Now THERE's a review!
Oct. 4th, 2006 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seawaspAs I've mentioned before, Boundary -- and for that matter all the stuff I've been involved in writing -- seems to bring out totally polarized reviews; either people really like it or they hate it, with very few "well, it was okay" comments.
Here's a man who REALLY didn't like Boundary. I love this one!
C'mon, david in georgia, don't be shy. Tell me how you REALLY felt.
I'm a bit put out by the "wasn't even proofread" bit, because I know it was. As for the rest, it's just another illustration of that wonderful variation in perception. When "david in georgia" can say "not an original idea in the whole thing" and even suspect all the scenes were stolen, and others find it an exciting and original story, you KNOW that much of reading remains in the mind of the beholder, so to speak.
Of course he's totally right in one sense; there isn't an original idea in that book, really; then again, I'm not sure I've seen an original idea in ANY book in the past several years, so I would be reluctant to use that as a yardstick to judge anything I read.
Here's a man who REALLY didn't like Boundary. I love this one!
(One star) another piece of garbage..., October 1, 2006
Reviewer: david in georgia (Georgia (USA)) - See all my reviews
...from Baen books, trading on a well-known name (Flint's) being slapped on the cover to sell a bit of rubbish that reads as if it wasn't even proofread much less put thru anything resembling a serious editing process. Clunky, trite and a waste of time and the purchase price. I'm not sure there was a single scene or idea in this book that wasn't stolen from earlier works...not a single original idea in the whole thing, unless doing something worse than anyone has done it before counts as "original."
C'mon, david in georgia, don't be shy. Tell me how you REALLY felt.
I'm a bit put out by the "wasn't even proofread" bit, because I know it was. As for the rest, it's just another illustration of that wonderful variation in perception. When "david in georgia" can say "not an original idea in the whole thing" and even suspect all the scenes were stolen, and others find it an exciting and original story, you KNOW that much of reading remains in the mind of the beholder, so to speak.
Of course he's totally right in one sense; there isn't an original idea in that book, really; then again, I'm not sure I've seen an original idea in ANY book in the past several years, so I would be reluctant to use that as a yardstick to judge anything I read.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-04 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-04 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-04 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-04 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-04 05:47 pm (UTC)I don't...
Date: 2006-10-04 04:07 pm (UTC)Re: I don't...
Date: 2006-10-04 05:57 pm (UTC)Re: I don't...
Date: 2006-10-04 06:02 pm (UTC)Re: I don't...
Date: 2006-10-04 07:30 pm (UTC)Re: I don't...
Date: 2006-10-04 08:04 pm (UTC)Not of course that you need the praise from some no-name infoTech graduate student, but I quite liked Boundary. The schlock mercenary themes were quite amusing and it was a good read. (Of course, I liked the infoTech-fu of Digital Knight a little better, but not all heroes can be IT people.)
On a completely random note, have you read Vinge's Rainbows End or PTerry's Wintersmith? They both have some interesting resonance with your work.
Re: I don't...
Date: 2006-10-04 08:50 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked DK and Boundary; A.J. is sort of info-tech, but he's MUCH more Tech than Jason Wood is. (OTOH, Jason Wood lives in a world that's got more possibilities than A.J.'s.)
Did you read "Diamonds Are Forever"? I wonder how you liked Clint and Jodi...
I have not yet read the new Vinge, but I will, I'm sure. He was the inspiration for A.J.'s Faerie Dust -- the "localizers" from A Deepness in the Sky -- and for some work I'm actually doing with the Navy.
Diamonds and Localizers
Date: 2006-10-04 10:41 pm (UTC)And if you liked localizers and mesh networks you *must* read Rainbows End -- he explores that stuff in a near-term "real world" context.
And yes, while A.J. has far more tech then Jason, I can relate far more to Jason's tech, especially his data mining. (I'm TAing a course in data warehousing right now.) And as an interesting aside, I didn't find anything objectionable in terms of your use of database tech, and I complement you on your knowledge of them (while most sci-fi isn't as egregious as hacker movies, they tend either to do databases as hand-waving or just make up new terms and ignore the current terms of art).
Re: Diamonds and Localizers
Date: 2006-10-04 11:19 pm (UTC)Jason's profession is one that I do know a fair bit about, as I have a Master's in Information Science (UPitt) and I focused a fair amount on databases, HCI, and some assorted other pieces. I try to "write what you know" when possible. A.J.'s Faerie Dust is a (large) extrapolation from a couple of projects my current employer has going, and much of the other sensor/imaging crunchiness comes from that source as well.
Re: Diamonds and Localizers
Date: 2006-10-04 11:32 pm (UTC)Re: Diamonds and Localizers
Date: 2006-10-04 11:39 pm (UTC)Re: Diamonds and Localizers
Date: 2006-10-05 12:10 am (UTC)Re: Diamonds and Localizers
Date: 2006-10-05 12:11 am (UTC)Re: Diamonds and Localizers
Date: 2006-10-05 12:18 am (UTC)The community rykspoor_beta is where I have been posting my Work In Progress, including a large chunk of my proposed next solo novel Demons of the Past, parts of two new Jason Wood stories, and the entire rough first draft of Threshold (sequel to Boundary).
Doc Smith...
Date: 2006-10-04 10:24 pm (UTC)E.E. "Doc" Smith was the founder and true master of the subgenre of SF called "Space Opera". His most famous and influential works are undoubtedly the Lensman Series and the Skylark Series. Doc's work influenced virtually all of the writers that came after him; even those trying to avoid writing like him were backhandedly influenced.
The number of "Did That First" things that can be attributed to Doc is impressively large; a small sample includes the fact that in The Skylark of Space he wrote the first adventure to take place outside the bounds of the Solar System, that he first depicted a large, multispecies cooperative civilization (rather than either all-human or human with subjugated other species), that he devised a methodology for controlling truly large fleets across distances which was so usefully accurate that the U.S. Navy derived its C&C doctrine directly from his work in Second Stage Lensmen (specifically acknowledged by Admiral Rickover), and dozens of others.
His stories always featured larger-than-life heroes and villains conducting their conflicts on an epic scale; destroying planets was small stuff to Doc. He is often accused of sexism, clumsy writing, and a host of other sins... but given that he was born in the 1800s and published Skylark in 1928-29, his stories were actually forward-looking and well written.
But by modern standards, his prose is often purple, ranging to ultraviolet, the characters are indeed very little gray, and most of the plots are straightforward and uncomplicated. If you can read Verne and Wells without flinching, you may be able to take Doc.
Re: Doc Smith...
Date: 2006-10-04 10:43 pm (UTC)Much obliged.
Re: Doc Smith...
Date: 2006-10-04 11:15 pm (UTC)Re: Doc Smith...
Date: 2006-10-04 11:25 pm (UTC)Re: Doc Smith...
Date: 2006-10-04 11:44 pm (UTC)Re: Doc Smith...
Date: 2006-10-05 12:09 am (UTC)(Specifically, the only entry relating to his books in the 1978-onward renewals was due to extensive editing by another contributor, and I couldn't find a renewal notice in the 1975-1978 renewals of his name or earliest book.)
But, yes, I understand your hesitation and no offense has been taken. No worries.
Re: Doc Smith...
Date: 2006-10-05 12:16 am (UTC)I don't have to "renew" copyright or register it. The messages we are posting are automatically copyrighted, in fact, by us. Registering merely makes some legal maneuvers easier.
Re: Doc Smith...
Date: 2006-10-05 12:22 am (UTC)Oh well. This "debate" is academic and while usefully distracting me from grading, is pretty much without merit. Cest la vie.
Re: Doc Smith...
Date: 2006-10-05 07:03 am (UTC)Just approved...
Date: 2006-10-05 01:06 am (UTC)The FIRST sections of Threshold that were posted you can skip; I posted a few snippets, then on reader reaction re-wrote the beginning. other than that, go to the first messages and read away.
Note that questions about things like space elevators, etc., have already been mostly dealt with. My current thorny problem is rad shielding.
Re: I don't...
Date: 2006-10-05 02:21 pm (UTC)Edward E. Smith
Author of the Skylark series and the Lensman series.
The former was the first *interstellar* adventure in SF and was mostly written *before* the end of WWI (yes, *one*) though it wasn't published until the 1920s.
The Lensman series was the original Space Opera tale.
When reading his stuff like a lot of early Heinlein, you have to pay attention to *when* it was written as the "over used themes" are actually being used for the *first* time.
In otherwords, these are the folks everyone else tried to copy.