On Apr 24, 5:19=A0pm, prestorjon <prestor...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Apr 8, 6:56 am, johan.g.lar...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>
> > On Apr 7, 11:44 pm, Ahasuerus <ahasue...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > > To be fair to SteveStirling, not all of his subsequent books have
> > > swordfights, e.g. the heroes (for some values of the term) of
> > > _Conquistador_ favored firearms when they were available, or even
Hot
> > > Lesbian S&M ***, e.g. the Hot Female Scientist in _The Peshawar
> > > Lancers_ tells us that she is *not* a lesbian up front, presumably
> > > just in case.
>
> > You know, ifStirlingwere to write a novel where the characters know
> > they are in aStirlingnovel, and are taking pains to avoid his most
> > obvious cliches, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. But that would be
> > postmodern, and might make the author's head explode.
>
> > Johan Larson
>
> One of the things I've noticed in his latest novels is that he seems
> to be far more interested in the worlds he's created than in any kind
> of plot for them. =A0Conquistador is a notorious example of this IMO
> where he sets up this nice scenario of the feds trying to figure out
> what's going on, then the middle of the book basically turns into a
> several hundred page travelogue of the alternate Earth, and then in
> the last three or four chapters it's like Stirling's editor told him
> "Uh Steve you're going to have to wrap this up soon" and he just
> tacked on this rushed ending. =A0I've suggested before that maybe he
> write a "non-fiction" book ala For Want of a Nail, or create a world
> and let someone else write it. =A0That would seem to play to his
> strength's of coming up with interesting scenarios while getting
> around his disdain of plot and annoying characterization tropes
I have only read two Stirling books, Conquistador and Drakon. I
enjoyed Conquistador but thought it would have been a better book if
he had not revealed the existence of the alternate universe so early.
More of a mystery, with the other world slowly discovered and then
revealed, would have made a better story and created more sense of
wonder in the reader.
I finished Drakon, but didn't think too much of it. I guess it
entertained me enough to keep reading. I won't finish a book I'm not
enjoying or which can't hold my interest.
I have Island in the Sea of Time, but haven't got around to reading it
yet.
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