Paksworld

One of my upcoming shorter stories (short-ER, not necessarily short; I don’t know how long it will be) was up for discussion in the writing group I’m now in.   Discussion got a big confused at some points so I can’t remember who mentioned that I had covered the same incident in the first Paks series, probably in Sheepfarmer’s Daughter.   I have no idea where it is in there; my old mass market paperback of Paks I is yellowing badly and has been chewed on by things that chew on the covers of paperbacks and the binding is ready to crack.   And it was told from a different point of view. So I’m asking people with time to spare to find it for me, in whichever volume it is.   I won’t warp the current story to match it exactly (apparently it was told by someone who wasn’t at the scene (whew–!)  but maybe not.

The incident concerns Kieri’s first independent command and the Pargunese attack on the Tsaian camp, in which the Crown Prince was killed, Duke Marrakai fatally wounded, and Kieri took command and saved the lot of them.  The story I’m writing is the continuation & completion of the story in DEEDS OF YOUTH about Kieri and Selis Marrakai, the young man who was “corrected” by the Prince and told to give his horse to Kieri.

Behind the scenes work is going on to reorganize the “research” end of Paksworld.  One of the things I need, post concussions, is an easier place to look things up within the fictional world the Paks books are written, to maintain continuity between them as I work on new ones.   I spent hours over the weekend trying to find  the name of the best bootmaker in Valdaire, and checking out that a certain first name hadn’t been used for the opposite sex, at least not recently.  But we want that “place to look things up” to be useful to you readers, too.

So this is a call for help.  What would YOU like to see in a collection of info on Paksworld?  What are questions YOU have that aren’t answered in the material already provided.   Do you have great ideas for enhancing such a compendium that you’d like to see tried out?    What is it you *don’t* want to see in such a pile of facts?   I can put you in touch with the person who is doing the heavy-lifting on this (my hands already being full with Horngard II and some shorter stuff AND trying to get the house more in order AND other lifestuff).

Eventually we want to extend this project to the other fictional worlds, so someone who wants to know a character name in a Vatta book, or wonders if a character in the Serrano-Suiza books is related to another character, can find out, but since I’m working in Paksworld right now, that comes first.  (And there are more books, and WAY more words, in the Paksworld group than in the any of the others.

Richard Simpkin asked over on the Universes blog if it would be possible to fix the various typos, etc. in the first-original mass market paperbacks of the Deed.   He could think of one off the top of his head.  So could I (but I don’t know yet if we had the same one in mind.)   So I’m opening up a topic where you can post the ones you’ve noticed, and meanwhile I’ll ask Baen Books if they’re prepared to fix a few things that slid through.  Please reference the mistakes to the title (since the anniversary edition will be in three separate ones) and if possible the page 3 of the original paperback.   At this point I don’t know how many, if any, of the errors they’re going to have time to fix.  My guess is that they’ll be willing to fix typos & misspellings, but not change the places where it was my research or analysis that went wrong, because that would falsify the “new edition” thing.  Or maybe not.  We’ll see.

As those of you with tattered old mass-market paperbacks with the woman on the black horse on the cover know,   Sheepfarmer’s Daughter came out in 1988, as did Divided Allegiance, and Oath of Gold came out in 1989.   To celebrate 30 years in print, Baen Books is going to put out an Annversary Edition of them next year, and asked if I would write an introduction to each volume.  Of course I said yes, and I’ve roughed out the first one and sent it on to Toni Weisskopf at Baen.

Read the rest of this entry »

Be it known to all denizens…er…citizens…er…folks who hang out around Paksworld.   The Author is delighted to thank Daniel Glover and Nadine Barter Bowlus for their excellent service in response to the Reader Help Needed request, and to present them each with a Gold Star of Meritorious Service,  specification of “Saved Author’s Bacon.”    (All rise, balloons in hand, also little party horns or you can just cheer on cue.) Read the rest of this entry »

The talented Canadian artist who’s working on a portrait of Ky tor the website needs to know what Space Defense Force insignia looks like.  I don’t recall if I ever specified, but if I did, someone will notice if it’s wrong in the picture.   I know Stella got involved at some point, but I can’t remember which book even, let alone where in it (Stella helped design Ky’s uniforms, but they already had a logo they got in…um…that place they were before the battle at Boxtop whatever-its-number-was.)     It’s probably in Command Decision or Victory Conditions, but I can’t even find a copy of Victory Conditions right now (since I’m at a critical point of the new one…which has eaten most of my processing capacity…)

If anyone has time to do some rummaging in the books, that would help immensely.    Realsoonnow would be great.   Negative data ideal (artist & I can make it up de novo.)

Thanks to anyone who can throw a crumb to us so Lana can get this done.  (I saw her work and met her at KeyCon in Winnipeg.  And she was able to get a screen capture off an TV ad that had pretty much the perfect Ky in it. )

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?

No one here has made this mistake.  However, in the greater blogosphere, I see this kind of thing coming and going, and as far as this blog is concerned, I want it to go and stay away.

“What?  What’s wrong?” I hear you say.   Read the rest of this entry »

Without knowing anything about the plot, and just on your first reaction, which of the following titles would be most attractive to you for a story?

A) “Forethought”    B) “Mercenary’s Honor”   C)  “Meeting of Minds”   D) “Old Age and Treachery”  E) “Learning Experience”   F) None of the Above and here’s my suggestion. Read the rest of this entry »

Did I, or did I not, within the past two years, post a picture or two of my messy office?

If I did, and if anyone knows where it is, I’d appreciate the reference.

Thanks.