Re: A Plague of Laumers

On 31 Jan 2006 07:02:37 -0800, "Dr. Dave" <dtate@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>ObHijack: Are there any other examples of a noteworthy original work
>that the same author later leveraged into a set or series of works with
>a different (generally lesser) look-and-feel? I'm thinking mostly of
>works by the same author, but I suppose franchises and shared worlds
>might count, too, if the original work was not intended as a
>stepping-stone to sequels.

First to mind is one from elsewhere in my post. The classic Bolo
story/novella "Night of the Trolls", later revisited as the bloated
(compared to Laumer's early novels) _The Stars Must Wait_. IIRC (I've
blocked out the most horrific details), _Stars_ starts and ends at the
same place as "Night", but the writing isn't nearly as tight. Then he
gets to the ending, which was classic and very typical of early
Laumer, and /does a 180/, completely reversing the most critical
decision the protagonist makes. Which, in turn, reverses the tone of
the entire work.

Also, by the time the Black Company reaches Khatovar, I'm not sure the
series is more than coincidentally (character names, etc.)
recognizable as being related to the three short works that made up
_The Black Company_ (IIRC, Khatovar itself wasn't even mentioned until
the third book). Note that I'm not indicting the original trilogy, or
even the first few "Books of the South". Just what was originally
planned to be _Glittering Stone_. Too much time elapsed, and too many
better ideas came along.

--Craig

--
Craig Richardson (crichard-tacoma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
"Then I heard the whirring of the motorized snowmen, sound[ing] like the
death rattle of very small robot lizards, and I left the seasonal aisle"
-- James Lileks, "The Bleat", 2005/10/10
.