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by Ryk Spoor |
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You have just entered room "BCC Chat."
KWM01 has entered the room. KWM01: Hi Vickie QueenSidhe: Hiya Kelvin KWM01: Still at work? QueenSidhe: Yup Virigar has entered the room. QueenSidhe: Welcome, Ryk Virigar: Ahhh! Here I am. And here you are! KWM01: Hi QueenSidhe: :-) Virigar: Hello, KWM. KWM01: I'm Kelvin Virigar: Then hello, Kelvin. QueenSidhe: We'll just wait a few minutes to see if Zor shows up. Virigar: No problemo, I'm online all the time anyway. ;-) KWM01: Nice meeting you to. I don't get to talk to too many authors outside of a convention. Virigar: (My normal online name -- Sea Wasp -- is older than many of the people buying books these days....) Virigar: It's getting much easier to do online these days. Virigar: Especially if you like Baen's stuff -- a LOT of Baen authors are online. KWM01: true Virigar: (If this were not true, in fact, I would not be a published author today) QueenSidhe: :-) QueenSidhe: It's neat to see barflies becoming published authors KWM01: yeah Virigar: I actually was not a Barfly beforehand; I became one AFTER they accepted my book. QueenSidhe: Except I'll never be one. :P lol KWM01: lol QueenSidhe: Are you going to have anything else published from Baen? Virigar: Being an author is easy. Being a PUBLISHED author is at least as much luck as skill. Virigar: Yes. Virigar: I have a collaboration coming out with Eric Flint this year titled"Diamonds Are Forever"; it's a novelette/novella, one-third of an anthologytitled "Mountain Magic". QueenSidhe: Writing for me is usually like pulling hair and other body parts -- extremely painful. But on rare occasions, it can be fast and fun. Virigar: I have another book outlined and submitted to Jim, but I suspect hewon't give the "go-ahead" until he's seen me do a couple more collaborations. QueenSidhe: Where is it set? Virigar: NOT writing for me is like that. I get grouchy and irritable if I cannot write SOMETHING. QueenSidhe: (the novella) Virigar: "Diamonds" is set in "today", in the western mountain country of Kentucky. Virigar: All the stories in Mountain Magic are set in the backwoods of thatarea. Besides "Diamonds", the other two thirds consist of all of David Drake's"Old Nathan" stories, and Henry Kuttner's "Hogben" stories. QueenSidhe: Is Old Nathan set in this universe? Virigar: The book I have outlined to Jim is a Wierd Space Opera, set in the deep past of the universe of Digital Knight. QueenSidhe: Space Opera? KWM01: any chance of a sequel? :-) Virigar: Old Nathan lives back in, IIRC, the very late 1800s -- early 1900sof this world or a world rather like it, but of course with magic. Virigar: Sequels depend on the sales of DK and any other books. Historically, series books sell best on the first book and then decline. Virigar: I have two more books' worth of Jason, I think, not counting the GrandFinale, plus some other Morgantown books focused on other characters in thattown. KWM01: Cool! QueenSidhe: If you were to write a sequel, would it be similar to DK in format or as a novel? Virigar: Space Opera: Grand sweeping space epics -- Doc Smith's Lensman series,Star Wars, Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep, Hamilton's Reality Dysfunction. Virigar: For Jason, it rather depends on how HE lets me write him. He has that"pseudo-noir" commentary that lends itself to episodic adventures, but atleast one of those adventures could be complex enough to make a book on itsown. QueenSidhe: Hehehe. I was just thinking how space opera would work in the DK universe. It didn't sound like it was much different from now. And in the far past... Virigar: Jason's "voice" owes something to Archie Goodwin, BTW. Virigar: In the DEEP past -- about 18,000 years after the Fall of Atlantaea,in one of the stellar empires that emerged from the ruins of that greatestof civilizations. KWM01: Have either of you gotten around to reading Mad Mike's book? QueenSidhe: Nope, not yet. Virigar: (I am assuming you didn't skip over Verne's big infodump on Atlantaea) QueenSidhe: No, I didn't, but I read it kind of fast. Virigar: This is SBIR crunch time; I'm writing proposals from now until the 15th. No reading time for me; I'm too fried to read. QueenSidhe: And I haven't had a chance to reread it yet QueenSidhe: sbir? KWM01: I now know why they call him Mad Mike. :-) QueenSidhe: lo QueenSidhe: lol Virigar: Small Business Innovation Research grants -- government grants for research. QueenSidhe: How did you come up with some of the titles for the short stories? For example, Lawyers, Ghouls, and Mummies doesn't seem to quite fit with the rest of the story. Virigar: Verne gives you a sort of general idea of Atlantaea, but what he doesn'temphasize -- because it is so OBVIOUS to him -- is that Atlantaea was notjust an Earth civilization, but a Galactic civilization destroyed in a singleday. KWM01: ahhh QueenSidhe: That makes sense. Vizualizing that is a bit hard though. KWM01: I was wondering about the connection. Virigar: The titles? They each refer to events in the substory. In the caseof the four "main" sections, they were puns/jokes on the "trick" that I usein the story. Virigar: The other two were song titles chosen for their reference to the internal events of that bridge section. Virigar: Yes, the scale of Atlantaea is very hard to grasp. It was the ultimatecivilization humanity ever attained (though perhaps one day it will reachthat level again), and thus HAD to be destroyed. QueenSidhe: Neat. Now I need to go find the lyrics. :-) Virigar: Generally it's just the TITLES that are the reference. One projectedsection of the Grand Finale will use another Warren Zevon title -- Werewolvesof London. Virigar: (darn this thing; it keeps losing my spacing when I type.) QueenSidhe: What are you using? The applet or the actual aim program or something else? Virigar: Netrape... er, NetSCAPE's Aim version, at the moment. Virigar: I've just shifted it to "fixed width", maybe that will do it. QueenSidhe: Strange. Virigar: Did you have any particular favorite parts of DK, or any questions, etc.? QueenSidhe: Well, as I mentioned before I liked the puns in the first story. Those were fun. :-) KWM01: Fav scene, hmm Virigar: There may be a few more of those in later stories. There's a couplein Diamonds Are Forever, which is supposed to be somewhat lighter in tonethan the later Jason stories -- not *quite* a comedy, but certainly lighter. Virigar: (I of course have several favorite parts of the book, but whether they'refavorites to anyone else I dunno; I suspect a writer sometimes has a verydifferent view of the work) KWM01: The tanning bed scene was pretty cool Virigar: Klein I feel rather sorry for. He *WAS* a good cop originally, but he ended up someone else's pawn and got twisted. KWM01: but my fav is when Verne attacks the drug lord. QueenSidhe: That was wild. :-) Virigar: YES, you have found one of my favorites. "Verne Domingo had come calling." QueenSidhe: Was Klein only recently made a vampire? Virigar: Yes. Klein became a vampire only a month or so before Gone in a Flash. Virigar: There's some discussion in the later stories where Jason touches onthe connections and comes pretty close to figuring out the setup, Virigar: though there's still some "critical, need-to-know information" that he's lacking in order to put it ALL together. QueenSidhe: I can't seem to find the reference if there was one, but how many homicides had there been before Lewis? Virigar: (maybe it was three months -- I'll have to check my timeline -- but in any case Klein had only been changed recently) Virigar: Several -- I never actually specified it, I think, but my vague idea was about 6 or 7. Virigar: (I didn't have to detail THOSE homicides out so it's one of the detailsI didn't bother with. Theoretically it could have been more, as Klein couldhave caused some "disappearances".) QueenSidhe: Setup for what? How Klein became a vamp? Virigar: How and WHY Klein got vamped. It all centers around Verne and the factthat a number of people/organizations have reason to want him dead, but notto be dumb enough to confront him directly. KWM01: Do you go into more details about Jason and Sylvia's background in later stories? One of the problems I had with the book is that some of the characters seem a little one-dememsional. Virigar: There will be some discussion of their background at some point, certainly,though for story purposes the majority of what's important is what happenedafter that fateful day that Lewis ended up dead at Wood's Information Service. KWM01: true QueenSidhe: Verne's associates, the ones who supply him with stuff like the drugs, are they tied to him like the staff that live with him? Virigar: A few of them are, but for the most part they're a relatively independentnetwork that happen to be his friends, associates, and partners. They dosome work for other, um, UNUSUAL residents of Earth (or "Zaralandar" as theycall it) QueenSidhe: When you mentioned them, it sounded like they were as long lived as Verne. Virigar: RE background: there IS a lot of background that's only hinted at inDK: DK serves as a sort of capsule introduction to virtually all the Wierdin my multiverse, but some of it is quite subtly mentioned in DK. Virigar: They are indeed, for the most part. Or else are part of groups that have traditions going way, way back. QueenSidhe: Hmm. It might be interesting to see you bible. ;-) Virigar: (they are as long-lived, but have not yet lived as long, just so youknow; there are **VERY** few beings which have lived since the Fall.) KWM01: Sylia seems to come from nowhere and that bothered me. No talk of her family and friends. It was like her life revovled around Jason. QueenSidhe: Was Virigar born before the Fall? Virigar: The written parts of my "bible" are scattered through my gaming notes,prior novels and stories, and of course in my head, plus specific notes forvarious stories. I think the part that is WRITTEN is about a million words. Virigar: Sylvie? Well, her live revolves more around the Silver Stake untilshe MET Jason, and then she knew who she was looking for. Not in the "oh,how romantic" sense, but in the "we have important work to do together."sense. KWM01: Treasure hunt! Virigar: Virigar was ancient before Atlantaea's Eternal King was born. Virigar: Her family, as mentioned in "Live and Let Spy", may CARE for her, butthey really have no idea how to deal with her and she has little contactwith them. Virigar: (Syl is modeled after a couple of real people I know.) Virigar: Treasure hunt? Yes, sometimes it IS like that to track down some specific reference. QueenSidhe: Wow. Makes the grand finale seem even more doomed for Jason and co. Although, that makes me wonder how hurt Virigar really was after Photo Finish. Virigar: Virigar was actually quite injured. Virigar plays the Great Game byvery strict rules, such that when he sets himself at a particular "powerlevel" for a given session of the Game, he actually *IS* at that level, Virigar: and so theoretically could be killed. Virigar: Of course, in the Grand Finale we get to see him with the gloves completelyoff. "Photo Finish" doesn't even begin to get that across. QueenSidhe: *nod* Virigar: That story won't be told until I've written several other book sequencesin which the King Wolf plays a part -- at least one High Fantasy set on Zarathan. QueenSidhe: Have you heard anything from the SciFi Channel? Are they going to use DK for series or something? Virigar: Alas, no. They said "we cannot accept unsolicited submissions". So, now I'm going to try Fox and WB. Virigar: SciFi already optioned the Harry Dresden series, which has some superficialsimilarities to DK, which probably contributed to the reluctance. QueenSidhe: True, but the entire universe is different. Plus, Jason is successful. KWM01: It's not even close QueenSidhe: Have you read Dresden? Virigar: Oh, I know the differences -- Heck, Mr. Butcher even commented on thathimself -- but the basic setup has a similarity to it, especially from thePOV of a corporate suit. Virigar: The way I try to pitch DK is "MacGyver meets the X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer". QueenSidhe: Dresden made me immediately think it was a cross between Anita Blake and Elrod's Vampire Files. KWM01: yeah much darker Virigar: One thing I definitely avoid with my own stuff is the "sexual vampire" bit. It's been overdone. Virigar: This doesn't mean that VERNE isn't attractive to some ladies, nor eventhat there isn't a sexual component to the sensations involved, but I'm notgoing down THAT road. :-) QueenSidhe: :-) Virigar: The other thing I want to do as I go on is show the transformation of the world under the events that happen. Virigar: (other stories in the same setting will of course expand more on variousevents; there are a lot of subtle clues as to various significant persons) QueenSidhe: Will the world learn about vampires soon? Since they already know about werewolves. And are there any other creatures that we haven't seen yet? Virigar: Examples are Raiakafan's impossibly contradictory background and the point at which Pantheon actually noticed Jason. QueenSidhe: That would be very nice to read more about. Virigar: There are certainly other creatures they haven't seen yet. At least two types for the next two Jason Wood adventures. QueenSidhe: Oh yeah. I forgot about Jason's monster database. KWM01: Any chance we can bribe you for them? :-) QueenSidhe: :-D Virigar: About vampires in general, no. Werewolves became a big *splash* becauseof the Morgantown Incident, and they by their very nature represent a ClearAnd Present Danger. Virigar: Vampires tend to hide better. But you can bet Pantheon and related organizations will learn, if they don't know already. Virigar: Welll... would you really want me to spoiler the next stories by revealing the nature of the beings in question? KWM01: No I meeant can I bribe you for the Stories? Virigar: The next stories? Sure. If you go out and buy, say, 10,000 copies ofDigital Knight, making it a huge success, then I can sit down and write thestories with a guaranteed sale. Virigar: :D QueenSidhe: lol KWM01: lol Virigar: :-P Virigar: Even my fanfic does have some info, of course -- I use fics shamelesslyas a testing ground. Virigar was refined quite a bit in a couple fics. QueenSidhe: Well, I can at least check to make sure the local bookstores have copies for people to buy... Virigar: That always helps. Virigar: My gaming material has even more "stuff" that I use, of course. QueenSidhe: Did that the other day for Lars and Misty. Moved a copy of her Luna book out of sf to romance. :-) Virigar: Ah, promoting the crossovers. KWM01: lol QueenSidhe: Well, it's supposed to be in romance anyway Virigar: I could give you guys an advance sample of "Diamonds Are Forever", I suppose. :-) QueenSidhe: :-) KWM01: Goodie Virigar: Hmm. How to send it. This thing only accepts like 300 character messages, which would be awfully short chunks. QueenSidhe: Do e-copies count towards DK being a success or only paper? Virigar: If they're legit E-copies (Webscriptions, etc) then yes, they count. Anything that gets Baen money. QueenSidhe: How about posting them on the message board? Or email if you want it more private Virigar: Hold on one moment... QueenSidhe: If private, you wouldn't want to post here anyway because this chat gets logged and put up on the website Virigar: I could IM it to you directly, I think. Virigar: As a file. You both have Word? QueenSidhe: yes KWM01: yup Virigar: Lessee... been a while since I sent a file this way... QueenSidhe: brb QueenSidhe: back Virigar: Okay, I'll just email it. QueenSidhe: Thanks, Ryk. KWM01: Same Virigar: There, it's on its way. Virigar: The question is will you THANK me, or will you curse me for only sending Chapter One. QueenSidhe: LOL QueenSidhe: We'll always be asking for more. :-) Virigar: The space opera ( working title "Demons of the Past") is one I *REALLY*want to write; I wrote my first draft of that one even before the first JasonWood story. QueenSidhe: Well, guys, I need to be going home. QueenSidhe: It's been very nice chatting with you Ryk. Virigar: (it's actually just about the ONLY story that's gone through multiple drafts) KWM01: ok, later vickie Virigar: Nice chatting with you too, Milady. Virigar: Adieu Virigar: Auf Wiederseihn Virigar: Aloha Virigar: Adios QueenSidhe: :D Virigar: Yo, later, d00d KWM01: chow |