Reviews
Posted: 05 Feb 2013 20:54
Do any of the new McDune books even get reviewed by anything other than Amazon posters? Like by any of the semi-reputable sci-fi book review blogs?
DUNE DISCUSSION FORUM FOR ORTHODOX HERBERTARIANS
http://www.jacurutu.com/
I'd have thought you would have knew that you can't polish a turd.Jodorowsky's Acolyte wrote:There are things I like about BH and KJA, but they tragically need much, much more polishing.
Wert's OK. Trouble with him is that he has his buddy authors whose work he shills for. That makes him a less than reputable reviewer, but I don't find it difficult to spot the ones he is shilling for and the ones he is genuinely reviewing. Take a look at the reviews of that Chung Kyo guy. Or Dan Abnett. A bit too gushing, me thinks. They read like advertisements.leagued wrote:http://thewertzone.blogspot.sg/search/l ... 20anderson
This was the most recent review by someone I consider reputable in the field of SF/F book reviews. I've found his blog to be a good source of reading recommendations and this is a pretty concise article that pretty accurately reflects my opinion of the prequels. Other OH mileage may vary. The most interesting part is when he talks about BH being approached by an editor w/ the idea for a tribute anthology of respected SF authors... and KJA. Sad to know that we might actually have gotten something worthwhile all the way back at the beginning. (This, I suspect is where other OHers may disagree and be opposed to even such an idea).
I know. I know. I just think that the prequels could use enhancement. The plot points would still remain ridiculous, but it'll read better after some extensive surgery. Even though their fiction is bad, if they had the help of a writing teacher, most of the unnecessary filler would be gone, and the bad ideas might read better.... Forget it. I'm still waiting for the Jacurutu group authored prequels to come out to totally dwarf the BH+KJA team.inhuien wrote:I'd have thought you would have knew that you can't polish a turd.Jodorowsky's Acolyte wrote:There are things I like about BH and KJA, but they tragically need much, much more polishing.
What aspects of their books do you like?
Man, if only there was like, some kind of seminar run by authors in the genre that could pass on their wisdom...they should totally go to one of those!Jodorowsky's Acolyte wrote: I know. I know. I just think that the prequels could use enhancement. The plot points would still remain ridiculous, but it'll read better after some extensive surgery. Even though their fiction is bad, if they had the help of a writing teacher, most of the unnecessary filler would be gone, and the bad ideas might read better....
The vast majority of published authors can't afford to quit their day job to make a living from writing. KJA makes a steady (but possibly steadily diminishing) paycheck. By one fairly objective standard, he is a succesful writer.Ampoliros wrote:Man, if only there was like, some kind of seminar run by authors in the genre that could pass on their wisdom...they should totally go to one of those!
Naïve mind wrote:The vast majority of published authors can't afford to quit their day job to make a living from writing. KJA makes a steady (but possibly steadily diminishing) paycheck. By one fairly objective standard, he is a succesful writer.Ampoliros wrote:Man, if only there was like, some kind of seminar run by authors in the genre that could pass on their wisdom...they should totally go to one of those!
Yes, yes it didRobspierre wrote:Sarcasm went completely over your head.
To be honest, looking at the programme, it's not a creative writing seminar. It boils down to "How to use your mediocre writing talent to make a reasonable living", which is something most of us would argue, he's too good at.Robspierre wrote: Amp was poking fun at Keith's Super Stars of Writing seminars....
- Economics of Commercial Publishing
- How Editors Look at Manuscripts, Novels, and Short Fiction
- Dissecting a Book Contract
- How to Read and Understand a Royalty Statement
- Dirty Secrets: What You Need to Know About Being a Professional Author
- How to Leverage Your Intellectual Property
- Balancing Acts: Writing World and Real World
- Agents
- Networking and Self-Promotion for Authors
- Understanding E-Books
- Pitching the Big Proposal
- Two Heads Are Better than One: Collaborations
- How to Get an Edge with New Media
- Movies, TV, and Authors
- How to Increase Your Writing Productivity
I think that would give away too much of the course's methodology.Nekhrun wrote:Shouldn't the session on Leveraging Your Intellectual Property be renamed to How to Find Public Domain Content to Milk and Barring that Piggyback on Someone's Success?
The Dawn of Amber series by John Gregory Betancourt started to be published in 2002. Betancourt's series tells the story of Corwin's father Oberon. It is set several centuries before Nine Princes in Amber and includes, thus far:
The Dawn of Amber (2002)
Chaos and Amber (2003)
To Rule in Amber (2004)
Shadows of Amber (2005)
Sword of Chaos (Dawn of Amber) (not written due to publisher's bankruptcy)
These novels were authorized by the Zelazny estate; however, that decision has been criticized by several acquaintances of Mr. Zelazny, including the writers George R. R. Martin, Walter Jon Williams and Neil Gaiman. These critics assert that Roger Zelazny was quite averse to the idea of a "shared" Amber setting, and that he had explicitly stated, in no uncertain terms, that he did not want any other writers writing about Amber.[7][8] Gaiman wrote:
Well, I remember Roger talking to me and Steve Brust. We'd just suggested that if he did an anthology of other-people-write-Amber-stories that we'd be up for it (understatement) and he puffed on his pipe, and said -- extremely firmly -- that he didn't want anyone else to write Amber stories but him. I don't believe he ever changed his mind on that. (When Roger knew he was dying, though, he did nothing to rewrite his will, which means that his literary executor is a family member from whom he was somewhat estranged -- not someone who would have kept Roger's wishes paramount. Which is a pity.) Would I love to write an Amber story? God, yes. Would Steve Brust? Absolutely. Will we? Nope because Roger told us he explicitly didn't want it to happen.
Zelazny did authorize Amber gamebooks written by other authors such as The Black Road War and Seven No-Trump penned by Neil Randall (co-author of The Visual Guide to Castle Amber with Zelazny) and The Complete Amber Sourcebook by Theodore Krulik. He also granted Amberzine the special privilege to publish stories directly inspired from Amber RPG sessions.
The Dawn of Amber series did not pick up where the Merlin series left off. That the series focuses on Oberon has disappointed many Amber fans who, after reading the Merlin series and the other Amber short stories, realized that Zelazny almost certainly was planning another series to wrap up the story that was left hanging. Zelazny had written the Amber short stories to tie up some loose ends and at the same time opened doors to new characters, concepts and stories for the Amber universe.
In addition, the series seems to contradict some ideas in Amber or rules stated in the original ten books. Betancourt talked about some of these concerns in an interview,[9] stating that some of them won't prove valid at end of his series.
Due to Byron Preiss' death, iBooks filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and the series was canceled.[10] The future of the series is uncertain but iBooks has shown renewed interest in the series since being purchased by John T Colby in 2006.[11][12]
Some fans have had a rather negative response to Betancourt's writing style and lack of characterization, and consider his work to be more of fan fiction, but Betancourt states that one of his primary motivations for writing the new books was to keep Roger Zelazny's books and stories alive and in print and to prevent them from fading into obscurity, much like how other authors have extended the stories and ongoing popularity of Robert E. Howard's Conan, Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series.
Naïve mind wrote:Yes, yes it didRobspierre wrote:Sarcasm went completely over your head.
To be honest, looking at the programme, it's not a creative writing seminar. It boils down to "How to use your mediocre writing talent to make a reasonable living", which is something most of us would argue, he's too good at.Robspierre wrote: Amp was poking fun at Keith's Super Stars of Writing seminars....
- Economics of Commercial Publishing
- How Editors Look at Manuscripts, Novels, and Short Fiction
- Dissecting a Book Contract
- How to Read and Understand a Royalty Statement
- Dirty Secrets: What You Need to Know About Being a Professional Author
- How to Leverage Your Intellectual Property
- Balancing Acts: Writing World and Real World
- Agents
- Networking and Self-Promotion for Authors
- Understanding E-Books
- Pitching the Big Proposal
- Two Heads Are Better than One: Collaborations
- How to Get an Edge with New Media
- Movies, TV, and Authors
- How to Increase Your Writing Productivity