From: Thomas Barclay <Thomas.Barclay@s...>
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 20:58:56 -0500
Subject: [OT] sad but true
Stackpole's writing is adequate in BT and SW genres. As someone pointed out, you're not reading them for their literary value. You're reading them for genre stories, and the best the author can do is use the material at hand usefully and get out of the way (not make his writing painful). Timothy Zahn did this sufficiently well. As for his other work, I _really_ like Talion:Revenant a lot. I was hoping for a sequel. Of course, if he's a _real_ writer at heart, he'll write regardless of whether things get published - it is a kind of mania that grips you. The fact is, if you've got 30+ books published, and you write anything halfway interesting, someone will publish you. Might not be Baen, but it'll be someone. I hope he does okay, but I'm not rushing out to throw money at his work until it stands on its own and attracts my attention. And as for having to get a real job (for which he seems to believe he has very little useful qualification)... that's just too bad. Welcome to my world. I love to write SF gaming stuff, but I'm a software designer and network architect because that's how bills get paid. People don't (or damn rarely) pay you to do what you want. If you've enjoyed that for even a while, you're doing well. Heck, if that were the case, I'd be in the Carribean, on a beach, drinking rum drinks, surrounded by nymphs, and in my spare moments I'd be found playing Stargrunt at the Batallion level with 100 of my best friends from the list! But I'm not holding my breath for that option...