Nicola wrote on Jan 10/98 <snip>
> There's no story that holds, no plotline, no ideas that
> could be explored,
> just a messy attempt to put every old piece of writing and thread he
> published together in a 500+ pages books that isn't worth reading.
Ah! But the whole idea is that you don't know that until you've read
it. Nobody - in particular the publisher - is going to tell you
that: Author A is not feeling quite well at the moment so please
forgive him/her for the writing not being of the usual quality and
oh, by the way, we've reduced the price by 25% to compensate you, the
reader, for the misery you are about to endure. Please! - at the
worst, the benefit you get is the satisfaction that you can say to
others: 'This book was a piece of garbage, shouldn't have been
published, wasn't up to the Author's usual standard and I ought to
know since I've read it!' The book will still sell to some because
even if you're the ultimate sf critic, people will read the book just
to see if they agree with you or not. BTW I read those books listed
when they appeared in paperback. Unfortunately, that was so long ago
that I don't even remember how good they were. The only two books -
these I remember! - that I read more than once were: The Moon is a
Harsh Mistress (TANSTAFL) and Starship Troopers (shines the name of
Roger Young). I don't have and eidetic memory so these books really
have to stand out for me to remember them.
Bob Gaspar
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