First, Michael, Michael and Summer expand on why we want reviews of good books... basically, we want to know what you want to read and let other people know that you think it's a good read because we don't want to waste anyone's time with poor reads or bad books.
And Stackpole doesn't want to get punched at conventions.
Feedback: Todd in Orem on the notes for the final book in the Wheel of Time series; Todd again on manga, and imitation being art or copyright infringement, which leads to a discussion about the vision of the creators of the stories versus the ideas and insights of the fans of those stories.
Mark in Memphis comments on people thinking authors are dead before their time, and it might confusing people because of similar names; Indy ByteMan on Robert Jordan's passing, and wonders how his death affects the epic fantasy series still in progress by other authors, leading into a discussion on how long copyrights should last, and author's heirs having a right to the income from their forebearer's works; Indy ByteMan asks if we can identify a "forgotten" book for him (nope, not this time); Indy ByteMan again, nominating Jim Butcher as a new demigod for the foothills of Olympus; Jason in Scottsdale nominates George R. R. Martin as a new demigod, but only if he finishes the "Song of Ice and Fire" series; Shane from NJ wants to know if a replacement writer has already been tapped to finish the final Wheel of Time novel; Barb from San Diego loved the Robert J. Sawyer interview from Cover to Cover #250; Trampas comments on expanding a fictional world to include new writers when the original author passes away, and which worlds and writing styles would be difficult to have new writers step into; Goblin King from Lawrenceville on political views and writing, and wants to know of some different books that deal with religion; Jason from Nut Gallery has a forgotten YA series, that we also can't identify; Simon in CA has bought the novel "Fortress Draconis" for his girlfriend; Trampas relays a comment from Tracy Hickman on his own reading habits.
Submitting Listener comments: If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know!
Mike (Mennenga) ,
I understand why you are coming from the viewpoint that having an open universe after an author's death could lead to his back catalog being sold.. however.. look at it this way. Bandwidth is increasing. Storage space is increasing. Media capacity is increasing.
If Mike Stackpole were to die today (I would now feel incredibly guilty) , and his works were thrown open to the public domain or something in that role.. then there would also be no back catalog to sell. The catalog, in its entirety, would be open. And given how media works, you'd see companies bundling THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of the "now freed" books for the people who don't want to download them. So, maybe, in a sense, Mike's old work would sell. But.. then again, it really wouldn't matter to Mike, since it'd likely get lost in the noise.
With regards to the "nuclear holocaust thing.."
iegel, Barbara and Scott. Firebrats no. 1: The Burning Land. New York: Archway, 1987. London: Teens, 1988.
First novel in a series of survivalist tales aimed at young people. A teenaged boy and girl are sheltered in the basement of a community theater when nuclear war breaks out. They suffer a mild case of radiation sickness and are besieged by wild dogs. When an earthquake destroys the building over their heads a month later, they dig their way out to find themselves threatened by a gang of escaped convicts. They escape to head for California, where the hero hopes to find the rest of his family still alive. Compare with Tony Phillips:
Taken from here:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/nuclear/s.htm
There apparently were four books in the series.
Ah, I see my VM earlier today is now moot... Tho at least I think I called before the answer was posted here...
Don't worry, Paul. It at least got me to find out that someone at WSU has apparently put up a bibliography of nuclear holocaust stories.. which was a great find for me 🙂