I wonder how often authors give in to temptation....

[laurion]

Recently I started reading the works of author Steven Brust, and tearing through them at a fairly rapid rate. They're light, and entertaining enough to keep me going. Towards the end of the second book, I come across this small exchange:

"Vladimir," said Cawti, "how should we approach them?"
"Yes," said Morrolan dryly. "You wouldn't want her to turn you into a newt."
"I'll get better," I said.

I got a few odd looks when I burst out laughing at that point.

(I'm sure there's at least one of you out there who is scratching their head at the moment. It's a Monty Python And The Holy Grail reference. No one make fun of that person for not getting it, ok?)

P.S., the recent 2.1 update to WordPress? Me likey.....

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Comments

[dkaine.livejournal.com]

I do agree with publication order as well. I have the three three in one volumes that have been put out so far. The thing about the chronology that annoys me is that he will mention something that either happened in the future or the past and those events may have happened two or more books behind or ahead respectively, which if you're reading at any real pace, it can be confusing the first time you look at it.

[laurion]

There have definitely been a number of those. I guess he mapped out a number of books in a plot outline, then wrote them in the order that struck him as easiest to tackle. I'm getting very good when seeing one of these references at setting aside my internal questions on the assumption that the answers will be in another book. The one thing I wish is that he'd include a brief paragraph or chart at the beginning of each book to show where it lies in the chronology. The second book seems to be a few years before the first, and the third is mere weeks after the first...

[dkaine.livejournal.com]

Yeah, definitely would have been very helpful.

Google search (just thought of doing it) avails this -->http://www.panix.com/~alexx/brust.html


and apparently some wikipedia links about the novels. Pretty useful as well.

Besides, just wait. There are books where chapters will start in one timeline, and end up in a totally different one... and you may or may not even notice the change until the very end.

[laurion]

Hah! That's my friend Alexx Kay's site. World gets a bit smaller...

[dkaine.livejournal.com]

Lol, that's awesome. that world shrinks every single minute of every day. How do you know him?

[laurion]

He's in the SCA with me, as well as the local sci-fi fan scene, and we worked together on a beta test of a third friend's graduate study project here at Brandeis.