tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post9087876807413429849..comments2024-03-26T20:47:12.919+00:00Comments on Going Commando | A SWTOR Fan Blog: Commonalities Between Books And MMOsShintarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-17488816784485204872019-08-23T19:40:54.619+01:002019-08-23T19:40:54.619+01:00It certainly occurred to me that I might want to r...It certainly occurred to me that I might want to read more by her once I've made it through the rest of the Foreigner series. And thanks for providing another data point towards MMO players also liking huge, sprawling book series. ;)Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-60261100819639278462019-08-23T19:39:34.139+01:002019-08-23T19:39:34.139+01:00Thanks for providing a bookseller's perspectiv...Thanks for providing a bookseller's perspective, Bhag! I guess personally I just really prefer to start at the beginning when in doubt, and take people's word for it getting better later.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-5685043455680275022019-08-23T18:35:10.150+01:002019-08-23T18:35:10.150+01:00I don't have much to add to your post, but C. ...I don't have much to add to your post, but C. J. Cherryh is one of my favourite authors, and I look forward to each Foreigner book that comes out. <br /><br />Pretty much everything she writes is enjoyable. Her *Fortress* series is excellent fantasy.Rohanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09090769681887119989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-9199839020378121332019-08-23T18:31:19.371+01:002019-08-23T18:31:19.371+01:00While that's true in general, I don't thin...While that's true in general, I don't think it applies to the Foreigner series in specific. C. J. Cherryh won two Hugos (Downbelow Station and Cyteen), and wrote many other novels, before she started on this series.<br /><br />Cherryh is perhaps unusual in this for long running authors. Most other authors with series seem to have started with their major series, and have trouble breaking away from it.Rohanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09090769681887119989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-46861940933850851092019-08-23T12:02:23.675+01:002019-08-23T12:02:23.675+01:00I think that's an intersting and valid compari...I think that's an intersting and valid comparison. I've never read C.J. Cherryh although I've been aware of here work for a long time. For me she sits in that huge pile of fantasy epic writers, almost none of whom I have any time for, who serve a very specific niche audience with exactly what it wants. While it's a niche it's a potentially huge one, with the tempting possibility of breakout to a mass audience. George RR Martin's Game of Thrones, for example, might be the eqivalent of WoW, while Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time might be Lineage.<br /><br />I can attest from twenty years of bookselling that there's about as little crossover between waht I'd call "regular" SF and fantasy readers with those endless, multi-book franchises as there is between regular video gamers and MMO fans. They're in the same ballpark but they're playing different games.<br /><br />Your observations on the quality of the books increasing in the later volumes is a key factor in how I recommend where to start a series when I'm talking to a customer. It's often a bad idea to begin at the beginning. If a series has proved commercially successful enough to run for a dozen or twenty volumes it's exceedingly unlikely that it will have started at its peak and declined. Like tv shows, the best episodes are usualy in the midle seasons. Assuming I've read the series, I recommend people begin with one of the better (not the best) books in the early part of the period when the series hits its stride. Almost all series writers will have a little bit at the start to get new readers up to speed (not 200 pages!) and the reader will get a much better inmpression of the series strengths than if they began at Vol. 1, when the author probably hadn't got the grasp of the characters or even the narrative.<br /><br />If the reader enjoys the good example they'll be both motivated to flip back and start at the beginning and more willing to forgive that book's flaws in the certain knowledge things are only going to get better.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.com