Liaden Universe® InfoDump Number 100

8 thoughts on “Liaden Universe® InfoDump Number 100”

1. Argh! I live next to Cherry Hill but I will be vacationing in Maine when you guys are in the area.
   -Andrea

2. Any plans to come to Baltimore?

3. Andrea — Have fun! I like Maine in November.

   Barbara — Nope; not at the moment.

4. I just read the eARC, back to back with Balance of Trade: you’ve written a lovely story, exiting and engrossing, and with very interesting characters and possibilities of future links.
   And may I compliment you on a very very clean text, even before the proofreading gets done? I only noticed something three times in the whole book, and those might have been intentional voice – Jethri speaking quickly forgetting a little word like ‘is’ is the only one I remember now.

   I don’t think the next bit contains any real spoilers as I’m just thinking about an already known name, an old detail, and some generalities, but if you don’t want to see any reference to the new book before reading it please stop reading this comment here!

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   I immediately decided to reread a lot of the ‘current timeline’, and one of the things I immediately noticed on starting Fledgling was one of her favourite childhood books being ‘San Tim and the Ugly Day’ – it seemed such a similar name to poor Tan Sim who had such a bad time thanks to his nasty mother.
   I was already wondering where Jethri fits on the timeline in reference to the Agent of Change – Plan B books. I somehow had the impression that Balance of Trade was a lot earlier, but with all the hints in Trade Secret about trouble (likely from the Department of the Interior) within the Scouts, and the running down of the Old Tech, it seems to be not that much earlier that the Plan B times: at most decades, not centuries.
   So that would make it unlikely for Tan Sim to be the inspiration for the San Tim children’s book, I’d guess… just a random coincidence?

   Could you comment on Jethri’s place in time in comparison with some of the other storylines?

   All these hints at potential links (Uncle and the duplicators and fractins here, Uncle and Daav’s rescue in the Theo-thread, the DoI-hints in the trouble among the Scouts, etc.) make me hope that Jethri and company will not be left completely dangling while you write the next set of 5 contracted books in the Theo thread. As Theo has by now intersected with Korval and the Plan B thread as well, I’m very very interested in where the next 5 contracted books will take us.

5. On further reading I found the author of the Sam Tim book mentioned, whose name (Meicha Maarilex) sounds as if she’s one of the twins in the new book – so not such a coincidence?
   Of course, it might be an ancestor or descendant, names do get reused…

6. @Hanneke…I have to admit, the timeline is something I have wondered about for some time as well. How much time between Cantra and Jethri. How much between Jethri and Theo. And has the uncle spanned the entire timespan. But I am thinking that Sharon and Steve have purposely not answered this, either a) because they have a plan, b) because the amount of time isnt relevant or c) they havent decided yet. Im guessing we will get it when it is a necessary part of the story. Until then, atleast its a good hook to leave us wondering. I dont mind.

7. @Chip, oh yes, I’m still wondering…
   I do get the impression that ‘Uncle’ is supposed to have spanned centuries, maybe almost the entire Liaden timeline – but it’s not clear (purposely mysterious, I’d think) whether that would be as one individual, or as a series of clones made in and maintained by the Duplicators, maybe containing the same ‘old soul’. In Saltation Uncle tells Theo that both he and his female friend (Dulsey Omron) are dependent on the ‘autodoc’ machinery on his ship, which can regenerate tissue almost to the point of cloning, and even heal aging given time enough. I’ve also wondered if they are reincarnations of Lute and Moonhawk (from the Fellow Travelers chapbook).

   Saltation contains some mention of things that happened hundreds of years ago (and don’t seem to have ended well for Uncle and for one of the groups of traders), that *could* refer to some of the ongoing/just started/upcoming general actions by Uncle and/or the trade groups that are hinted at in Trade Secrets. As those mentions in both books are just hints, and quite unspecific, they could just as easily be completely unrelated.
   The Wikipedia entry does say: “The eighth novel, Balance of Trade, is set 275 years prior to the end of the “Agent of Change” sequence.” but doesn’t give a source for that dating. It confirms the idea I had before reading Trade Secrets, that Jethri was set some centuries earlier, but I can’t remember where I got that idea either.

   I love the way this series has little hints strewn throughout, that can connect things in the background if I’m alert for them while reading, while the story itself doesn’t need those connections to be fully engaging if I haven’t read or noticed the other part of the hints (yet). It creates a strong feeling of a fully-realised universe, where no individual (inside the universe) can know everything, while it still makes sense for the people who happen to know about that other bit of what’s going on.
   Very very clever (advertent?) of the authors, both to be able to keep track of all these little bits and pieces and how they connect, and to be able to write the stories the way they do, so you don’t need to read them all, or in order throughout the different threads, to be able to enjoy each book and the adventure.

8. @Hanneke I really do enjoy the little hints that the authors give that connect people, places and spacecraft in the Liaden Universe. Keeps the suspense going!

   I’m not sure which books you’ve been able to read, I know that you are overseas, a several books and short stories have dealt with the subject of Lute and Moonhawk. In Conflict of Honors, Priscilla is Moonhawk although her home planet would deny it. Shan is Lute, he meets himself in the hall of weapons – not sure whether that was in Plan B or I Dare as I don’t have either book with me at the moment. I’ll look up which one it is or, if you prefer, leave you to the joys of investigation.

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