Ha, I do love those. Ooh, and here's one I can now appreciate.

If On a Winter's Night a Traveler

You think you're reading a condensation of If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, but you're not.

I've read more Stross than David. My reaction was never as sophisticated. It was just: "interesting idea. This book should get good any page now." Followed by "huh, it never got an better." Stross writes a fairly interesting blog. But his fiction bores me. That is based on the "Old Man" series and also "multi-world travel used to teach basic economics" series. So, different sample than Hec, same reaction.

And I love Banks, based on a huge sample. Have not read every single thing, but most of it.

The "Old Man" series is Scalzi, not Stross. I haven't read any Stross. I have read a couple of Scalzi's books, which are entertaining but lightweight.

I think because I read Halting State first, before Accellerando I liked him better than I might otherwise. Granted, the brogue makes my eyes twitch.

Yah, Old Man series is Scalzi.

Yeah you are right I was mixing up Stross and Scalzi, which is unfair to both.

Stross did write the Merchant Princes series which is what I mean't by ""multi-world travel used to teach basic economics".

Yeahs it had characters, action, adventure, sex, tragedy and intrigue. But I found none of it very intriguing. The economic stuck in my head by default, not because it was that fascinating, but because it was less boring than the rest.

I like the Merchant Princes series as light reading, but I really wish they would just get on with it already. I originally thought it was going to be a trilogy, but now I'm worried they may never end. (Unless Trade of Wueens actually ended it? I'll admit I got kind of bored with them and never bothered to pick that one up.)

The book festival has Kevin J. Anderson in a relatively small venue. Does that strike y'all as problem? He's not the world's most exciting writer, but he has been involved with a lot of high profile books.

Another question: A fairly new venture called Story Portals [link] has various writers writing about the same universe. One prominent character, a hedge witch, is named Bel Thorne. As a Bujold fan, I find this quite odd.

As a Bujold fan, I find this quite odd.

Yeah, that's... oddly specific.

And... oh, dear. Someone hasn't been watching the Women Fighters in Sensible Armor tumblr: [link]

And, oh, dear, I've also found a character named Alessan, which is a bit of a problem for anyone who's read Tigana. The writing on the one story I've opened is a bit... eh.