get lots of
money.
Stay out of my head dammit. I'll get you for this.
-David
wth...@godzilla.acpub.duke.edu
> In article <cn36at$kk9$1...@news3.bu.edu>,
> Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu> wrote:
> >James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
> >> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
> >
>
> >> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> >>commission?
>
> Um, I'd pay Barry Hughart a bundle to do more Master Li and Number
> Ten Ox.
>
> Trouble is, most of the people I want more books from are dead.
I'm having that same problem. But in the case of Edgar
Pangborn, as I discovered yesterday, there are several
finished but unpublished works. I'd be happy to pay the
estate for a couple of those. Maybe all, but some are
very early works.
I might pay John Varley just to make sure he stops
writing imitation Heinlein juveniles and returns to
the eight worlds. But I suspect he'll do that anyway.
Do you think 50k will be enough to get the fourth
Anthony Villers novel?
Can I pay Harlan Ellison for all the stories of TLDV, the
authors or their estates whatever is appropriate, and
publish the dammed thing? Just to keep things tidy.
I'd be happy to pay Clarke, Pohl, and Farmer to write
many novels, but I don't think they can (or possibly
want) to write the novels I'd hope to see from them.
For that matter I hope that at this stage in their
lives $50k isn't something they'd regard as a large sum.
I'd pay Micheal Shea 50k for another novel (it doesn't have
to be Nifft, nice though that would be), Jack Vance 50k for
anything (but he's writing as fast as he can, anyway).
William Hyde
EOS Department
Duke University
Nancy Lebovitz
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
>various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
>easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
>a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
>read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
>expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>commission?
The third Metropolitan book by Walter Jon Williams.
This is more of a publishing project, but when Greer Gilman finishs
the third _Moonwise_ novella, I'd commission an omnibus edition with
the novel, the novellas, related poetry, a recommended reading list,
the interview from _Foundation_ with Swanwick, the _Trampoline_ interview
(http://www.lcrw.net/trampoline/author/gilman.htm), and maybe
articles by other people and illustrations. In other words,
something rather in the spirit of the NESFA _Silverlock_.
Other than that, I feel as though I'm drowning in things to read.
Maybe I'll use some of that billion to pay people to take a year
or two off from writing.
--
--
Nancy Lebovitz http://www.nancybuttons.com
"We've tamed the lightning and taught sand to give error messages."
http://livejournal.com/users/nancylebov
David Bilek
That said, here are the people I've got on my list for the first year:
Daniel Keys Moran: I still think he's probably got interpersonal
problems of some sort which prevent him from being published, and it
isn't just the money, but I'd defintely toss some $$$ his way if it
would get the two unpublished but completed Continuing Time novels
into my hands. One is a Trent novel! A TRENT novel! I want it now,
goddamit.
Glen Cook: I'll pay him to stop writing that Crappy Metal Noun series
and go back to writing something good.
Barry Hughart: I really don't get what people like. I clearly have
no soul, because I can't stand him. But since I'm being
philanthropic, I'll buy his stuff anyway. Then I'll burn it
unpublished! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Just kidding, I'll actually publish it. But I'll charge $75 a copy.
Walter Jon Williams: I want the third book after Metropolitan and
City on Fire. And anything else, but that one comes first.
Gerrold: I'll pay him $75,000 for the next Chtorr book if delivered
to me within 3 months.
Raphael Carter: I assume it isn't money keeping Carter from writing,
but I bet if I waved enough money under his (yes, I know, bite me)
nose he'd cough up a novel.
That's what I'd start with.
Oh... I'd pay Terry Brooks to stop writing.
-David
Default User
> Walter Jon Williams. I hardly care what he does, I just want more
> stuff.
Since you don't care, could you make the first one a third book in the
Metropolitan series? Thanks.
Brian
James Nicoll
Steve Simmons
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
This is a harder question than I thought. Part of the reason is
that a high percentage of the authors I truely love *are* making
a good living writing what, as far as I can tell, is what they
would choose to write. They obviously don't need my help . . .
That means that Gene Wolfe doesn't appear on my list. Nor Ian Banks,
Joe Haldeman, John Crowley, Neil Gaiman. And a few others.
Another hard issue is "Who'd come through?" Vernor Vinge, George
Martin and Donald Kingsbury all simply need more than a year for a
new novel. That eliminates them. Not to mention the names of others
who are eliminated because they're simply unreliable.
And some are eliminated because they're dead. Gordy Dickson for the
Final Encyclopaedia, R. A. Lafferty for anything he wanted. Yeah, Gordy
was a full-time writer - but he couldn't afford the time to write FE.
So that said:
I'd commission the following authors to write books. If nothing
else is listed but author names, it's the authors choice. But for
some, I have suggestions. And #20 is a special dessert choice. :-)
In no particular order, the first twelve are:
Michael Bishop
Octavia Butler
John Varley
John M. Ford
Mark Helprin
Michael Swanwick
Glen Cook (next in the Dread Empire series)
Steve Brust (anything *except* Drageara)
William Sanders (bonus points for a Finn book)
Damon Knight
Kate Wilhelm
one to be named later
Next comes my only series special, taking seven slots:
Barry Hughart (the next seven Master Li & #10 Ox books)
(er, I *think* there were supposed to be 10)
And #20: $5,000 each for a short story apiece from
Joe Haldeman John Ford Gene Wolfe
John Varley Michael Bishop George R. R. Martin
Nancy Kress Neal Gaiman Orson Scott Card
and $5,000 to Damon Knight for editing them
--
I have the same reaction to those who survive a disaster, and say "God
must have been watching over me." Ok - but what does that say about
the people who didn't survive? Does God have bandwidth issues?
-- Chris Clayton, private email <4194CEB8...@di.org>
James Nicoll
Steve Simmons <s...@lokkur.dexter.mi.us> wrote:
>
>And #20: $5,000 each for a short story apiece from
>
> Joe Haldeman John Ford Gene Wolfe
> John Varley Michael Bishop George R. R. Martin
> Nancy Kress Neal Gaiman Orson Scott Card
> and $5,000 to Damon Knight for editing them
I think you need a different editor. I am pretty sure Knight is
dead.
Mike Schilling
<wth...@godzilla.acpub.duke.edu> wrote in message
news:yv7zzn1m...@godzilla.acpub.duke.edu...
> lives $50k isn't something they'd regard as a large sum.
>
> I'd pay Micheal Shea 50k for another novel (it doesn't have
> to be Nifft, nice though that would be), Jack Vance 50k for
> anything (but he's writing as fast as he can, anyway).
Lurulu (the sequel to _Ports of Call_) is on its way; if I'm lucky, I'll get
to proofread it..
David Bilek
>In article <slrncpaf8...@lokkur.dexter.mi.us>,
>Steve Simmons <s...@lokkur.dexter.mi.us> wrote:
>>
>>And #20: $5,000 each for a short story apiece from
>>
>> Joe Haldeman John Ford Gene Wolfe
>> John Varley Michael Bishop George R. R. Martin
>> Nancy Kress Neal Gaiman Orson Scott Card
>> and $5,000 to Damon Knight for editing them
>
> I think you need a different editor. I am pretty sure Knight is
>dead.
Wouldn't take very long to get them edited, then, would it?
-David
Tim McDaniel
David Bilek <dtb...@comcast.net> wrote:
>Barry Hughart: I really don't get what people like. I clearly have
>no soul, because I can't stand him. But since I'm being
>philanthropic, I'll buy his stuff anyway. Then I'll burn it
>unpublished! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
>
>Just kidding, I'll actually publish it. But I'll charge $75 a copy.
SUBSCRIBE
--
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tm...@panix.com
Peter Meilinger
>>And hey, now that I've got the time machine, I'd go back
>>and drag Jim Henson to a hospital, then get him to working
>>on a good update of The Muppet Show, or at least on putting
>>the entire old show out on DVD, dammit.
>A lot of the old show *is* out on DVD. I don't know if all of
>it, but lots of it.
I know. We're watching it slowly via NetFlix. I don't think
it's the entire show, though, and I want it all.
Pete
Peter Meilinger
>Don't forget books 2 and 3 in Palmer's Threshold series.
I was just thinking that! I didn't hate Threshold as much
as most people seem to, but I'd mostly pay for the others
out of morbid curiousity.
Pete
phil hunt
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
>various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
>easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
>a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
>read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
>expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>commission?
I'd probably be more keen to commission films. _Ringworld_ and
_Consider Phlebas_ could do with cinematic treatment.
--
"It's easier to find people online who openly support the KKK than
people who openly support the RIAA" -- comment on Wikipedia
(Email: zen19725 at zen dot co dot uk)
Peter Meilinger
>In article <cn36at$kk9$1...@news3.bu.edu>,
>Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu> wrote:
>>Actually, I should probably flee the US altogether. I
>>shudder to think of how much of my hard unearned money
>>even the Republican government would take.
>I dunno. How much would you have to give to recognized charities
>and other tax-exempt organizations to prevent you from having to
>give the Feds anything? That's how much I would give. I'd even
>give a whole bunch to my church; let W cavil at that.
As someone else said, I don't think you can ever donate
enough to get you completely free of taxes. Or I suppose
you can, but instead of donations the technical term
would become "bribes."
>Then I'd pay my bills.
Heh. That's my first answer to all "What if you had
X amount of money?" questions. "Pay my bills." A friend
of mine used to get annoyed at me for not having more
imagination. Until I promised to pay her bills, too.
What the hell, I've got a billion dollars. I'll pay
the bills of everyone in this newsgroup!
>I don't know all the details hinted at above, but I know a guy wo
>flies a fairly high-level desk in the IRS. I'd ask him. He'd
>tell me.
Especially after you promise him a million bucks.
>Trouble is, most of the people I want more books from are dead.
You can borrow my time machine if you want.
Pete
Peter Meilinger
>By the same token, how about raising the ante ten-fold and paying ten
>authors $500,000 each to never set pen to paper or words to screen again?
When I read this post to my girlfriend, she immediately said, "Anne Rice."
I said, "J.K. Rowling," and got a dirty look. I was just kidding,
for the record.
And besides, if I handed her $500,000 to stop writing, she'd
hand me a million and say, "Go away, kid, you bother me."
Pete
Walter Bushell
djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
<snip>
> Then I'd pay my bills. Then I'd put whatever was left into the
> kind of stuff W has *his* money in, the kind that provides
> tax-free income.
<snip>
Put your money where Cheney puts his. :(
--
Guns don't kill people; automobiles kill people.
Dorothy J Heydt
Actually, he would anyway. He's a nice guy, though rather
sharp-tongued. (Occupational hazard probably.)
Dorothy J Heydt
Walter Bushell <pr...@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <I732y...@kithrup.com>,
> djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
>
><snip>
>> Then I'd pay my bills. Then I'd put whatever was left into the
>> kind of stuff W has *his* money in, the kind that provides
>> tax-free income.
><snip>
>
>Put your money where Cheney puts his. :(
That might work. Where does Cheney put his money? (Keep it
clean.)
David Bilek
Yeah. You'd probably have to pay Rowling essentially the entire
BILLION dollars to make it worth her while to stop writing. Potter is
a license to print money. Quickly.
-David
Taki Kogoma
allegedly declared to rec.arts.sf.written...
>In article <cn36at$kk9$1...@news3.bu.edu>,
>Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu> wrote:
>>And hey, now that I've got the time machine, I'd go back
>>and drag Jim Henson to a hospital, then get him to working
>>on a good update of The Muppet Show, or at least on putting
>>the entire old show out on DVD, dammit.
>
>A lot of the old show *is* out on DVD. I don't know if all of
>it, but lots of it.
The Time-Life[1] DVDs have 45 episodes on 15 discs; how this
compares to tne entire run of the show, I have no idea.
[1] Looking at the website, it appears that they're getting ready to
pull the product line from the catalog.
--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) quirk @ swcp.com
Just an article detector on the Information Supercollider.
Andrew Wheeler
>
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
Oh, this *is* fun...
Elizabeth Willey, writing whatever the heck she wants as long as there's
a novel a year as much fun as _The Well-Favored Man_.
Elisa DeCarlo, to write more books like _The Devil You Say_ and _Strong Spirits_.
Tim Powers seems to make a good living without my help, but I might be
able to speed him up (or read the books first, which is good enough).
For whatever bizarre reason (and I know I've mentioned this here
before), I only really like every other Sean Stewart novel, but maybe I
can get him to write two a year and only read the one I'll like.
I don't know if it's the market or personal preference that's kept him
quiet, but I'd like to try to get more novels like _Captain Jack Zodiac_
and _In Between Dragons_ out of Michael Kandel.
If I could get Stephen Fry to abandon that acting wheeze (though I like
him in that form, too) to sit down and seriously do a book a year, that
would also be nice.
Walter Jon Williams would get a nice fat check from me for the third
_Metropolitan_ book, or whatever he wanted to write first.
I'll second (or third, or whatever) Barry Hughart.
Kage Baker seems to be doing OK, but I'm sure she'd do better with a
nice pile of money, too.
And I'd give Daniel Handler as much as it took to neglect those Lemony
Snicket things for a while and do another good adult novel.
In comics, Zander Cannon and Martin Wagner would get a nice monthly
stipend as long as they produced pages regularly. (Andy Garcia, too.)
Bob Burden probably wouldn't need my help, but he could get on the gravy
train, if he wanted.
Among the dead, I'd have loved to have gotten more out of Leiber and
Zelazny (and if I can borrow Pete's time machine and somehow save the
latter, consider that done as well). In particular, I'd love to give
Leiber a thirty-thousand-dollar annuity, starting about 1940, with the
stipulation that he write full time.
Oh, and John Sladek, for sure. Another time machine case. I would dearly
love to see the novels he would have written during the '90s tech boom
if he was happy and successful.
--
Andrew Wheeler
--
No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get
back in jeopardy again. I feel like the maid: "I just cleaned up this
place! Can't you keep it clean for ten minutes!"
Carl Dershem
@panix2.panix.com:
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
Egad.
Dave Gerrold, just so he won't have an excuse not to finish the "Chtorr"
books.
Emma Bull, though I'd also be producing the film version of "War for the
Oaks" from a different fund.
Jeff Mariotte, because he's married to my best friend, and could do with a
chance to concentrate on his writing, instead of having to work too hard.
Most of the other writers I know and like are doing OK, and wouldn't really
need it, though if Steve Brust or Chris Moore asked, I'd seriously consider
it.
cd
--
The difference between immorality and immortality is "T". I like Earl
Grey.
Konrad Gaertner
>
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
The written but unpublished works of Barry Hughart and Daniel
Keys Moran. I may even publish some of it :)
Steven Brust's file of Cool Opening Lines.
Some more novels from Jo Walton set in Sulien's world. Start with
_Breaking the Ward_ for completeness, and she once said she had
ideas for a book set a couple hundred years later. I'd really
like more stories about Sulien herself, but I might not be able
to afford that.
Diane Duane, _Door Into Starlight_ (actually, _The Lion and the
Door_, since I haven't gotten ahold of Sunset yet). And maybe
some more Cat Wizards (preferrably set after Rhiow got the
promotion she earned in the first book).
PC Hodgell, rest of the Jame books.
At least one more novel from Stephen Hickman. Maybe talk him into
doing a graphic novel. You know, a graphic novel written by Bill
Watterson and illustrated by Gary Larson could be really cool.
For reprints, there's the remaining volumes of Asimov's _The
Complete Stories_, which I'd follow with _The Complete Essays_.
--KG
Wayne Throop
: What the hell, I've got a billion dollars. I'll pay the bills of
: everyone in this newsgroup!
Does that include repaying entire loans, or just one monthly payment?
Wayne Throop thr...@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw
Keith Morrison
>>I would immediately switch to Republican. Those goddamned
>>Democrats ain't taking my money!
>>
>>Actually, I should probably flee the US altogether. I
>>shudder to think of how much of my hard unearned money
>>even the Republican government would take.
>
>I dunno. How much would you have to give to recognized charities
>and other tax-exempt organizations to prevent you from having to
>give the Feds anything? That's how much I would give. I'd even
>give a whole bunch to my church; let W cavil at that.
"Give money to a church"? Screw that noise. You *make* a church.
--
Keith
Dorothy J Heydt
No no no no. I've already *got* a church. Why reinvent the
wheel?
Bill Snyder
Why? Admittedly it worked well for Elron, but in this scenario you've
already *got* a billion.
--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank.]
David Dyer-Bennet
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
Interesting. I'm not at all sure that commissioning books will get me
the books I really want; I suspect the authors of knowing how to do
their job better than I do. The cases I think are worth targeting are
where the author is doing b rather than a because the market currently
pays him more for it, but he's got lots of a he wants to do. If I
prefer a, then putting my $50k into the scales may tip the balance.
(I think many of the authors I want to read already make more than
$50k off a book; certainly in the long run anyway).
There's also the minor problem that many of the people I most want to
see more books from are dead. And in some cases that I stopped really
wanting to see new books from them before they stopped writing them.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd...@dd-b.net>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/>
RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com/> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/>
Pics: <http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/> <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/>
Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>
Luna
Andrew Wheeler <acwh...@optonline.com> wrote:
> James Nicoll wrote:
> >
> > Which should give you a nice disposable income.
> >
> > Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> > various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> > easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> > a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> > read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> > expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
> >
> > Which authors do you target and what books do you
> > commission?
>
Piggy backing since I didn't see the original post . . .
Most of my favorite living authors write enough, actually. Well, they
write enough _combined_ to keep me entertained, anyway. The only one I
feel like I need more of is Ted Chiang, but I don't know if money alone
would do the trick. I read somewhere that he only writes when he gets a
good idea.
--
Michelle Levin
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick
I have only 3 flaws. My first flaw is thinking that I only have 3 flaws.
Tim McDaniel
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>Which authors do you target and what books do you commission?
I have a nice little chat with Janet Kagan (_Hellspark_, _Mirabile_)
to find out why she hasn't written any more books -- did she only have
two ideas or was it money? If money, I start handing her fistfuls of
dollars. What books? Whatever she wants to write.
Walter Bushell
Bill Snyder <bsn...@airmail.net> wrote:
I doubt the matter ended well for Elron, from what I heard he ended up
believing in what he was teaching.
Walter Bushell
tm...@panix.com (Tim McDaniel) wrote:
Yes, you certainly would want to force a writers hand. For example, I
wanted more books in Brin's uplift series beyond the initial trilogy. I
think everyone agrees the second trilogy was a mistake. In fact they
don't exist on my timeline, thank the Goddess.
Otherwise I might go for asking Bujold to write more Miles stories. But,
perhaps her proclivity for thinking of all things people think of as
good the most sublime is motherhood [1] would get in the way, for
example.
[1] Tom Lehrer
This is the story of Oedipus Rex
You may have heard about his odd complex
. . .
When he saw what he had done
He tore his eyes out one by one.
A tragic end to a loyal son,
Who loved his mother.
David Bilek
>In article <cn4396$7nm$1...@tmcd.austin.tx.us>,
> tm...@panix.com (Tim McDaniel) wrote:
>
>> In article <cn34m1$1gm$1...@panix2.panix.com>,
>> James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>> >Which authors do you target and what books do you commission?
>>
>> I have a nice little chat with Janet Kagan (_Hellspark_, _Mirabile_)
>> to find out why she hasn't written any more books -- did she only have
>> two ideas or was it money? If money, I start handing her fistfuls of
>> dollars. What books? Whatever she wants to write.
>
>Yes, you certainly would want to force a writers hand. For example, I
>wanted more books in Brin's uplift series beyond the initial trilogy. I
>think everyone agrees the second trilogy was a mistake. In fact they
>don't exist on my timeline, thank the Goddess.
(Note: I assume you meant "wouldn't" since you appear to be agreeing
with Tim).
I'm not sure this is true. Why should writers be any different from
painters, sculptors, or musicians? Much of the greatest art ever
created was strictly commissioned.
I visited the Vatican a few months ago. Anyone who has doubts about
whether great art can be commissioned should do the same. I've never,
ever seen anything like it and I doubt I ever will.
-David
Mike Schilling
in _Borders of Infinity_ are all amazing, and "Winterfair Gifts" has its
points too, though it's too coincidence-driven for my taste. She has a real
gift for the shorter lengths [1] and it's a damned shame the market for them
has dried up.
1. No, I don't mean Miles.
Stewart Robert Hinsley
>
>What the hell, I've got a billion dollars. I'll pay
>the bills of everyone in this newsgroup!
>
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
Chad Irby
Luna <luna...@NOSPAMmindspring.com> wrote:
> Most of my favorite living authors write enough, actually. Well, they
> write enough _combined_ to keep me entertained, anyway.
The problem is that they works by the people I like appear in clumps.
Nothing fun for a couple of months, then four or five in a week.
The "book fund" would have to spend a bit of cash in bribing editors and
publishers to coordinate their release schedules a bit better.
(The sequel to "The Architect of Sleep" would be on the "write this"
list, incidentally.)
Chad Irby
djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
> In article <8buap0hbt3gjlck3o...@4ax.com>,
> Keith Morrison <kei...@polarnet.ca> wrote:
> >
> >"Give money to a church"? Screw that noise. You *make* a church.
>
> No no no no. I've already *got* a church. Why reinvent the
> wheel?
Patent rights on a new wheel could be pretty lucrative...
David Goldfarb
Dreamer <dre...@dreamstrike.com> wrote:
>
>"Mike Schilling" <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:0L9ld.8179$zx1....@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
>
>> And it would be great fun to offer Ellison $50 million for TLDV completed
>> within six months, but not a penny for a day later.
>
>You are a cruel, cruel man.
But correct.
--
David Goldfarb |"To the general public "calories" are not units
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu |of measurement but evil creatures that live in
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu |tasty food and make people fat."
| -- Bill Jennings on rec.arts.comics.misc
David Goldfarb
Yes, yes, yes. (Although you left out the Star Trek novel _Uhura's Song_.
It's not quite up to the level of the other two, but certainly worth reading.)
Although I gather from some stuff on her web site and brief e-mail
correspondence that money is not the problem. Sigh.
I'd get Scott McCloud to tell us just what is the deal with Zot's world.
(OK, that's comics and not written SF. It is still SF.)
I'd get Dave Duncan to finish the _Demon -- _ series he was writing
as Ken Hood. It wasn't great art, but it would be nice to know how
it ends.
I'd see if I could bribe Jo Walton to finish _Lyflode_.
--
David Goldfarb |"It doesn't matter. Don't you see? Nothing matters!"
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu |
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu | -- Fredric Brown, "Come and Go Mad"
Nancy Lebovitz
You wouldn't need the whole billion to start a new science fiction magazine.
--
--
Nancy Lebovitz http://www.nancybuttons.com
"We've tamed the lightning and taught sand to give error messages."
http://livejournal.com/users/nancylebov
Doug
> Democrats ain't taking my money!
>
> Actually, I should probably flee the US altogether. I
> shudder to think of how much of my hard unearned money
> even the Republican government would take.
>
> >various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> >easily outbid publishing houses if they like.
>
> billionaire can't easily outbid.
>
> >Say you devote
> >a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> >read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> >expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> >commission?
>
> not entirely sure I want to read it anymore, but I know there
> are people who do, and I'm a benevolent billionaire.
You do realize that Gerrold is homosexual, right? Which means you'd
have to burn your Republican membership card.
Doug
A.C.
> Huh. Okay. David Gerrold. The rest of the Chtorr series. I'm
> not entirely sure I want to read it anymore, but I know there
> are people who do, and I'm a benevolent billionaire.
There's your problem. Malevolence is more fun. Buy the exclusive
rights to highly-desirable sequels, and after they're written never
release them. Just go online and drop tantalizing hints about what
happens, and say that it's a shame how nobody else can read them.
Make sure the authors sign NDA contracts.
> Would a book full of nude pictures of Salma Hayek be off
> topic for this discussion? Personally, I think Salma nudity
> should be on topic in any possible discussion.
Hell, I think it should be a mandatory part of any discussion.
> How about movies?
Again, more fun to be malevolent. Obtain the rights to beloved
classics, then make intentionally bad sequels.
Remake It's A Wonderful Life with the worst actors you can find, put
obvious, even anachronistic product placements in every single scene,
and add a few breakdancing ninjas. Then have it played on every
channel every day in December.
George Lucas is doing enough damage to Star Wars, but you can outdo
even him. Buy the rights to the three original movies and mix things
up a bit. Use CGI to switch characters around. Make Billy Dee
Williams play Yoda. Make Yoda play Lando. Make Chewbacca play R2.
> Good lord, the possibilities are endless! Whoever said
> money can't buy happiness obviously never had a billion
> dollars to play with.
If I were to get access to unlimited money (a single billion probably
wouldn't be enough) I'd use it to wreak unimaginable chaos.
Humanity's only hope would be that I would probably be too busy trying
to kill myself from decadence to pay attention to the world outside my
tropical island mansion hideaway.
GSV Three Minds in a Can
wonderful person David Bilek <dtb...@comcast.net> said
Which makes it all the more admirable that (so far at least) she has
resisted the temptation to put the presses into 'fast forward', Barbara
Cartland style.
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.
GSV Three Minds in a Can
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> said
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
>various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
>a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
>read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
>expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>commission?
Given a time machine, I'd go after 'Cordwainer Smith' and get him to
quit the day job and produce some more of that weird stuff he did
between times.
With no time machine, this is a tough challenge .. many 'pro-am' authors
wrote the one/two books they 'had in them', and forcing any more would
just disappoint everyone. The 'professional producers' are going as fast
as they can anyway.
I like the suggestion of paying a few mega$ to take some of the alleged
Pros out of circulation though. Lemme see, Piers Anthony, Kevin J
Anderson, Brian Herbert, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks .. in fact all of
the Star-trek-wars hacks .. that should free up lots of shelf/rack space
in the supermarkets for some new/real talent to fill.
Peter Meilinger
>: Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu>
>: What the hell, I've got a billion dollars. I'll pay the bills of
>: everyone in this newsgroup!
>Does that include repaying entire loans, or just one monthly payment?
Whichever one I feel like at the moment I'm writing the check.
Which means everyone better try to get on my good side.
Now dance for me!
Pete
Peter Meilinger
>Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu> wrote in message news:<cn36at$kk9$1...@news3.bu.edu>...
>> James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>> > Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>>
>> I would immediately switch to Republican. Those goddamned
>> Democrats ain't taking my money!
Snip...
>> Huh. Okay. David Gerrold. The rest of the Chtorr series. I'm
>> not entirely sure I want to read it anymore, but I know there
>> are people who do, and I'm a benevolent billionaire.
>You do realize that Gerrold is homosexual, right?
I did not, actually.
> Which means you'd
>have to burn your Republican membership card.
I got a billion dollars, pal. I'll pay all the homophobes to
burn their cards.
Pete
Dreamer
"David Goldfarb" <gold...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU> wrote in message
news:cn4qcl$j40$1...@agate.berkeley.edu...
> In article <u5ald.9187$_J2....@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
> Dreamer <dre...@dreamstrike.com> wrote:
> >
> >"Mike Schilling" <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:0L9ld.8179$zx1....@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
> >
> >> And it would be great fun to offer Ellison $50 million for TLDV
completed
> >> within six months, but not a penny for a day later.
> >
> >You are a cruel, cruel man.
>
> But correct.
Yes, I meant to add the line "Brilliant, but cruel," to that post and I got
distracted.
D
Dreamer
ObDogbert:
(Dogbert is in one of his temporarily obscenely wealthy phases and is
walking down the street.)
Dogbert, to himself: "I love being rich."
(next panel)
Dogbert, to man in nice suit: "I'll give you ten thousand dollars if you'll
roll around in that mud puddle."
(Man in nice suit rolls around in mud puddle.)
Dogbert, to himself: "I don't see how rich people ever get bored."
D
Walter Bushell
GSV Three Minds in a Can <G...@quik.clara.co.uk> wrote:
<snip>
> I like the suggestion of paying a few mega$ to take some of the alleged
> Pros out of circulation though. Lemme see, Piers Anthony, Kevin J
> Anderson, Brian Herbert, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks .. in fact all of
> the Star-trek-wars hacks .. that should free up lots of shelf/rack space
> in the supermarkets for some new/real talent to fill.
No, it will just open a market for new authors of swill. Ok, maybe some
good stuff will sneak in by accident.
Justin Bacon
> I'd get Scott McCloud to tell us just what is the deal with Zot's world.
> (OK, that's comics and not written SF. It is still SF.)
Frankly, I'd just give Scott a blank check: Create whatever he wants
to create. Have you read his online work? His autobiographical piece
about chess is an absolute masterpiece.
Justin Bacon
tria...@aol.com
Don Greenfield
>na...@math.ohio-state.edu (Anthony Nance) wrote in news:cn3830$c31$1
>@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu:
>
>>
>> Glen Cook, for more books in the _The Dragon Never Sleeps_ universe,
>> and perhaps in the Starfishers universe as well.
>>
>
>Hey! Thats two for more Glen Cook in Space! We should start a secret
>club.
I really want to see _The Rise and Fall of the Dominator_, with lots
of scenes of the Limper doing his best Porthos imitation.
David Romerstein
news:yt27ZlSY...@from.is.invalid:
> I like the suggestion of paying a few mega$ to take some of the alleged
> Pros out of circulation though. Lemme see, Piers Anthony
SUBSCRIBE!!
Hey, can you grab the time machine and make this happen somewhere around
1987?
> in fact all of
> the Star-trek-wars hacks ..
Leave Timothy Zahn - he's done some good stuff. And the Reeves-Stevenses. And
Duane.
Do we have to pay the authors directly to get them to stop writing? If not,
I'll throw in a little extra for the head of Dafydd ab Hugh on pike.
--
"I faced a fear of mine and shivered, but didn't blink" - Eve 6, "Enemy"
artyw
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
How much would I have to pay Orson Scott Card for the Ender Versus
Alvin Death Match story?
Mike Schilling
"Nancy Lebovitz" <na...@unix5.netaxs.com> wrote in message
news:Jwmld.3915$Fg2.1...@newshog.newsread.com...
> In article <c0jld.41245$QJ3....@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com>,
> Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>Oh, and I'd commission Bujold to write more stories and novellas. The
>>three
>>in _Borders of Infinity_ are all amazing, and "Winterfair Gifts" has its
>>points too, though it's too coincidence-driven for my taste. She has a
>>real
>>gift for the shorter lengths [1] and it's a damned shame the market for
>>them
>>has dried up.
>>
>>
>>1. No, I don't mean Miles.
>
> You wouldn't need the whole billion to start a new science fiction
> magazine.
>
But I'd burn through a lot of money (not a billion, I admit) trying to pay
story rates that are competitive with what a successful novel earns. We SF
fans are novel readers now, which is one of the reasons that writers like
Kornbluth, who excelled at short stories, are so obscure these days.
Lawrence Watt-Evans
wrote:
>In article <slrncpaf8...@lokkur.dexter.mi.us>,
>Steve Simmons <s...@lokkur.dexter.mi.us> wrote:
>>
>>And #20: $5,000 each for a short story apiece from
>>
>> Joe Haldeman John Ford Gene Wolfe
>> John Varley Michael Bishop George R. R. Martin
>> Nancy Kress Neal Gaiman Orson Scott Card
>> and $5,000 to Damon Knight for editing them
>
> I think you need a different editor. I am pretty sure Knight is
>dead.
Only "pretty sure"?
Damon is indeed dead, alas.
Incidentally, as long as I'm in this thread, I've had fans offer to
pay me to write more Ethshar stories, but so far they haven't come up
with enough money to tempt me.
Lawrence Watt-Evans
>In article <cn34m1$1gm$1...@panix2.panix.com>,
>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>>Which authors do you target and what books do you commission?
>
>I have a nice little chat with Janet Kagan (_Hellspark_, _Mirabile_)
>to find out why she hasn't written any more books -- did she only have
>two ideas or was it money? If money, I start handing her fistfuls of
>dollars. What books? Whatever she wants to write.
Last time I spoke with her, which was many years ago now, she said
money didn't really have anything to do with it -- she just had severe
writer's block.
At the time she thought she might be getting over it. Apparently she
wasn't, dammit.
Louann Miller
wrote:
>
>Otherwise I might go for asking Bujold to write more Miles stories. But,
>perhaps her proclivity for thinking of all things people think of as
>good the most sublime is motherhood [1] would get in the way, for
>example.
Recent studies have shown that babies are the #1 cause of new people.
This includes people who write good books and people who read them,
thereby keeping the people who write good books writing good books.
Eryk Remiezowicz
Użytkownik James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> w wiadomości do grup
dyskusyjnych napisał:cn34m1$1gm$1...@panix2.panix.com...
> Which should give you a nice disposable income.
>
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
>
> commission?
Well, I would just like to get the existing stuff translated :-) And I mean
_translated_, with the most beauty of the original, one can get.
Eryk
J.B. Moreno
> jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>
> >Steve Simmons <s...@lokkur.dexter.mi.us> wrote:
> >>
> >>And #20: $5,000 each for a short story apiece from
> >>
> >> Joe Haldeman John Ford Gene Wolfe
> >> John Varley Michael Bishop George R. R. Martin
> >> Nancy Kress Neal Gaiman Orson Scott Card
> >> and $5,000 to Damon Knight for editing them
> >
> > I think you need a different editor. I am pretty sure Knight is
> >dead.
>
> Only "pretty sure"?
>
> Damon is indeed dead, alas.
>
> Incidentally, as long as I'm in this thread, I've had fans offer to
> pay me to write more Ethshar stories, but so far they haven't come up
> with enough money to tempt me.
If you're going to do that, someone needs to name a figure and setup a
way to take in the money and let everyone know how it's going.
Of course this may indicate a lack of interest on the readers part, or
one of them would set it up (OTOH, while I might be able to see the
shape of how to do something like that, I don't have the money to start
it up).
--
JBM
"Everything is futile." -- Marvin of Borg
Tim McDaniel
Walter Bushell <pr...@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <cn4396$7nm$1...@tmcd.austin.tx.us>,
> tm...@panix.com (Tim McDaniel) wrote:
>
>> In article <cn34m1$1gm$1...@panix2.panix.com>,
>> James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>>
>> _Mirabile_) to find out why she hasn't written any more books --
>> did she only have two ideas or was it money? If money, I start
>> handing her fistfuls of dollars. What books? Whatever she wants
>> to write.
>
(Regardless of whether there's a "not" missing:)
It depends on the writer. For example, I'd be comfortable giving
money to Lois McMaster Bujold for a "write what you want" book,
because even her least popular and lowest quality books are still
pretty good. On the other hand, for Piers Anthony, I'd have a stack
of preconditions, #1 being "Not a sequel to anything you've written
before"; for Arthur C. Clarke, "No more farming out"; Barry Hughart,
it's obvious (fill in the blanks: "______ __ and ______ Ten __").
(Not that money would likely motivate either one of them at this point
in their careers, but the entire premise is hypothetical anyway.)
Kagan's books are different enough on the outside (though the two I've
read have a certain optimistic feel on the inside) that I'd like to
see another book of her choice.
--
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tm...@panix.com
Tim McDaniel
David Goldfarb <gold...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU> wrote:
>In article <cn4396$7nm$1...@tmcd.austin.tx.us>,
>Tim McDaniel <tm...@panix.com> wrote:
>>I have a nice little chat with Janet Kagan (_Hellspark_, _Mirabile_)
>Although I gather from some stuff on her web site and brief e-mail
>correspondence that money is not the problem. Sigh.
Um, can we get a hint? Family, health, other things keeping her busy?
Tim McDaniel
GSV Three Minds in a Can <G...@quik.clara.co.uk> wrote:
>I like the suggestion of paying a few mega$ to take some of the
>alleged Pros out of circulation though. Lemme see, Piers Anthony
_On a Pale Horse_ was decent enough. How was the first book of _Bio
of a Space Tyrant_? That's why I posited in another article that my
first condition for him would be "Not a sequel" -- though, come to
think of it, better to be "Not a sequel, not a prequel, not in the
same universe, not with the same setup as any of your previous
works". Further conditions would involve a plot synopsis and
outline before continuing.
Gene Ward Smith
> Modern book advances have not kept up with inflation for
> various reasons, which means that a bored billionaire can quite
> easily outbid publishing houses if they like. Say you devote
> a million dollars to a very specialized line (books you want to
> read) at 50K a pop, which is a lot more than most authors can
> expect, you can afford to commission 20 books a year.
I'm afraid I'd have to devote some of that money to musical
composition commissions. I think the world needs a meantone orchestra
trained to play 17th and 18th century classics in 31-et which also
performs new microtonal compositions.
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
I'd target new ones, by starting another publishing house. The trick
would be to find an editor who can spot what I might like.
David Cowie
>
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
> commission?
I can't find the post, but A Poster said something like "I want more
GRRM, but I'm sure George is writing as fast as he can".
In which case, one could say "Here's $50k. Forget about the bills, and
take the time to get it right."
_Absolution Gap_ by Alastair Reynolds had a rather rushed ending, despite
being a long book. "Your editor is telling you to wrap it up quickly, even
though there's lots more you want to tell us? I'll sort him out."
I realise that this is open to abuse, but probably no more than the
pay-to-write scheme is open to disappointment.
--
David Cowie
Containment Failure + 8761:01
anxious triffid
news:u5ald.9187$_J2....@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net:
>
> "Mike Schilling" <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:0L9ld.8179$zx1....@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
>
>> And it would be great fun to offer Ellison $50 million for TLDV
>> completed within six months, but not a penny for a day later.
>
> You are a cruel, cruel man.
>
Seeing as how, presumably, Ellison would stand to receive some money if
TLDV ever sees the light of day (yeah, right) and it hasn't happened, maybe
offering to pay him that $50 million if it _isn't_ published before 2010 or
thereabouts would be more likely to actually produce the finished work.
Michael S. Schiffer
news:3omcp0ltmh6hfkp3l...@4ax.com:
Well, babies more are the new people than the cause of same. (Not
that fiction about the process that causes new people is exactly
unpopular.) I suspect that Bujold wouldn't be Bujold without the
focus on reproductive issues, but the importance of those issues to
the ultimate production of art may be something of a side issue.
(No art would be produced if artists couldn't eat, but that fact
doesn't itself necessarily make pastoral stories or stories set in
grocery stores per se more compelling.)
Mike
--
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS
msch...@condor.depaul.edu
anxious triffid
> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>commission?
Personally I would go for paying Arthur C Clarke to write a couple of
sequels to Rendezvous with Rama - each of them no longer than the original
novel. It could make a nice trilogy.
Dorothy J Heydt
Only if the babies do not happen to the writers. I think it was
Annie Lamott who said, "When the baby is born, he slides down the
birth canal with a chunk of your cerebral cortex clutched in his
cute little fist." He thereafter proceeds to devour all your
energy and all your time, 24/7, till he goes to school and then
he only devours about 2/3 of it.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
Johan Larson
"Gene Ward Smith" <genewa...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:e6bf7b03.04111...@posting.google.com...
I also wouldn't spend the money on written works. Between my reading speed
(kinda low) and the SF backlist (pretty good), I don't feel there is a
shortage of quality written work.
The SF area where I see a shortage is in quality video works, whether geared
for TV or the movies. Unfortunately, video is expensive, particularly for
all the special effects SF needs. But for a billion dollars I should be able
to produce thirty movies with reasonable effects for $30 +/- million each,
particularly if I make sure the stories don't require really BIG
high-concept scenes. The X-files look pretty good to me, and they were
produced on puny TV budgets. Of course, Johan Larson Studios would not be
complete without a Crack Ninja Science Squad [1], with broad expertise
across a range of scientific disciplines, and charged with the mission of
making sure all the science in my movies is accurate (or at least
plausible).
Johan Larson
[1] Now accepting applications!
Stewart Robert Hinsley
<tm...@panix.com> writes
>
>_On a Pale Horse_ was decent enough. How was the first book of _Bio
>of a Space Tyrant_? That's why I posited in another article that my
>first condition for him would be "Not a sequel" -- though, come to
>think of it, better to be "Not a sequel, not a prequel, not in the
>same universe, not with the same setup as any of your previous
>works". Further conditions would involve a plot synopsis and
>outline before continuing.
>
disagreement arises is with regards to how fast each series
deteriorates, and what the starting level is. My opinion is that
Incarnations was one of his better series, and that the rate of decline
was lower than average. To the contrary, any lowering of the rate of
decline in Bio can be attributed to the low starting level.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
Craig Richardson
Lebovitz) wrote:
>In article <c0jld.41245$QJ3....@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com>,
>Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>Oh, and I'd commission Bujold to write more stories and novellas. The three
>>in _Borders of Infinity_ are all amazing, and "Winterfair Gifts" has its
>>points too, though it's too coincidence-driven for my taste. She has a real
>>gift for the shorter lengths [1] and it's a damned shame the market for them
>>has dried up.
I won't make the argument, but I think it can be argued that the
epilogue to _Shards of Honor_ is as powerful in its own way as the
main part of the book is in its way.
--Craig
--
But what I'm saying about the extreme age of the outdated nonsense in
Strunk & White can perhaps best be put like this ... [it] was so long
ago that _the Red Sox had just won the World Series the year before_
-- Geoffrey K. Pullum in "Language Log", 2004/10/28
Wayne Throop
::: completed within six months, but not a penny for a day later.
:: You are a cruel, cruel man.
: Seeing as how, presumably, Ellison would stand to receive some money if
: TLDV ever sees the light of day (yeah, right) and it hasn't happened, maybe
: offering to pay him that $50 million if it _isn't_ published before 2010 or
: thereabouts would be more likely to actually produce the finished work.
Possibly let it be known that you will give 50 million dollars to
some cause that he abominates if it isn't published by date X.
Wayne Throop thr...@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw
Tim McDaniel
Dammit indeed. Oh, well, I'd give her some of my billion dollars
anyway, just because I liked her books.
Wayne Throop
:: money didn't really have anything to do with it -- she just had
:: severe writer's block. At the time she thought she might be getting
:: over it. Apparently she wasn't, dammit.
: tm...@panix.com (Tim McDaniel)
: Dammit indeed. Oh, well, I'd give her some of my billion dollars
: anyway, just because I liked her books.
Fund research into curing writer's block.
A combination of serotonin reuptake inhibitors and some other
neurochemical tinkering, perhaps. Could be put in the drinking
water, like fluoridation.
Mike Schilling
"David Cowie" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:pan.2004.11.13....@privacy.net...
> On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 14:58:57 -0500, James Nicoll wrote:
>
>>
>> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>> commission?
>
> I can't find the post, but A Poster said something like "I want more
> GRRM, but I'm sure George is writing as fast as he can".
> In which case, one could say "Here's $50k. Forget about the bills, and
> take the time to get it right."
That were me. And I also think he is taking his time to get it right; four
years between books doesn't seem llike he's rushing it.
Mike Schilling
"anxious triffid" <anxious...@INFEAROFSPAMfserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Xns95A0D02E2F47Dan...@217.32.252.50...
> "Dreamer" <dre...@dreamstrike.com> wrote in
> news:u5ald.9187$_J2....@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net:
>
>>
>> "Mike Schilling" <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:0L9ld.8179$zx1....@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
>>
>>> And it would be great fun to offer Ellison $50 million for TLDV
>>> completed within six months, but not a penny for a day later.
>>
>> You are a cruel, cruel man.
>>
>
> Seeing as how, presumably, Ellison would stand to receive some money if
> TLDV ever sees the light of day (yeah, right)
Perhaps and perhaps not. He's already collected several advances, which
would presumably have to be paid off first.
Mike Schilling
"Craig Richardson" <crichar...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:u0tcp0985gvb0r6gi...@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 11:48:57 GMT, na...@unix5.netaxs.com (Nancy
> Lebovitz) wrote:
>
>>In article <c0jld.41245$QJ3....@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com>,
>>Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>Oh, and I'd commission Bujold to write more stories and novellas. The
>>>three
>>>in _Borders of Infinity_ are all amazing, and "Winterfair Gifts" has its
>>>points too, though it's too coincidence-driven for my taste. She has a
>>>real
>>>gift for the shorter lengths [1] and it's a damned shame the market for
>>>them
>>>has dried up.
>
> I won't make the argument, but I think it can be argued that the
> epilogue to _Shards of Honor_ is as powerful in its own way as the
> main part of the book is in its way.
>
You make a good point. I'd also argue that "The Weatherman" is a much
stronger novella than _The Vor Game_ is a novel.
Bill Snyder
wrote:
Unless, of course, it turns out that "blocked" translates to "unable
to write anything worth reading, whether or not they actually
type/scribble stuff on paper" -- which seems to me an entirely
reasonable possibility. If you turn a blocked Sturgeon into a working
Gernsback . . .
--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank.]
aRJay
triffid <anxious...@INFEAROFSPAMfserve.co.uk> writes
You do realise that the Rama "trilogy" could be made to work with just
the original and a short story, possibly even a short short?
Something along the lines of, in the months following the Endeavour
mission it is realised that in all probability that there where 9 Rama
vessels, 3 on each of 3 different routes (for the short short version
make that 3 vessels on 3 routes). Then a brief description of the
process/search that shows that Rama was actually the third ship on this
route.
--
aRJay
"In this great and creatorless universe, where so much beautiful has
come to be out of the chance interactions of the basic properties of
matter, it seems so important that we love one another."
- Lucy Kemnitzer
Danny Sichel
>>By the same token, how about raising the ante ten-fold and paying ten
>>authors $500,000 each to never set pen to paper or words to screen again?
> When I read this post to my girlfriend, she immediately said, "Anne Rice."
> I said, "J.K. Rowling," and got a dirty look. I was just kidding,
> for the record.
> And besides, if I handed her $500,000 to stop writing, she'd
> hand me a million and say, "Go away, kid, you bother me."
Ah! And if you handed her 10 million, she'd give you 20 million?
Danny Sichel
>> Which authors do you target and what books do you
>> commission?
> You know, a graphic novel written by Bill Watterson
> and illustrated by Gary Larson could be really cool.
Perhaps, but Watterson was already offered his price, and turned it down.