I need to rub Orson Scott Card all over with a child development textbook. Also, a thesaurus. Maybe a psychiatrist too.

Maybe I could just lock him in a room with 10 toddlers and have them do my work for me?

Cyteen was the Cherryh book I tried, and it didn't work on me. I kept being distracted by the authorial tactics, and hated the protagonists. I keep feeling like I ought to read more of Cherryh, but in that homework way and not in the way that actually puts her high on my to-do list.

Also I am on the Dragaera mailing list and they talk about Buffy sometimes. One of the posters has a .sig with a Buffy quote. Brust himself posts on the list not infrequently, usually to "clear up" some dispute by saying something even more controversial. He's like Joss that way.

ETA Ooh, ooh, I forgot to mention Samuel R. Delany. I LOVE him.

I HATED Xenocide

Xenocide was fine except for the fact that I wanted to bitchslap the little Chinese girl with OCD or the interplanetary equivalent. Children of the Mind kind of sucked, however. The first two Ender books rock, and the new Ender books are very interesting in all their political machinations and whatnot.

Oh yeah, forgot about Children of the Mind. I must have blocked it from my memory due to the aforementioned suckage.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Orson Scott Card. I love the Ender books and Pastwatch.

Well, to be fair, the conversation did start out at HARD science fiction writers, and, love Card though i do, he's not hard.

Pastwatch was very cool. I like all of the Ender books, especially the first run, though Xenocide and Children of the Mind were definitely far worse than the first two. (Also, they were originally intended to be one novel, which I can tell on reading.) But I've probably read Ender's Game 20-plus times, it still stands as his masterpiece. Read his first two Alvin Makers, but never got any further - they were pretty cool, though. Liked Songmaster, Wyrms, and Treason too. I also really like his short stories, or many of them, and Maps in the Mirror, his entire collection, is now in print again. I need to pick up a copy...

I think Forever War and Starship Troopers serve as perfect counterpoints, still. I usually recommend both of them to people interested in space-war science fiction. I love them both.

I think I'll be leaving this coffeehouse soon and finding a bookstore...

Well, to be fair, the conversation did start out at HARD science fiction writers, and, love Card though i do, he's not hard.

How do you define a "hard science fiction writer"?

(Also, they were originally intended to be one novel, which I can tell on reading.)

Yes, they were, and I'm kind of glad they were split up, cause it allows me to hate Children of the Mind on its own while still being able to like most of Xenocide.

How do you define a "hard science fiction writer"?

Why don't you just come out and beg for porn?

Wait, no, you just did.

Another script signed by Tim on eBay for charity.

They advertise that a script signed by the writer is extremely rare and also that the fasteners are "industry standard."

I laugh and laugh. But it's for the LA Food Bank for those with deep pockets who would like to bid.

Can we chip in and buy that for Shawn?

Long, long ago (perhaps 2 months), when I was talking about Cowboy Bebop the movie, and how horrid it was, someone suggested that I watch the episodes instead. Well, the first two DVDs finally came in on interlibrary loan, and I watched most of the first one over the weekend. I have got to say, wow! They are pretty darned good so far. I can certainly see the similarities with Firefly, enough so that I would watch these on tv if I didn't have Firefly. Of course Firefly is better, and would be even if these weren't animated, which is a tough hurdle for me.

Before anyone gets on my case, I am not at all saying that Firefly copied them. There is plenty of Firefly that is original, as well as that which is copied from a multitude of sources (which is meant as a compliment. It's what makes the Firefly 'verse so real). The writing on Firefly is immensely better (I'm not sure how much of that is from translating Cowboy Bebop, and how much is just inherently better). But the plots have the same touch of quirk and lack of total resolution; the characters are different, but have the same feeling of completeness even without all the backstory; there is some similarity to the "sets" (i.e. the gates look a lot like the net in OMR, although their use is completely different). Plus, the music is just shiny. The intro reminds me of The Avengers. Lovely.

I don't know if anyone involved with Firefly ever even saw Cowboy Bebop. I wouldn't say the similarity would be enough to cause problems with copyright or licensing, but what a shiny, shiny show.

And it's pretty humorous listening to them dubbed in English with English subtitles that barely match. I find myself picking and choosing between the two for the one that I like best. I guess that's one way to improve writing!

xpost with Firefly 3, because my brain is a sieve, and I don't remember which one I had discussed it on.