The Author and the Fan: What do we owe each other?

Something has been bugging me.

Everyone wants the Honorverse to be wrapped up. Of course, we all want the next book in the series. And the next. And the next. But do we have a right to call for an end to a series?

The Honorverse must be David's cash cow. And the cow has been giving milk since On Basilisk Station. So, what could override an author's wish or even need to keep his cow giving? And would it be wrong? Why should we be able to demand the author nail his most treasured series down to a particular book? Why should he have to tell us that there will be one, or two, or three, or any concrete number of books left? That is so permanent. Even after the Mesa Alignment has been dealt with, I am certain the author can go in many other different directions. Would that be so wrong? Why does he -- indeed why should he -- have to put his cow to pasture? It is a cash cow.

I understand the many disappointments in our lifetimes when a series by a particular author left us hanging. So we feel we have a right to place the last book in a series on a shelf. I have been disappointed as well in my youthfulness, and I have been upset with many an author while dieting a lot on arrogance. Arrogance doesn't seem to taste as good as I get older. And maybe wiser.

Anyway, I was once a rider on this bus. But now I only feel like the government trying to break up MA Bell.

Why can't the cow have prolong?

penny wrote:Something has been bugging me.

Everyone wants the Honorverse to be wrapped up. Of course, we all want the next book in the series. And the next. And the next. But do we have a right to call for an end to a series?

The Honorverse must be David's cash cow. And the cow has been giving milk since On Basilisk Station. So, what could override an author's wish or even need to keep his cow giving? And would it be wrong? Why should we be able to demand the author nail his most treasured series down to a particular book? Why should he have to tell us that there will be one, or two, or three, or any concrete number of books left? That is so permanent. Even after the Mesa Alignment has been dealt with, I am certain the author can go in many other different directions. Would that be so wrong? Why does he -- indeed why should he -- have to put his cow to pasture? It is a cash cow.

I understand the many disappointments in our lifetimes when a series by a particular author left us hanging. So we feel we have a right to place the last book in a series on a shelf. I have been disappointed as well in my youthfulness, and I have been upset with many an author while dieting a lot on arrogance. Arrogance doesn't seem to taste as good as I get older. And maybe wiser.

Anyway, I was once a rider on this bus. But now I only feel like the government trying to break up MA Bell.

Why can't the cow have prolong?

Can you elaborate that, please?

Do you feel like DW is only keeping the Honorverse alive because people are buying it?
So without there being any heart and soul in it?

And if so, would that be a problem as long as you feel entertained?

penny wrote:Something has been bugging me.

Everyone wants the Honorverse to be wrapped up. Of course, we all want the next book in the series. And the next. And the next. But do we have a right to call for an end to a series?

Yes, we obviously have a "right" to call for an end to the series; just as the author has a "right" to ignore us and write what he wants. But most of us are simply expressing the dread that we will never see how a story we like comes to a conclusion.

Note that expressing a wish to see how the war with the Malign gets wrapped up is NOT the same as wrapping up the Honorverse. There could still be a multitude of stories, such as the expected three part series on Saganami. Perhaps someday the story of Manpower's attack on the townhouse belonging to Catherine Montaigne.

My suspicion is that you believe that wrapping up the story early means there will not be all the spider-drive action that you seem to crave. So, like those of us that thought the war with the Solarian League ended too quickly (because of the Malign's stupidity), you want the conflict between the Malign and the Grand Alliance to rage over an endless number of books. But even that could spawn short stories and back stories, similar to the new book coming that gives another viewpoint on the period around Pavel Young's court martial.

The author owes the reader a rousing tale with interesting characters that we, the reader, can relate to and bond with, at some level, emotionally along with a plot that keeps up a pace that doesn't make us (the reader) lose interest.

Anything else is a bonus.

I really, really, really don't care if the science doesn't work in the real world.

GASP!!!

This is science fiction- the key part is 'fiction'.

Then again, I cut my sci-fi teeth on ERB scribbling about Barsoom and 'rays' and Howard's tales of the Hyborian Age.

If I had let little piddling things like history, physics and science get in the way, I wouldn't have enjoyed any of it.

It's all make believe that comes from the vivid imagination of the author. In the universe between the author's ears, it works. And that's all that really counts.

I don't care if it doesn't obey the laws of physics in the real world because it's not set in the real world. Suspension of disbelief comes in handy when reading fiction.