Old Tea Leaf Reviews 18: 1998 Locus Poll Best First Novel - rec.arts.sf.written

Message from discussion Old Tea Leaf Reviews 18: 1998 Locus Poll Best First Novel

James Alan Gardner

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More options Jul 7 2008, 10:40 pm

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written

From: James Alan Gardner <jag.jagard...@gmail.com>

Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 10:40:09 -0700 (PDT)

Local: Mon, Jul 7 2008 10:40 pm

Subject: Re: Old Tea Leaf Reviews 18: 1998 Locus Poll Best First Novel

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FYI, it was originally my intent to alternate between Festina's
adventures in space and various Spark Lord stories on Earth.
Eventually I'd bring the two threads together, connecting the
Explorers and the Sparks with all the secrets of what the League has
been up to. Maybe someday...

James Alan Gardner
--------------------------------------------
Web page: http://www.thinkage.ca/~jim
Novels: EXPENDABLE, COMMITMENT HOUR, VIGILANT, HUNTED, ASCENDING,
TRAPPED, RADIANT, LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER -- THE MAN OF BRONZE,
GRAVITY WELLS
--------------------------------------------

On Jul 5, 9:43 am, jdnic...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:

> In article <g4mu3a$bs...@reader1.panix.com>,
> Andrew Plotkin <erkyr...@eblong.com> wrote:

> >Here, William December Starr <wdst...@panix.com> wrote:
> >> In article <g4ltks$7s...@reader1.panix.com>,
> >> jdnic...@panix.com (James Nicoll) said:

> >> > 2 Expendable James Alan Gardner

> >> > Jim had seven books in the League of Peoples series, [...]

> >> Is this ISFDB listing correct:

> >> Fiction Series
> >> * Festina Ramos
> >> + 1 Expendable (1997)
> >> + 2 Vigilant (1999)
> >> + 3 Commitment Hour (1998)
> >> + 4 Hunted (2000)
> >> + 5 Ascending (2001)
> >> + 6 Trapped (2002)
> >> + 7 Radiant (2004)

> >> ...specifically, is COMMITMENT HOUR really part of this series?

> >It's not part of a series, although it might be set in the same
> >universe. (I can't answer that because _Commitment Hour_ is the only
> >Gardner I've read.)

> It's in the same universe. When humans made contact with
> the "benevolent" aliens, they offered to transport anyone that asked
> to a shiny new world. Enough people left in the next 20 years that
> the economy of Earth collapsed. Introduction of off-world technology
> added to the chaos (I think about 30% of the apparently unicellular
> life on Earth is actually technological).

> A small elite, the Spark Lords, then used alien technology
> to take over the Earth and stop off-world trade (I think there's a
> comment in EXPENDABLE about smuggling coffee off of Earth).

> >It's the one about a planet where kids change gender once a year,
> >throughout adolescence, and make a permanent choice for adulthood.
> >(These are humans -- there turns out to be tech involved.) I thought
> >it was pretty good.

> The planet is Earth and the custom is limited to one
> community in Ontario.

> TRAPPED is also set on the Spark Lord's Earth.
> --http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicollhttp://www.cafepress.com... all your "The problem with
> defending the English language [...]" T-shirt, cup and tote-bag needs)

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