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7. What is science fiction?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the frequently asked questions (FAQ) list for rec.arts.sf.written.
If you have written something you think belongs in the FAQ that you don't
see here and want included, please send it to me, Evelyn Leeper
(evelynleeper@geocities.com), as well as any corrections or additions you
think should be made.

[Oh, and in answer to a somewhat frequently asked question, Evelyn in this
case is a woman's name.]

			Table of Contents
 0. Introduction
 1. Story identification requests
 2. Spoilers
 3. What books or stories are about X?
	A. Cyberpunk
	B. Steampunk
	C. Alternate Histories
	D. Transformation Stories
	E. Gender Issues
	F. King Arthur and Robin Hood
	G. Jewish SF
	H. Mormon SF
	I. Christian SF
	J. Only non-human characters
	K. Post-apocalypse
	L. Other
 4. What books have been written by author X?
 5. List of the Hugo, Nebula, or World Fantasy Award winners
 6. Does anyone want to talk about X?
 7. What is science fiction?
 8. What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy?
 8a. Isn't magical realism just another name for fantasy?
 8b. Why are fantasy works nominated for Hugo Awards?
 9. The SF-LOVERS Digest
10. Star Trek
11. Common abbreviations
12. Various questions about multiple editions, long-awaited books,etc.
	A. Iain M. Banks
	B. The sequel to Steven R. Boyett's ARCHITECT OF SLEEP
	C. The next book in David Brin's Uplift series
	D. The next book from Steven Brust
	E. The next book in Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series
	F. The next book in Glen Cook's Black Company series
	G. The third book in P. C. Hodgell's God Stalk series
	H. Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana ending
	I. The next book in S. M. Stirling's Draka series
	J. The sequel to David R. Palmer's THRESHOLD
	K. [deleted]
	L. The next book in Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden Universe
	M. The next book in Catherine Asaro's "Skolian Web" series
	N. The next Ken MacLeod book (and reading order)
	O. The fourth book in Alexei Panshin's Anthony Villers series
	P. The next Merlin book from Nicolai Tolstoy
	Q. [deleted]
	R. The third book in Paul Edwin Zimmer's Border series
	S. The third book in Meredith Pierce's Darkangel trilogy
	T. The fifth book in the Chtorr series
	U. The next book in Vernor Vinge's Slow Zone series and the annotated
	   FIRE UPON THE DEEP
13. Clarke's Laws
14. SF themes in music 
15. Oldest Living SF Authors
16A. Black SF authors
16B. Asian/Asian-American SF authors
17. Good SF bookstores in town Z and ordering by mail/Web
17a. Are chain bookstores evil?
18. What is Johnny Rico's ethnic group in STARSHIP TROOPERS?
19. In what order should I read:
	A. Lois McMaster Bujold's "Vorkosigan" series? 
	B. Steven Brust's "Dragaeran" series?
	C. Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series?
	D. Ken MacLeod's books?
	E. Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series?
	F. Iain M. Banks's "Culture" series?
20. Science Fiction Book Club
21. Recent Obituaries
22. SF ENCYCLOPEDIA et al
23. What is the difference between "mass-market" and "trade" paperbacks?
	Why do some books come out in trade paperback instead of the
	more affordable mass-market format?  What about A, B, and C format
	in Britain?
24. What do the letters "PJF" after Steven Brust's name mean?
25. Is Megan Lindholm writing under a pseudonym?
26. Who is William Ashbless?
27. Who is Kilgore Trout?
28. Pronunciation of Cherryh
29. Stephen Jay Gould and Steven Gould
30. Sturgeon's Law
31. What is the Thor Power Tools decision and how did it affect publishing?
32. What is the best science fiction magazine to subscribe to?
33. How much do authors get in royalties?
34. Who said:
	A. "He's a chimp! She's the Pope! They're cops!"
	B. "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12."
	C. "War God of Israel/The Thing with Three Souls"
	D. "Science fiction should get out of the classroom
		and back in the gutter where it belongs!"
	E. "Life is like a simile."
35. Would the windmills in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books work?
36. What's the world's shortest science fiction story?
37. What are the books that come up again and again in rec.arts.sf.written?
38. What are good SF books for children/young adults?
39. Spelling
99. Science Fiction Archives

----------------------------------------------------------------------
0. Introduction

rec.arts.sf.written is a newsgroup devoted to discussions of written
SF.  It is a high-volume newsgroup and this article is intended to help
reduce the number of unnecessary postings, thereby making it more
useful and enjoyable to everyone.

"SF" as used here means "speculative fiction" and includes science
fiction, fantasy, horror (a.k.a. dark fantasy), etc.

If you have not already done so, please read the articles in
news.announce.newusers.  They contain a great deal of useful
information about network etiquette and convention.

If you have any bibliographic or similar questions, please try the
Internet Speculative Fiction Database at
http://www.sfsite.com/isfdb/index.html.

Before we begin, two pieces of net.etiquette.  Both of these are
mentioned in news.announce.newusers, but since they are so frequently
violated, and at least one of them is particularly relevant to this
group, we mention them here:

SPOILER WARNINGS:  Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a book
is ruined if they know certain things about it, especially when those
things are surprise endings or mysteries.  On the other hand, they also
want to know whether or not a book is worth reading, or they may be
following a particular thread of conversation where such information may
be revealed.  The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in your
header, or in the text of your posting.  You can also put a ctl-L
character in the *first* column for your readers who are using rn.  Some
people think that spoiler warnings are not necessary.  We don't understand
why, and do not want to discuss it.  Use your best judgment.

Some people say that since not all news readers honor the ctl-L, you should
insert twenty or so blank lines as well.  My personal opinion is that I hate
having to page through those blank lines because some people's newsreaders
are antiquated, but it's up to you.

REPLIES TO REQUESTS AND QUESTIONS:  When you think that many people will
know an answer to a question, or will have an answer to a request,
RESPOND VIA E-MAIL!!!  And if you don't know the answer, but want to
know, DON'T POST TO THE NET asking for the answer, ask VIA E-MAIL!  If
you think a lot of people will want the same information, you might
suggest that the person summarize to the net.

Please keep in mind two points:

	1.  Always remember that there is a live human being at the
	other end of the wires.  In other words, please write your
	replies with the same courtesy you would use in talking to
	someone face-to-face.

	2.  Try to recognize humor and irony in postings.  Tone of
	voice does not carry in ASCII print, and postings are often
	snapped off quickly, so that humorous intent may not be
	obvious.  More destructive and vicious arguments have been
	caused by this one fact of net existence than any other.  It
	will help if satiric/ironic/humorous comments are marked with
	the "smiley face," :-)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Story identification requests

"Does anyone know this story?"  

It used to be said that you should ask that all responses be e-mailed
back to you, then post the correct answer to the net.  These days, no
one does that, and people seem to enjoy the discussion that often
follows.  Nevertheless, at least check if someone else has responded
before you post a bare-bones reply.

And *do* put a useful subject line on your posting.  For example,
"Subject: ID req: telepathic dog story" is more likely to get people
who know the answer to respond than "Subject: story request".

[Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]

Four of the most common requested stories are:

  1) There are some time travellers to the age of dinosaurs.  They have
  to stay on a special floating path to avoid changing the future.
  However, one steps off the path.  When they return to the future,
  things are subtly changed.  The guy who steps off the path then looks
  at his shoe and finds a dead butterfly. == A SOUND OF THUNDER by Ray
  Bradbury

  This has been anthologized many times, but according to William
  Contento's database on www.sff.net, the most recent is Bradbury's
  collection CLASSIC STORIES VOLUME 1 (Bantam 1990, 1995). It can also
  be found in Asimov & Greenberg's anthology THE GREAT SF STORIES: 14
  (DAW 1986), which is often available in used book stores.  [Provided
  by Robert Schmunk, [rbs@skatecity.com]].

  2) An expedition to a dead star discovers that the supernova had
  destroyed an entire civilization.  When they compute the exact time
  the star exploded, they find that it was seen on earth at the right
  time to be the Star of Bethlehem. == THE STAR by Arthur Clarke

  3) A special kind of glass has been invented where light takes years
  to pass through it.  Panes of this glass are hung in scenic areas and
  then sold to be used as picture windows. == LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS
  by Bob Shaw:
	- "Light of Other Days" is the title of the original short story,
	first published in ASF 8/66, and frequently anthologised.

	- OTHER DAYS, OTHER EYES is the title of the "fix-up" (novel),
	which incorporates "Light of Other Days" and three of the other
	slow glass stories: "Burden of Proof" (ASF 5/67), "A Dome of Many-
	Coloured Glass" (FAN 4/72) and the eponymous novella (AMZ 5/72).

 4) The protagonist of this novel lives through a "time loop" wherein he
 would die, return to his youth (only a little later each time), live a
 new life each time, but always die and re-commence a cycle.  In the
 course of one life he encountered a woman who experiences the same
 phenomenon. == REPLAY by Ken Grimwood


----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Spoilers

In case you missed it above:
Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a book is ruined if they
know certain things about it, especially when those things are surprise
endings or mysteries.  On the other hand, they also want to know
whether or not a book is worth reading, or they may be following a
particular thread of conversation where such information may be
revealed.  The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in your
header, or in the text of your posting.  You can also put a ctl-L
character in the *first* column for your readers who are using rn.
Some people think that spoiler warnings are not necessary.  We don't
understand why, and do not want to discuss it.  Use your best
judgment.  [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. "What books or stories are about X?"

There are several lists published of works in specific sub-genres:

A. Cyberpunk

Laura Burchard defined cyberpunk as "a subgenre of SF which
(usually) combines high technology ("cyber") with an alienated, often
criminal, subculture ("punk").  Some people consider cyberpunk to be a
Literary Movement; others consider it a marketing gimmick.  Arguing
about which it is is pointless and not encouraged in this newsgroup."
There is a news group called alt.cyberpunk which is the best place to
discuss cyberpunk.  A comprehensive list of cyberpunk works can be
gotten by sending e-mail to John Wichers at wichers@husc4.harvard.edu,
and there is an alt.cyberpunk FAQ, edited by "Frank"
(frank@knarf.demon.co.uk) available at
http://www.knarf.demon.co.uk/alt-cp.htm.

There is also another cyberpunk bibliography (novels and anthologies)
at http://maskull.home.mindspring.com/cpunk.htm.

Robert Schmunk (rbs@skatecity.com) points out that "cyberpunk must be dead,
because Time magazine has done a cover article on it."

B. Steampunk

Steampunk in analogous to cyberpunk, and refers to SF stories set in
the 19th Century and involving technology of that era.  There is no
bibliography as yet, but for now,
http://www.io.com/~bowman/Falkenstein/Fiction.html lists some of the
well-known steampunk works.

C. Alternate Histories

"Uchronia," a large and searchable bibliography of alternate history
stories is maintained by Robert Schmunk (rbs@skatecity.com) and is
available on the Web at http://www.uchronia.net.

CAVEAT: Flat text copies of the bibliography may be found at various
science fiction archives around the net.  However,  they are archived
Usenet postings and none will be dated more recently than March 1997.

D. Transformation Stories

A bibliography of books, stories, movies, and other works involving
physical transformation (through lycanthropy, science, magic, etc.) is
available at http://www.halcyon.com/phaedrus/translist/translist.html.
A text-only version is also available at the same address.

[Provided by Phaedrus [transform@halcyon.com].

E. Gender Issues

A bibliography of stories which address gender issues through
science fiction is available on sflovers.rutgers.edu (Q#98).

F. King Arthur and Robin Hood

Arthurian and Robin Hood FAQs posted to rec.arts.books and
news.answers.

G. Jewish SF

S. H. Silver (shsilver@ameritech.net) has a list of Jewish SF stories
at http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/jewishsf.html.  He also has Pluto in
SF, First Contact, debut stories & novels, Baseball in SF, and Chicago
in SF bibliographies.

H. Mormon SF

A long, but not exhaustive, annotated list, with links to other
materials, may be found at http://www.adherents.com/lit/sf_lds.html.

I. Christian SF

A bibliography by the late Ross Pavlac is at
http://www.enteract.com/~mpavlac/christsf.htm.  There is also the
Christian Fandom website at
http://www.christian-fandom.org/christian-fandom/.

J. Only non-human characters

Suggestions so far include:
	Robert Asprin's BUG WARS
	John Brunner's CRUCIBLE OF TIME
	Mary Caraker's WATERSONG
	Arthur C. Clarke's "Second Dawn"
	Samuel R. Delany's EINSTEIN INTERSECTION
	Diane E. Gallagher's ALIEN DARK (mostly)
	Raymond F. Jones & Lester del Rey's WEEPING MAY TARRY
	Ross Rocklynne's SUN DESTROYERS
	H. Beam Piper's FIRST CYCLE
	Robert J. Sawyer's "Quintaglio" Trilogy: FAR-SEER, FOSSIL HUNTER,
		and FOREIGNER 
	Robert Silverberg's AT WINTER'S END and THE NEW SPRINGTIME
	Olaf Stapledon's STAR MAKER and NEBULA MAKER
	James Tiptree's "Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death"

K. Post-apocalypse

There is a bibliography and links at http://www.reed.edu/~karl/postapoc/.

L. Other

As with requests for plots, titles, or authors, ask that all replies be
e-mailed to you and that you will summarize (set the Followup-to to
"poster" to encourage e-mail response).  Note that a summary is not
just concatenating all the replies together and posting the resulting
file.  Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information,
and write a short summary.  [Provided by Evelyn Leeper
[evelynleeper@geocities.com].]


----------------------------------------------------------------------
4. "What books have been written by author X?"  "What books are in
series Y?"

A number of bibliographies have been compiled and posted to the net by
John Wenn.  These bibliographies also contain info on which books are
in a series or in the same universe.  The most up-to-date bibliographies
are availiable via ftp from ftp.std.com [user anonymous, any password],
directory pub/jwenn.

They are also in the SF archives on sflovers.rutgers.edu (Q#98).
File names are generally LastName.Firstname (e.g.  Niven.Larry).  Case
*does* count.

Requests for more bibliographies may be made to John at
jwenn@world.std.com.  [Provided by John Wenn [jwenn@world.std.com].]


----------------------------------------------------------------------
5. List of the Hugo, Nebula, or World Fantasy Award winners

Lists of award winners, including Hugo Awards, Nebula Awards, and many
others, can be found at Laurie Mann's http://www.dpsinfo.com/awardweb/.

[Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]


----------------------------------------------------------------------
6. "Does anyone want to talk about X?"

If nobody seems to be discussing what you want to talk about, post a
(polite) message opening the discussion.  Don't just say, "Does anyone
want to talk about X" or "I really like X" however; try to have
something interesting to say about the topic to get discussion going.

Don't be angry or upset if no one responds.  It may be that X is just a
personal taste of your own, or quite obscure.  Or it may be that X was
discussed to death a few weeks ago, *just* before you came into the
group.  (If this is the case, you'll probably know, though, because
some rude fool will probably flame you for "Bringing that up *AGAIN*!!!"
Ignore them.)  [Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]


----------------------------------------------------------------------
7. What is science fiction?

This subject has been hashed out endlessly, and if you really want to
see all the definitions proposed (or at least a very substantial
subset), they have been collected by Neyir Cenk Gokce [gokce@panix.com]
at http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html, or Beth and Richard
Treitel's page at http://web.treitel.org/sf/sf.html.  The only
definition that seems to work is Damon Knight's: "Science Fiction
is what we point at when we say it."  Unless you have something really
new and amazing, don't start this topic.  [Provided by Evelyn Leeper
[evelynleeper@geocities.com] and Taki Kogoma [quirk@vesta.unm.edu].]

[If you *think* you have something new and amazing, try applying it
to the following cases:
	alternate history novels
	novels set on another planet with no contact with Earth and
		no unknown technology (e.g., HELLO SUMMER, GOODBYE
		by Michael Coney, and possibly AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUND
		by Iain M. Banks)
	SWORDSPOINT by Ellen Kushner]

As for the origin of the term itself, according to Sam Moskowitz in
EXPLORERS OF THE INFINITE: SHAPERS OF SCIENCE FICTION (page 240):
"The first issue of SCIENCE WONDER STORIES was dated June
1929.  ...  Most important, [Hugo Gernsback] coined, in his editorial
in the first SCIENCE WONDER STORIES, the term 'science fiction,' which
was to become the permanent name of the genre, completely eclipsing
'scientifiction.'"

----------------------------------------------------------------------
8. What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy?

See Q#7.

This also has been done to death.  Virtually every answer you give will
fail to clearly indicate which category a large number of books belong
to.  Familiar books mentioned that test the boundary conditions include
Anne McCaffrey's "Dragon" series, Piers Anthony's "Apprentice Adept"
series, STAR WARS, and anything that uses FTL.  The most concise
definition I've heard was given by John Clute in a radio broadcast 22
March 1997: " "Science fiction: the model is that it is a kind of story
which argues from this world a kind of possible outcome.  It's possibly
an improbable outcome, but it is arguable.  Fantasy essentially, as I
have been seeing it, is a series of stories, self-coherent stories (a
term we use, kind of a bad neologism to describe stories which as [it]
were understand themselves as stories; they're told stories), that are
set in worlds that are technically impossible, that we can't argue.  We
may believe in them, but we can't argue them."

A more complete listing of the borderline cases includes:
	Poul Anderson's "Operation" stories, collected in OPERATION CHAOS
	Piers Anthony's "Apprentice Adept" series
	James Blaylock's "Elfin Ship"
	Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Darkover" series
	David Brin's PRACTICE EFFECT
	Rick Cook's "Wizard's Bane" series
	L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt"s "Incomplete Enchanter" series
	Charles de Lint's SVAHA
	C. S. Friedman's "Coldfire" series
	Lyndon Hardy's "Master of the Five Magics" series
	Robert A. Heinlein's MAGIC, INC.
	Rosemary Kirstein's STEERSWOMAN and THE OUTSKIRTER'S SECRET
	Julian May's "Pliocene Exile" series
	Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonrider" series
	Walter M. Miller's CANTICLE FOR LEIBOVITZ
	James Morrow's THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS
	Kristine Kathryn Rusch's ALIEN INFLUENCES
	Robert Silverberg's "Majipoor" series
	Christopher Stasheff's "Warlock" series
	Michael Swanwick's IRON DRAGON'S DAUGHTER
	Sheri Tepper's "The World of the True Game" books
	Lawrence Watt-Evans's "Three Worlds" series
	Lawrence Watt-Evans's CYBORG AND THE SORCERERS and THE
		WIZARD AND THE WAR MACHINE
	Walter Jon Williams's METROPOLITAN and CITY ON FIRE
	Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun"
	Roger Zelazny's LORD OF LIGHT
	(anything with faster-than-light (FTL) travel, time travel,
	parallel worlds/universes, psionics, or shoddy science)

(Often someone suggests that fantasy and science fiction can be easily
divided and this list is brought up, the original poster responds by
saying they haven't read any of these so they can't say which category
they go in.  This is not likely to convince people that such a division
is possible. :-) )

Of course, you can also check out Jerry Oltion's essay on this in the
March 1997 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION.

[Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
8a. Isn't magical realism just another name for fantasy?

This is regularly hashed out; see
http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/magreal.htm for a summary of
the discussion, a list of books, possible definitions, and more.

[Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]


----------------------------------------------------------------------
8b. Why are fantasy works nominated for Hugo Awards?

Constitution of the World Science Fiction Society
Article II -- Hugo Awards
Section 2.2: Categories.
2.2.1: Best Novel. A science fiction OR FANTASY story of forty thousand
(40,000) words or more appearing for the first time during the previous
calendar year.  ...  [caps mine]

[Provided by Evelyn Leeper [evelynleeper@geocities.com].]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
9. The SF-LOVERS Digest

The SF-LOVERS Digest is a service for those who cannot read the
rec.arts.sf newsgroups directly.  It is a compilation of the articles
posted to sf.misc, sf.announce, sf.fandom, sf.movies, sf.tv, sf.written
and sf.reviews which is sent out periodically via e-mail.  The
moderator, Saul Jaffe, does a certain amount of editing when compiling
the Digest.  Duplicate information is eliminated and the articles are
organized by topic.  Also, most meta-discussions are not included in
the Digest.

To subscribe, unsubscribe, report problems, etc., send e-mail to
SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@RUTGERS.EDU.  To post articles to the various
newsgroups use the following addresses:

       Topic                            Address
       -----                            -------

       Written SF                       sf-lovers-written@rutgers.edu
       Sf on Television                 sf-lovers-tv@rutgers.edu
       Sf Films                         sf-lovers-movies@rutgers.edu
       General discussions that don't
         fit specifically in the other
         topic headings                 sf-lovers-misc@rutgers.edu

Due to the high volume of mail, it's quite likely that administrative
type messages sent to the wrong address will be ignored.
[Provided by Saul Jaffe.]


----------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Star Trek/Babylon-5/Dr. Who

There are hierarchies of newsgroups for these topics.  Articles about
them, including books about them, should be posted there.
	rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5
	rec.arts.startrek.*
	rec.arts.drwho

Do not post flames about people violating this guideline.  Use e-mail
to request they follow it.  It's likely that this person is reading
rec.arts.sf.written via the SF-LOVERS Digest and has no access to
netnews or rec.arts.startrek.  If so, that person will not see your
flame because discussions of what's appropriate in the newsgroup are
not included in the SF-LOVERS digest.  [Provided by Evelyn Leeper
evelynleeper@geocities.com].]


----------------------------------------------------------------------
11. Common abbreviations

	AFAIK -- "As Far As I Know"
	BTW   -- "By the way"
	FIAWOL-- "Fandom is a way of life"
	FIAJAGDH-- "Fandom is just a ghod damned hobby"
	FTL   -- "Faster than light"
	FWIW  -- "For What It's Worth"
	FYI   -- "For your information"
	IIRC  -- "If I remember correctly"
	IMAO  -- "In my arrogant opinion"
	IMHO  -- "In my humble (honest) opinion"
	ISBN  -- "International Standard Book Number"
	ObSF  -- "Obligatory SF reference"
	RASF  -- "rec.arts.sf"
	ROFL  -- "Rolling on the floor, laughing"
	ROTF  -- "Rolling on the floor"
	RPG   -- "Role playing games", like D&D (Dungeons and Dragons)
	RSN   -- "Real Soon Now" (== within the next decade or two)
	SMOF  -- "Secret Master Of Fandom"
	STL   -- "Slower Than Light"
	YMMV  -- "your mileage may vary"
	wrt   -- "with respect to"


----------------------------------------------------------------------
12. Various questions about multiple editions, long-awaited books,etc.

Note: It usually takes about one year from the time a manuscript is
turned in until the book actually hits the stores.

A. What's this I hear about two different editions of THE STATE OF THE
ART by Iain M. Banks?

"The State of the Art" is a longish novella, set in Iain M. Banks'
popular 'Culture' universe.  It was first published in a slim volume
entitled "The State of the Art," in 1989 by Mark V. Ziesing, an
American small press, ISBN 0-929480-06-6.  In 1991, Orbit (a UK
publisher) brought out a volume also entitled "The State of the Art."
This contains the aforementioned novella, plus seven short stories, one
of which ("A Gift from the Culture") is also set in the "Culture"
universe.  ISBN 0-356-19669-0.  It has had both hardback and paperback
editions in the UK but has not (AFAIK) been published in the US.
[Provided by Mike Scott [Mike@moose.demon.co.uk].]

[See also question 19F.]

B. The sequel to Steven R. Boyett's ARCHITECT OF SLEEP

The full story of this is at
http://members.tripod.com/~steveboy/archetyp.html.

C. The next book in David Brin's Uplift series

All three books of the latest series are now out: BRIGHTNESS REEF,
INFINITY'S SHORE, and HEAVEN'S REACH.

Also, in David Brin's novel, SUNDIVER, he make frequent mention of a
previous episode involving Jacob Demwa saving the Vanilla Needle and
his first wife falling to her death in the process.  The details are
sufficient that many suspect that this story was actually written.  As
far as anyone knows, if it has been written, it has not been
published.

D. The next book from Steven Brust

DRAGON, a new Vlad novel was published in 1998; the first five chapters
are on the Tor website.  ISSOLA, a Vlad novel, will be published in July
2001--it follows ORCA in the internal chronology.

The final set of Khaavren novels will be: THE PATHS OF THE DEAD (this
will appear to be first), THE ENCHANTRESS OF DZUR MOUNTAIN, and THE
LORD OF CASTLE BLACK.  These will be known collectively as THE VISCOUNT
OF ADRILANKHA.

E. The next book in Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series and the last
book in his Homecoming series

The fifth volume, HEARTFIRE, was published in July 1998, by Tor.
A sixth and final(?) book, called THE CRYSTAL CITY, is projected.

ALso, EARTHFALL and EARTHBORN (books four and five in the Homecoming
series) are out.  This completes that series.

F. The next book in Glen Cook's Black Company series

All of the four new Black Company books (collectively known as
"Glittering Stone") are out: BLEAK SEASONS was published in 1996, SHE
IS THE DARKNESS was published in September 1997, WATER SLEEPS was
published in March 1999, and SOLDIERS LIVE was published in June 2000,
all from Tor.  Paperback publication is usually a year after hardback.

According to some, Cook has an eighth novel in the Dread Empire series,
but doesn't expect it to be published (since the others didn't sell
well.)

G. The next book in P. C. Hodgell's God Stalk series

Meisha Merlin has the rights to GOD STALK, DARK OF THE MOON, SEEKER'S
MASK, and a fourth as yet unnamed book.

Publication schedule is:
	15 August 2000: DARK OF THE GODS, an omnibus collection of her
		first two novels GOD STALK and DARK OF THE MOON
		(hardcover and trade paperback) [out]
	15 August 2001: SEEKER'S MASK
		(hardcover and trade paperback)
	15 August 2002: untitled new novel in the series

Details are http://www.meishamerlin.com.  Current email address is
meisha.merlin@usa.net.  Snail mail is Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc.,
P. O. Box 7, Decatur GA 30031.

H. Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana ending

"How exactly is the meeting with the riselka at the end of Guy Gavriel
Kay's TIGANA supposed to apply to the three characters who meet her and
is there anything in the book which offers suggestions or is it just
supposed to leave readers guessing?"

The collective opinion of rec.arts.sf.written is that it is meant to
leave the book deliberately open-ended, there being no indications in
the book itself, beyond the obvious balance of probabilities.

From an interview with Kay by Andrew Adams (aaa@dcs.st-and.ac.uk):

Q: The end of Tigana with three men seeing a riselka suggests
to some a hook for a sequel, to others merely an indication 
that "life goes on...". Do you have any plans to return to 
the Palm?

GGK: The second theory is entirely correct. To put it another way,
I wanted the sense that this whole very long story is NOT the 
whole story of these peoples' lives. No sequel was planned or
hinted at. I think most thoughtful readers picked up on the 
point, but there have been an awful lot who have been waiting
for the next volume. This depresses me, actually.

And "Riselka" is indeed spelt "riselka," despite many creative attempts
   towards alternative spellings. It presumably comes from the
   Slavonic "rusalka" -- a female water spirit.

[Provided by Mike Arnatov [mla1290@ggr.co.uk].]

I. The next book in S. M. Stirling's Draka series

DRAKON is now out from Baen.  A prequel to the whole series, LAUGHTER
OF THE GUNS, is currently in limbo, as well as UNTO US A CHILD, a
sequel to DRAKON.  An anthology of Draka stories by other authors, DRAKAS!,
was published by Baen in November 2000.

J. The sequel to David R. Palmer's THRESHOLD

The blurb on the book to the contrary notwithstanding, it doesn't exist.
[Provided by Ahasuerus the Wandering Jew [ahasuer@clark.net].]

K. [deleted]

L. The next book in Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden Universe

According to Miller and Lee, there are four so far: CONFLICT OF
HONORS, AGENT OF CHANGE, and CARPE DIEM, all published by Del Rey;
and PLAN B, published in a signed, limited edition by Meisha Merlin
They also have a chapbook called "Two Tales of Korval", available from
the authors themselves since December 1995.  "It's a charming two-story

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