Forum: Story Recommendations

a gigantic story like A True History by Starfleet Carl

It resembles that remark. :)

Although I have a LONG way to go to catch up with Greg, Tefler, or Roust ...

Nothing worse, as a reader, than never knowing how something ends.

Other than using your own imagination ... yeah. Technically, I could say the Honorverse by David Weber hasn't ended.

And since my momma told me if I can't say anything good about someone, don't say anything at all. David Fucking Flatcat Stealing Tribble Shitter Gerrold and the War against the Chtorr, that started when I was in HIGH SCHOOL, fifty LONG YEARS ago, and just left it HANGING with vague and completely empty PROMISES ...

*cough*

Oh, sorry.

I have had the pleasure of chatting with Mr. Weber several times. Mostly about subjects other than his Honor Harrington books.

I postulate that the 14 (~15) books "officially" about Honor Harrington are in effect 5 Trilogies. Each group of books tells a completed story; and similar to the anthologies, and some other series are set in what is called the Honorverse" but is really just a period of history of the star kingdom of Manticore.

Books 1-3 (On Basilisk Station, Honor of the Queen, and Short Victorious War) complete a "hero's journey" from XO to confident and respected Captain. The prelude of proxy wars ends with the collapse (revolution) of the Republic of Haven.

Books 4-6 (Field of Dishonor, Flag in Exile, and Honor Among Enemies) could be completely independent of the 1st trilogy. These 3 books focus much more on Steadholder Harrington and her "noble" obligations, as well as a personal vendetta and the consequences of perusing it. "Officially" Honor is not serving as an officer of the RMN, and is in "exile" status. The second stage of a prelude to war is occurring with several sub-plots as revolutionary Haven rebuilds. The end of 6th book wraps up most of these threads; the series could have ended here.

Books 7 to 9 (In Enemy Hands, Echoes of Honor and Ashes of Victory) are my least favorite. Books 7 & 8 are a duology of Honor becoming a POW, her adventures and eventual escape. I thought the "issues" of romantic feelings causing Honor to "go away" are contrived. Book 9 Honor is a secondary character. Main events are the Coup in the Havenite Republic and those characters.

Books 10 & 11 (War of Honor and At All Costs) beginning 5 years after book 9, these 2 books are a duology of the full-scale war between the Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven. {Weber originally wrote that Honor Harrington died in the climatic battle; intending her Son to become the MC of the series to follow.}

Books 12, 13* & 14 (Mission of Honor, A Rising Thunder, Uncompromising Honor) is a trilogy (originally book 13 was supposed to be 2 separate books). Superficially the war between the Kingdom of Manticore and the Solarian League; but is actually realization of the Mesan threat. Originally, Weber had planned that the series would continue with a new generation of characters combating the Mesan plotline.

The anthologies and the Saganami Island books have tie-ins to the above books but are not essential to the plotlines. Readers keep wanting More of the Honorverse and Honor Harrington in particular. Mr. Weber is delivering what his readers want.

"And They Lived Happily Ever After." is a fine way to end a story. Of course, it is not the end of those characters' lives/adventures. Sequels may be great or terrible, they are rarely necessary to complete a story.

There are more than dozen novels written by Frank Baum about the world of Oz. The Wizard of Oz is a great story. The 1939 film has a satisfying conclusion.

Back to the Future is a great movie, and has a satisfying conclusion (even with the tease ending). I enjoyed the trilogy, but I would have been happy with only the first movie too.

I often wish there was MORE written about the characters/worlds written by some of my favorite authors. If they are well written. It is one of the reasons I read decent fan fiction.

I wish that more books in the Sacketts series were written by Louis L'Amour. I would have enjoyed a book or books about the 4th Era of Middle Earth (after the events of the Lord of the Rings that was the end of the 3rd era.)

I have had the pleasure of chatting with Mr. Weber several time

You missed a trick there by not substituting 'pleasure' with 'honour'....

I agree that Mr. Weber connects all of his books in the "Honorverse" I am postulating that if a person were to stop reading those books, there are several points (books) that if you stopped reading then most readers would feel that there was sufficient closure to the story.

Mr. Weber is a clever writer; in that he concludes a storyline. Another storyline may sprout from that conclusion, without making the old storyline inconclusive. Mr. Weber is a good student of history; most historical events are influenced by prior events.

For example: The Battle of Appomattox Courthouse brought a conclusion to the American Civil War. The assassination of POTUS Lincoln is a new storyline that occurs after the war (although plotted before the end of the war). "Reconstruction" could not have occurred without the end of the war; the nature of Reconstruction was altered by the assassination of POTUS Lincoln. Both subsequent events have their own endings, yet they have influence on later events.

A defunct British airline ending the Civil War would be a really weird time travel story.

BOAC Flight 777, shot down by Germans on June 1, 1943 in the Bay of Biscay, was never found. The plane skipped off the surface of the water, went back in time 80 years, crashing into the White House. Abraham Lincoln was entertaining his Secretary of War, William Stanton, and his Vice-President, Hannibal Hamlin, as well as Generals Hooker and Meade. They and their staffs were all killed in the resulting fire and building collapse.

When Lee began moving north on June 3 as he'd planned, towards Culpepper Court House, the Corps Commanders couldn't agree on what to do. The Union cavalry fell back in disarray instead of fighting at Brandy Station. Longstreet and Hill headed north along the mountains as planned, but when word reached them of the tumult in Washington, instead of heading west at Middleburg, Virginia, they headed east, with Ewell covering their northern flank while Meade's Army dithered near Frederick, and Hooker's Army headed north back to Washington, leaving Fredericksburg behind. On July 1, 1863, Lee's men found themselves overlooking Washington, and over the next two days of combat, managed to work their way through the defenses and the dispirited troops.

At that time in history, the US Presidential Succession was the Vice-President, and there was no clear plan for continuation of the government. The House and Senate had been busily meeting, fighting amongst themselves since the mysterious explosion that had taken out the civilian and military leadership, ignoring the warnings that Lee was closing on Washington until it was too late for them to evacuate. Some members tried to do so by sea, but once the Confederates seized some of the naval batteries, Confederate ironclads were able to blockade the Potomac. Members of Stuart's cavalry broke the rail line to Baltimore, trapping Congress.

With no way out, and to protect their own lives, even with overwhelming troop majorities, the US Congress surrendered to Robert E Lee on July 6th, 1863, ending the First American Civil War.

Huzzah!

While I would lament such an end to the American Civil War.

Clever short story using the premise of "BOAC ending the Civil War."

And since my momma told me if I can't say anything good about someone, don't say anything at all. David Fucking Flatcat Stealing Tribble Shitter Gerrold and the War against the Chtorr, that started when I was in HIGH SCHOOL, fifty LONG YEARS ago, and just left it HANGING with vague and completely empty PROMISES ...

Actually, it is more like 40 years (39). With 30 years since his last update.

But to be fair, he had many inspirations other than just Heinlein. But he was a huge inspiration with the Chtorran series. I have long considered it "Starship Troopers - but turned up to 11".

To be honest, I have pretty much figured all of that series out already. I am just wondering if I will ever find out if I am right in how I think it is going.

I think (could be wrong) that Michael Loucks has the record here. Roust and Tefler are competing for single-volume length (though Roust does have three 'books', but they're not separate).

I'm only just past 1.1 million words. That barely registers against some of the really long stories...

Almost inevitably, the chapters longer than 100,000 characters long could easily be split into two or more shorter ones.

Not really. Chapters should relate to the content of what's in them and are of varying length, so they should not be cut arbitrarily. For example a book on the lives of the different US presidents should by one President = one chapter and some will be short while some will be long.

The closest to what you advocate would be if you use sub-chapters (which I often do) then you could make a cut by sub-chapters. Take the Presidential example above the chapter on Lincoln could be divided into 2 sub-chapters of his Pre-war life and his life in the civil war.

Almost inevitably, the chapters longer than 100,000 characters long could easily be split into two or more shorter ones.

100,000 characters would be approaching 20,000 words. IMO that's far too long for a chapter in a novel.

AJ

That would depend on how long the novel is.

I disagree. If the reader has to break off halfway through a chapter eg for a meal, the chapter is too long.

Average reading speed is widely quoted as 250 words per minute. A 20,000 word chapter is asking a reader to commit to 80 minutes of uninterrupted attention.

AJ