Exiled authors?

Why? For that matter, why Elaine Cunningham? Are tehse just assumptions based on fan reaction to their books, or has there been specific word on the matter?

 

This is all fan speculation. Mine was a joke, not intending to start the thread in this direction, though I suppose in retrospect I should have expected it. As for Williams, I'd definitely not put him in the same category as writers like Cunningham or Dix/Williams, whose writing was received far worse over all than WJW's work was. In any case, unless or until we hear otherwise from LFL themselves, all of this is merely speculatory and therefore, in a case such as this one, worth precisely zilch.

- Keralys

 

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My posts are coming out in gibberish . . . try again another time.

 

So... many... comments i could make about that last one, Ex

On topic, i haven't seen any SW contributions from Vonda N. McIntyre in a while

 

(Worked out unbolding the authors permitted proper posting)


Okay, for starters the Williams and Dix duo have published a fantasy and scif I duology since, and Willaims is working on the Astropolis trilogy. Walter Williams has done a trilogy, the Praxis and Naxids stuff. Cunningham has done a whole bunch of books since. The Ebon Hawk had no toilet, you know. Keyes has done a trilogy. Stackpole has done a trilogy with another in progress. Allston has been Terminatoring amongst others.

Okay?

 

How about Hambly?

 

Her specialty was Callista and she got to come back and do another novel and a short story, by which time Callista's story seemed wrapped up (if in an unsatisfactory manner, which i suppose you could find suspicious).

On the other hand, PoT was far less well-received amongst fans than CotJ, as far as i can tell, and a lot of fans include her work in lists of extreme disliked SW so... [shrugs]

 

Heavyweights such as Zahn and Stackpole have always had the Don't Call Us, We'll Call You. They're hired to do a certain type of story, not pitching one of their own, although Zahn certainly seems to have been able to get a lot of stories that tie into his original ones.

 

That always annoyed me.

Stackpole, Zahn, and KJA were the go-to guys for Bantam. Allston, Stover, Denning, Luceno, Traviss, Reaves/Perry and to a certain extent Zahn are the go-tos (G0-T0s?) for DR. Other than them, you can't really tell what the status is. Stackpole will probably be back once he gets un-busied (people like him). Keyes might come back. Salvatore got invited back but seems unlikely to come back again. Same with Tyers and ADF. If a Bantam author hasn't been tapped yet, he/she likely won't be (although I would love to see K-Mac return). I'd like to see WJW back. Stewart's work was well-recieved; a return is likely. Cunningham and Williams/Dix seem unlkely to get another shot, given how many better authors are out there. Don't expect to see Barnes again for the same reason. Sherman/Cragg are out of the question.


Any questions?

 

Or galley (kitchen) for that matter.

 

Stewart seems to be busy with his ARG company these days - I'm not sure he'll be back, though I'd love it if he was.

 

How do they choose the authors in the first place? Do they just say 'hey, I like your work, you wanna do Star Wars'?

 

Word of mouth; your comrades in the industry. But why not ask them yourself?

 

What about Greg Bear?

Though from the back of his books SW seems far outside his usual work.

 

My guess is that for authors like Greg Bear and Stephen Barnes - they were only planning to have them write one SW book all along. Those authors are already fairly established with their own works and reputations and so having them write SW hardcovers is more a chance for cross-pollination sales (ie try to pull the author's readers into SW, and pull SW readers into the author's other works).

As for KJA in the NEC, Dan Wallace confirmed that Kevin J Anderson did not specifically work on the New chronology, but is simply cited for his work on the original chronology.

and think of the whole situation in reverse:
are there some authors who wrote SW but prefer to write non-SW (whether it be other sandbox works or their own creations).. and get better success with those non-SW works?

 

Yeah, I forgot about him. Doubt he'll return.

 

I'm curious as to why Williams and Dix seem to be so poorly received? I enjoyed the first two of their books, however, as someone stated earlier, there was little I cared to read in Force Heretic III other than the Zonama Sekot related passages.

I think Author's have their moments, because I really liked Star By Star (who didn't?) and for some reason, Joiner King doesn't seem to have all of Denning's heart put into it. I never read any of Allston's X-Wing stuff, but I really liked the Enemy Lines books.

 

Their Force Heretic trilogy is nothing how they write their other trilogies, leading me to call it the Star Wars Curse for lack of a better term. Their Evergence trilogy was outstanding, and the first two of the Orphan trilogy even better. Unfortunately, the third was a total waste.

 

So, do you think the folks at Lucas Books and their particular agenda for the direction in which the literature is heading is too constricting on the authors' creative liberties? Or is it just bad luck?

 

From CW cartoon commentary, we know that LFL will step in and suggest stories go a certain way. Apparently from NJO we know Lucas himself might occasionally do so as well.
If an author is used to writing their own thing their own way, LFL's tactics can be extremely constricting/restricting.
Or maybe an author is hired for a specific purpose by LFL to bring a certain flair in, and it backfires.
For instance, I could easily imagine LFL hiring Mc Intyre on the basis of 'We need a bigger fantasy element in the novels'. She shrugs, does her thing, and we get Lusa the centaur.
Same thing with KJA, I could see: 'We need bigger, better Flash Gordony stuff! Go all out!'
On the other hand, maybe authors feel like they can handle a Star Wars story, then get in over their heads and struggle with it.
It's not at all impossible that a new author has no idea of all the hard***, tight continuity they'll have to stick through.
Those who succeed though, and can grasp the continuity, are called back in as, for whatever reason, the can fly blind in this universe now.

"You need what? OK, that takes this, this, that, we'll bring them out to play, and I can bring my little pet back for this. Great! I'll have the story next week!"

In contrast, imagine a newbie saying, "What's a Twi-Lek? Well why can't so and so do this? Well why can't that happen? I can't use who why? You need the story by when? *sad sigh*"

 

It's not a coincidence, and my marketing studies prove it. I know McDonalds targets 3yrs, believing the younger you hook them into your buisness, the longer age span they'll buy with you. The TV ads prove it, here and overseas I imagine. Why not the same for SW? Younger adult your books more often, and reel in a new generation. There's over a hundred books to acquire, and you can't buy them al at once. Appeal the stories right to you, you'll start buying more and more. Nothing wrong with that, business is Bithness Vos wouldn't say.

The catch: older readers will feel Richard Kiel's bite. The Jaws of Rejected Society---JORS for short.

And the evidence was indisputable. Fan reaction was varied over Joiner King's maturely written format.

They seem to write fine in their own material; but enter the SW universe things suddenly become simplistic, generic, repetitive and so very unimaginative. Star Wars is science wizardry, but your world is science fiction. Not even in Mothma's perm can I fathom how you can't be utterly creative in future science fiction of all spa baths.

You'll notice I surnamed her. How ritzy of me.