| Part of the problem may just be that series tend to go downhill. IMHO,
this is due to a number of reasons:
1) Reader burnout. After too much time with a given author, you need
a break. I once made the mistake of trying to read the Foundation
series (what are we up to, 6 books now?) all in a row, and by the time
I got done I just wanted to be done.
2) Writer burnout. The author has used up all of the good stuff that
will fit into a given universe or premise, but the books are so popular
(and the advances buy so many groceries) that books keep getting
written anyway. The intro to M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link tells how Robert Lynn
Asprin is at this point and trying to branch out, let's hope it works.
Note that Niven's Known Space stuff started out only loosely connected,
which left a lot of room for new stories without a rigid framework.
3) Money. If the first couple of books do well, there's a lot of
demand for sequels, and even if the sequels don't match up to the
quality of the original, people will buy them in hopes of getting more
good stuff, and some authors will spew forth words to reap the rewards.
A perfect example is the Hammers Slammers series, the first one was
quite good, with a plot, characters, action, and lotsa high tech toys
and winning by tactics against overwhelming odds, but I just finished
the last one (darn, can't remember the name) and I just couldn't get
into the characters, the toys were gone (no tanks at all, the most
high-tech they had was a laser communicator that could barely lock onto
it's sattellite), and the whole plot (if you can call it that) was an
excuse for blasting tens of thousands of civilians to pieces with a
'calliope' for no discernable reason. Absolute dreck, and I had been
warned that it wasn't great, but beacuse I liked the _first_ one, I
bought the last. It'll even be hard to keep from buying the next
one....
Willie
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Willie -
Hammers Slammers was written by Drake as a series of Vignettes about
men in war, what it is like and how it effects them. Up until his
latest novel, it all delt with the armour end of the slammers, but
he finally approached the infantry side.
In all of his Slammer stories Drake takes a given set of circumstances
and plays with them. And while the book does involve the slaughter
of thousands, it is mainly about the problems a Feild Grade officer
(a LT. in this case) can run into by being the senior most officer
present with blanket authority on one hand, and a need one the other
to fulfill the contract signed by Hammer...If they do not fullfil
the contract, the Bonding Authority will not support/back them,
which means no more work.
And yes, the plot is thin, but as a study of an officer used to
clear cut problems, with a visible enemy, and a chain of command
to fall back on, dealing with a situation beyond his experience
and possibly abbilities, it is a good read.
And I can not think of any Drake novels that did have a thick plot
(ala herberts early works...IMHO)
BTW - Does the village of Mai Lau (sp??) ring any bells?? I think
Drake might have been reffering/thinking about that little incident
when writing that novel.
Later,
Clark.
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| On the business of sequelae and series:
Since I had the honor to be a friend of Doc Smith, I can comment
a little on the phenomena from the standpoint of three series he
was involved with: The Skylark, the Lensmen, and the Family d'Alembert
(he was just starting that one when he died).
Skylark first:
Doc wrote _A Skylark of Space_ back long before I was born, and
I'm 50. At the time, it was revolutionary, and it was meant as
a one-shot novel (in fact, in the original version, he collaborated
with a Lee Hawkins Garby; he was uncomfortable writing the romantic
stuff, and Mrs Garby poured it on with a ladle; she got a co-byline
on the cover of the original book). It was _so_ revolutionary,
though, that there was intense pressure for a sequel. After a while,
Doc obliged, with _Skylark Three_. _Skylark Three_, though, was
supposed to end it. In order to dio that, though, Doc had one of
his main characters, Dr. Mark C. DuQuense, killed about as dead
as it was possible to kill someone. After a while, there was _intense_
pressure put on Doc from fans and editors alike to write a sequel
to that. Finally, he did (the editor was so happy to run it that
when a disgruntled Doc sent in a draft of what he'd written asking
for suggestions, the then editor, F. Orlin Tremaine, ran the draft!
This had, among other things, the interesting situation that apparently
Crane's manservant, Shiro, was left behind in fourth dimensional
space when the Skylarkers returned to "our" space). It was called
_Skylark of Valeron_, and in order to make it credible, Doc had
to spend more than a chapter "unkilling" Blackie DuQuense is a credible
way. He vowed not to get stuck that way again, so though he intended
no more sequels, he devised a situation for DuQuense that had him
apparently stuck, but with a loophole you could sail a battleship
through, _if_ a sequel was forthcoming. Eventually, it was, and
Doc activated his hidden mechanism. [The sequel, _Skylark DuQuense,
had no definite ending in the sense the earlier books did.]
The Lensman Series was conceived as a single work, starting from
_Galactic Patrol_ and ending with _Children of the Lens_. The climax
of _Children of the Lens_, where Clarissa "seeks out" Kimball Kinnison,
was written before the first draft of _Galactic Patrol_ was complete,
if I'm to have believed Doc. The story is far more integrated
than an ordinary "series," because it's really one work. [There
are some differences, though, between what was in the magazine version
and the books. John W. Campbell, Jr., was by that time editor of
_Astounding_, and he wanted each layer of the Boskonian onion to
remain a mystery until the next "novel." Doc's original idea was
to lay the whole thing out from the start, but since JWC was paying
the bills, he went along with the gag. When the book "series" came
out, Doc "prefaced" _Galactic Patrol_ with a highly reworked version
of his novelette, "Triplanetary," placing the story in the Lensman
universe and relating characters genetically to those in the later
stories. One Eddorian, Gharlane, and an Arisian fusion, collectively
known as Mentor, plus an Arisian watchman, Eukinodor, were continuing
characters in all six books. In addition, Doc added another book,
_First Lensman_, which gave the genesis of the Galactic Patrol.]
The related "Vortex Blaster" stories of Neil Cloud, while clearly
in the Lensman universe, were not part of the series.
The Family d'Alembert series was to be an interstellar espionage/action
series. Doc was writing stories with the clear intention of writing
as many sequelae as the public would put up with. Alas, he had
a heart attack before it could get off the ground.
Additionally, he had in the works a "Subspace" trilogy. The first
book, _Subspasce Explorers_, was published before his death. He
had a longish manyuscript that he was going to break into two books,
_Subspace Second_ and _Subspace Safari_. He died with the project
uncompleted, and it was published posthumously as _Subspace Encounter_,
with some modifications (in the original trilogy, for instance,
the Adamses nor anybody else was to learn who or what "the operator"
was, or if one even existed).
Steve Kallis, Jr.
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| Ditto on the _Thieves World_ saga, I got 3-4 books in and
ARRRG!
I don't read these books for the sheer joy of deluging myself
with the sites, sounds and smells of another place and time.
Give me a reason to be here! What ever the cause of an
author writing it, you got to have some plot or the later
books fall apart.
I'm reminded of the _Saga of the Hechee_ by Pohl.
The first book was great, full of ideas, toys, mysteries, and struggle
to find out about the Aliens. By the time the last book came out,
it was like watching the bowling ball come back on a return lane;
'Gee, Aliens have god-like Aliens that perplex them too!'
Better that some of the _Possibilities_ be left up to the imagination
of the reader, than hammered to bed in a subsequent novel.
_The Ringworld Engineers_ by Niven was a disappointment because
of the attempt to tie all the loose ends togeather and explain
all the open ends of _Known Space_ and _Ringworld_.
I'm a fan and I'll buy the stuff, but I don't like being milked
by computer companies, the IRS, and SF writers (in that order).]
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