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Into the Light Snippet #14 (nitpicker!)

Aliens? Invading aliens? What will Earth do? Well...we may have a few more resources than we first thought. Come join a friendly discussion about David Weber's newest Tor series - "Out of the Dark."
Re: Into the Light Snippet #13
Post by Randomiser   » Sun Aug 04, 2019 8:05 am

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Bluesqueak wrote:
They might speed up the drive - or it might be that we get a flash-forward to 'Earth, Forty Years Later' and 'Targoviste, Forty Years Later' - once the story has established how Earth got unified and how humans adapted Shongairii tech. Certainly the next generation of Dvoraks has been carefully established.


Yes, but RFC has just spent several chapters establishing what the situation is on earth currently. If he does "Forty Years Later" he will then have to do at least a big infodump to establish what has happened on earth in those years. Given the trouble he had with trying to jump 15-20 years in the last Safehold book. (In the end he had to re-plan and rewrite it) It doesn't seem likely to be a very happy approach.
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Re: Into the Light Snippet #14 (nitpicker!)
Post by Eagleeye   » Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:05 pm

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Thank you, RFC, for this new proof, that you are a great believer in the 11. commandment for anyone who reads:
YOU SHALL READ STILL ONE CHAPTER/SNIPPETT MORE! AT ONCE! AND NO EXCUSES!!

There's only that tiny problem, that we simply can't follow it at the moment ...! :oops: :oops:
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Re: Into the Light Snippet #14 (nitpicker!)
Post by DrakBibliophile   » Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:48 pm

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One thought about Vlad Drakulya's comment about "vampires" getting energy from the sun.

Fred Saberhagen's Dracula made a similar statement about "vampires" and the sun.

Of course, the MWW won't "steal" from Fred Saberhagen. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Into the Light Snippet #13
Post by Bluesqueak   » Sun Aug 04, 2019 2:27 pm

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Randomiser wrote:
Bluesqueak wrote:
They might speed up the drive - or it might be that we get a flash-forward to 'Earth, Forty Years Later' and 'Targoviste, Forty Years Later' - once the story has established how Earth got unified and how humans adapted Shongairii tech. Certainly the next generation of Dvoraks has been carefully established.


Yes, but RFC has just spent several chapters establishing what the situation is on earth currently. If he does "Forty Years Later" he will then have to do at least a big infodump to establish what has happened on earth in those years. Given the trouble he had with trying to jump 15-20 years in the last Safehold book. (In the end he had to re-plan and rewrite it) It doesn't seem likely to be a very happy approach.


He had to re-plan and re-write because he simply had too much going on during those Safeholdian 15-20 years. But he started Out of The Dark with a flash forward that was several centuries long. Info required? The survey ship had reported back to the Hegemony, the Council was somewhat disturbed by the humans, the Shongairi had been authorised to 'colonise' Earth. Jump forward from survey to colony expedition done.

If the exciting bits are the formation of a world government and discovering the limiters on Hegemony tech, you could do a decades long jump with 'the next thirty five years were the most peaceful the Earth had ever known. Everyone was too terrified of vampire assassination to even think of starting a war. Meanwhile, Vlad and Stephen had watched the entire Hollywood back catalogue, branched out into Vlad's secret passion for Ealing comedies, and were currently discussing the merits of Bollywood musicals.' :twisted:

Of course, this being RFC, I won't be remotely surprised by something a bit more ... exciting. But he has done longer time jumps than forty years.
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Re: Into the Light Snippet #13
Post by isaac_newton   » Sun Aug 04, 2019 5:01 pm

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As an aside, Vlad might have seen one of the very early british films from around 1900. I only mention this because Shoreham-by-Sea [v nearby] was one of its key locations.

Being on the south coast, and right by the sea, the light was/is a lot stronger than inland, and climate is nice and mild... also v fast links to London for the actors!

[url]
https://eclecticedwardian.blogspot.com/ ... n-sea.html
[/url]
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Re: Into the Light Snippet #14 (nitpicker!)
Post by Theemile   » Mon Aug 05, 2019 12:58 pm

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runsforcelery wrote:
"No, my Stephen." Vlad shook his head. "For you, the transition was a matter of days, only. For me —? Forty years passed between my last breath as a mortal man and the moment I opened my eyes once more."

"What?" Buchevsky blinked. "Why did it take that long?"

"If I knew the answer to that, I would know many things I do not," Vlad said dryly. His index finger tapped slowly, thoughtfully, on the tabletop, and then he shrugged.

"I have never actually described what happened to me to another, Stephen," he said very seriously. "Perhaps it is time I did."



Ok, this last quote has me thinking. I'm going to jump into the Nanite experiment camp. The 40 years VLAD took to awake could be explained as some sort of initial programming/rebuilding cycle by experimental nanites. Energy being sucked from the environment - again, nanites which take time to process and pass along from the surface to interior of the "construct". Sleep/Hibernation in a shielded environment would make sense assuming the nanites were powered by natural environmental radiation and EM fields. Early, destroyed converts may be early optional code/hardware trials gone wrong. Later converts have the advantage of centuries of self-optimizating code rewrites and hardware rebuilds.

But, it's David, so I'm probably wrong - but it does fit a possible explanation.
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Re: Into the Light Snippet #14 (nitpicker!)
Post by phillies   » Mon Aug 05, 2019 1:05 pm

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DrakBibliophile wrote:One thought about Vlad Drakulya's comment about "vampires" getting energy from the sun.

Fred Saberhagen's Dracula made a similar statement about "vampires" and the sun.

Of course, the MWW won't "steal" from Fred Saberhagen. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


It is a fine tribute to perhaps the most brilliant vampire novel ever written, brilliant for the plot hole Saberhagen noted in the original novel.
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Re: Into the Light Snippet #14 (nitpicker!)
Post by DrakBibliophile   » Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:42 pm

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Nod.

David Weber did dedicate "Out Of The Dark" to Fred Saberhagen.


phillies wrote:
DrakBibliophile wrote:One thought about Vlad Drakulya's comment about "vampires" getting energy from the sun.

Fred Saberhagen's Dracula made a similar statement about "vampires" and the sun.

Of course, the MWW won't "steal" from Fred Saberhagen. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


It is a fine tribute to perhaps the most brilliant vampire novel ever written, brilliant for the plot hole Saberhagen noted in the original novel.
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Re: Into the Light Snippet #14 (nitpicker!)
Post by FriarBob   » Mon Aug 05, 2019 8:16 pm

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DrakBibliophile wrote:Nod.

David Weber did dedicate "Out Of The Dark" to Fred Saberhagen.


Wow. Even with your track record I still had to see that one for myself.

I never read the dedications. In part because I (almost) never know who the person is. In part because I always assume it's a personal message that's none of my business.

In this case it was partly those but it was also a flare-lit tip off to anyone who'd ever heard of the name before. Unfortunately I am not one of those. I am one of the many folks who has never read ANY version of Dracula and outside of things like wikipedia I probably learned more of the legends from reading these forums than from EVERY other prior source combined.

Guess next time I read a book from Weber, especially one in a new series, I should make sure to google the names... just in case he's (again) dropping another atomic cluebat of foreshadowing on us.
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Re: Into the Light Snippet #14 (nitpicker!)
Post by runsforcelery   » Tue Aug 06, 2019 3:29 am

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FriarBob wrote:
DrakBibliophile wrote:Nod.

David Weber did dedicate "Out Of The Dark" to Fred Saberhagen.


Wow. Even with your track record I still had to see that one for myself.

I never read the dedications. In part because I (almost) never know who the person is. In part because I always assume it's a personal message that's none of my business.

In this case it was partly those but it was also a flare-lit tip off to anyone who'd ever heard of the name before. Unfortunately I am not one of those. I am one of the many folks who has never read ANY version of Dracula and outside of things like wikipedia I probably learned more of the legends from reading these forums than from EVERY other prior source combined.

Guess next time I read a book from Weber, especially one in a new series, I should make sure to google the names... just in case he's (again) dropping another atomic cluebat of foreshadowing on us.



Would I possibly have done such a thing? Moi? That most innocent and transparent of authors? Moi?

Well, actually . . . . :twisted:


"Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as Piglet came back from the dead.
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