And following along with out of order snippets . . . . .

ChronicRder wrote:I see your point. But I have to think Maikel Staynair has to either have a mechanism in place for believers of mother Church, but who can't remain faithful to the Church as an organization (namely with the Inquisitors in power). I don't remember Paityr Wylsynn actually converting to the CoC. With that as a meter-stick, why would capturing Brother Lynkyn be problematic or impractical? That's from either/both the EoC's perspective and Merlin's over-arching mission.

Paityr did indeed convert, and is now a member in good standing of the Inner Circle. He formally accepted Archbishop Michael as head of the Church of Charis and agreed to continue as his Intendant.

The Church of Charis is proceeding slowly and cautiously. Staynair and the rest are aware that at some point they must tell the truth about the founding of Safehold and the Archangels, but they must first break Mother Church's power. Essentially, they can't even think about going public till after Mother Church has lost the Jihad and sued for peace.

Father Paityr has been of major assistance to the Church of Charis, simply because of his demonstrated integrity. The vast majority of folks even in Charis still accept the Proscriptions as binding, and the fact that Paityr has issued attestations signing off on various Charisian innovations has considerably eased the way. Everyone in Charis know that Father Paityr is not the typical corrupt Intendant whose approval is based on the size of the bribe. He will simply ask "Does this new thing actually violate the Proscriptions?", and rule accordingly. (And while it hasn't been specifically mentioned, he's likely to warn people venturing into grey areas, instead of simply wielding the hammer of the Inquisition the way others would. This makes folks in Charis more likely to innovate, because they know Paityr won't swat them for simply thinking about something that hasn't been done since the Creation.)

I don't expect to see the CoC going public in the current book cycle. That story arc is likely to end with Mother Church losing the Jihad and the execution of Clyntahn and various others, with time for the dust to settle and new political arrangements to work themselves out between various realms that had been combatants.
_______
Dennis

Weird Harold wrote:

McGuiness wrote:My local library has a bad habit of selling donated books even if they don't have a copy of the donated book on the shelves to check out.

Most libraries do the same. They do it because donated books are seldom "library bound."

Books bound according to the material and process specifications established in the American National Standard for Library Binding have far longer shelf lives than publishers’ or edition bindings. Library bound books incorporate high-quality materials and rigorous manufacturing processes to create books designed to withstand the high levels of use typically found in circulating library collections.

Good point. I've noticed the nice plastic bindings on most library books - in fact my Harry Potter collection has 4 of the 7 books with library bindings. (I bought the others from Amazon with "same day shipping" and they arrived early in the morning the day the books were released.) I really wish they all had library bindings. I buy hardbacks from my library specifically because they have the protective cover that will add to the longevity of the book - and because some books like those in the Wheel of Time series are so long that the paperback covers simply fall off.

However, when it comes to paperbacks my local library frequently doesn't bother with library bindings, which is why they'll say "Thanks for pointing that out, we'll enter it in our system and put it on the shelf" when I plop a paperback on the check-out desk and inform them that it will fill a gap in one of their series. Oddly enough the copy of "The Shiva Option" that they ordered didn't have a library cover, so apparently it wasn't available in that form so they ordered what they could get.

They also told me that "Insurrection" and "Crusade" weren't available, although they could get "The Stars at War," which for some inexplicable reason has "Crusade" (book 1) and "In Death Ground" (book 3) while "The Stars at War II" has "The Shiva Option" (book 4) and "Insurrection" (Book 2) Somebody at Baen got really confused when they put those omnibus books together, since "Crusade" and "Insurrection" tell one story while "In Death Ground" and "The Shiva Option" are focused completely on the Bug War!

So my library ordered "The Stars at War" which is how I finally got to read "In Death Ground" after reading my library's copy of "The Shiva Option," which is its sequel. They didn't order "The Stars at War II," so there's no copy of "Insurrection" available.

RFC got paid for all my library requests of his books, and I'm sure that my efforts which resulted in at least tripling the number of his books available at my local public library led to a lot of new readers. Plus the library put him in their "Buy all his new books" category, so he's getting paid for at least one copy of everything he's written since I started begging them to complete their "Stars at War" collection.

He also gets paid now that I've switched to eBooks and don't go to my library nearly as often, since I can check them out online.

McGuiness wrote:...and because some books like those in the Wheel of Time series are so long that the paperback covers simply fall off. ...

That is a manufacturing flaw in (some) books from TOR. I've had shorter TOR paperbacks lose their covers too. I believe the problem has been corrected as I haven't lost the cover on any of my TOR eBooks.

The solution is an iron (or the smooth metal handle of a table knife heated on a stove burner) run over the spine of the book to remelt the hot glue and re-secure the cover. I've done that to all my TOR paperbacks and haven't lost a cover since. Alternatively, a thin coat of Elmer's Glue-all along the spine and a pencil or ruler (as a clamping bar) held in place by rubber bands will re-glue a TOR cover -- it must be a thin coat of glue to prevent seepage that will glue pages together.

SNIP

Weird Harold wrote:
That is a manufacturing flaw in (some) books from TOR. I've had shorter TOR paperbacks lose their covers too. I believe the problem has been corrected as I haven't lost the cover on any of my TOR eBooks.

Droll.. How droll...

Haven't lost the covers on my eBooks either. But I HAVE had tables-of-contents magically appear at the END of the book.

Err... no. Baen knows exactly what it's doing, as usual.

IDG occurs 2 generations after Crusade, and Insurrection is 2 generations later still. IOW, the books are in internal chronological order. Although I do agree that having IDG and TSO in separate volumes is a bit of a nuisance, that's the way it worked out. Insurrection is the last of them, despite being the first published.

BTW, both volumes are available from Baen EBooks, and are included on the Mission of Honor CD. You're much better off with the omnibus version of Insurrection, since it restores cuts Himself and Steve White made while they were trying to sell it. Some of it isn't crucial, but there are a couple of bits that make others much easier to understand.

McGuiness wrote:< snip >
They also told me that "Insurrection" and "Crusade" weren't available, although they could get "The Stars at War," which for some inexplicable reason has "Crusade" (book 1) and "In Death Ground" (book 3) while "The Stars at War II" has "The Shiva Option" (book 4) and "Insurrection" (Book 2) Somebody at Baen got really confused when they put those omnibus books together, since "Crusade" and "Insurrection" tell one story while "In Death Ground" and "The Shiva Option" are focused completely on the Bug War!