The Sword and Laser discussion

I just picked up Orson Scott Card’s "The Last Shadow" (2021), which concludes the series he started with "Ender’s Game" in 1985. The most recent Ender novel was published in 1996 (there was a prequel novella in 2008). Card did write four Ender’s Shadow novels 1999-2005, with a novella in 2011, but whether you say it’s been 10, 13, 17, or 25 years – that’s a long time to wait for the conclusion!

In addition to the Ender Saga, I’ve been anxiously waiting for Card to conclude his Alvin Maker hepatology (am I doing this right?) since the publication of Book 6 in 2003. Also, with the sad passing of David Wolverton (pen name: David Farland) earlier this year, it looks like the ninth and final book of his Runelords ennealogy (maybe?) – already 13 years after the penultimate publication – will never be coming.

What works are you waiting for? Bonus points if your wait has been a decade or more; minus 1000 points for mentioning any authors with the initials GRRM.

Not a long wait, but I did the happy dance when I found out the other day that Adrian Tchaikovsky is publishing a third book in his "Children of..." series, Children of Memory

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown by Lawrence Block
Aliens: Vasquez by V. Castro
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older
The Best-Read Army in the World by Molly Guptill Manning

The Doors of Stone Kingkiller Chronicles #3 by Patrick Rothfuss
The Winds of Winter A Song of Ice & Fire #6 by George R.R. Martin
Hell Bent Alex Stern #2 by Leigh Bardugo
& I'm also waiting for Master Alvin Alvin the Maker #7 by Orson Scott Card. I read (listened to) all the Ender related books & enjoyed them. Some more than others.
The next installment of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher & the next Rogue Team International (Joe Ledger) book from Jonathan Maberry.
I'm sure there are more books I'm waiting for.

Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "...I'm also waiting for Master Alvin Alvin the Maker #7 by Orson Scott Card. I read (listened to) all the Ender related books & enjoyed them. Some more than others...."

Ditto on both parts. The first three books of the Alvin series were excellent as were some of the Enders books (the first two, and Ender's Shadow) but unfortunately some of Card's books are just plain boring. I am planning to get to the final three Enders books starting later this year, and would really like to finally see Alvin Maker get published before Brandon Sanderson has to do it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list... ;-)

And the most anticipated from this list:

T. Kingfisher What Moves the Dead – I liked her two previous retellings/sequels of classic stories very much, so…

Becky Chambers A Prayer for the Crown-Shy – I loved the first one, so more Monk and Robot is a must. And the Stories from the Stars podcast just released first half an hour of it, and it’s as charming as the first one.

Jim C. Hines Terminal Peace – the first volume of the trilogy had been a very nice surprise, second one brought some answers, now I’m waiting for the finale.

Frances Hardinge Unraveller – a new Hardinge novel is a must.

Claire North Ithaca – I loved the books by Claire North until The End of the Day which had been boring and heavy-handed, and I did not read her books after that (still I intend to some day, just the thrill of "A new North book!" is gone). But this one is another departure from her usual contemporary setting, so I’m curious.

Mercedes Lackey Into the West – for some reason I keep reading the Valdemar novels. I may fume after the weak ones, but still they are… comforting. And I liked the first volume, even if I had to forget most of what had been told about the founding of Valdemr in ealier books.

Mur Lafferty Station Eternity – I loved the Six Wakes so new space crime story from Mur Lafferty is a must. And if the series title (The Midsolar Murders) more or less promises me "Midsomer Murders… In Space!" I‘m game.

Mary Robinette Kowal The Spare Man – high society, space and murder. What‘s not to like?

Daniel O'Malley Blitz – I loved the first two Checquy novels (which I read because of Lois McMaster Bulold review on GR :-))

Laura Laakso Wildest Hunger – I discovered the series during The Great Dresden Files Drought. Now, as the Dresden series starts to suffer from the "great battles and not much else" syndrome that made me not finish Butcher’’s Codex Alera series, the new Wilde Investigations novel is more exciting than Dresden one.

C.L. Polk Even Though I Knew the End – I just liked all Polk’s novels, so.

Brandon Sanderson The Lost Metal – I like Sanderson’s magnum opus aka the Stormlight Archive, but my favourite part of Cosmere are still the Wax and Wayne stories.

Max Gladstone Dead Country - Max Gladstone comes back to Craft series! Hurrah! (I loved Last Exit, so I would be excited for any new Gladstone’s novel, but the unique worldbuilding in Craft Sequence can be explored without getting tired for some time).

Leigh Bardugo Hell Bent – I think Ninth House is my favourite novel among the fantastic dark academia subsubgenre published lately.

Jasper Fforde Red Side Story – I do not hold my breath, but after 12 years we got a title, something like a cover, and a publication date (already pushed forward once) of the Shades of Grey sequel!

Kat Howard A Sleight of Shadows - the Unkindness of Magicians sequel originally planned for June 2020 disappeared from the forthcoming books lists and bookstores, and finally surfaced again.

And not present on the list because author usually announces them very shortly before publication: anything from Lois McMaster Bujold.

Of course there are books that I’m waiting for which might or might not ever be written, but as long as the author lives… Such as the fifth volume of the Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein.

I'm pretty sure Rosemary Kirstein has been working on more Steerswoman novels (I think it said books 5 AND 6).

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: ...Ditto on both parts. The first three books of the Alvin series were excellent as were some of the Enders books (the first two, and Ender's Shadow) but unfortunately some of Card's books are just plain boring. I am planning to get to the final three Enders books starting later this year, and would really like to finally see Alvin Maker get published before Brandon Sanderson has to do it."

I thought Speaker for the Dead #2 was the most boring of all the Ender related books.
Funny about Sanderson. I didn't think OSC was that old.

I have given up waiting for books. I just trawl through the libraries new release list and grab books I want to read as they come out. Life is short and I will never be able to read all the books I want to so I just enjoy what I can lay my hands on now.

The anticipation of a new release has been killed off effectively by certain authors and the interminable wait between books. Pratchett spoils me for years as you never had to wait. Every year come around September you would get a new book and occasionally an extra one around March :-)

Used to wait for OSC but now will never read the homophobes work again.

Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "I thought Speaker for the Dead #2 was the most boring of all the Ender related books.
Funny about Sanderson. I didn't think OSC was that old."

Funny how tastes differ. I thought “Enders Game” was solid, but not outstanding, but thought SftD was absolutely excellent. I was blown away that he took a good, but fairly straightforward, action book and set of characters, and turned it into this imaginative and thoughtful story. Ended up devouring the rest of this and the “Shadow” series after reading it, mostly off of my enjoyment of SftD.

But then I found out about Lain’s point and the info really soured me on the author enough that I haven't read any of his work since.

I don't really follow book releases anymore either. Been waiting 29 years for book 5 in David Gerrold's Cthorr series!

I'd like to see the last Alvin book as well if only for completion's sake. The last few of Card's books that I've read haven't been very good which is too bad because I loved a lot of his earlier ones.
I'd like to see the last Kingkiller book sometime before either I or Rothfuss dies.
I'd also like some more Spider Robinson. His last book came out in 2009 and he had a contract for 3 sequels to Variable Star, the "collaboration" with Heinlein. He has since suffered some horrendous personal tragedies (wife and daughter both died of cancer and he had a heart attack) and he has understandably had trouble continuing.

Iain wrote: "I have given up waiting for books. I just trawl through the libraries new release list and grab books I want to read as they come out. Life is short and I will never be able to read all the books I..."

I don't want to start a fight, but I need to say something. Have you read OSC's side of the story? He's not homophobic. He certainly should have avoided the subject though. There is a lot of gray between between being an ally & an enemy. If we wish for open-mindedness from the world, we should practice it ourselves.

Ian (RebelGeek) wrote “
I don't want to start a fight, but I need to say something. Have you read OSC's side of the story? He's not homophobic. He certainly should have avoided the subject though. There is a lot of gray between between being an ally & an enemy. If we wish for open-mindedness from the world, we should practice it ourselves.

I cannot remember who said “I tolerate everything but intolerance”.

A truly open society cannot function if you allow the bigots of this world to have their way as it always leads to some group being excluded. Bit appears difficult when one group claims that the mere existence of a group, in this case gay people, should be officially repressed. As soon as you repress people for who they are you are no longer a participant in free society.

I could expand in detail but this is not the right place. Good writers can subtly convince you of the rightness of their views by the way they write. OSC’s writing supports his views in subtle and not so subtle ways (the subservience of women for example). I do not need to support those views. In other words I cannot ignore the artist.

Every time I walk into a book store I am presented with more books than I can read in my remaining years. I am spoiled for choice and don’t need to read books by people who don’t agree with the existence of members of my family.

TLDR. I explained why I don’t look forward to an author any more which should have been enough.

Standalone:
The Spear Cuts Through Water
The Terraformers
ETA to add Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

First in series:
The Dawn of Yangchen

Sequels:
Monstress, Vol. 7: Devourer
Into the Riverlands
The Martian Contingency
Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 3
and of course the next entry of The Radiant Emperor series.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "...I'm also waiting for Master Alvin Alvin the Maker #7 by Orson Scott Card. I read (listened to) all the Ender related books & enjoyed them. Some more than others....

Ditto..."

This is similar to the way I feel about Card's works. For me, the Alvin Maker series started strong and fell off, but the completionist in me just needs to check the box and read the last book, regardless of how good it is.

Thanks for mentioning Jim Butcher -- love everything he does. If memory serves, he promised that his next novel would be the follower to Aeronaut's Windlass, which I will definitely read... but maybe not until after he also writes the 3rd and 4th books in the series. ;)

Papa MRF wrote: "RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "...I'm also waiting for Master Alvin Alvin the Maker #7 by Orson Scott Card. I read (listened to) all the Ender related books & enjoyed them. S..."

I gave The Aeronaut's Windlass 5 stars!

Nona the Ninth. And yes am stoked that Veronica has an ARC. How awesome is that :-)

John wrote: "Nona the Ninth. And yes am stoked that Veronica has an ARC. How awesome is that :-)"
I second this! What a tease that she goes on about how great and interesting it is, while we wait around for the actual release date like suckers!
I'd like to add that I'm also excited for Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution. I LOVED the Kuang's style in the Poppy War series and can't wait to read a new story from her.

They talked about this thread & that's when I realized I shouldn't have listed GRRM. Ha! Oops.

Paul wrote: "I'd like to add that I'm also excited for Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution. I LOVED the Kuang's style in the Poppy War series and can't wait to read a new story from her."

yes, me too!

The longest I ever did wait for a book was about 22 years -- I discovered Glen Cook's Dread Empire series sometime around 1990, not realizing at the time that it was going to end on a cliffhanger and he had kind of abandoned it for various reasons (in part because it just wasn't selling that well and in part because a "fan" had apparently stolen the manuscript of what would have been the next volume in the series while at a house party); and I had resigned myself to just being frustrated until in 2012 Night Shade Books brought the series back into print and convinced him to go back and write a concluding volume.

I started buying paperbacks of Stephen King's Dark Tower novels in the late 80's or early 90's & waited for the series to be finished before starting. So I ended up buying new paperbacks & reading them all about 11 years ago.

The next Expanse novel ... OOOOOOOOOHHH! ;-) :-(

Paul wrote: "Not a long wait, but I did the happy dance when I found out the other day that Adrian Tchaikovsky is publishing a third book in his "Children of..." series, [book:Children of Memor..."

Second "The Children of ..." series!!

In a perpetual wait for more Cosmere books from Brandon Sanderson. Looking forward to The Lost Metal to continue the Wax and Wayne series, the next Stormlight Archive book, the next Mistborn trilogy. . ..

Ian wrote something about the Dark Tower

I am very glad that I didn't find that series until after it was finished. I seem to remember reading in one of King's forwards that he was motivated to re-take up the tale by a fan letter from an old woman who wrote she was sad that she would die without getting to read the story's conclusion. I mean, I imagine you have to pull really hard on the heartstrings to move one of King's four twisted and black hearts.

Papa MRF wrote: "Ian wrote something about the Dark Tower

I am very glad that I didn't find that series until after it was finished. I seem to remember reading in one of King's forwards that he was motivated to r..."

He also was inspired after nearly dying.