Old Tea Leaf Reviews 9: 1989 Locus Poll Best First Novel
James Nicoll
Best First Novel
1 Desolation Road Ian McDonald
I have read most of McDonald's books but not as it happens
this one. I do own a copy and will get around to it some day.
I don't think it is unreasonable to describe him as both
successful and moderately prolific. I do wish he was less fond of
Quantum as a plot device.
2 Walkabout Woman Michaela Roessner
I did not read this. I think I read VANISHING POINT and I
must have liked it enough to buy THE STARS DISPOSE, which I can see
from my chair.
I believe that she had four novels published over the next
decade but I am unaware of any novels after 1999. She is still getting
published at shorter lengths.
3 Metrophage Richard Kadrey
All I remember about this is an introductory discussion of surrealism
that left me with an image of artists fighting fascism with bathtubs filled
with brightly colored machine parts.
Kadrey is not prolific but he does produce novels at a reasonably
steady pace, about one per decade (with one pair coming back to back in
the '00s).
This was an Ace Special.
4 Sheepfarmer's Daughter Elizabeth Moon
If I remember this correctly, this was Moon's attempt to show
how a D&D-inspired Paladin would really act. Moon is not herself a
roleplayer as far as I know.
Moon is successful and reasonably prolific. She made the shift
from Baen Books to Del Rey some years ago.
5 The Armageddon Blues Daniel Keys Moran
I no longer recall this well enough to comment.
Moran was moderately prolific up until the 1990s, when a
falling out with his publisher led to a decade long hiatus. He has
recently returned to SF. His blog is a reasonable source of information
on his current activities
http://danielkeysmoran.blogspot.com/
And those of his books that he has had put up on line can be
found here:
http://immunitysec.com/resources-dkm.shtml
6 Dragon Prince Melanie Rawn
I did not read this.
Rawn is somewhat prolific but I can't tell if she really had
a mid-career hiatus running from about 1997 to 2006 or if that is an
artifact of incomplete databases.
7 Moon of Ice Brad Linaweaver
I seem to recall that this is an alternate history where the
Nazis conquered Europe while the libertarians conquered America.
Linaweaver appears to have be somewhat prolific in the field
of media tie-ins.
8 Neverness David Zindell
I don't remember a word of this.
Zindell have moved to fantasy and has increased his rate of
publication. His delight in discovering the new to him "collect the
plot token" idea was rather amusing but the books that resulted less
so.
9 Four Hundred Billion Stars Paul J. McAuley
Despite the title, this novel is limited to the nearer stars.
An unfortunate woman is drafted to help in the effort to understand
a race of uncommunicative and highly advanced aliens living in two
systems on our doorstep, aliens with whom humanity has blundered in
war despite there being no particularly compelling reason for us to
seek them out (Leaving aside the alien habit of genociding noisy
neighbors, something not known at this time). Equally unfortunate
people sometimes go on field missions with the protagonist. Do not
get attached to these characters.
I loved this book but I would have sworn it was his *second*
novel after OF THE FALL. I seem to be confusing internal chronology
with publication order.
McAuley is reasonably prolific. I am in particular looking
forward to his upcoming THE QUIET WAR.
10 Journey to Fusang William Sanders
A young Irishman in a world where the Mongols trashed Europe
as thoroughly as they did Bahgdad in our universe journey to a New
World settled by Arabs and the Chinese.
I remember this as amusing.
Sanders has published at least six novels as well as many shorter
works. He is the Senior Editor at Helix.
11 Resurrection, Inc. Kevin J. Anderson
I have not read this and am no doubt being a terrible person
when I question the sanity of a universe in which Anderson appears on
any best of list save for one involving printed toilet paper.
Unfortunately, Anderson is both successful and prolific.
12 Fool on the Hill Matt Ruff
Good and evil battle on the campus Cornell University in Ithaca?
I need to reread this.
Ruff's most recent novel of four came out in 2007.
13 Demon of Undoing Andrea I. Alton
I have heard of neither the book or the author. It
seems to have been Cherryh-influenced SF according to this review:
http://www.sfreviews.net/demonundo.html
As far as I can tell, this was Alton's only novel.
14 The Blind Knight Gail van Asten
I missed this.
As far as I can tell, van Asten had three novels and has
had nothing published since 1990.
15 The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West Mary Stanton
I missed this.
Stanton is reasonably prolific. I don't know anything about
her fiction.
16 Molly Dear: The Autobiography of an Android Stephen Fine
I missed this.
I can't seem to find anything else by Fine.
17 Dreams of Flesh and Sand W. T. Quick
I missed this.
Quick was reasonably prolific under various pennames but
I don't see anything more recent than the 2001 novelization of the
PLANET OF THE APES remake.
18 Maiden Flight Eric Vinicoff
I missed this.
As far as I can tell, Vinicoff had two novels published and
nothing since 1992.
19 The Fairy of Ku-She M. Lucie Chin
I missed this.
As far as I can tell, this was Chin's only novel.
20 Inner Eclipse Richard Paul Russo
I missed this.
Russo is not particularly prolific (About half a dozen novels
over two decades) but he is still getting published.
21 The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit Storm Constantine
I missed this.
Constantine is fairly prolific with about two dozen novels
over two decades.
22 Tower to the Sky Phillip C. Jennings
I know I read this but I don't remember much about it.
I think it involved Man's Destiny in the Stars (or in this case,
at the top end of an orbital tower) back when Baen had a sideline
in books like that.
I don't think Jennings published very many books.
23 Through a Brazen Mirror Delia Sherman
And to close off a year in which I seemed to have missed books
other people liked, I missed this. Wikipedia says that it is fantasy
of manners while Fantastic Fiction bitches about how it was marketed
without saying much useful about the book itself. It appears to have
either featured or was aimed at LBG people.
I don't think Sherman is particularly prolific but she is still
getting published.
--
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll (For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-shirt, cup and tote-bag needs)
Aaron Bergman
jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
> 6 Dragon Prince Melanie Rawn
>
> I did not read this.
>
> Rawn is somewhat prolific but I can't tell if she really had
> a mid-career hiatus running from about 1997 to 2006 or if that is an
> artifact of incomplete databases.
Writer's block, as I recall. Unfortunately, her most recent book,
_Spellbinder_ is awful. She still has an incomplete series from before
the block.
> 8 Neverness David Zindell
>
> I don't remember a word of this.
I liked this book a lot. Nothing else he has written has come close to
living up to it.
Aaron
David DeLaney
>2 Walkabout Woman Michaela Roessner
>
> I did not read this. I think I read VANISHING POINT and I
>must have liked it enough to buy THE STARS DISPOSE, which I can see
>from my chair.
I believe I read it but only once, and do not recall its plot without checking.
I also bought The Stars Dispose/Compel and liked them.
>4 Sheepfarmer's Daughter Elizabeth Moon
>
> If I remember this correctly, this was Moon's attempt to show
>how a D&D-inspired Paladin would really act. Moon is not herself a
>roleplayer as far as I know.
Pretty much, yes; it was the start of a trilogy about said Paladin.
> Moon is successful and reasonably prolific. She made the shift
>from Baen Books to Del Rey some years ago.
And currently has the last book in her Vatta series out, but only in
hardback so far.
>5 The Armageddon Blues Daniel Keys Moran
>
> I no longer recall this well enough to comment.
Reminders: No, it would take too long. I'll summarize. Man (Georges) with the
power of reversing entropy, woman with silver eyes from postapocalyptic
low-tech society on another timeline, aliens with MagiTech, doorway that has
her skipping across negative-entropy timelines at over a million to one ratio
in an attempt to go back and prevent Armageddon and ends her up in Georges'
timeline, president of company that made computers named PRAXCELIS, SORCELIS,
and ENCELIS, one of which was in orbit, a rock band named The Armageddon Blues,
occasional snippets from the first man's timeline's news sources, a fight that
scars the moon and draws eight neighboring timelines into one and disastrously
multiplies Georges' powers, and a somewhat complicated plot ["there's a PLOT
TOO?"] that ends up with the missiles all being fired, and one in particular
being disposed of in an extremely odd way leading to the sound-effect
"squilchgmp".
There's more, but that's all that would fit in the summary.
In the same multiverse, but not the same timeline, as his Continuing Time
series. There's also a fragment available detailing what happened to Georges
after the bomb exploded but before the last scene of the book.
> Moran was moderately prolific up until the 1990s, when a
>falling out with his publisher led to a decade long hiatus. He has
>recently returned to SF. His blog is a reasonable source of information
>on his current activities
>
>http://danielkeysmoran.blogspot.com/
>
> And those of his books that he has had put up on line can be
>found here:
>
>http://immunitysec.com/resources-dkm.shtml
Leaving these in because hey, the Moran the merrier.
>6 Dragon Prince Melanie Rawn
>
> Rawn is somewhat prolific but I can't tell if she really had
>a mid-career hiatus running from about 1997 to 2006 or if that is an
>artifact of incomplete databases.
I'm still waiting to see if there's a third book in Exiles/The Mageborn
Traitor, so it may not just be you.
>8 Neverness David Zindell
>
> I don't remember a word of this.
Spaceships, fractals, and something or other. (It's been a while.)
>17 Dreams of Flesh and Sand W. T. Quick
>
> I missed this.
I read it and a sequel, and have three others by him, and all of them are
currently drawing blanks for me mentally. The curse of having too many books
and having read many of them, for those of us with noneidetic memories, I
guess.
>21 The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit Storm Constantine
>
> I missed this.
One of the Wraeththu novels, a "post-apocalyptic hermaphroditic species which
evolved from humanity" and which I read some of the books of and want to find
the rest but they had bred rather a lot of Drama into their genes if I recall
correctly.
>22 Tower to the Sky Phillip C. Jennings
>
> I know I read this but I don't remember much about it.
>I think it involved Man's Destiny in the Stars (or in this case,
>at the top end of an orbital tower) back when Baen had a sideline
>in books like that.
I _just_ reread it this week. Post-nonsingularity book, if that makes any
sense; there are asteroid farmers and the Solar System is full of "bugs"
with downloaded humans on them and a repository of downloaded dead people
on Earth and a beanstalk and a whole slew of small societies ranging from
pre-tech to high-tech, many of them IN said beanstalk, and a Guardian at the
edge of the solar system that doesn't let us out. The plot starts when a
Russian ship comes back from Alpha Centauri to report that they've
terraformed a planet there and the Guardian, after agonizing, lets it in...
Also bots with effectively-invisibility camouflage tech, and one man who's
the secret ruler of the Beanstalk, and an Islamic-caliphate society in the
middle, and humans who have become monstrously fat/globular...
> I don't think Jennings published very many books.
There was a sequel consisting of a short story collection, The Bug Life
Chronicles, which I decided not to reread after rereading the above.
Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
Andrew Plotkin
> >6 Dragon Prince Melanie Rawn
> >
> > Rawn is somewhat prolific but I can't tell if she really had
> >a mid-career hiatus running from about 1997 to 2006 or if that is an
> >artifact of incomplete databases.
>
> I'm still waiting to see if there's a third book in Exiles/The Mageborn
> Traitor, so it may not just be you.
The prologue to _Spellbinder_ said, or implied, that she lost a decade
to untreated depression. I'm hoping that whatever she had to get out
of her system with _Spellbinder_ is all got out, because it stank.
> >8 Neverness David Zindell
> >
> > I don't remember a word of this.
>
> Spaceships, fractals, and something or other. (It's been a while.)
Computational gods, Buddhism, a stardrive based on proving
mathematical theorems, a planet where everybody ice-skated everywhere,
a sojourn among self-engineered neanderthals, and I don't remember
what the actual plot was about. Lot of fun though.
> >21 The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit Storm Constantine
> >
> > I missed this.
>
> One of the Wraeththu novels, a "post-apocalyptic hermaphroditic
> species which evolved from humanity" and which I read some of the
> books of and want to find the rest but they had bred rather a lot of
> Drama into their genes if I recall correctly.
And a great deal of teenage gothiness.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't shipped you to Syria for interrogation, it's
for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because of the Eighth Amendment.
Rich Horton
Nicoll) wrote:
>
>Best First Novel
>
>1 Desolation Road Ian McDonald
>
> I have read most of McDonald's books but not as it happens
>this one. I do own a copy and will get around to it some day.
>
> I don't think it is unreasonable to describe him as both
>successful and moderately prolific. I do wish he was less fond of
>Quantum as a plot device.
>
It is very good. The sequel (not really a sequel, just another novel
set in the same future), ARES EXPRESS, which as far as I know has not
been published in the US, is even better, and one of my favorite SF
novels of the past decade.
And McDonald keeps writing excellent novels and short stories.
>
>8 Neverness David Zindell
>
> I don't remember a word of this.
>
It's decent but not great exotic farfuture SF.
>10 Journey to Fusang William Sanders
>
> A young Irishman in a world where the Mongols trashed Europe
>as thoroughly as they did Bahgdad in our universe journey to a New
>World settled by Arabs and the Chinese.
>
> I remember this as amusing.
>
> Sanders has published at least six novels as well as many shorter
>works. He is the Senior Editor at Helix.
>
I think he's actually published closer to a dozen novels (under a
couple of names, and in various genres, and some of them
self-published -- but still very good). Nothing he has written is less
than very readable.
>
>22 Tower to the Sky Phillip C. Jennings
>
> I know I read this but I don't remember much about it.
>I think it involved Man's Destiny in the Stars (or in this case,
>at the top end of an orbital tower) back when Baen had a sideline
>in books like that.
>
> I don't think Jennings published very many books.
>
No, and he used to publish a fair amount of short fiction but his
output dwindled to a trickle in the past decade or so. Damn shame, as
some of his stuff was very good, and very weird.
>
>23 Through a Brazen Mirror Delia Sherman
>
> And to close off a year in which I seemed to have missed books
>other people liked, I missed this. Wikipedia says that it is fantasy
>of manners while Fantastic Fiction bitches about how it was marketed
>without saying much useful about the book itself. It appears to have
>either featured or was aimed at LBG people.
>
> I don't think Sherman is particularly prolific but she is still
>getting published.
Indeed, she is Ellen Kushner's partner (in fact they are married), and
they co-wrote THE FALL OF THE KINGS, mentioned on a previous thread as
a sequel to Kushner's own SWORDSPOINT. (In fact, THE FALL OF THE KINGS
is also a sequel to the later Kushner novel THE PRIVILEGE OF THE
SWORD.)
I don't think it is Sherman's fault that of those three novels I much
prefer the two by Kushner alone -- and in fact I have liked a lot of
Sherman's solo short fiction.
Arthur Green
[ ... ]
> 3 Metrophage Richard Kadrey
>
> All I remember about this is an introductory discussion of surrealism
> that left me with an image of artists fighting fascism with bathtubs
> filled with brightly colored machine parts.
>
> Kadrey is not prolific but he does produce novels at a reasonably
> steady pace, about one per decade (with one pair coming back to back in
> the '00s).
>
> This was an Ace Special.
This must have been when I was reading cyberpunk - I bought this book
and "Dreams of Flesh and Sand". From what I recall, your image isn't that
far off the mark. Oh - the fascists are really part of a global conspiracy
that's hiding the truth about aliens.
I haven't read this in years, but as I recall it got a bit incoherent
towards the end - I remember being disappointed by it.
[ ... ]
> 17 Dreams of Flesh and Sand W. T. Quick
>
> I missed this.
>
> Quick was reasonably prolific under various pennames but
> I don't see anything more recent than the 2001 novelization of the
> PLANET OF THE APES remake.
More cyberpunk, definitely sub-Gibson (I think Quick was trying to
rewrite "Neuromancer"). It didn't have a very original plot - ace
hackers/gun-slingers taking on The Man. It featured werewolves as well, I
think (or at least humans enhanced by wolfly features).
- Arthur
James Nicoll
I have a horrible feeling that I am confusing her with a
lesser writer and that is why I never picked up one of her books.
Andrew Plotkin
> In article <aunt54dqdhov8av09...@4ax.com>,
> Rich Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
> >On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:33:04 +0000 (UTC), jdni...@panix.com (James
> >Nicoll) wrote:
> >
> >> I don't think Sherman is particularly prolific but she is still
> >>getting published.
> >
> >Indeed, she is Ellen Kushner's partner (in fact they are married), and
> >they co-wrote THE FALL OF THE KINGS, mentioned on a previous thread as
> >a sequel to Kushner's own SWORDSPOINT. (In fact, THE FALL OF THE KINGS
> >is also a sequel to the later Kushner novel THE PRIVILEGE OF THE
> >SWORD.)
> >
> >I don't think it is Sherman's fault that of those three novels I much
> >prefer the two by Kushner alone -- and in fact I have liked a lot of
> >Sherman's solo short fiction.
>
> I have a horrible feeling that I am confusing her with a
> lesser writer and that is why I never picked up one of her books.
Josepha Sherman? I've made that mistake before. (Not for many years,
though.)
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't thrown you in military prison without trial,
it's for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because you're an American.
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Nicoll) wrote:
>In article <aunt54dqdhov8av09...@4ax.com>,
>Rich Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>>On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:33:04 +0000 (UTC), jdni...@panix.com (James
>>Nicoll) wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>23 Through a Brazen Mirror Delia Sherman
>>>
>>> And to close off a year in which I seemed to have missed books
>>>other people liked, I missed this. Wikipedia says that it is fantasy
>>>of manners while Fantastic Fiction bitches about how it was marketed
>>>without saying much useful about the book itself. It appears to have
>>>either featured or was aimed at LBG people.
>>>
>>> I don't think Sherman is particularly prolific but she is still
>>>getting published.
>>
>>Indeed, she is Ellen Kushner's partner (in fact they are married), and
>>they co-wrote THE FALL OF THE KINGS, mentioned on a previous thread as
>>a sequel to Kushner's own SWORDSPOINT. (In fact, THE FALL OF THE KINGS
>>is also a sequel to the later Kushner novel THE PRIVILEGE OF THE
>>SWORD.)
>>
>>I don't think it is Sherman's fault that of those three novels I much
>>prefer the two by Kushner alone -- and in fact I have liked a lot of
>>Sherman's solo short fiction.
>
> I have a horrible feeling that I am confusing her with a
>lesser writer and that is why I never picked up one of her books.
Possibly Josepha Sherman, the folklorist and writer?
--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
The eighth issue of Helix is now at http://www.helixsf.com
Lawrence Watt-Evans
wrote:
>On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:33:04 +0000 (UTC), jdni...@panix.com (James
>Nicoll) wrote:
>
>>10 Journey to Fusang William Sanders
>>
>> A young Irishman in a world where the Mongols trashed Europe
>>as thoroughly as they did Bahgdad in our universe journey to a New
>>World settled by Arabs and the Chinese.
>>
>> I remember this as amusing.
>>
>> Sanders has published at least six novels as well as many shorter
>>works. He is the Senior Editor at Helix.
>
>I think he's actually published closer to a dozen novels (under a
>couple of names, and in various genres, and some of them
>self-published -- but still very good). Nothing he has written is less
>than very readable.
He's never self-published any novels. He did go to some very small
presses on occasion, and published a couple of books through
print-on-demand outfits that later BECAME vanity presses but didn't
start out that way (e.g. XLibris).
I know he's never self-published anything because quite aside from
knowing his opinion on the subject, he couldn't possibly afford it.
He started out his writing career as a sportswriter covering bicycle
racing, moved into men's adventure fiction, and only later came to SF.
_Journey to Fusang_ was his first SF novel, but not his first novel.
He's retired now, except for running Helix.
Denis Trenque
> Best First Novel
>
>
> 17 Dreams of Flesh and Sand W. T. Quick
>
> I missed this.
>
> Quick was reasonably prolific under various pennames but
> I don't see anything more recent than the 2001 novelization of the
> PLANET OF THE APES remake.
>
>
>
Since no one says it he is Bill Quick a very knwon blogger
Says Wikipedia :
William Thomas Quick (often called Bill Quick), who sometimes writes
under the pseudonym Margaret Allan,[1] is a science fiction author and
self-described libertarian conservative blogger.[2] Quick is the author
of 28 novels, the most famous of which is the cyberpunk Dreams of Flesh
and Sand, and co-authored a six-novel series with William Shatner.
Quick runs the conservative blog Daily Pundit. Quick's usage of the term
blogosphere initiated the popularity of the term.
Denis Trenque
news.iglou.com
news:g3mcu0$sso$1...@reader2.panix.com...
>
> Best First Novel
> 7 Moon of Ice Brad Linaweaver
>
> I seem to recall that this is an alternate history where the
> Nazis conquered Europe while the libertarians conquered America.
Like a lot of such AH, it assumes a coherency and consistency to the
Nazi society that is more fit for the dreams of boys excited by neat black
uniforms with silver insignia and polished leather boots.
He also has them getting the A-Bomb first and dropping one on the
Normandy invasion and another on London, which makes the allies fold up.
The bomb is hard enough -- where did they get the _plane_ that could drop
it?
>
> 10 Journey to Fusang William Sanders
>
> A young Irishman in a world where the Mongols trashed Europe
> as thoroughly as they did Bahgdad in our universe journey to a New
> World settled by Arabs and the Chinese.
>
> I remember this as amusing.
Amusing, hell, it's side-splittingly funny.
Sanders complained that about six copies total were distributed between
the Mississippi and California, and other defects of the book business hurt
it.
>
> Sanders has published at least six novels as well as many shorter
> works. He is the Senior Editor at Helix.
He did a couple of thrillers.
>
>
> 11 Resurrection, Inc. Kevin J. Anderson
>
> I have not read this and am no doubt being a terrible person
> when I question the sanity of a universe in which Anderson appears on
> any best of list save for one involving printed toilet paper.
>
> Unfortunately, Anderson is both successful and prolific.
This is a malevolent world; Anderson flourishes, Sanders languishes.
Joseph T Major
Rich Horton
wrote:
>He's never self-published any novels. He did go to some very small
>presses on occasion, and published a couple of books through
>print-on-demand outfits that later BECAME vanity presses but didn't
>start out that way (e.g. XLibris).
Right, I should have been clearer on that.
I was thinking in particular of a novel -- pretty decent one -- that
he did and then canceled after 9/11 (because the subject matter
suddenly seemed inappropriate), and of which I assume I have one of
very few copies.
Mark Bestley
> James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
> >4 Sheepfarmer's Daughter Elizabeth Moon
> >
> > If I remember this correctly, this was Moon's attempt to show
> >how a D&D-inspired Paladin would really act. Moon is not herself a
> >roleplayer as far as I know.
>
> Pretty much, yes; it was the start of a trilogy about said Paladin.
>
> > Moon is successful and reasonably prolific. She made the shift
> >from Baen Books to Del Rey some years ago.
>
> And currently has the last book in her Vatta series out, but only in
> hardback so far.
>
In the UK it is out in paperback
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victory-Conditions-Vattas-Elizabeth-Moon/dp/184
1495980>
--
Mark
David Cowie
>
> > Best First Novel
> > 7 Moon of Ice Brad Linaweaver
>
> > I seem to recall that this is an alternate history where the
> > Nazis conquered Europe while the libertarians conquered America.
>
> Like a lot of such AH, it assumes a coherency and consistency to the
> Nazi society that is more fit for the dreams of boys excited by neat black
> uniforms with silver insignia and polished leather boots.
>
> He also has them getting the A-Bomb first and dropping one on the
> Normandy invasion and another on London, which makes the allies fold up.
> The bomb is hard enough -- where did they get the _plane_ that could drop
> it?
>
If the Western Allies are invading Normandy, this would suggest that
Germany is still rather distracted by the Red Army. How does
Linaweaver deal with them?
William December Starr
Rich Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net> said:
[ re William Sanders]
> I was thinking in particular of a novel -- pretty decent one --
> that he did and then canceled after 9/11 (because the subject
> matter suddenly seemed inappropriate), and of which I assume I
> have one of very few copies.
What's are the title and subject matter, if you don't feel legally
and/or morally barred from saying?
--
William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
William December Starr
"news.iglou.com" <jtm...@iglou.com> said:
>> 7 Moon of Ice Brad Linaweaver
>
> Like a lot of such AH, it assumes a coherency and consistency to
> the Nazi society that is more fit for the dreams of boys excited
> by neat black uniforms with silver insignia and polished leather
> boots.
He probably wouldn't be the first author to do that, not out of any
love for the Nazis but just because it was necessary to make his
story work.
> He also has them getting the A-Bomb first and dropping one on the
> Normandy invasion and another on London, which makes the allies
> fold up. The bomb is hard enough -- where did they get the
> _plane_ that could drop it?
Seeing as whatever the exact Point of Divergence between that
timeline and ours was it somehow allowed the Nazis to have a
successful A-bomb project, it doesn't seem impossible that it also
skewed history enough to allow them to have a better-surviving
Luftwaffe around the middle of 1944 as well.
(Or: delivery to London via V2? Probably not... I don't know what
the maximum payload capacities of the V2 or the buzz-bomb were, but
I know that the initial Uranium and Plutonium bombs were _heavy_.)
Was the story clear on what and when the exact P.o.D. was?
Konrad Gaertner
>
> In article <485f7973$0$18930$d94e...@news.iglou.com>,
> "news.iglou.com" <jtm...@iglou.com> said:
>
> >> 7 Moon of Ice Brad Linaweaver
> >
> > Like a lot of such AH, it assumes a coherency and consistency to
> > the Nazi society
>
> love for the Nazis but just because it was necessary to make his
> story work.
Yeah, my first thought was: "And that would be different from 99% of
all societies ever featured in a work of fiction?"
--
Konrad Gaertner - - - - - - - - - - - - email: kgae...@tx.rr.com
http://kgbooklog.livejournal.com/
"I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface."
-- James Nicoll
Joe Bernstein
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
> Best First Novel
>
> 1 Desolation Road Ian McDonald
>
> I have read most of McDonald's books but not as it happens
> this one. I do own a copy and will get around to it some day.
I've read it. (I once set out to read McDonald in chronological order,
and foundered on the unavailability of lots of later books and a
surprised reluctance to re-read <King of Morning, Queen of Day>.)
Unavailability (in the US) of lots of later books also leaves me
unsure about your claim that he's successful. How do anglophone book
markets measure up these days? - what percentage of the market does
someone lose by not getting published in the US?
Anyway, I remember it as very good, but if I ever try to read him
in chronological order again, I'm pretty certain I'll find this as
un-re-readable as I then found <King of Morning, Queen of Day>. I
don't remember it well enough to summarise, except that the title is apt.
> 4 Sheepfarmer's Daughter Elizabeth Moon
>
> If I remember this correctly, this was Moon's attempt to show
> how a D&D-inspired Paladin would really act. Moon is not herself a
> roleplayer as far as I know.
Really? That may explain why she's transferred D&D to print so much
*better* than anyone else. (Oh, but then there's the cautionary counter-
example of Andre Norton.) Anyway, Moon's heroine isn't exactly a
paladin in this book (heck, for all I know, the way Moon does things
here may have been the *inspiration* for D&D's "prestige" classes, which
are mid-life career changes D&D-style), but the writing is clearly on
the wall.
Paladin or not, it's a dark and violent book.
> 6 Dragon Prince Melanie Rawn
>
> I did not read this.
Rawn is an example of the kind of writer it's hard for someone who
insists on reading series in order to get into. This book, IIRC,
initiates a series of six books the size of briefcases.
The only book by Rawn alone I've read is, um, <The Ruins of Ambrai>,
aka <Exiles>, which I liked, but not enough to read its sequel, let
alone to bother with her officially science fictional series of EFP.
> 15 The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West Mary Stanton
>
> I missed this.
Take real horses that act the way real horses do, and add intelligence
(sorta like <Watership Down>'s rabbits). Now add a standard-issue
mythopoeic fantasy plot, complete with Dark, ahem, Horse. *Now* make
it convincing.
Worked for me. Has a sequel, <Piper at the Gates>.
> Stanton is reasonably prolific. I don't know anything about
> her fiction.
She's prolific? Huh?
> 19 The Fairy of Ku-She M. Lucie Chin
>
> I missed this.
>
> As far as I can tell, this was Chin's only novel.
I remember this as a fairy-tale story that's *much* more bitter than
I expected it to be (revenge figures prominently in the plot). I was
impressed. A memory of unreliable quality is claiming Chin wrote more;
<Locus>, however, agrees with you.
Joe Bernstein
--
Joe Bernstein, tax preparer, bookkeeper and writer j...@sfbooks.com
<http://www.panix.com/~josephb/>
John Schilling
wrote:
>"James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
>news:g3mcu0$sso$1...@reader2.panix.com...
>> Best First Novel
>> 7 Moon of Ice Brad Linaweaver
>> I seem to recall that this is an alternate history where the
>> Nazis conquered Europe while the libertarians conquered America.
> Like a lot of such AH, it assumes a coherency and consistency to the
>Nazi society that is more fit for the dreams of boys excited by neat black
>uniforms with silver insignia and polished leather boots.
> He also has them getting the A-Bomb first and dropping one on the
>Normandy invasion and another on London, which makes the allies fold up.
>The bomb is hard enough -- where did they get the _plane_ that could drop
>it?
One of the larger Mistel combos could probably have carried a Gadget,
if it came to that.
But I think you may have cause and effect slightly reversed. The first
atomic bombs were carried by B-29s because the B-29 came first and the
bomb designers had no reason to build a lightweight bomb. Everything
that ultimately went into the 3000-lb Mark 5 Bomb and even the 1600-lb
Mark 7 Bomb was known to the Manhattan Project long before Trinity and
would have been known to a correspondingly advanced Nazi bomb program.
If they'd needed such weapons, they'd have had them.
--
*John Schilling * "Anything worth doing, *
*Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP * is worth doing for money" *
*Chief Scientist & General Partner * -13th Rule of Acquisition *
*White Elephant Research, LLC * "There is no substitute *
*John.S...@alumni.usc.edu * for success" *
*661-718-0955 or 661-275-6795 * -58th Rule of Acquisition *
news.iglou.com
"John Schilling" <schi...@spock.usc.edu> wrote in message
news:dtg0641n4ga8t4qnd...@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:46:10 -0400, "news.iglou.com" <jtm...@iglou.com>
> wrote:
>
>>"James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
>>news:g3mcu0$sso$1...@reader2.panix.com...
>
>>> Best First Novel
>>> 7 Moon of Ice Brad Linaweaver
>
>>> I seem to recall that this is an alternate history where the
>>> Nazis conquered Europe while the libertarians conquered America.
>
>> Like a lot of such AH, it assumes a coherency and consistency to the
>>Nazi society that is more fit for the dreams of boys excited by neat black
>>uniforms with silver insignia and polished leather boots.
>
>> He also has them getting the A-Bomb first and dropping one on the
>>Normandy invasion and another on London, which makes the allies fold up.
>>The bomb is hard enough -- where did they get the _plane_ that could drop
>>it?
>
> One of the larger Mistel combos could probably have carried a Gadget,
> if it came to that.
>
> But I think you may have cause and effect slightly reversed. The first
> atomic bombs were carried by B-29s because the B-29 came first and the
> bomb designers had no reason to build a lightweight bomb. Everything
> that ultimately went into the 3000-lb Mark 5 Bomb and even the 1600-lb
> Mark 7 Bomb was known to the Manhattan Project long before Trinity and
> would have been known to a correspondingly advanced Nazi bomb program.
>
> If they'd needed such weapons, they'd have had them.
Given that Heisenberg thought that any working nuclear weapon had to be
several tons, I have to wonder about it.
And the kernwaffen project would have to compete for resources with such
other war-winning weapons as the device that would neutralize all electrical
power in the target country.
Joseph T Major
Elaine Thompson
<j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>In article <g3mcu0$sso$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
...
>> 15 The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West Mary Stanton
>>
>> I missed this.
>
>Take real horses that act the way real horses do, and add intelligence
>(sorta like <Watership Down>'s rabbits). Now add a standard-issue
>mythopoeic fantasy plot, complete with Dark, ahem, Horse. *Now* make
>it convincing.
>
>Worked for me. Has a sequel, <Piper at the Gates>.
I had a copy of both around for some years but I got rid of them long
enough ago I couldn't have told you what the story was. Must have
liked them at one point, though.
>
>> Stanton is reasonably prolific. I don't know anything about
>> her fiction.
>
>She's prolific? Huh?
I see her with fair frequency in the YA section. Last thing to
register involved unicorns. I passed.
>> 19 The Fairy of Ku-She M. Lucie Chin
>>
>> I missed this.
>>
>> As far as I can tell, this was Chin's only novel.
>
>I remember this as a fairy-tale story that's *much* more bitter than
>I expected it to be (revenge figures prominently in the plot). I was
>impressed. A memory of unreliable quality is claiming Chin wrote more;
><Locus>, however, agrees with you.
>
She had some stories in anthologies, like _Elsewhere_. Perhaps that's
what gave you the impression she'd written more?
--
Elaine Thompson <Ela...@KEThompson.org>
W. Citoan
>
> In article <g3mcu0$sso$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
> James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>
> > 4 Sheepfarmer's Daughter Elizabeth Moon
> >
> > If I remember this correctly, this was Moon's attempt to show
> > how a D&D-inspired Paladin would really act. Moon is not herself a
> > roleplayer as far as I know.
>
> Really? That may explain why she's transferred D&D to print so much
> *better* than anyone else. (Oh, but then there's the cautionary counter-
> example of Andre Norton.) Anyway, Moon's heroine isn't exactly a
> paladin in this book (heck, for all I know, the way Moon does things
> here may have been the *inspiration* for D&D's "prestige" classes, which
> are mid-life career changes D&D-style), but the writing is clearly on
> the wall.
>
> Paladin or not, it's a dark and violent book.
While the second two books get a bit darker, I wouldn't call this one
"dark and violent". It is not the nominal D&D whitewashed version of
combat, but it's also not anywhere as dark as many other books.
> > Stanton is reasonably prolific. I don't know anything about
> > her fiction.
>
> She's prolific? Huh?
Mary Stanton is also Claudia Bishop:
http://www.claudiabishop.com/about
As Stanton, she has written 2 adult fantasies and 11 YA fantasies.
As Bishop, she has written 19 mysteries.
32 novels in 24 years is probably enough to be considered prolific.
- W. Citoan
--
It matters not now long we live, but how.
-- P.J. Bailey
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
>> 4 Sheepfarmer's Daughter Elizabeth Moon
>>
>> If I remember this correctly, this was Moon's attempt to show
>> how a D&D-inspired Paladin would really act. Moon is not herself a
>> roleplayer as far as I know.
>
> Really? That may explain why she's transferred D&D to print so much
> *better* than anyone else. (Oh, but then there's the cautionary counter-
> example of Andre Norton.) Anyway, Moon's heroine isn't exactly a
> paladin in this book (heck, for all I know, the way Moon does things
> here may have been the *inspiration* for D&D's "prestige" classes, which
> are mid-life career changes D&D-style), but the writing is clearly on
> the wall.
Well, she technically IS a Paladin in this book (she succeeds in Laying
On Hands, iirc), she just doesn't KNOW she is one until later (and being
properly modest, denies that she is one until the evidence is
inarguable). In Moon's (and my) view, yes, you can choose to be a
Paladin and dedicate your life to the god, etc., but it's equally
possible that the god chooses YOU. Either way, you're a Paladin -- a
Holy Warrior with certain abilities granted by the god.
W. Citoan
She has the signs of being a Paladin, but book 3 makes it pretty clear,
while at least in my opinion, that she's not actually a Paladin until
she has her "investiture ceremony". Only then does she really get her
powers (and her horse, can't forget the Paladin's horse).
- W. Citoan
--
All things are artificial, for Nature is the art of God.
-- [Sir] Thomas Browne
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
IIRC, you don't GET your Paladin's Mount until you reach a certain
level (which would obviously mean she'd been a Paladin for a while
before then). I'll have to look it up. (This would've been, depending on
the gaming group, either 1e or 2e)
Brett Paul Dunbar
<wds...@panix.com> writes
>In article <485f7973$0$18930$d94e...@news.iglou.com>,
>"news.iglou.com" <jtm...@iglou.com> said:
>
>>> 7 Moon of Ice Brad Linaweaver
>> He also has them getting the A-Bomb first and dropping one on the
>> Normandy invasion and another on London, which makes the allies
>> fold up. The bomb is hard enough -- where did they get the
>> _plane_ that could drop it?
>
>Seeing as whatever the exact Point of Divergence between that
>timeline and ours was it somehow allowed the Nazis to have a
>successful A-bomb project, it doesn't seem impossible that it also
>skewed history enough to allow them to have a better-surviving
>Luftwaffe around the middle of 1944 as well.
>
>(Or: delivery to London via V2? Probably not... I don't know what
>the maximum payload capacities of the V2 or the buzz-bomb were, but
>I know that the initial Uranium and Plutonium bombs were _heavy_.)
According to wikipedia.
V1 Warhead 850 kg
V2 Warhead 977 kg
Which is about what I thought it was, it's usually described as one
tonne.
--
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search http://www.mersenne.org/prime.htm
Livejournal http://brett-dunbar.livejournal.com/
Brett Paul Dunbar
To email me, use reply-to address
Erik Trulsson
> W. Citoan wrote:
>> Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:
>>> Joe Bernstein wrote:
>>>
>>>>> 4 Sheepfarmer's Daughter Elizabeth Moon
>>>>>
>>>>> If I remember this correctly, this was Moon's attempt to show
>>>>> how a D&D-inspired Paladin would really act. Moon is not herself a
>>>>> roleplayer as far as I know.
>>>> Really? That may explain why she's transferred D&D to print so much
>>>> *better* than anyone else. (Oh, but then there's the cautionary counter-
>>>> example of Andre Norton.) Anyway, Moon's heroine isn't exactly a
>>>> paladin in this book (heck, for all I know, the way Moon does things
>>>> here may have been the *inspiration* for D&D's "prestige" classes, which
>>>> are mid-life career changes D&D-style), but the writing is clearly on
>>>> the wall.
There were already dual-class and multi-class rules in 1st ed. AD&D, both
of which got plenty of house-rule variants over the years.
>>> Well, she technically IS a Paladin in this book (she succeeds in Laying
>>> On Hands, iirc), she just doesn't KNOW she is one until later (and being
>>> properly modest, denies that she is one until the evidence is
>>> inarguable). In Moon's (and my) view, yes, you can choose to be a
>>> Paladin and dedicate your life to the god, etc., but it's equally
>>> possible that the god chooses YOU.
And in some cases the god has to beat you hard over the head to make you
realize this.
>>> Either way, you're a Paladin -- a
>>> Holy Warrior with certain abilities granted by the god.
>>
>> She has the signs of being a Paladin, but book 3 makes it pretty clear,
>> while at least in my opinion, that she's not actually a Paladin until
>> she has her "investiture ceremony". Only then does she really get her
>> powers (and her horse, can't forget the Paladin's horse).
>
> IIRC, you don't GET your Paladin's Mount until you reach a certain
> level (which would obviously mean she'd been a Paladin for a while
> before then). I'll have to look it up. (This would've been, depending on
> the gaming group, either 1e or 2e)
1st ed. AD&D obviously. (The 3 books were originally published in 1988-1989.
AD&D 2nd ed. was published in 1989, i.e. the books were written before 2nd ed.
AD&D was published.)
IIRC, paladins could get their special mount after they had reached level 4.
--
<Insert your favourite quote here.>
Erik Trulsson
ertr...@student.uu.se
W. Citoan
While the book is inspired by D&D, it is not a slave to it. I still
believe that from the text, it is pretty clear the ceremony in Book 3 is
a demarcation line between not being and being a paladin.
Besides, there are several chapters between the ceremony and the horse.
Plenty of time to level up. :-)
- W. Citoan
--
The middle of the road is where the white line is - and that's the worst
place to drive.
-- Robert Frost
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
> While the book is inspired by D&D, it is not a slave to it. I still
> believe that from the text, it is pretty clear the ceremony in Book 3 is
> a demarcation line between not being and being a paladin.
I think it's a demarcation between being Officially Considered a
Paladin and not being so considered. For Paladins OF GIRD, this is
probably the same thing.
But Paks *isn't* a Paladin of Gird, really.
>
> Besides, there are several chapters between the ceremony and the horse.
> Plenty of time to level up. :-)
True, especially if she went on side quests we didn't see because the
GM forgot to take notes during that adventure! :)
W. Citoan
>
>
>
> > While the book is inspired by D&D, it is not a slave to it. I still
> > believe that from the text, it is pretty clear the ceremony in Book 3 is
> > a demarcation line between not being and being a paladin.
>
> I think it's a demarcation between being Officially Considered a
> Paladin and not being so considered. For Paladins OF GIRD, this is
> probably the same thing.
>
> But Paks *isn't* a Paladin of Gird, really.
Not sure the relevance of that. The ceromony wasn't a Girdish ceromony
and the book is not told from a specific point of view.
- W. Citoan
--
...If you can measure that of which you speak, and can express it by a
number, you know something of your subject.
-- [Lord Kelvin] William Thompson