Into the Light

Thunder Child Actual wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:I will say only that one of the things that some people get most bent out of shape about never actually happened; you just think it did. (Okay, admittedly, I did my very best to encourage you to think that, but still . . . . ) And there is one heck of a lot more going on under the surface. Not just in our home star system, either.

What is the thing that people think happened that did not in reference to?

At a book signing (for _Uncompromising Honor_), he mentioned that Vlad wasn't a vampire; he was something else (my guess is that somebody off planet was responsible for a super warrior enhancement).

Robert_A_Woodward wrote:At a book signing (for _Uncompromising Honor_), he mentioned that Vlad wasn't a vampire; he was something else (my guess is that somebody off planet was responsible for a super warrior enhancement).

Yeah, that's depressing. Sounds like he is going to go the Highlander 2 route. Sucks, I was looking forward to the sequel.

Isilith wrote:

Robert_A_Woodward wrote:At a book signing (for _Uncompromising Honor_), he mentioned that Vlad wasn't a vampire; he was something else (my guess is that somebody off planet was responsible for a super warrior enhancement).

Yeah, that's depressing. Sounds like he is going to go the Highlander 2 route. Sucks, I was looking forward to the sequel.

Since I never actually saw Highlander 2 (the reviews were enough to make me stay far, far away from it; when one has only limited time to devote to cinema, one tries to stay away from the movies one knows will do Bad Things to one's blood pressure and generally sweet and gentle personality),* I can't say for sure. I don't really expect you to be horribly disappointed, though. Unless you simply insist on your vampires being the classical version. In fact, i think you will find that a lot of vampiric lore is based on Vlad and his buds (and vice versa) before this book is over.

When I wrote the original short story which Tom Doherty at Tor asked me to expand into a novel, I fully intended for Vlad to be, well. . . Vlad, with more of a throw back (in terms of powers and vulnerabilities) to the original Dracula. When I was asked to expand it into a novel with the possibility of a series of sequels, I decided that would be too much of a clash with the military scifi aspects of it. (I think mixing fantasy and hard military SF worked for me in the Fury books, but it's a really hard line to walk.) So I looked for another "flavor" of vampire, and I think the one I came up with actually works pretty darn well.

At any rate, if you liked OOD, I suggest you wait and take a look at ITL before you just write it off. It's a straight continuation of the original novel, and aside from the fact that not only the reader but some of the characters made some assumptions about just what it really means to be a "vampire," it has almost exactly the same feel to it, I think. Well, aside from the fact that the humans in it aren't currently battling genocidal aliens!

*Actually, the last 15 minutes or so of the original were enough to make me stay away from the sequel. Took a while to get the bad taste of "So that's the great prize?!?!" out of my mouth. Fantastic film up to that point. Then . . . kerblooie!

runsforcelery wrote:SNIP

At any rate, if you liked OOD, I suggest you wait and take a look at ITL before you just write it off. It's a straight continuation of the original novel, and aside from the fact that not only the reader but some of the characters made some assumptions about just what it really means to be a "vampire," it has almost exactly the same feel to it, I think. Well, aside from the fact that the humans in it aren't currently battling genocidal aliens!

SNIP

ahh - took me a little while to get that!

I was thinking - well - if the Shongar arn't genocidal then who are?? Are we going to meet some super nasty aliens?

But, I guess that Ch1 in OTL occurs pretty soon after the Sh fleet was captured, so I have bow to the sneaky 'truth' in that statement.

isaac_newton wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:SNIP

At any rate, if you liked OOD, I suggest you wait and take a look at ITL before you just write it off. It's a straight continuation of the original novel, and aside from the fact that not only the reader but some of the characters made some assumptions about just what it really means to be a "vampire," it has almost exactly the same feel to it, I think. Well, aside from the fact that the humans in it aren't currently battling genocidal aliens!

SNIP

ahh - took me a little while to get that!

I was thinking - well - if the Shongar arn't genocidal then who are?? Are we going to meet some super nasty aliens?

But, I guess that Ch1 in OTL occurs pretty soon after the Sh fleet was captured, so I have bow to the sneaky 'truth' in that statement.

Well, where aliens are concerned, to quote Truman Gates --- 50 Swedish fish for the first person to name the movie --- "You ain't seen bad yet, but it's coming."

runsforcelery wrote:SNIP

At any rate, if you liked OOD, I suggest you wait and take a look at ITL before you just write it off. It's a straight continuation of the original novel, and aside from the fact that not only the reader but some of the characters made some assumptions about just what it really means to be a "vampire," it has almost exactly the same feel to it, I think. Well, aside from the fact that the humans in it aren't currently battling genocidal aliens!

SNIP

isaac_newton wrote:
ahh - took me a little while to get that!

I was thinking - well - if the Shongar arn't genocidal then who are?? Are we going to meet some super nasty aliens?

But, I guess that Ch1 in OTL occurs pretty soon after the Sh fleet was captured, so I have bow to the sneaky 'truth' in that statement.

runsforcelery wrote:
Well, where aliens are concerned, to quote Truman Gates --- 50 Swedish fish for the first person to name the movie --- "You ain't seen bad yet, but it's coming."

Next of Kin Patrick Swayze as Truman

runsforcelery wrote:

isaac_newton wrote: SNIP

ahh - took me a little while to get that!

I was thinking - well - if the Shongar arn't genocidal then who are?? Are we going to meet some super nasty aliens?

But, I guess that Ch1 in OTL occurs pretty soon after the Sh fleet was captured, so I have bow to the sneaky 'truth' in that statement.

Well, where aliens are concerned, to quote Truman Gates --- 50 Swedish fish for the first person to name the movie --- "You ain't seen bad yet, but it's coming."

Cool!!!!

Rubs hands with glee and anticipation!

runsforcelery wrote:

Isilith wrote:
Yeah, that's depressing. Sounds like he is going to go the Highlander 2 route. Sucks, I was looking forward to the sequel.

Since I never actually saw Highlander 2 (the reviews were enough to make me stay far, far away from it; when one has only limited time to devote to cinema, one tries to stay away from the movies one knows will do Bad Things to one's blood pressure and generally sweet and gentle personality),* I can't say for sure. I don't really expect you to be horribly disappointed, though. Unless you simply insist on your vampires being the classical version. In fact, i think you will find that a lot of vampiric lore is based on Vlad and his buds (and vice versa) before this book is over.

When I wrote the original short story which Tom Doherty at Tor asked me to expand into a novel, I fully intended for Vlad to be, well. . . Vlad, with more of a throw back (in terms of powers and vulnerabilities) to the original Dracula. When I was asked to expand it into a novel with the possibility of a series of sequels, I decided that would be too much of a clash with the military scifi aspects of it. (I think mixing fantasy and hard military SF worked for me in the Fury books, but it's a really hard line to walk.) So I looked for another "flavor" of vampire, and I think the one I came up with actually works pretty darn well.

At any rate, if you liked OOD, I suggest you wait and take a look at ITL before you just write it off. It's a straight continuation of the original novel, and aside from the fact that not only the reader but some of the characters made some assumptions about just what it really means to be a "vampire," it has almost exactly the same feel to it, I think. Well, aside from the fact that the humans in it aren't currently battling genocidal aliens!

*Actually, the last 15 minutes or so of the original were enough to make me stay away from the sequel. Took a while to get the bad taste of "So that's the great prize?!?!" out of my mouth. Fantastic film up to that point. Then . . . kerblooie!

Gah, you are so right. The "prize" was very anticlimactic. To be honest, I think it was a case of the screenwriter not knowing how to end it.

As to Highlander 2, they took all the mystery and wonder of the first movie and trashed it. There were no immortals, there was nothing magical and/or wonderous happening. Nope, the immortals were just aliens who happened to look just like humans. Aliens who were criminals/rejects and had been sent to Earth as punishment, we were their prison and they gave not one damn about humanity. Oh, there was no quickening either, just their alien senses recognizing each other and wanting to off anyone like they were. Yeah, it was horrible, you did yourself a favor by not seeing it.

Now, when I saw the "you really weren't seeing what you thought you saw" I had flashbacks/PTSD. I would have still read it, you wrote the book. I just wasn't going to pre-order it and impatiently wait for the ship date to come. But, damn, you are telling me that it will be a twist that I will like. I can't argue with the wizard, not when you have been right so many other times.

P.S. I have read OotD at least 5 times now. I loved your take on Vlad.

Isilith wrote:

Isilith wrote:
Yeah, that's depressing. Sounds like he is going to go the Highlander 2 route. Sucks, I was looking forward to the sequel.

runsforcelery wrote:Since I never actually saw Highlander 2 (the reviews were enough to make me stay far, far away from it; when one has only limited time to devote to cinema, one tries to stay away from the movies one knows will do Bad Things to one's blood pressure and generally sweet and gentle personality),* I can't say for sure. I don't really expect you to be horribly disappointed, though. Unless you simply insist on your vampires being the classical version. In fact, i think you will find that a lot of vampiric lore is based on Vlad and his buds (and vice versa) before this book is over.

When I wrote the original short story which Tom Doherty at Tor asked me to expand into a novel, I fully intended for Vlad to be, well. . . Vlad, with more of a throw back (in terms of powers and vulnerabilities) to the original Dracula. When I was asked to expand it into a novel with the possibility of a series of sequels, I decided that would be too much of a clash with the military scifi aspects of it. (I think mixing fantasy and hard military SF worked for me in the Fury books, but it's a really hard line to walk.) So I looked for another "flavor" of vampire, and I think the one I came up with actually works pretty darn well.

At any rate, if you liked OOD, I suggest you wait and take a look at ITL before you just write it off. It's a straight continuation of the original novel, and aside from the fact that not only the reader but some of the characters made some assumptions about just what it really means to be a "vampire," it has almost exactly the same feel to it, I think. Well, aside from the fact that the humans in it aren't currently battling genocidal aliens!

*Actually, the last 15 minutes or so of the original were enough to make me stay away from the sequel. Took a while to get the bad taste of "So that's the great prize?!?!" out of my mouth. Fantastic film up to that point. Then . . . kerblooie!

Gah, you are so right. The "prize" was very anticlimactic. To be honest, I think it was a case of the screenwriter not knowing how to end it.

As to Highlander 2, they took all the mystery and wonder of the first movie and trashed it. There were no immortals, there was nothing magical and/or wonderous happening. Nope, the immortals were just aliens who happened to look just like humans. Aliens who were criminals/rejects and had been sent to Earth as punishment, we were their prison and they gave not one damn about humanity. Oh, there was no quickening either, just their alien senses recognizing each other and wanting to off anyone like they were. Yeah, it was horrible, you did yourself a favor by not seeing it.

Now, when I saw the "you really weren't seeing what you thought you saw" I had flashbacks/PTSD. I would have still read it, you wrote the book. I just wasn't going to pre-order it and impatiently wait for the ship date to come. But, damn, you are telling me that it will be a twist that I will like. I can't argue with the wizard, not when you have been right so many other times.

P.S. I have read OotD at least 5 times now. I loved your take on Vlad.

Vlad hasn't changed one bit. It's mostly a matter of definitions and what actually caused something when everyone thinks they already know what caused it.

Hint. They are . . . in error.

As for the original Highlander, if I'd been the scriptwriter the prize would have been: "Congratulations! As the next step in the evolution of humanity, you are no longer sterile, your children will inherit your immortality, and you have the ability to share your immortality with one other adult human being Right Now. Choose wisely! "

Wonder who he would have picked?