Calling Liaden Fans: Eyes, Please!

[rolanni]

So, we've sold a Big Chunk o'Liaden Universe® stories to a publisher who wishes to list them in universe order in their catalog so that their buyers won't be confused by picking up something in the middle of a sequence (cue laugh track).

kinzel and I have put our poor aching heads together and come up with the following list-in-order, but we're not sure we've got it right. (Note to new authors: In your records, number the stories you write in a consistent universe, if any, so you don't have to go through these head-breakers when you've suddenly got 200,000 words of short stories placed. No, scratch that. Write the stories and have a blast. Worry about the silly paperwork when it arrives in the mail.)

Anyhow, the list is below. Stories marked with ** are anchors. Stories [bracketed] must stay together.

**Necessary Evils**
Naratha's Shadow
Where the Goddess Sends
Spell for the Lost
Wine of Memory
Balance of Trade
Sweet Waters
Phoenix
Pilot of Korval

[Choice of Weapons
Beggar King]

Heirloom
To Cut an Edge

[A Day at the Races
Certain Symmetry]

Veil of the Dancer

[A Matter of Dreams
Moonphase]

Changeling
Quiet Knives
Breath's Duty
Lord of the Dance
Prodigal Son
**King of the Cats**

If anyone spots any dire misplacements, please do let me know.

Thanks!

Comments

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

In all fairness, the publisher probably needs two lists. One is chronology within the universe. The other is the order of publication.

Me, I tend to read things in the order written because writers evolve in style, and universes that grow organically do so by publication date. Not all recollections are dead on the detail....

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

And you can tell that to Toni !!

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Wrong publisher

Heh.

[(Anonymous)]

Well whatever publisher, there *are* two ways to approach series sequencing.

Prodigal Son before Lord of the Dance, please?

[(Anonymous)]

Isn't Miri expecting in Prodigal Son, and a new mother in Lord of the Dance?

I think it would make more sense to have Prodigal Son before Lord of the Dance, due to that internal chronology.

Otherwise, this just makes me want to read them in order.

Laura

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Ooops...

Good point there ... we'll recalculate...

Darn YOU!

[baggette.livejournal.com]

GRRR!!!
Darn You guys!

I have been itching to go back and read the shorts....
And NOW you've done it!

GRRRR! I should be working on this BLASTED house.......

ButI'd rather be reading-
-Especially your stuff


Thanks

Not what they asked, but what they need?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

I know this would complicate things terribly, but it seems to me that some of the stories need to be identified by the main characters who are acting in them? E.g., moonhawk and lute stories are (largely) independent of the other threads. Changeling - well, it needs to precede some, but it's an independent entry point. I keep thinking of something like a matrix with the character groups along the top and the dates on the side - with a few spots where they cross-connect, but some just run relatively freely.

Perhaps the key is to have some sequences identified as sub-threads? For example, Mercedes Lackey has quite a few three-somes that need to be read as a clump, but you can read the triplets out of order without much trouble. Aha, that's what the brackets are for. But shouldn't the moonhawk and lute stories be identified as tied somehow?

Not what they asked for, and right now you need to focus on that. But sometime it would be nice to do the grouping and sequencing the way that you think they belong together.

list order

[(Anonymous)]

I am not sure where my dates came from, but I have a list with 1118 for Balance of Trade and 1123 for Naratha's Shadow, 1373 for Veil of the Dancer, 1374 for Heirloom, 1375 for A Matter of Dreams, and 1380 for To Cut an Edge.
Sidney Whitaker

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

FWIW:

Little Egret's spreadsheet says (I added dates *** indicates a problem)

**Necessary Evils**
1123 Naratha's Shadow
Where the Goddess Sends
Spell for the Lost
Wine of Memory
1118 Balance of Trade *** before Naratha's Shadow?
1177 Sweet Waters
1293 Phoenix
1339 Pilot of Korval

1346 [Choice of Weapons
1346 Beggar King]

1374 Heirloom
1380 To Cut an Edge

1385 [A Day at the Races
1385 Certain Symmetry]

Veil of the Dancer

[A Matter of Dreams
Moonphase]

1390 Changeling
1392 Quiet Knives
1393 Breath's Duty
1393, 302 + Lord of the Dance ***
1393, 302 - Prodigal Son *** reversed?
**King of the Cats**

[kaellem.livejournal.com]

This is funny - I was just going to write to you and ask for a chrono list of your stories. :-D

Thanks!