Do not get into this page if you are trying to read a book. This is for after you’ve read it. Likewise follow the custom of putting a subject and then dropping down a number of lines to make it possible for a reader to duck out if they don’t want the information yet.
I will answer questions about pronunciation, etc, all the little questions I’m normally asked. I won’t discuss things that disturb my creative process, like where I’m going or such. You can theorize among yourselves.
Pardon me if this is the wrong spot for this, but – are there any Morgaine and Vanye adventures to come? I count the Morgaine novels among the very few books I have read a half-dozen times (I just finished them again which led me here). I was thrilled beyond measure to get Exile’s Gate after a nine year wait, but it’s been a long time since then. Any hope for the Morgaine-starved?
There’s a chance on most all my older series. New York hasn’t wanted to go there, but I can, if I can make a financial go on Closed Circle, or if Jane and I combined can.
Hmm. Since Morgaine succeeded in finally closing all of the Gates, it would be interesting to see what she does with the rest of her life. I can’t see domestic bliss being quite up her street!
Actually, friends and I have been debating what exactly happens when the last Gate is closed. Since they set the Gate to close after they go through it, do Morgaine and Vanye wind up stranded where ever that last Gate went, or do they find out it’s the last Gate when they go to set the coordinates and there aren’t any that the Gate can go to, or do they (as several people seem to think) just wind up stepping into the last Gate and not come out anywhere, since they won’t be able to tell that there aren’t any other Gates until they are in it? That wouldn’t make me eager to continue the quest, that’s for sure!
Weather or not they cant get the last one because it leads no where or the come out of the last gate and find no more gates in the next world it seems to me that Changeling would always be the last gate.
Good point, but Changeling isn’t controllable. Maybe someone steals it and reverse-engineers the tech to reopen a true Gate?
THE FORTRESS SERIES
Hi, I was wondering if there will be anymore books in the Fortress Series; they’re my favorite series and I’ve read them over and over again. I love the the friendship and love between Tristan and Cefweyn.
I want to do it—and in e-book, eventually, I may. Thus far no further interest from Harper. It’s the old series problem. Publishers are trying to dump every series they’ve got unless it’s a sales-leader.
All you have to do is write a love story about a vampire and you can have as long a series as you want! I wouldn’t be surprised if you publisher has asked you to do so!
Any chance Closed Circle could grow to include print-on-demand offerings from services such as Lulu.com for us hide-bound traditionalist who like paper things that gather dust, can be torn, stained, stacked, etc.?
Yes, there’s been a discussion in the blog-comments a while back about a printing-option, whether Lulu or CafePress would be better; and I remember clearly that the author has said that there will be an option included with which you can get 1 copy printed by CafePress or Lulu. Would that be the PDF-version in the download?
If I remember correctly, the conclusion at that time was that CafePress would deliver better value-for-money than Lulu: it might be a good idea if the first person to get a printed copy of a CC download from either reports back on the blog about their experience with this?
The cost of the printing service is of course separate from buying the book, and it would probably be closer to a hard-cover price to get a hard-copy book. Still, like you, I’ve been looking forward to getting any new-for-me books printed as I do prefer my paper books – even though this site has encouraged me to try an e-book reader on my laptop, and I’ve enjoyed a few Project Gutenberg otherwise-unknown-and-unavailable books that way already.
Same here for me. I’ve used Lulu.com before and was quite impressed with their hard cover with dust jacket. The prie was good if it wasn’t for the internetional shipping cost…
I have no idea what CafePress would charge but the Economy option for Lulu was $14 for one book this spring. Quite a lot for Economy.
Lulu asks for very precise dimensions when you submit a file and if CafePress does the same we might have a problem with P-O-D unless the sizes are the same for both printers (there are several sizes available but only a few sizes for hard cover).
I’m sure all this will be worked out by our beloved authors.
ericf
Question about the Shepherds in Heavy Time..
Just finished my 3rd read of Heavy Time… man I love that book. But I do have a question or two, still. I’ve never been clear on the exact nature of the Shepherds and their ships. The drivers chomped up the asteroids and then sent the loads in to the well. Did the Shepherds then pick them up in their ships and bring them into the refineries? Is that it? It seems they had been part of the system for a long time and were integral to the system that ASTEX ran – but that BM wanted to replace them.
Also, having read so many of the Alliance Union books, it’s kind of neat to see Dek and Ben step into ECS5 – later to be Atlantis, a brand new ship. (Especially since I just read Downbelow – the essential ending of the Fleet as it was). But that also leaves me a bit confused, in that we have *Lt.* Porey (not Captain yet) and Graff – but I thought they were both off Africa later on? Am I misremembering? Seems to me in Rimrunners, Bet Yeager talks about Porey and Graff and Africa.
Nothing like reading a C.J. book with people on a starship – it always seems so real!
Hi there!
Sends the loads toward the Well, on approved trajectory, sort of an invisible ‘pipeline’ between a driver and Jupiter, primarily so they don’t have driver loads whizzing through space to endanger system traffic or just as bad, heading toward a refinery ship. They’re using Jupiter as a target to gather and ‘brake’ the driver loads, the Shepherds pick them up, and make sure they’re accounted for, and then let the oreships collect the take and move it into the refinery of the district.
Porey ends up in command of Africa. Graff was Keu’s, destined for India, but grew disillusioned with Keu’s command abilities and went to Mallory.
Thanks! Oh right, Graff was Mallory’s – don’t know why I got that confused. Onto Hellburner now – fun to read them back to back. Almost like it’s one big book.
I know you did Regenesis recently, but are you finished with the Alliance-Union stories, or might we see more?
Hi
Can i ask if there will be any more Morgaine books?
No longer impossible. Not since we’ve started issuing our own e-books.
There is a british acent called Aldershot Parade Ground. Atributed to members of the service regiments who recrute nationaly. As aposed to combat regiments who recrute from a geographic area.
Hello. ^^
I just have to say that all of your books that I so far have read are all bloody awesome(up to 21 now), some more than others of corse. You are also quite possible my favourite writer.
Well, well on to my question: In all your books that I have read so far, it’s always been a situation where one or more humans find himself/herself among “alliens” and “alien” civilization. why is there newer in your books a situation where an “alien” find himself/herself among humans, accept in some rare and short occasions like when the Mri spent some time in the human ship Flower?
It’s quite possible that my observation is utterly wrong, quite likely in fact, for I have only read three series(chanur, foriegner and the mri war) and three stand-alone books(Brothers of earth, Cuckoo’s egg and Hestia) so far. If I’m wrong then please say so, and be kind to state which one/s . I have many books left and I plan to read all of them, but trying to figure out which to read, then give up on that and just end choose randomly takes time, time that could be spent reading. If I’m wrong, then I could spend some of that time on reading instead.
Have an good day and may you newer stop writing. ^^
Mmmm. Not too often the other way around, as you say. And there’s a curiously non-philosophical reason for it: everybody knows human civilization quite well—well, pretty well. We don’t know the alien. So if I take the point of view of humans looking at a single alien, all they know how to say (and all the reader can get out of it) is “He’s alien. I don’t understand him.”
But if I get one human (whom we all know) amid a working, whole alien culture, he is a ‘known’ quantity in a position to observe a functional society and the normal interactions of another species.
It’s just easier to get a good story if it’s somebody like us probing the unknown rather than somebody who’s isolated so far outside his cultural context (re the reader) that it’s hard to judge (as strangers to his culture) whether he’s sane or aberrant.
I thought it was something in that direction, thank you for the explanation and have a good night. ^^
I have a “from follows function” question. The nighthorses are described as very horse-like. But they are also predators. Are there actually long-necked predators? It makes sense for grazers… you need to get your head to the grass somehow. But all the predators I can think of (canines, felines, bears, weasels, otters, hyena) bring their prey down and then crouch/lie to eat it, so they have short necks. What is your reasoning for making a horse-shaped predator, or did it just seem like a neat idea at the time? Or am I just thinking too narrowly about predators? Snakes are the closest thing I can think of to having a long neck, and I am not sure that they count.
Interesting question. In ‘Walking with dinosaurs’ I’ve seen long-necked predatory dinosaurs like Velociraptors (my nephew’s favorite) and some of the big marine predators. Those were more reptilian, not at all like a horse; and I can’t think of a modern-day equivalent except lizards. The long necks were said to increase their striking range, and as they weren’t the top predators they didn’t lie down to eat, but stayed standing up ready to run off if a bigger danger approached (at least in the BBC series). Are the nighthorses hunted as well as hunters?
Another aspect to this question: a lot of a horse’s barrel-shaped body is needed for it’s guts as it takes a much longer intestine to get energy from grass than from meat. So perhaps the nighthorses had more greyhound-shaped bodies than solid barrel-shaped?
And how about stereo-optic vision? A horse has a lot of peripheral vision and not much overlapping vision from both eyes for seeing depth. Most hunters have a great deal of their field of vision in stereo, for accuracy in striking the prey. How does that work in a horse’s head?
And clawed feet need a different set-up for the foot and ‘ankle’ than hooves to run on. Did they have those? It’s been 20+ years since I read those books from the library.
I seem to remember the nighthorses were omnivores, so maybe they needed aspects of both predator and prey in their shapes?
Or maybe it’s more a general similarity in build than in details of conformation?
As I designed the nighthorses, they do indeed have more of a greyhound shape, with that rising arch in the back, and the head is more like a llama—eyes forward, with a dentition a lot more human, and a fairly large braincase. The ancient horse had 3 toes, the hoof being the survival of the central one, incidentally bearing the weight of a larger frame, and increasing its speed; and I envision the nighthorse as more like the ancient model. A split hoof is more adept at climbing, as witness mountain sheep, etc.
In my own opinion, the science shows for ‘the general public’ keep trying to say there is purpose in evolution, (the lion wants to ensure the survival of his offspring—heck no. The lion will kill what is not mate-material that has the ‘wrong’ smell, and suggesting he has advanced understanding of genetic theory is ridiculous: we still haven’t figured it all out yet, and Henry VIII is a good example of not ‘getting’ it)—a genetic mutation may affect several things, depending when the change is expressed. Most mutations are neutral, some are harmful, and some advantageous to survival. But because the genetic expression may affect more than one thing, it’s not accurate to say that the loss of the tri-toed foot was survival positive. It may have been baggage that came with another genetic change that was very survival-positive, perhaps an improvement in speed, and thus piggy-backed its way into the modern beasts.
In short, I think the structure, properly evolved, will stand up under the weight of a lightly built modern horse.
And in the world of Finisterre, it’s got a lot of predators. While the nighthorses are the most intelligent and one of the largest, others operate en masse, and by ambush, so the ability to move fast is survival-positive as well as an advantage in hunting. The nighthorses are not, however, long-distance runners, especially carrying a rider.