Winds of Dune: a complete non-event

[TheDukester]

I suspect KJA will have to be dragged kicking and screaming away from Dune. Dune has prestige and credibility in SF circles that KJA has no hope of getting himself. I think he sees Dune as his best chance at a Hugo.

Now this I couldn't agree with more. Every word is 100-percent truth.

When he sees his "masterpiece" Terribly Incoherent not come within shouting distance of the top 100 at Amazon, even Kevin J. Anderson is smart enough to realize that only Dune will be his ticket to the fame and glory he so desperately craves.

[SandChigger]

I think he sees Dune as his best chance at a Hugo.

I figure it's only a matter of time until his friends in that circle-jerk group (what were they called again?) give him a Nebula, but if he EVER gets a Hugo, it's the end of the world.

[TheDukester]

Nebula is SFWA, I think. I can't muster the energy to actually double-check.

But you're right: the Hugo is the original and the more prestigious. And Keith has no chance at winning one, ever. It's inconceivable!

[Ampoliros]

Sorry, I should have clarified, he's not on an internal list that's based off orders, not sales. So far for our store its only promo'd on New Release.
NYT list for the previous week usually comes out on Tues. right?

It came no where near the top 10 on Amazon. #1 in Space Opera though. (and Author Herbert, Brian, but not Author last name starting with H)

[Ampoliros]

Nebula is SFWA, I think. I can't muster the energy to actually double-check.

But you're right: the Hugo is the original and the more prestigious. And Keith has no chance at winning one, ever. It's inconceivable!

Well if he doesn't win one, he'll probably just use "Bestselling Author in the Nebula and Hugo Award-winning Dune Series".


Winds is at 19 on the Amazon list at the moment. It will probably show up around that point on the NYT list as well. Iirc, didnt Paul debut at 11?

[TheDukester]

It did. And began dropping immediately.

Sandworms, by comparison, debuted at #4. And spent four weeks in the top 10.

[SandRider]

Well, hey, now that Dune is no longer a Bestselling series, maybe the Hack will move on. Parasites do that when the Host begins to die.

I would hope so, but what franchise would take KJA? As far as I know, he's been demoted to editing novels in the Star Wars EU and not writing them. He'll probably keep writing Superman novels until DC Comics realizes he sucks and demotes from that. His solo attempts at scifi have resulted in the forgettable "Saga of Seven Suns" crapfest. The X-files franchise is all but dead. Maybe he could latch-on to Star Trek with novels based on the new movie??

Battlestar Galactica ?

[TheDukester]

I think it's a great question. Where does Kevin go from here? Will McDune be his only gig?

His superhero books are a non-starter. The sailing ships have made no impact whatsoever. He no longer appears to be involved with Star Wars EU crap. Hellhole will be made of fail, even if they print "by the authors of DUNE!" as big as they dare on the cover. He's never written for Star Trek that I know of, not even counting the fact that the people in charge of that series have publicly announced they are cutting the fiction line by about half. I could go on ...

I realize there's no shortage of SF/F losers out there who will snap up anything with a franchise logo on the cover, but I've yet to see Keith talking about anything like that. And this is a guy who will announce the most mundane details of his life ("Got up, packed, had a quick breakfast with Fuzzy ...") on multiple public venues. If he had a deal lined up, he'd have announced it by now.

So, other than Dune ... what's he got? Warhammer, maybe?

[Serkanner]

I was thinking he would fit in nicely as a co-writer for the Viking Unchained series by Sandra Hill ...

http://www.amazon.com/Viking-Unchained- ... 0425222950" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SandRider]

Warhammer's not a bad idea at all. I've not read any of them, but I've seen them -
and am vaguely familar with the table-top warfare games they're based on.

a game-based universe, has had lots of hands in the creation of the back-stories,
rabid, geeky fanboys - that'd be a great fit for him.

[Sev]

Not sure that Warhammer would be a great fit, he's already tried a similar path with StarCraft to less than universal acclaim. At the end of the day, as long as he's off 'Dune', who the fuck cares what he does...

[Omphalos]

I'd wager that he wants out of shared-universe stuff. I think he'd take one if another big one came along, but you can't do that all your life and expect to win awards.

[lotek]

how about he writes for Knots Landing or Coronation St?
That 'd be a relief and he might make it big

[TheDukester]

I'd wager that he wants out of shared-universe stuff. I think he'd take one if another big one came along, but you can't do that all your life and expect to win awards.

I totally agree, but I think Kev's also in a bit of a pickle: as noted above, his most recent attempt at a creative *snort* work has been met with almost universal yawning. And Saga of Seventy-Seven Sucky Suns is starting to seem like a loooonnnggg time ago.

So, he can't win awards being a franchise hack ... but that's what he's best it. And he can't win awards on his own ... because he doesn't have the talent.

Bit of a dilemma, eh, Keith?

[Omphalos]

I'd wager that he wants out of shared-universe stuff. I think he'd take one if another big one came along, but you can't do that all your life and expect to win awards.

I totally agree, but I think Kev's also in a bit of a pickle: as noted above, his most recent attempt at a creative *snort* work has been met with almost universal yawning. And Saga of Seventy-Seven Sucky Suns is starting to seem like a loooonnnggg time ago.

So, he can't win awards being a franchise hack ... but that's what he's best it. And he can't win awards on his own ... because he doesn't have the talent.

Bit of a dilemma, eh, Keith?

Let's all hope that his pride pushes him to make a public screw up that we can all agree on, preeks and OH alike.

[A Thing of Eternity]

I'd wager that he wants out of shared-universe stuff. I think he'd take one if another big one came along, but you can't do that all your life and expect to win awards.

I totally agree, but I think Kev's also in a bit of a pickle: as noted above, his most recent attempt at a creative *snort* work has been met with almost universal yawning. And Saga of Seventy-Seven Sucky Suns is starting to seem like a loooonnnggg time ago.

So, he can't win awards being a franchise hack ... but that's what he's best it. And he can't win awards on his own ... because he doesn't have the talent.

Bit of a dilemma, eh, Keith?

Let's all hope that his pride pushes him to make a public screw up that we can all agree on, preeks and OH alike.

What kind of slip are you thinking of?

[Omphalos]

I'd wager that he wants out of shared-universe stuff. I think he'd take one if another big one came along, but you can't do that all your life and expect to win awards.

I totally agree, but I think Kev's also in a bit of a pickle: as noted above, his most recent attempt at a creative *snort* work has been met with almost universal yawning. And Saga of Seventy-Seven Sucky Suns is starting to seem like a loooonnnggg time ago.

So, he can't win awards being a franchise hack ... but that's what he's best it. And he can't win awards on his own ... because he doesn't have the talent.

Bit of a dilemma, eh, Keith?

Let's all hope that his pride pushes him to make a public screw up that we can all agree on, preeks and OH alike.

What kind of slip are you thinking of?

For example, he writes a totally original book, for the purpose of winning an award, with an hugely expensive publicity campaing, where every volume printed becomes a remainder. That kind of thing is what I had in mind, though the brain boggles with possibility, no?

[Hunchback Jack]

I think he'll either look for another dead guy whose legacy needs sodomizing, or he'll convince himself that he's ready for the big time, and write mediocre original novels for the rest of his life. They will sell just enough copies for him to live off, and for his ego to feed on, but not get him any acclaim beyond "notable book" status.

HBJ

[Ampoliros]

Warhammer's not a bad idea at all. I've not read any of them, but I've seen them -
and am vaguely familar with the table-top warfare games they're based on.

a game-based universe, has had lots of hands in the creation of the back-stories,
rabid, geeky fanboys - that'd be a great fit for him.

British fanboys, i.e. soccer hooligans reading ultra-violent military science fantasy. KJA would probably be murdered.

And for the record, some of the Warhammer stuff is pretty damn good. Dan Abnett's Horus Rising in particular is an amazing work of sci-fi. The rest of the series is pretty basic military sci-fi, but the first book is incredible.

KJA writing Battlestar Galactica? Why? There is no magic there. KJA can't deal with a universe that has no magic.

[DuneFishUK]

KJA brings his own magic.

[TheDukester]

KJA writing Battlestar Galactica? Why? There is no magic there.

Maybe not "magic," per se, but that show was pretty damn mystical.

A certain disappearing character springs immediately to mind ...

[SandRider]

exactly what I was thinking.

starbuck is the new paul.

[Rakis]

...and he could use Baltar and Six as powerful angels that can shoot lasers with their eyes and stuff...

[Ampoliros]

...and he could use Baltar and Six as powerful angels that can shoot lasers with their eyes and stuff...

and have sex. alot.

[SandChigger]

From The Hack's latest b(owe)log movement. Answers the question of what Byron's up to:

Our driver, Byron, and our Philadelphia-area media escort both pulled out all the stops and did service for us above-and-beyond the call of duty.

I don't EVEN want to think about what that "service" entailed. (If it were our ByrByr, speculation wouldn't be necessary.)

More proof that somebody is paying attention:

I had talked ahead of time with Joan, the media escort, and asked if she could help arrange for getting some laundry done. On this tour, traveling to a different city each day, we would arrive in the hotel mid-afternoon and then leave the next morning; I hadn’t yet found a hotel that could do an express turnaround in a few hours.

Oh, right. He wasn't just trying to come across as Joe Six-Pack-and-Two-Pizzas.

So, after dropping us off at the hotel, our driver took a bag of dirty shirts and slacks off to Joan’s apartment and she arranged to get them cleaned before we needed to change for the evening event at the Philadelphia Free Library.

Um ... is he saying their "media escort" did his wash? WTF does "arranged to get them cleaned" at her apartment even mean?

Brian had a complicated day, and didn’t have time to change into his best clothing or eat dinner. With Joan’s help, he arrived at the signing with five minutes to spare, having just finished a sandwich for dinner in the front seat.

WARNING: CODEWORD! WARNING! Brian had a "complicated" day. Look out, people, THE HERB IS OFF HIS MEDS!!!

OK, so don't expect pix from that one. He shuffles in, probably mumbling, maybe drooling a little, unkempt and unwashed, probably fragrant and no doubt covered in bread crumbs ... BoBo doing the HerboHobo!

As a very pleasant surprise, Brian’s friends Tad, Khadija, and Sean Dodds arrived with a big box of books to be signed. ... Khadija is Moroccan from the city of Meknes, which Rebecca and I visited during our tour of Morocco. (Meknes has had a big influence on some of the Dune novels; historically, one of the leaders Iblis — whose name we used in the Butlerian Jihad series — dug large swimming pools so that his desert fighters could learn to swim before they crossed the Straits of Gibraltar in their invasion of Spain…an event that we drew upon for a scene in Paul of Dune.)

Kewl ... with this KJA admits that both the Legends character Iblis Ginjo and the swimming pool incident in PoD are rooted in his own personal experiences and therefore original and not derived from FH's notes. Not that there was any doubt of either. (Come on, you seriously think he just applied the name Iblis to a character just sketched by FH? )

After the signing, we had another surprise waiting for us—the Dodds had brought a home-made Moroccan feast for us in the back of their car. Brian had often told me stories about Khadija’s cooking, and she had brought a large container of freshly made tajine chicken with wonderful spices, olives, and raisins. Standing behind the car in the dark streets at the rear of the Philadelphia library, we broke bread and ate with our fingers in true Moroccan style. A very memorable evening and very suitable on our Winds of Dune tour.

Because ... the Fremen are Arabs, after all. A fact he seems to have forgotten when coming up with that Chisra Sala Muad'Dib bullshit (the new name in "the language of the desert" that Korba evidently came up with for Caladan before he got done in).

Sounds LOVELY. I really hope he ate with his left hand.