| Title: | Arcana Caelestia |
| Notice: | Directory listings are in topic 2 |
| Moderator: | NETRIX::thomas |
| Created: | Thu Dec 08 1983 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1300 |
| Total number of notes: | 18728 |
David R. Palmer has a new book out. It's Threshold. I read it pretty
much in one sitting. I liked it. It very reminiscent of Early Heinlein.
(Those of you who have read Emergence, his first novel, are already familiar
with the fact he shares Heinlein's love of the "competant man". Man used
in the generic sense of course.)
I reccomend Threshold who have been mourning the lack of good Heinlein
or who liked Emergence.
WARNING: This one rated high on the sequel detector meter. It's complete
in that the immediate crisis is solved, but the larger problem still looms
on the horizon. Normally, I wouldn't worry about this kind of thing. (Unless
it's part of a trilogy that does not stand on it's own.) I have a friend
who was bitching about the "cliff-hanger" that McCaffrey's Dinosaur Planet
ended with. I reccomended that he wait for the sequel that should be coming
out soon. Personally, I didn't mind the end of DP or Threshold. So be warned.
tlh
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 285.1 | EDEN::CWALSH | Tue Nov 19 1985 10:45 | 14 | ||
Another cheer for this book. I just finished reading _Threshold_. The warning on the cover about "don't start to read this one late at night if you have to get up in the morning" is EXTREMELY accurate. I simply couldn't put it down! (And missed a staff meeting yesterday morning. Not very professional, but true.) I wasn't sure why I couldn't put it down until I read this note. I got the same feeling of fire reading _Threshold_ that I did as a youngster reading _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, Harrison's _Deathworld_, Laumer's Bolo stories and Dickson's _The Tactics of Mistake_. If you liked those tales, then this one is Highly Recommended. - Chris | |||||
| 285.2 | NUTMEG::BALS | Mon Nov 25 1985 12:35 | 6 | ||
I want to thank bother posters of .0 & .1 for their notes. Because of them, I picked up both "Emergence" and "Threshold." I'm about 1/3 of the way through "Emergence" and if the other is near its equal, I've got some very enjoyable reading ahead. Fred | |||||
| 285.3 | Where is he today? | DWOVAX::YOUNG | in the iron grip of bureaucracy | Wed Aug 09 1989 00:23 | 8 |
What ever happened to David R. Palmer?!
After this incredible start and the implied sequel in threshold I
thought that we might be treated to many more such novel from him.
But, he seems to have sunk from the scene without a ripple.
Does anyone (Jerry?) know what he is up to? Has he published anything
more in Analog in the past 4 years? (I don't read Analog).
| |||||
| 285.4 | Lost in Sequel Space | PARITY::WU | Thu Aug 10 1989 19:51 | 14 | |
It's a good thing that Orson Scott Card is fairly prolific because
waiting around for Palmer is like waiting for Godot.
Strangely enough after reading the entries on Emergence (155) and these
Threshold ones I disagree with the Heinlein comparisons. Upfront I'm
not a big Heinlein fan. I liked him when I was in high school but
now his style gets in the way of my enjoyment (I still like The Moon Is
A Harsh Mistress). The last book I read was The Number Of the Beast.
It reminded me of Asimov and his new Foundation stuff.
Palmer on the other hand is just fresher. He characterizes female
characters in a very appealing manner, that is to say not
stereotypically (neither does Heinlein but I think he got into a rut).
The social darwinist slant is like Heinlein but it's the execution that
counts. Supermen can become easily tiresome so it's a thin line he
treads. Palmer could learn a thing or two from Stephen King though.
| |||||
| 285.5 | What Palmer news I have ... not much | HYSTER::BALS | damn everything but the circus | Mon Aug 14 1989 13:26 | 28 |
RE: .3
All of this is hearsay -- take it with a grain of salt ...
After the success of the novella, "Emergence," Palmer signed a
three-book, reportedly circa $50K, advance with Bantam. That's an
unusually high advance for someone with no novel-length track record.
Book 1 was the expansion of "Emergence," which had reasonably good
sales and pretty good reviews. Book 2 was "Threshold," which had
neither. Book 3 was called something like "The Infinity Box," and
apparently was intended as a sequel to "Threshold." The title showed
up on Bantam's advance list for a few months, but was never released.
Different reports have it that 1) The manuscript was never turned in
by Palmer, or 2) Bantam didn't feel that the manuscript was
publishable in the form it was in. If you believe 2), then the story
extends that 3) Bantam asked for a rewrite that Palmer wasn't able
to do, or 4) Bantam decided to cut their losses. In any case, Bantam
did quietly sever its relationship with Palmer without comment and the
book was cancelled.
Palmer, as far as I know, has never been involved with fandom either
before or during his short writing career, and I've seen no news
of him in over two years now. I tried contacting him by letter one
time through our mutual association with the SFWA, but never received
an answer.
Fred
| |||||