Egregious cover blurb spoilers
dan parslow
reader of this group that doesn't signify much. For all I know it's
been done to death, but:
Cover blurbs that blow the plot!
My take is that they generally give away too much, but the worst
example I've seen so far was on the "Isaac Asimov Presents"
edition of _Station Gehenna_, not a real noteworthy book, (I can't
even remember the author at the moment), but the cover blurb
- Sets out the problem in the story
- Suggests some possible explanations (in a "Could it be that..?" vein)
One of which is the actual explanation!
Subtopic: Review excerpts inside the front cover that give away
plot points. The US paperback edition of _A Fire Upon the Deep_
has one that gives away the secret of the Tines, screwing up Vinge's
subtle revelatory technique.
Any other noteworthy examples?
- Dan Parslow, d...@alpha.sunquest.com
Zareh Langridge
d...@alpha.sunquest.com (dan parslow) writes:
> Here's a topic I haven't seen covered here...although as a sometime
> reader of this group that doesn't signify much. For all I know it's
> been done to death, but:
>
> Cover blurbs that blow the plot!
>
> My take is that they generally give away too much, but the worst
> example I've seen so far was on the "Isaac Asimov Presents"
> edition of _Station Gehenna_, not a real noteworthy book, (I can't
> even remember the author at the moment), but the cover blurb
>
> - Sets out the problem in the story
> - Suggests some possible explanations (in a "Could it be that..?"
> vein)
> One of which is the actual explanation!
>
> - Dan Parslow, d...@alpha.sunquest.com
What I find annoying are the cover blurbs that bear absolutely no
relationship to the actual story itself. I tend to use cover blurbs to
decide if a book is worth buying and it's annoying to buy a book
expecting one thing and then getting another.
Anyone else have this problem ?
--
za...@Smallworld.co.uk (Zareh Langridge)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Customer Support is an Art not a Science
- Marketing Saying
So is torture
- Support engineers reply
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The opinions expressed above are purely personal and not those of my employer
Roberta Becker
: Here's a topic I haven't seen covered here...although as a sometime
: reader of this group that doesn't signify much. For all I know it's
: been done to death, but:
: Cover blurbs that blow the plot!
...
: Any other noteworthy examples?
Yeah:
1. Greg Egan's _Quarantine_, US paperback edition.
2. Greg Bear's _Eon_, US paperback edition.
3. Tom Robbin's _Another Roadside Attraction_, US paperback edition.
For the benefit of those who haven't read the above, I'm not going to
go into specifics.
I've noticed that the blurbs change over the course of time, as new
batches of books go to press (or something). The first paperback copies
of _Eon_ and _Another Roadside Attraction_ didn't give anything away.
But over the course of years I lost those copies and when I bought new
ones, the blurbs had changed for the worse. _Another Roadside Attraction_
is probably the worst offender of the lot--I simply cannot _believe_ they
put a spoiler like that in the blurb...
Craig Becker
posting from his wife's account at home.
Joseph Francis Nebus
conclusion that the person who writes the cover blurbs for the Star Trek
novels must actively, passionately, and deeply loathe Star Trek (given the
last few year's worth of novels--very nearly all the paperbacks since the
last John M. Ford one, actually--this may be justified), and be actively
working to (a) drive people away from buying the books at all, and (b)
working overtime to drive people away from the actually good books.
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nancy Lebovitz
Zareh Langridge <za...@Smallworld.co.uk> wrote:
>
>What I find annoying are the cover blurbs that bear absolutely no
>relationship to the actual story itself. I tend to use cover blurbs to
>decide if a book is worth buying and it's annoying to buy a book
>expecting one thing and then getting another.
>
>Anyone else have this problem ?
This is sort of a counter-example--_The Magic and the Healing_
by Nick O'Donahue had a cover that led me to expect a warm and
fuzzy veterinarian and unicorn novel. Instead, it's quite a
good but grim book, with more than I quite wanted to know about
Huntington's chorea (a degenerative disease). I don't regret
buying or reading _The Magic and the Healing_, and will probably
read it again, but I'd still like to read the warm and fuzzy
novel that I was expecting.
Nancy Lebovitz (nan...@universe.digex.net)
NEW EDITION of the calligraphic button catalogue available by email!
"So many books, so little shelf-space"
Richard Treitel
In article <3fqtj1$m...@giga.bga.com>, rob...@bga.com (Roberta Becker) writes:
|> dan parslow (d...@alpha.sunquest.com) wrote:
|> : Cover blurbs that blow the plot!
|> ...
|> : Any other noteworthy examples?
Brunner's _The Squares of the City_, which may or may not be SF (but I
found it in the SF section), with both picture and blurb that would
have revealed the crucial fact if I had paid *any* attention to them.
Given how surprising that "fact" is, perhaps the blurber can plead
that no-one would have believed it anyway.
-- Richard
"Some magics *are* distinguishable from any advanced technology."
(If my employer holds these views, it hasn't told me.)
Dorothy J Heydt
Nancy Lebovitz <nan...@universe.digex.net> wrote:
>
>....I don't regret
>buying or reading _The Magic and the Healing_, and will probably
>read it again, but I'd still like to read the warm and fuzzy
>novel that I was expecting.
Well, don't just sit there. WRITE IT.
Dorothy J. Heydt
djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu
University of California
Berkeley
Jyrki Valkama
: In article <19JAN199...@alpha.sunquest.com>,
: d...@alpha.sunquest.com (dan parslow) writes:
: What I find annoying are the cover blurbs that bear absolutely no
: relationship to the actual story itself. I tend to use cover blurbs to
: decide if a book is worth buying and it's annoying to buy a book
: expecting one thing and then getting another.
: Anyone else have this problem ?
: --
Same has happened to me too!
Although sometimes that can be blessing in disguise.
In tender teenage years I bought "God Themselves", because cover blurb let me
to think it was story with interstellar wars etc. a la Star Wars, needless to
say it changed my whole way of looking of SciFi.
Jyrki Valkama
PS Usually those blurbs are annoyingly offkey, that I read some pages
from book at random places before deciding (BTW that annoyes the shopkeepers).
Matt Hickman
>Zareh Langridge (za...@Smallworld.co.uk) wrote:
>: In article <19JAN199...@alpha.sunquest.com>,
>: d...@alpha.sunquest.com (dan parslow) writes:
>
>: What I find annoying are the cover blurbs that bear absolutely no
>: relationship to the actual story itself. I tend to use cover blurbs to
>: decide if a book is worth buying and it's annoying to buy a book
>: expecting one thing and then getting another.
>
>: Anyone else have this problem ?
>: --
>
>Same has happened to me too!
I have a copy of RAH's _Orphans of the Sky_ (Signet third printing ca 1966)
which has on the back cover:
HUSTLERS OF OUTER SPACE
Earth is overpopulated...dominated by machines..time for exploitation...
industrial tycoons plan the greatest real estate coup of all time...
sell the space staved public a chance to become homesteaders on the
moon... BUT SOMEBODY ELSE GOT THERE FIRST...
This has _NOTHING_ to do with _Orphans of the Sky_ If it has anything to
do with any SF novel, I don't know what it is. I haven't been able
to figure out.
Matt Hickman bh...@chevron.com TANSTAAFL!
OS/2 Systems Specialist, Chevron Information Technologies Co.
How can the whole universe move? Yet, it does move, in a spiritual
sense. With every righteous act we move closer to the sublime
destination of Jordan's Plan.
- Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)
"Universe" (c. 1942)
Paul Olav Tvete
> Here's a topic I haven't seen covered here...although as a sometime
> reader of this group that doesn't signify much. For all I know it's
> been done to death, but:
> Cover blurbs that blow the plot!
Yes! I have stopped reading cover blurbs after reading _The Doomsday
Book_ which, in the UK edition at least, gave away the central
revelation of the book. It completely destroyed the gradual build-up
of tension, and worst of all, it deprived me of guessing the true answer
from the (admittedly abundant) clues given through the book. This fact
was not actually stated until well past the middle of the book.
Which leads me to my pet peeve: reviewers who write something like:
...but Rocambole turned out to be alive after all (not really a
spoiler since it is mentioned in the blurb)
Aarrghh. I'm going to flame the next person who does this. Severely.
--
My name is Paul Olav Tvete, my email address pa...@ii.uib.no
and there is a slight flaw in my character
Andrew C. Plotkin
blurb s.. Matt Hic...@ibm.net (1558)
> I have a copy of RAH's _Orphans of the Sky_ (Signet third printing ca 1966)
> which has on the back cover:
> HUSTLERS OF OUTER SPACE
> Earth is overpopulated...dominated by machines..time for exploitation...
> industrial tycoons plan the greatest real estate coup of all time...
> sell the space staved public a chance to become homesteaders on the
> moon... BUT SOMEBODY ELSE GOT THERE FIRST...
> This has _NOTHING_ to do with _Orphans of the Sky_ If it has anything to
> do with any SF novel, I don't know what it is. I haven't been able
> to figure out.
It could be "The Man Who Sold the Moon" -- that's even the right author.
I don't know what they were smoking when they wrote the last clause,
though.
--Z
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
Tracey S Rosenberg
>dan parslow (d...@alpha.sunquest.com) wrote:
>: Here's a topic I haven't seen covered here...although as a sometime
>: reader of this group that doesn't signify much. For all I know it's
>: been done to death, but:
>: Cover blurbs that blow the plot!
I have given up on expecting cover blurbs to actually tell me
anything useful. Recently, I have found myself buying books and putting
them aside for a while (for whatever reason), and then deliberately *not*
reading the blurb when I pick them up again--I suppose the reason
being that if I thought a book interesting enough to buy, then I really do
want to read it, but why spoil the plot for myself?
I find that Virago books (Dial Press/Penguin) have decent blurbs.
I think there was a thread several months ago (maybe longer) about Why
Cover Blurbs Are So Awful, begun by Ellen Key Harris. Anyone remember
whether there was a concensus?
Cheers,
Tracey S Rosenberg
t...@world.std.com
LAL
steve_h...@qmail4.trw.sp.com (Yet Another Steve) wrote:
>
> For me, the blurb is more often a warning than an enticement. If I pick up
> something with an interesting cover, and the blurb informs me that
List of egregious stuff removed
>, this serves for me the
> same function as the snake's rattles, and I carefully put the book back
> undisturbed.
>
> For that reason I'm grateful there are blurbs, and I do read them.
Add to the list any mention or sequel or prequel or series - I haven't got
time to read the same book twice.
Yet Another Steve
Rosenberg) wrote:
> I have given up on expecting cover blurbs to actually tell me
> anything useful. Recently, I have found myself buying books and putting
> them aside for a while (for whatever reason), and then deliberately *not*
> reading the blurb when I pick them up again--I suppose the reason
> being that if I thought a book interesting enough to buy, then I really do
> want to read it, but why spoil the plot for myself?
For me, the blurb is more often a warning than an enticement. If I pick up
something with an interesting cover, and the blurb informs me that Princess
Gooey, who is also a Bard and a Fledgling Magician, is going on a Long Quest to
find a Sacred Object, accompanied by her Faithful Companions Hoofie the
Telepathic Unicorn and Peekle-Ra the Magic Bird, this serves for me the
same function as the snake's rattles, and I carefully put the book back
undisturbed.
For that reason I'm grateful there are blurbs, and I do read them. Maybe
I've just been lucky in not encountering too many plot-killer spoilers.
Steve
Christina Schulman
>Which leads me to my pet peeve: reviewers who write something like:
> ...but Rocambole turned out to be alive after all (not really a
> spoiler since it is mentioned in the blurb)
Oops. I'm certainly guilty of doing this, most recently in my review
of _Oath of Swords_, but I always figured that people who read reviews
are going to read the back covers as well. (Besides, the back
cover of _Oath of Swords_ has the caption, in big black letters,
"WHOM THE GODS WOULD RECRUIT, THEY FIRST TICK OFF!" I defy anyone
to pick up the book and successfully avoid that morsel of wit.
Not that a review was really needed, with a blurb like that.)
I can't resist reading back covers, myself; I also read the inside-
front-cover excerpt, which is much more likely to be a source of
hideous spoilers, especially since it's usually a few choice
paragraphs from the climactic scene. Aaaagh.
>Aarrghh. I'm going to flame the next person who does this. Severely.
I'll have to remember to duck...
--
Christina Schulman schu...@pitt.edu
D McIsaac
>From: rrs...@ibm.net (Matt Hickman)
>Subject: Re: Egregious cover blurb spoilers
>Date: 23 Jan 1995 17:56:13 GMT
It wasn't a spoiler in the traditional sense of the word but...How about the
blurb on the back of the cover of _The Hidden City_, by David Eddings? Didn't
give away too much of the plot, but ...
For those of you who don't know, Eddings always has one great fight scene
that sets your heart racing and makes you want to stand up and cheer or
something. Well, _The Hidden City_ is no exception. But they put most of
the scene on the back cover, so when you get to it in the due course of
time, you've already seen it, and a lot of the excitement is just plain gone.
I know better than to read those things, but I keep doing it anyways...
Just my two cents.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D McIsaac
David Wells
> Here's a topic I haven't seen covered here...although as a sometime
> reader of this group that doesn't signify much. For all I know it's
> been done to death, but:
>
> Cover blurbs that blow the plot!
>
The last-published UK version of Michael Moorcock's "Behold The Man".
Moorcock's tortured hero spends the entire book in a doomed search for
spiritual enlightenment. The back cover helpfully relieves you of the
necessity to read the book by telling you what he finds at the end of it.
Makes you wonder why the publisher thought this was a good idea, doesn't
it?
Dave
Arthur Hlavaty
ran a competition for misleading book descriptions. In the same issue
was a Science Fiction Book Club ad which included "STRANGER IN A STRANGE
LAND: He knew the Martian love secret and it spelled his doom!" None of
the entries were that good.
--
Arthur D. Hlavaty hla...@panix.com
Church of the SuperGenius In Wile E. We Trust
Nancy Lebovitz
Laumer novel (sorry, I can't remember which one) that turned out
to have a totally unrelated mundane (probably spy) novel on the
inside. Anyone remember that one? Was the Laumer novel published
with the spy cover?
Nancy Lebovitz (nan...@universe.digex.net)
NEW EDITION of the calligraphic button catalogue available by email!
"I'm finally back on the net. Now I will never get anything done."
David Gibbs
Tracey S Rosenberg <t...@world.std.com> wrote:
Original subject: Cover blurbs that blow the plot!
>I find that Virago books (Dial Press/Penguin) have decent blurbs.
Occasionally one does find a book where they manage to do a decent
job, and avoid dropping spoilers.
One case that really surprised me: _Agyar_ by Steven Brust. I was
very surprised to not find a certain spoiler on the cover, despite
the fact that it might have help to sell the book.
(Those who have read the book should know what I mean, for those that
haven't, but don't intend to, I include more description below the
spoiler warning.)
-David Gibbs
(dag...@qnx.com)
SPOILER WARNING
Agyar, the protaganist, is a vampire. Considerring the current
trendiness of vampires, this could have been a strong selling
point. But the story is written such that you aren't told this
for much of the book, and the realization of the fact is one of
the nice parts of the book.
DAG
David Thomas Richard Given
Matt Hickman <bh...@chevron.com> wrote:
>In <3g07aq$1...@ousrvr.oulu.fi>, jval...@paju.oulu.fi (Jyrki Valkama) writes:
>I have a copy of RAH's _Orphans of the Sky_ (Signet third printing ca 1966)
>which has on the back cover:
>
> HUSTLERS OF OUTER SPACE
> Earth is overpopulated...dominated by machines..time for exploitation...
> industrial tycoons plan the greatest real estate coup of all time...
> sell the space staved public a chance to become homesteaders on the
> moon... BUT SOMEBODY ELSE GOT THERE FIRST...
Wow. My best example of erroneous blurb came from the back of an early
copy of _Dragonflight_, but this, well, there is no single *word* that's
relevant...
--
Why do people surf the Information | GCS -d+(?)(++) p(-+)(---) c++++ !l+(+)
Superhighway? Won't they get run | u++ e*(++) m*(++) s !n h+(++) f+ g+
over? | w+(+++) t--(+) r y? (Archimedes owner)
http://bute.st-andrews.ac.uk:1024/~virtual/home.html (Use at your own risk)
Arthur Hlavaty
: Quite some time ago, I bought a paperback with the cover of a
: Laumer novel (sorry, I can't remember which one) that turned out
: to have a totally unrelated mundane (probably spy) novel on the
: inside. Anyone remember that one? Was the Laumer novel published
: with the spy cover?
I think it was *Knight of Delusions* (which was his best novel).
Russ Allbery
>
>BTW does anyone know where Mercedes Lackey works -- particularly
>her Valdemar books but also the Elves and Fast Cars series
>are discussed?
Wouldn't this be the appropriate place? If not, I'd also appreciate some
direction, since I'd love to get into a discussion of Lackey's books as
well.
--
Russ Allbery (r...@cs.stanford.edu) http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~rra/
Robert A. Woodward
(Nancy Lebovitz) wrote:
> Quite some time ago, I bought a paperback with the cover of a
> Laumer novel (sorry, I can't remember which one) that turned out
> to have a totally unrelated mundane (probably spy) novel on the
> inside. Anyone remember that one? Was the Laumer novel published
> with the spy cover?
>
I saw a copy of binding mistake myself, about 20 years ago. As I recall,
the real Larmer novel came out about 9 months later (I believe that all
this happened in the late 60's). Never knew who was the author of the spy
thriller.
Matt McIrvin
David Thomas Richard Given <dt...@st-andrews.ac.uk> wrote:
>Wow. My best example of erroneous blurb came from the back of an early
>copy of _Dragonflight_, but this, well, there is no single *word* that's
>relevant...
Gee. All I recall was the blurb for Ben Bova's _As On a Darkling
Plain_ that moved Titan to an orbit around Jupiter, and the blurb for
J. G. Ballard's _Hello America_ that described a character whose
resemblance to Richard Nixon is repeatedly brought up in the novel as
a "William S. Burroughs look-alike."
--
Matt 01234567 <-- Indent-o-Meter
McIrvin ^ Harnessing tab damage for peaceful ends!
Gail Gurman
>Perhaps a Princess... <sa...@eskimo.com> writes:
>>BTW does anyone know where Mercedes Lackey works -- particularly
>>her Valdemar books but also the Elves and Fast Cars series
>>are discussed?
>Wouldn't this be the appropriate place? If not, I'd also appreciate some
>direction, since I'd love to get into a discussion of Lackey's books as
>well.
This *would* be an appropriate place if it were not for the existance of a
better one: alt.books.m-lackey
Gail
--
GTW/CS d H++ s:++ g- p? !au a w+ v+$(*) C++ US+$>++++ P>++ L>++ 3 E+@ N+(++) K-
W-(+) M+ V po- Y+ t+ 5+ j R>+ G+(') tv++ b++>+++ D+ B--- e++ u+@ h+ f+ r !n x+
the_lemming
>>Perhaps a Princess... <sa...@eskimo.com> writes:
>>>
>>>BTW does anyone know where Mercedes Lackey works -- particularly
>>>her Valdemar books but also the Elves and Fast Cars series
>>>are discussed?
>>
>>Wouldn't this be the appropriate place? If not, I'd also
appreciate some
>>direction, since I'd love to get into a discussion of Lackey's
books as
>>well.
>>
are her most recent books worth reading? I have the Magewinds
trilogy, but nothing after that in Valdemar and I found Chrome Circle
to be of could've-been-better quality.
--
The Lemming <ste...@alleg.EDU>
"But Westley--what about the R.O.U.S.'s?"
"Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist." <scream>
(The Princess Bride)
Jerry Cullingford
>Russ Allbery writes
>are her most recent books worth reading? I have the Magewinds
>trilogy, but nothing after that in Valdemar and I found Chrome Circle
>to be of could've-been-better quality.
Both _Storm Warning_ and _The Black Gryphon_ (Griffin? I always blank on
which spelling to use) are pretty good; I reckon they're at least as
good as the Magewinds books, maybe better.
BTW, there's also an active mailing list (and an alt group, which I've added
to the newsgroups line).
--
_|_
/ | Jerry Cullingford j...@crosfield.co.uk (Work)
\_|_ j...@selune.demon.co.uk (Home)
\__/ Hemel Hempstead, UK je...@shell.portal.com (alternate)
Frossie
Funnily enough, given that blurbs seem to annoy everyone (including
me), I found myself wishing that music tapes/CDs would have a short
description of the style and content of an album. Several moments of
self-analysis later I realised this is because I am not an "informed"
music buyer as I don't read the right sort of newsgroups/magazines
etc... and I would appreciate a short description to guide impulse
buys. So I guess blurbs cater to the analogous SF audience and must be
a good idea in general even though they're often terrible in the
specific.
Frossie, finally spotting the obvious
---
f...@roe.ac.uk/ QMW Physics Dept., London /Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh
"$HOME is where your dotfiles are" - Gym Quirk
Russell Schulz
> Brunner's _The Squares of the City_, which may or may not be SF (but I
> found it in the SF section), with both picture and blurb that would
> have revealed the crucial fact if I had paid *any* attention to them.
_was_ it SF? I also bought it because it was in the SF section, but
to have it
[SPOILERS]
simply end up with ``oh yeah, there was a game going on, if you reread
the book you'll see it'' was _highly_ disappointing.
> Given how surprising that "fact" is, perhaps the blurber can plead
> that no-one would have believed it anyway.
in a SF section, yes...
--
Russell Schulz rus...@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca ersys!rschulz Shad 86c
Sion Arrowsmith
> [... ]
>was a Science Fiction Book Club ad which included "STRANGER IN A STRANGE
>LAND: He knew the Martian love secret and it spelled his doom!"
>
crippled city, where time has lost its meaning, and violence is swift and
sudden, a nameless young man with no memory appears. He shares his great
strength in a loving trinity with a a young boy and a haunted, beautiful
woman in that time before the end of time." which, while not really
inaccurate in any way, strikes me as missing the point somewhat....
--
\S | "And all the superhighways have disappeared
si...@bast.demon.co.uk | "One by one. And all the towns and cities and signs
| "Are underwater now. They're gone." -- Laurie Anderson
Richard Treitel
|> I found myself wishing that music tapes/CDs would have a short
|> description of the style and content of an album.
In a fair number of cases, the picture on the front can give you an
idea, as can the song titles on the back (if listed). Indeed, I wish
the pictures on covers of F/SF books were as useful as those on CDs.
-- Richard
"Some magics *are* distinguishable from any advanced technology."
(If my employer holds these views, it hasn't told me.)
00hm...@bsuvc.bsu.edu
I heard that there was and alt.fan group for her, but I guess the net I'm with
doesn't access it :(. So why not talk about it here? What do those fans of
Mercedes think about both her new trilogies, the Mage Wars (the Black Gryphon)
and Mage Storms? It seems to me that with this ripple effect going around, it
would be conceivable that Skandranon might end up in Valdemar's future! Of
course, I'm probably way off base...but I like to speculate. Anyway, that's my
2 cents for now.
Heather Blinn (00hm...@bsuvc.bsu.edu)
HOLLY E ORDWAY
In addition to cover blurb spoilers (or inaccuracies) something
else that drives me crazy is when the facing page to the cover (for lack
of a better word for it) that usually gives an excerpt from the book,
contains spoilers. A number of books I've read have featured the highest
dramatic moment of the book at that point, thereby undoing any buildup in
the book to that point even if there is no complete spoiler. I found the
excerpt in LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea to be like that, and also to a
certain extent Simmons' Hyperion.
I have gotten around that now by avoiding reading that area,
although on occasion there is harmless or even useful excerpts there, as
in Brin's Startide Rising, which doesn't tell anything not revealed in
the first ten pages or so and which is extremely useful to the
understanding of the book if you happen to miss the actual appearance of
the excerpt in the book.
Holly E. Ordway
John T. Dow
: Russ Allbery writes
: >>Perhaps a Princess... <sa...@eskimo.com> writes:
: >>>
: >>>BTW does anyone know where Mercedes Lackey works -- particularly
: >>>her Valdemar books but also the Elves and Fast Cars series
: >>>are discussed?
: >>
: >>Wouldn't this be the appropriate place? If not, I'd also
: appreciate some
: >>direction, since I'd love to get into a discussion of Lackey's
: books as
: >>well.
: >>
:
: Discuss away. You got a third fan right here! My question being,
: are her most recent books worth reading? I have the Magewinds
: trilogy, but nothing after that in Valdemar and I found Chrome Circle
: to be of could've-been-better quality.
There's here, the (very low-traffic) ML newsgroup alt.books.m-lackey,
and the ML mailing list. (Email me for subscription info. :)
-The quiet one
(Sort of president of the newly formed Vanyel Fan Club. Email
j...@speedy.cs.pitt.edu ( <----use this email address!) for more information
on the VFC. :)
Cchanson
away from spoilers strictly speaking) is from mid-80's Ace edition of John
Myers Myers' _The Harp and the Blade_: "A fantasy of Druidic England" It
ain't a fantasy, there ain't no druids, and it ain't in England. (It's
historical fiction set in 9th-10th century Brittany.) The cover art
features a sullen jock in silk loincloth posing in front of Stonehenge,
evidently because one of the characters is named Conan - a fine upstanding
Breton name centuries before Robert E Howard set fingers to keyboard.
If you ever find it, ignore the cover and plunge right in. A great read.
Caleb
Joe Morris
>I heard that there was and alt.fan group for her, but I guess the net I'm with
>doesn't access it :(.
It's alt.books.m-lackey but (as you probably have noticed in the past) the
alt.* newsgroups get less than universal coverage.
Joe Morris / MITRE
David Gibbs
David Thomas Richard Given
Date: 26 Jan 1995 22:51:37 GMT
Message-Id: <3g991p$h...@calvin.st-and.ac.uk>
In article <3g0qjt$1s...@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>,
Matt Hickman <bh...@chevron.com> wrote:
>In <3g07aq$1...@ousrvr.oulu.fi>, jval...@paju.oulu.fi (Jyrki Valkama) writes:
>I have a copy of RAH's _Orphans of the Sky_ (Signet third printing ca 1966)
>which has on the back cover:
>
> HUSTLERS OF OUTER SPACE
> Earth is overpopulated...dominated by machines..time for exploitation...
> industrial tycoons plan the greatest real estate coup of all time...
> sell the space staved public a chance to become homesteaders on the
> moon... BUT SOMEBODY ELSE GOT THERE FIRST...
Wow. My best example of erroneous blurb came from the back of an early
copy of _Dragonflight_, but this, well, there is no single *word* that's
relevant...
Yet Another Steve
> In article <D381L...@festival.ed.ac.uk>, f...@roe.ac.uk (Frossie) writes:
> |> I found myself wishing that music tapes/CDs would have a short
> |> description of the style and content of an album.
>
> In a fair number of cases, the picture on the front can give you an
> idea, as can the song titles on the back (if listed). Indeed, I wish
> the pictures on covers of F/SF books were as useful as those on CDs.
So do we all. But, unless the book is actually *about* "attractive
people holding big weapons", you aren't going to get your wish for the
most part.
Steve
Tarja Rainio
Morris) wrote:
There's also a mailing list for her works which is very active (= usually
lots of mail per day). You can join the mailing list by sending the
following text in the body of the message (no Subject) to
list...@uel.ac.uk:
subscribe mercede...@uel.ac.uk YourName
Of course, substituting your own name in the proper place. You send
messages to the list by sending them to the list address:
mercede...@uel.ac.uk
Tarja Rainio
tlra...@katk.helsinki.fi
Perhaps a Princess...
Message-Id: <D330x...@eskimo.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 1995 20:58:35 GMT
How about the opposite problem? Cover blurbs that have absolutely
NOTHING to do with the book.
I was recently reading _MAgic's Pawn_ by mercedes Lackey (for the fourth
or so time) and I noticed the back cover blurb. (Luckily, I was recommended
the series. I had never seen the blurb before)
"Mage-craft -- Though Vanyel has been born with near-legendary abilities
to work both Herald and Mage magic, he wants no part of such things.
Nor does he seek a warrior's path, wishing instead to become a Bard. Yet
such talent as his if left untrained may prove a menace not only to Vanyel
but to others as well. So he is sent to be fostered with his aunt, Savil,
one of the famed Herald-Mages of Valdemar.
But, strong-willed and self-centered, Vanyel is a challenge which even
Savil can not master alone. For soon he will become the focus of
frightening forces, lending his raw magic to a spell that unleashes
terrifying wyr-hunters on the land. And by the time Savil seeks the
assistance of a Shin'a'in Adept, Vanyel's wild talen may have already
grown beyond anyone's ability to contain, placing Vanyel, Savil, and
Valdemar itself in desperate peril."
I have not yet figured out how this blurb got on this book.
yeah, the book has Vanyel, Savil, and the Adepts in it. And
even wyr. but all the between-words are just plain wrong.
BTW does anyone know where Mercedes Lackey works -- particularly
her Valdemar books but also the Elves and Fast Cars series
are discussed?
===================================================
Sarah sa...@eskimo.com
===================================================
My picture of the world is of masses of people extending gifts to other
people, doing favors -- but nobody keeping score. -- Dr. Whitsett
===================================================
Jo Walton
"Succeeds Brilliantly - Locus". Talk about giving away the end... :)
--
Jo
*********************************************************
- - I kissed a kif at Kefk - -
*********************************************************
Dorothy J Heydt
Jo Walton <J...@kenjo.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Just noticed one on _Cyteen: The Vindication_ - under the title it says
>"Succeeds Brilliantly - Locus". Talk about giving away the end... :)
Oh, I dunno.... I think they were talking about Cherryh
succeeding brilliantly, not Ari. The book could've been a
serious depressing tragedy by LeGuin or somebody, and it could've
been a very good book, succeeding as a work of literature.
But if it were like that, I wouldn't now be rereading it for the
umpteenth time. (Young Ari, her arm in a sling, is looking at
the old family album....)
Dorothy J. Heydt
djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu
University of California
Berkeley