Authors who only write *half* the story
The Blue Rose
good book/series and although what you have read has been a worthwhile
effort, you want to know "what happens next"
The classic example of this is GGK's Tigana but there are several I
have this problem with.
Fionavar Tapestry, Tigana, Song for Arbonne (but not Lions
strangely)all by GGK
The ending of the Mallorean
Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince/Star series- this in particular gets to
me as she makes several comments that appear to be foreshadowing but
never follows up on them
Michael Scott Rohans Spiral and Core books (Chase the Morning, Gates
of Noon, Cloud Castles) it was these books that got me started on
this idea. At the end the hero has discovered the reason behind all
his adventures and is faced with the biggest challenge of all! But no
book about it (AFAIK)
Cyteen - well we all want to know what happens after don't we :-)
Do you get the idea? Does anyone have any other books that they want
to know what happens next?
Stacey - I should be more easily satisfied!
Stacey Hill (note 2 spambusters in my address if replying by e-mail)
"A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument"
Check out my Gardening and Rose website at
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/9544/index.html
Dorothy J Heydt
The Blue Rose <sta...@xtra.spambuster.co.nz.remove this to reply> wrote:
[list of several books/series that she wishes had been longer]
>good book/series and although what you have read has been a worthwhile
Funnily enough, with one exception, her entire list consists of
works I could never get to the existing end of in the first place,
and so far from wanting to know "what happens next," I tended to
pronounce the Eight Deadly Words,
"I don't *care* *WHAT* happens to these people!"
and refrain from buying the rest of the series.
The one exception is
>Cyteen - well we all want to know what happens after don't we :-)
regarding which, I'm told Cherryh is now working on a sequel.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
http://www.kithrup.com/~djheydt
_A Point of Honor_ is out....
Doug Tricarico
sta...@xtra.spambuster.co.nz.removethistoreply (The Blue Rose) writes:
>
>To clarify on my header, what I mean is when you get to the end of a
>
>The classic example of this is GGK's Tigana but there are several I
>have this problem with.
...
>Do you get the idea? Does anyone have any other books that they want
>to know what happens next?
Anything by Jack McDevitt. I like his writing, and his premises are
interesting, but these long books feel more like "Chapter One, Part
One" than complete stories.
I'm surprised you read as many of those books as you did. I gave up on
McDevitt halfway through my second attempt, because I could see he
wasn't going to finish the thought. More's the pity, but I have other
stuff to read instead.
Doug
Avram Grumer
sta...@xtra.spambuster.co.nz.remove this to reply wrote:
> To clarify on my header, what I mean is when you get to the
> end of a good book/series and although what you have read has
> been a worthwhile effort, you want to know "what happens next"
I'd rather be left at the end of a story wanting more than feeling glad
that it's over.
--
Avram Grumer | av...@bigfoot.com | http://www.bigfoot.com/~avram/
Come the Revolution, Comrade, you _will_ want to send a fax from the beach!
Aristotle Jones
too busy to finish them. I hung on even that long because he
has written one of my favorite alltime shortstories, Cryptic.
He keeps you hanging until the very last sentence.
IMO, it is his masterpiece. [its on audiotape too]
Now if you want to twist the subject into "Authors who
setup cliffhangers and promise to deal with all the loose
ends in the next book, and the next book starts on a cliff, but
on a completely different planet", I have five Benford books
I want to sell you.
<*>aj
Doug Tricarico wrote:
> In <35bc1b60...@news.xtra.co.nz>
> sta...@xtra.spambuster.co.nz.removethistoreply (The Blue Rose) writes:
> >
> >To clarify on my header, what I mean is when you get to the end of a
> >good book/series and although what you have read has been a worthwhile
> >effort, you want to know "what happens next"
> >
Dan Swartzendruber
wrote:
>I've tried several of McDevitt's novels and either got bored or
>too busy to finish them. I hung on even that long because he
>has written one of my favorite alltime shortstories, Cryptic.
>He keeps you hanging until the very last sentence.
>IMO, it is his masterpiece. [its on audiotape too]
>
>Now if you want to twist the subject into "Authors who
>setup cliffhangers and promise to deal with all the loose
>ends in the next book, and the next book starts on a cliff, but
>on a completely different planet", I have five Benford books
>I want to sell you.
Pah. I'll take that anyday. What really cheeses me is authors who
leave a series incomplete. For years. Some of them even die before
they get around to finishing (case in point: Madwand/Changeling by
Roger Zelasny. An obvious trilogy [at least]. Never finished [unless
it was planned to leave us twisting in the breeze. There are others I
could think of...)
Courtenay Footman
>
>Do you get the idea? Does anyone have any other books that they want
>to know what happens next?
>
involved soap opera that was set in the Philipines, and ended in
December 1941. Um, isn't there something that is about to happen next?
--
Courtenay Footman I have again gotten back on the net, and
c...@lightlink.com again I will never get anything done.
(All mail from non-valid addresses is automatically deleted by my system.)
Gareth Wilson
> Anything by Jack McDevitt. I like his writing, and his premises are
> interesting, but these long books feel more like "Chapter One, Part
> One" than complete stories.
>
> I'm surprised you read as many of those books as you did. I gave up on
> McDevitt halfway through my second attempt, because I could see he
> wasn't going to finish the thought. More's the pity, but I have other
> stuff to read instead.
>
> Doug
This is a problem I have with a lot of SF novelettes in magazines like
Analog. Too often they read like the first chapter of a novel, just
setting up the background and not doing anything with it. This isn't a
problem with the short stories, oddly.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gareth Wilson
Christchurch
New Zealand
e-mail gr...@student.canterbury.ac.nz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Given
Dan Swartzendruber <dsw...@druber.com> wrote:
[...]
>Pah. I'll take that anyday. What really cheeses me is authors who
>leave a series incomplete. For years. Some of them even die before
>they get around to finishing (case in point: Madwand/Changeling by
>Roger Zelasny. An obvious trilogy [at least]. Never finished [unless
>it was planned to leave us twisting in the breeze. There are others I
>could think of...)
Arthur Ransome. When he died, he was working on a book where he brought
the Death and Glories up to the Lake. The last scene he wrote was when the
Swallows and Amazons meet them... talk about cliffhangers!
--
+- David Given ----------------+
| Work: d...@tao.co.uk | The illegal we do immediately. The
| Play: dgi...@iname.com | unconstitutional takes a little longer.
+- http://wiredsoc.ml.org/~dg -+
Dan Swartzendruber
>In article <35bf3dd3...@news.kersur.net>,
>Dan Swartzendruber <dsw...@druber.com> wrote:
>[...]
>>Pah. I'll take that anyday. What really cheeses me is authors who
>>leave a series incomplete. For years. Some of them even die before
>>they get around to finishing (case in point: Madwand/Changeling by
>>Roger Zelasny. An obvious trilogy [at least]. Never finished [unless
>>it was planned to leave us twisting in the breeze. There are others I
>>could think of...)
>
>Arthur Ransome. When he died, he was working on a book where he brought
>the Death and Glories up to the Lake. The last scene he wrote was when the
>Swallows and Amazons meet them... talk about cliffhangers!
Another that comes to mind is a two-book series written back in the
80's by Timothy Zahn. The end of the second book, while not a
cliffhanger, is obviously leaving the story incomplete.
Brenda Clough
Dan Swartzendruber wrote:
I don't think anybody could blame the poor author, if he happened to die before
finishing the series. It is also possible that the publisher refused to print
the final volume of a trilogy, because the first two tanked. Why should they
throw more money down the rathole?
Brenda
--
Brenda W. Clough, author of HOW LIKE A GOD from Tor Books
<clo...@erols.com> http://www.sff.net/people/Brenda
Evelyn C. Leeper
Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
> Dan Swartzendruber wrote:
> > Another that comes to mind is a two-book series written back in the
> > 80's by Timothy Zahn. The end of the second book, while not a
> > cliffhanger, is obviously leaving the story incomplete.
> I don't think anybody could blame the poor author, if he happened to die
> before finishing the series. It is also possible that the publisher
> refused to print the final volume of a trilogy, because the first two
> tanked. Why should they throw more money down the rathole?
Of course, too much of this and readers will stop buying the first
books of a series until they are all out. At least, I hope so.
I have gotten so disgusted with the amount of time it takes to get the
whole series out (when it does all come out) that I have decided not to
review any series until it is complete. In fact, I won't *read* the series
until it's done, and probably won't buy it either. The only exceptions
are those in which the individual books really *do* stand alone (e.g.,
Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series).
I often feel like I should pay for book one of a trilogy with the left
third of a $5 bill (or whatever), book two with the middle third, and
book three with the right third. If the publisher is going to give me
only a third of the story, it should get only a third of the payment.
--
Evelyn C. Leeper | ele...@lucent.com
+1 732 957 2070 | http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824
"That's how things are--you open the door to a possibility and the next
thing you know, an actuality has you by the throat." --Russell Hoban
Jon Ballinger
>In article <35BDEBF3...@erols.com>,
>Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
>> Dan Swartzendruber wrote:
>> > Another that comes to mind is a two-book series written back in the
>> > 80's by Timothy Zahn. The end of the second book, while not a
>> > cliffhanger, is obviously leaving the story incomplete.
>> I don't think anybody could blame the poor author, if he happened to die
>> before finishing the series. It is also possible that the publisher
>> refused to print the final volume of a trilogy, because the first two
>> tanked. Why should they throw more money down the rathole?
>
>Of course, too much of this and readers will stop buying the first
>books of a series until they are all out. At least, I hope so.
>
>I have gotten so disgusted with the amount of time it takes to get the
>whole series out (when it does all come out) that I have decided not to
>review any series until it is complete. In fact, I won't *read* the series
>until it's done, and probably won't buy it either. The only exceptions
>are those in which the individual books really *do* stand alone (e.g.,
>Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series).
>
>I often feel like I should pay for book one of a trilogy with the left
>third of a $5 bill (or whatever), book two with the middle third, and
>book three with the right third. If the publisher is going to give me
>only a third of the story, it should get only a third of the payment.
Does this include books that can be individual stories but *also* make up a
vast complete saga?
--
Jon Ballinger
ICQ Number 1026945
E-mail jon.ba...@jabsystems.prestel.co.uk
Webpage (original fiction) www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/jabsystems
Kim DeVaughn
Evelyn C. Leeper <ele...@lucent.com> wrote:
|
| I have gotten so disgusted with the amount of time it takes to get the
| whole series out (when it does all come out) that I have decided not to
| review any series until it is complete. In fact, I won't *read* the series
| until it's done, and probably won't buy it either.
Unfortunately, by then the earlier books are often difficult to find, or
may even be out of print.
I've fallen prey to this phenomenon several times when the book I picked
up was part of a series (or at least a member of the same "universe"), and
I was unaware that it had antecedent(s).
Most recently I think, this bit me with Ben Bova's "Empire Builders", which,
as it turns out, is a sequel to "Privateers". I have yet to come across
the latter. Fortunately, EB was a good novel in its own right ...
One of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of things, I
suppose. Sigh.
/kim
============================================================================
"Natural laws have no pity." --Lazarus Long [as chronicled by R.A.Heinlein]
Brenda Clough
Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
> > I don't think anybody could blame the poor author, if he happened to die
> > before finishing the series. It is also possible that the publisher
> > refused to print the final volume of a trilogy, because the first two
> > tanked. Why should they throw more money down the rathole?
>
> Of course, too much of this and readers will stop buying the first
> books of a series until they are all out. At least, I hope so.
Well, as I say, if nobody buys volume 1, they're not going to put out Vols.
2-6. And the author, despairing, will go back to her career in neurosurgery,
never to write again.
mell...@bu.edu
: In article <6pkrij$4...@nntpb.cb.lucent.com>,
: Evelyn C. Leeper <ele...@lucent.com> wrote:
: |
: | I have gotten so disgusted with the amount of time it takes to get the
: | whole series out (when it does all come out) that I have decided not to
: | review any series until it is complete. In fact, I won't *read* the series
: | until it's done, and probably won't buy it either.
: Unfortunately, by then the earlier books are often difficult to find, or
: may even be out of print.
: I've fallen prey to this phenomenon several times when the book I picked
: up was part of a series (or at least a member of the same "universe"), and
: I was unaware that it had antecedent(s).
: Most recently I think, this bit me with Ben Bova's "Empire Builders", which,
: as it turns out, is a sequel to "Privateers". I have yet to come across
: the latter. Fortunately, EB was a good novel in its own right ...
I would actually classify Privateers as one of the books being
discussed here. It ended just when I thought the story was geting
interesting. Now that I know there's a sequel I'll try to track it
down.
And if you want to read Privateers, you can have my paperback copy.
I was going to sell it for credit at the store I work at, but as I'd
get less than a dollar you're welcome to it. Email me if you're
interested.
Pete
Mike Arnautov
>Pah. I'll take that anyday. What really cheeses me is authors who
>leave a series incomplete.
Quite so! Where's that last volume of Diane Duane's _The Door into..._
series, we ask? :-(
--
Mike Arnautov
m...@mipmip.demon-co-antispam-uk
Replace dashes with dots and remove the antispam component.
Mike Arnautov
>I don't think anybody could blame the poor author, if he happened to die before
>finishing the series.
Damn inconsiderate, that's what I say!
Scott Hendrick
Shannara series. Not one of the first 3 books had any
kind of resolution. I refused to read them until the series
was all out in paperback, and then I bought them all used.
I find these unfinished books somewhat annoying...
Of course, the Lord of the Rings was written in this manner,
and I have no complaints about that series for some reason.
Perhaps the quality of the writing also is important...
Scott Hendrick
----------------------------------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the "NoSpam" from
my e-mail address and domain
Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote in article
<35BE1E96...@erols.com>...
Joe Slater
>Of course, too much of this and readers will stop buying the first
>books of a series until they are all out. At least, I hope so.
>
>whole series out (when it does all come out) that I have decided not to
>review any series until it is complete. In fact, I won't *read* the series
>until it's done, and probably won't buy it either.
Same here. Of course, the consequence of this is that due to poor
sales the series are then less likely to be finished, and the author
will get a reputation for being less saleable - perhaps aspiring
writers should be warned that starting series can be bad for their
professional health.
jds
Joe Slater
>Terry Brooks was horribly guilty of this with the second
>Shannara series. Not one of the first 3 books had any
>kind of resolution. I refused to read them until the series
>was all out in paperback, and then I bought them all used.
>I find these unfinished books somewhat annoying...
>
>Of course, the Lord of the Rings was written in this manner,
No, in fact I believe that it was written and sold as a single book,
but it was cut into three volumes because they were too unwieldy.
jds
Matt Austern
> No, in fact I believe that it was written and sold as a single book,
> but it was cut into three volumes because they were too unwieldy.
Right. If Lord of the Rings is a series, then so is Pride and
Prejudice.
Dorothy J Heydt
Scott Hendrick <CornOnR...@aolNoSpam.com> wrote:
>
>Of course, the Lord of the Rings was written in this manner,
Um? Perhaps your tongue is in your cheek? You probably do know
that _LotR_ was written as one huge long novel (such as were
popular during Tolkien's Edwardian youth) and divided into
three volumes for the convenience of the publishers.
Tony Zbaraschuk
Scott Hendrick <CornOnR...@aolNoSpam.com> wrote:
>Of course, the Lord of the Rings was written in this manner,
>and I have no complaints about that series for some reason.
>Perhaps the quality of the writing also is important...
To be pedantic about it, LOTR was written as a _single_ book and
divided into separate volumes by the publisher. It's _not_ a
series of independent books.
Tony Z
--
Over the altar, flame of anatomized fire,
the High Prince stood, gyre in burning gyre;
day level before him, night massed behind;
the Table ascended; the glories intertwined -- Charles Williams
jessie shelton
> Quite so! Where's that last volume of Diane Duane's _The Door into..._
> series, we ask? :-(
According to her website, she's working on it now. Not that this
necessarily means we ought to get our hopes up. :P
jessie
--
---------------------------------------------------------------
jessie shelton (one side of moebius)
shelton(AT)princeton.edu http://www.princeton.edu/~shelton
"Tick, clong, tick, clong, tick, clong, went the night."
- King Clode, _The White Deer_, Thurber
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sharon Goetz
antispam-uk says...
> Quite so! Where's that last volume of Diane Duane's _The Door into..._
> series, we ask? :-(
Being worked over One Last Time, says her (and Peter Morwood's) Web page.
see http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~owls/index.html , then click Homeward and
scroll down.
sharon
--
Please remove the X from my address if you want to send me
reasonable email.
Kurt Montandon
: In article <01bdba70$cb6613d0$bc0ba8c0@dnwhendrick>,
: Scott Hendrick <CornOnR...@aolNoSpam.com> wrote:
: >
: >Of course, the Lord of the Rings was written in this manner,
:
: Um? Perhaps your tongue is in your cheek? You probably do know
: that _LotR_ was written as one huge long novel (such as were
: popular during Tolkien's Edwardian youth) and divided into
: three volumes for the convenience of the publishers.
Were any editions ever published as a single, huge volume?\
Preferably without any special dividers between the traditionally
published books.
Kurt Montandon
Dorothy J Heydt
Kurt Montandon <ez07...@dilbert.ucdavis.edu> wrote:
>
>Were any editions ever published as a single, huge volume?
>Preferably without any special dividers between the traditionally
>published books.
I've seen a few. There's one currently in print with gorgeous
illustrations by Alan Lee, which I want some day when I have
the money....
Margaret R. Dean
>: In article <01bdba70$cb6613d0$bc0ba8c0@dnwhendrick>,
>: Scott Hendrick <CornOnR...@aolNoSpam.com> wrote:
>: >
>: >Of course, the Lord of the Rings was written in this manner,
>:
>: Um? Perhaps your tongue is in your cheek? You probably do know
>: that _LotR_ was written as one huge long novel (such as were
>: popular during Tolkien's Edwardian youth) and divided into
>: three volumes for the convenience of the publishers.
>
>Preferably without any special dividers between the traditionally
>published books.
There've been a number of one-volume editions. My favorite is the one
published by Unwin Hyman on Bible paper -- so that it's about the same
thickness as a "normal" hardcover. :)
--Margaret Dean
<marg...@access.digex.net>
Brenda Clough
Margaret R. Dean wrote:
> There've been a number of one-volume editions. My favorite is the one
> published by Unwin Hyman on Bible paper -- so that it's about the same
> thickness as a "normal" hardcover. :)
>
> --Margaret Dean
> <marg...@access.digex.net>
This is the one that I read in my teens. Unfortunately it has none of the
indexes or source material in the back.
Margaret R. Dean
Brenda Clough <clo...@erols.com> wrote:
>
>
>Margaret R. Dean wrote:
>
>> There've been a number of one-volume editions. My favorite is the one
>> published by Unwin Hyman on Bible paper -- so that it's about the same
>> thickness as a "normal" hardcover. :)
>
>indexes or source material in the back.
Must be a different edition. The one I'm talking about is a fancy
hardcover in a slipcase, and it does have the Appendices and index. The
two maps are the front and back endpapers.
--Margaret Dean
<marg...@access.digex.net>
Scott Hendrick
lot better. Also, Roger Zelazny's 2nd Amber series felt unfinished
after each book, and it even felt unfinished when it was done. And
then he dies, leaving me no closure...
Scott Hendrick
-------------------------------------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the "NoSpam" from
my e-mail address and domain
Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote in article
<Ewtu0...@kithrup.com>...
> You probably do know
> that _LotR_ was written as one huge long novel (such as were
> popular during Tolkien's Edwardian youth) and divided into
> three volumes for the convenience of the publishers.
>
Michael S. Schiffer
> Were any editions [of _The Lord of the Rings_ ever published as a
> single, huge volume?\ Preferably without any special dividers
> between the traditionally published books.
I have one, a relic of my misspent youth (to which I devoted
the entire proceeds of several weeks of pet-sitting). I think the
same edition is still in print and available at bookstores: a big red
book (the Red Book of Westmarch, presumably) with the title and some
designs in metallic gold and other colors. (No jacket-- the book
itself is in some sort of [almost certainly fake] leather.) The paper
it's printed on is some of the smoothest and nicest-feeling I've ever
run across (though it doubtless helps that I bought it when I was at
the Golden Age of 12 or so). I think it does note the traditional
book titles inside the book, but not on the cover.
Mike
--
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN,FCS GURPS Alternate Earths is being reprinted!
Co-author: GURPS Alt. Earths Check out Steve Jackson Games' page at
ms...@tezcat.com <http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/AltEarths/>
ms...@midway.uchicago.edu for details.
tomlinson
: In article <6pm8kg$j11$3...@mark.ucdavis.edu>,
: Kurt Montandon <ez07...@dilbert.ucdavis.edu> wrote:
: > Were any editions [of _The Lord of the Rings_ ever published as a
: > single, huge volume?\ Preferably without any special dividers
: > between the traditionally published books.
: I have one, a relic of my misspent youth (to which I devoted
: the entire proceeds of several weeks of pet-sitting). I think the
: same edition is still in print and available at bookstores: a big red
: book (the Red Book of Westmarch, presumably) with the title and some
: designs in metallic gold and other colors.
I have another one-volume set, illustrated by Alan Lee. I do not
remember the publisher, but the book itself is bound up in generic
textbook style (brown cloth hardcover, etc.) It's fallen apart a
couple of times, and there's quite a bit a glue holding the thing
together. Cost me sixty dollars :-b I bought it when I was about
eighteen. I'm a little sorry I paid that much, but OTOH my older
Ballantine paperbacks fell apart in no time at all and have long
since been consigned to the dustbin.
-tomlinson
--
Ernest S. Tomlinson - San Diego State University
Mike Arnautov
>There've been a number of one-volume editions. My favorite is the one
>published by Unwin Hyman on Bible paper -- so that it's about the same
>thickness as a "normal" hardcover. :)
One of my my cherished posessions too! And its companion volume _The
Hobbit_, also boxed, same style of cover and binding and amazingly the
same thickness as LotR. Oh yes, and it has Tolkien's own illustrations.
Sadly, they don't seem to have published _Silmarillion_ in the same
manner.
Nancy Lebovitz
Gareth Wilson <gr...@student.canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:
>
>This is a problem I have with a lot of SF novelettes in magazines like
>Analog. Too often they read like the first chapter of a novel, just
>setting up the background and not doing anything with it. This isn't a
>problem with the short stories, oddly.
Don't a lot of them end up as parts of fix-up novels?
--
Nancy Lebovitz (nan...@universe.digex.net)
May '98 calligraphic button catalogue available by email!
RONJULES
they want
>to know what happens next?
Did anyone finish Brin's latest uplift trilogy and go:"Aaaaarrrgghhhh!!!!"?
P. Morwood & D. Duane
turns up twice, my apologies...)
On Tue, 28 Jul 1998 22:28:59 +0100, Mike Arnautov
<m...@mipmip.demon-co-antispam-uk> wrote:
>>Pah. I'll take that anyday. What really cheeses me is authors who
>>leave a series incomplete.
>
>Quite so! Where's that last volume of Diane Duane's _The Door into..._
>series, we ask? :-(
Mmmm. Not that I haven't asked this question myself, occasionally.
The short answer is that It's Not Ready. Sometimes a book's plotting (the
hardest part, for me) simply refuses to meet the one-book-a-year schedule
beloved of publishers these days, and there's just nothing the writer can do
about it.
This can be frustrating. Other books I've been working on don't seem to have
this problem. ON HER MAJESTY'S WIZARDLY SERVICE followed THE BOOK OF NIGHT WITH
MOON within a year with no trouble. THE BIG MEOW looks like it'll do the same.
...STARLIGHT, though, remains recalcitrant. I hope to come to grips with it
next year, in the spring. We'll see what happens.
It remains to be seen, though, whether Tor is going to be interested in
publishing the book when there is such a gap between it and ...SUNSET. We'll
have to see about that, as well, when the outline is in order and submitted
within the next couple of months.
Best! -- Diane
Peter Morwood & Diane Duane /
The Owl Springs Partnership / Co. Wicklow, Ireland
"On Her Majesty's Wizardly Service" is now out: for details,
see http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~owls/bookman.htm
jessie shelton
[door into starlight]
> The short answer is that It's Not Ready. Sometimes a book's plotting (the
> hardest part, for me) simply refuses to meet the one-book-a-year schedule
> beloved of publishers these days, and there's just nothing the writer can do
> about it.
Ah. <sigh> oh well. Go ahead and take as long as you need to get it
done right. Provided you don't give up on it entirely, we'll forgive
you. Door into Starlight is one of those books which really must be
done right, and there's no forcing those.
thanks much for posting.
jessie
(who adores Door into Shadow)
P. Morwood & D. Duane
<shelton@princeton&spambane.edu> wrote:
>Ah. <sigh> oh well. Go ahead and take as long as you need to get it
>done right. Provided you don't give up on it entirely, we'll forgive
>you. Door into Starlight is one of those books which really must be
>done right, and there's no forcing those.
I have no intention whatsoever of giving up on them, even if circumstances
require me to eventually self-publish. These books have simply (one after
another) been waiting, it seems to me, for their writer to acquire enough
experience to write them properly. And as for the fourth and last book of this
group, in which, well, a lot of things *happen*, I want to make sure that
everything turns out right. Otherwise I will kick myself right around the
block. (And I suspect I'll have a lot of help.) :)
P. Morwood & D. Duane
<shelton@princeton&spambane.edu> wrote:
>P. Morwood & D. Duane wrote:
>
>[door into starlight]
By the way, I forgot to mention that I'm presently working on a short story in
the Middle Kingdoms universe for "Dragon" magazine: sort of a prequel to the
"Sirronde" story that appeared in the Flashing Swords anthology some years ago.
Not sure what the pub date will be.
Best! -- Diane
Peter Morwood & Diane Duane /
The Owl Springs Partnership / Co. Wicklow, Ireland
jessie shelton
> By the way, I forgot to mention that I'm presently working on a short story in
> the Middle Kingdoms universe for "Dragon" magazine: sort of a prequel to the
> "Sirronde" story that appeared in the Flashing Swords anthology some years ago.
> Not sure what the pub date will be.
argk! Nobody told me about short stories in the Middle Kingdoms! Now
I'll have to go dig this "Sirronde" up somewhere..
jessie
jessie shelton
Thanks a lot for the info!
> They're a bitch to find these days, but not impossible.
<sigh> having finally finished my DWJ collection, I suppose I have to
find a new set of used book store grails. As if trying to track down
Pamela Dean's Secret Country books wasn't bad enough...
Hey, I know. Suppose we could talk Diane Duane into putting these up
with the Alexlit stories? <g>
Andrew Plotkin
> P. Morwood & D. Duane wrote:
> > By the way, I forgot to mention that I'm presently working on a short story in
> > the Middle Kingdoms universe for "Dragon" magazine: sort of a prequel to the
> > "Sirronde" story that appeared in the Flashing Swords anthology some years ago.
> > Not sure what the pub date will be.
>
> argk! Nobody told me about short stories in the Middle Kingdoms!
They're a bitch to find these days, but not impossible.
"Parting Gifts", a Middle Kingdoms short story, in the collection _Flashing
Swords! #5_, ed. Lin Carter.
"Lior and the Sea", another Middle Kingdoms short story, in the collection
_Moonsinger's Friends_, ed. Susan Shwartz.
And, the extra-special hard-to-find: "Uptown Local", a Nita&Kit short
story, in the collection _Dragons & Dreams_, ed. Jane Yolen.
Happy hunting.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
William George Ferguson
>(This is a repost of a message that doesn't seem to have propagated. If it
>turns up twice, my apologies...)
[snip: lament about the lateness of Door into Starlight. Me, I look
at the gap between Fire and Shadow, and between Shadow and Sunset, and
figure it's right on schedule]
>Mmmm. Not that I haven't asked this question myself, occasionally.
>
>The short answer is that It's Not Ready. Sometimes a book's plotting (the
>hardest part, for me) simply refuses to meet the one-book-a-year schedule
>beloved of publishers these days, and there's just nothing the writer can do
>about it.
>
>This can be frustrating. Other books I've been working on don't seem to have
>this problem. ON HER MAJESTY'S WIZARDLY SERVICE followed THE BOOK OF NIGHT WITH
>MOON within a year with no trouble. THE BIG MEOW looks like it'll do the same.
>...STARLIGHT, though, remains recalcitrant. I hope to come to grips with it
>next year, in the spring. We'll see what happens.
>
>It remains to be seen, though, whether Tor is going to be interested in
>publishing the book when there is such a gap between it and ...SUNSET. We'll
>have to see about that, as well, when the outline is in order and submitted
>within the next couple of months.
>
>Best! -- Diane
I know. You could publish under a different name. Then TOR could
trumpet it as 'the great new fantasy series from a new discovery, D.D.
Morwood', and it could be hyped in the trades, and make the 'best new
author' lists, and there could be speculation about just who D.D.
Morwood really is, and...
Sorry, I'll be nice (but it's worked for others, right?)
George, still patiently waiting for Starlight.
P. Morwood & D. Duane
wrote:
>[snip: lament about the lateness of Door into Starlight. Me, I look
>at the gap between Fire and Shadow, and between Shadow and Sunset, and
>figure it's right on schedule]
Oooooo. Painful but probably true. :)
>I know. You could publish under a different name. Then TOR could
>trumpet it as 'the great new fantasy series from a new discovery, D.D.
>Morwood', and it could be hyped in the trades, and make the 'best new
>author' lists, and there could be speculation about just who D.D.
>Morwood really is, and...
(snort) PuhLEEEZE. ;)
Especially since it seems P. and I are going to have to do this, or something
like this, for another project. It's a historical, but there is vast
disinterest in it because the sales forces in question are not sure that I/we
can successfully "cross genre". (The logic of this is lost on me, though. Peter
and I make up whole *worlds'* worth of history all the time, and tell stories
inside those histories. Therefore Peter and I are judged unable to successfully
tell a story inside a history that's already here. <ear-reaming-out mode>
...Huh? Wha? </ear-reaming-out mode>) Anyway, no one wants make a buy on the
basis of chapters and outline, as usual: everyone wants to see the completed
novel.
Which is going to be about 200,000 words, or more. (sigh) There has been some
discussion of, when we finally *do* get a draft finished, showing it about under
a pseudonym. Neither of us would mind being a new discovery again. :))))) Heh
heh. Revenge!!! D.
P. Morwood & D. Duane
>jessie shelton (shelton@princeton&spambane.edu) wrote:
>> argk! Nobody told me about short stories in the Middle Kingdoms!
>"Parting Gifts", a Middle Kingdoms short story, in the collection _Flashing
>Swords! #5_, ed. Lin Carter.
That's the "Sirronde" story in question.
>
>"Lior and the Sea", another Middle Kingdoms short story, in the collection
>_Moonsinger's Friends_, ed. Susan Shwartz.
Gosh, I forgot about that one.
Meanwhile, it looks like "The Span" is going to be in the December issue of
Dragon, if I can get it in OK this weekend.
Best! D.