Paksworld

As y’all know, there’s a little bit of Paksworld short fiction on the Paksworld website, some that was out in various online venues before, and “First Blood” is now officially out in Shattered Shields. So the discussion of Paksworld short fiction within this thread is fine. However, since some people object to spoilers for short fiction, please keep any discussion within a thread that starts with “Short Fiction”–like this one. And if spoilers bother you, don’t read in such threads unless you’ve read all the bits out so far.

Crown of Renewal has been out long enough now that it’s OK to discuss it–and the rest of the existing Paksworld books–without needing to use Spoiler Space.

However, a question for the group: Some of you have by now read the Paksworld story “First Blood” in Shattered Shields and others of you may not have…and yet you might want to discuss it in relation to the surrounding milieu. The same is/will be true of “Mercenary’s Honor” in the forthcoming Operation Arcana anthology, and the new (and maybe older) Paksworld short fiction in Deeds of Honor. So do we need a Spoiler Space specifically for short fiction? Does it bother you as much when a short piece is discussed before you’ve read it?

Sorry, distractions hit and I forgot I was supposed to get on with this.    This is your new spoiler space for talking about anything new and spoilerish.   If any of you do show up at DragonCon, you will hear me read something that would be a spoiler, so it’s under the this blanket (or will be, about 10 days from now.)

Please keep spoiler-space discussions to discussions of what’s actually been written, and avoid too much speculation on what might be written.   If you start thinking ahead like writers, it’s inevitable that one of you will come up with something far too close to what I’m doing, and that can cause us (you, me, agent, publisher) problems of the “which came first, chicken or egg” variety.   I do stay out of spoiler space, mostly, but as the moderator of the comment section, I see things willy nilly whenever I go to the cmments section to answer a comment (which I do because it lets me use italics and other formatting bits.)

Anyway–you have been forewarned.  If you hate spoilers, do not read any comments in anything labeled a Spoiler Space.  (It’s after midnight, my brain was already brown and crispy at the edges and is now thoroughly fried.)

With the UK edition in stores, and the US edition days away (except one “leak” in the pipe has already been reported to me off-site)  it’s time to make a Spoiler Space available.   Please confine all discussions of Crown of Renewal to Spoiler Space, below the cut.

If you don’t want spoilers, please do not read in this topic, and do not look at the comments below the cut.   There will be spoilers; spoilers are legal here (and only here.)    Spoiler Space rules will be in effect until I give an all-clear.   If this spoiler space’s comment line gets too long, I’ll open Spoiler Space II. Read the rest of this entry »

And here it is.   This is the place for comments to discuss what you’ve been speculating about, so it doesn’t step on the toes of those who don’t want any spoilers.   It’s absolutely the place to discuss what’s in the various snippets that will be popping out here and there between now and Crown‘s Launch Day.

If you hate spoilers and speculation that goes a shade too far, do not read beyond the “More” and do not read the comments.    If you want to argue about what Midwinter present was just brought into the tower, here’s the place.  Have fun with it.  But keep it under wraps right here.   I will not answer questions here that would be spoilers if I did answer them.  (So don’t ask ME–take a wild guess if you must, but don’t ask me.)

Now for something off-topic: what the writer does after finishing a hard bout of copy edit checking while sick and coughing her lungs out.  Tomorrow will be a cooking day.  I have an “economy pack” of stew meat, variously colored sweet peppers, mushrooms, celery, carrots, onions, garlic and I’m considering whether (since my largest Le Creuset pot won’t be big enough) this is sufficient excuse to buy a bigger one.  Ideally this will start with a lot of sauteing and browning of meat on top of the stove, and end with everything and a quart of homemade beef stock and several large gluggles of red wine  in a big pot in the oven for hours.  And hours.  And hours.

I do have a bigger All-Clad stock pot I could use, but…although it goes in the oven…I really think the porcelain over cast iron does best for this kind of thing.   I suppose I could make a smaller batch…freeze the rest of the stew meat for another time…but the point is to make a big batch so I can freeze containers for later.   Some of the chicken stock I made earlier in the year was used up while I was sick (and it helped, so I need to make more) but with a big concert coming up, and son’s birthday,  and Thanksgiving, I need to start making the “fast dinners” now, so I can start the T-day prep by the end of the first week in November.

Since (if I’m reading comments with correct understanding) some of you have a copy in hand or may soon,  it’s time for a Spoiler Space.

No one who does not want spoilers should read under this title.  It’s only for those who a) have read the book and b) want to talk about it, or those who don’t mind spoilers before they read.    Safest is to just email one another, but this space is a semi-safe space as long as the spoiler-averse can keep from looking behind the curtain, even when it billows and they hear intriguing sounds.

Remember that if you click on the comments, you will open up all the comments full of spoilers.

This thread is for those who want to discuss what they think might be coming up in the next two books (Book IV, which is Limits of Power, and Book V, which has no official title yet.)   Please confine speculation about these books to this thread, and if it gets too long let me know and I’ll open another one.    I am not advertising this space by announcing its existence on Twitter, since the people who already hang out here deserve a chance to fill it up first.

Necessary legal warning (not that I think any of you would transgress intentionally, but…)    Your speculation on what I’ve written may coincide with something that turns up in the book–but this does not mean your ideas were stolen.   Limits is already written…it’s done.  Book  V is very well along, with much of the rest planned out now, with lots of notes on what and why and how.   If you guess correctly what I wrote a year or more ago, that’s a good guess, but it gives you no intellectual property rights in either book.    (Given the intellectual level of this group, and previous experience with your sensitivity to the built-in clues, some of you will certainly be hot on my track!)

I won’t be reading Speculation Space (at least until Book V is done) unless there’s an interpersonal problem that comes up with those posting to it–and I hope there isn’t, but if there’s something going on you think I should know about, you can always drop me an email via the website.

OK, this is the big one.  Since the book is out in the UK, you folks need a spoiler space in which to discuss, right?   A reminder of the Spoiler Space rules:

1) If you do not want to see spoilers, DO NOT ENTER OR READ ANY COMMENTS.

2) All discussion of Echoes must stay within a SpoilerSpace thread (if it gets too long, I’ll open another later.)   NO discussion of the book’s comments should be on any other thread; they will be deleted when brought to my attention.  If someone goofs, DO NOT add to the problem by commenting.  Email me and I’ll disappear stuff.

Read the rest of this entry »

I can see the bubbles of desire to talk about the book.  I deeply sympathize (yes, in that way) so here is a spoiler space for that purpose.  HOWEVER…those of you who got the whole book early may NOT mention anything past the end of what’s posted online.  OK?  We don’t want uncivil wars around here.

Spoiler Space Rules:  If you don’t want any spoilers, DO NOT READ below the break, and DO NOT READ any comments to this thread.  You  have been warned.  Spoilers are roaming around loose and unconfined on the other side of the fence,  so if you venture beyond the break, you will find some.   Those of you who don’t mind a bit, having read the first 50 pages online, or not, are free to have encounters with loose spoilers.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve noticed a couple of problems with spoiler comments showing up in more recent threads, so…here’s a nice, fresh SpoilerSpace at the top of the list.   All comments that contain content from Kings of the North are  welcome here (and in the first Spoiler Space, if you prefer.  Either one.)   Please do not discuss events, new information on characters, etc. from this book outside of Spoiler Space threads until further notice.  It really bothers some people who haven’t read the book yet.