Is David Weber going to finish the series?

Not necessarily. From my own experience in this exact field I agree that all the problems you list exist, however with the right good people you can achieve much. Having someone with the public cachet of Honor would have cleared many road blocks.

I was sort of a "careerist bureaucrat", but was at the point in my career where I knew there was no further interesting places to go up. During the decade I had in charge of my particular patch I partnered with a number of good flag officers who were dedicated to our capability, and we had fun while getting good results. Hard to judge your own worth but when I announced my intention to take early retirement I was offered inducements to stay or to transfer into both the other services. One amusing point was that none of the "gun runners" (US armament firms) tried to poach me.
Enough about me, I never forgot that my role was to facilitate the wishes of those in uniform, and they did get what they wanted (within budget and political constraints).
Damn interesting job being in charge of determining the future direction of a significant capability. Honor would do well, and Manticore would benefit from her knowledge, profile and temper.

Relax wrote:

Roguevictory wrote:Why do some people think BuShips wouldn't be a good post for Honor? Given her role in the Medusa project I don't see any reason to believe she would do badly there myself.

Because you have to enjoy engineering. Nothing is set in stone. Writing a wish list is one thing. Pouring through the minuscia and trying to deal with the real contractors compared to those just stringing you along. Then you have all of the inter military rivalries that rear their heads say between the Marines/Army/Navy with their own specific oars in the mix. Compounded by careerist bureaucrats who know nothing about war, but are just there for power agrandizement and their own little turf patch which you may have to burn over and bury as it is obsolete which, oh-by-the-way will look "bad" on their bureaucrat record and therefore they will not climb the ladder.

In short you are NOT in command. Rather you are trying to herd dogs using cats without a true goal other than "better". Now add Politics into the mix with lobbyists... I would either kill myself or go on a shooting rampage with... rubber bullets, or pepper spray or tasers, if I had to work that job.

Relax wrote:

Roguevictory wrote:Why do some people think BuShips wouldn't be a good post for Honor? Given her role in the Medusa project I don't see any reason to believe she would do badly there myself.

Because you have to enjoy engineering. Nothing is set in stone. Writing a wish list is one thing. Pouring through the minuscia and trying to deal with the real contractors compared to those just stringing you along. Then you have all of the inter military rivalries that rear their heads say between the Marines/Army/Navy with their own specific oars in the mix. Compounded by careerist bureaucrats who know nothing about war, but are just there for power agrandizement and their own little turf patch which you may have to burn over and bury as it is obsolete which, oh-by-the-way will look "bad" on their bureaucrat record and therefore they will not climb the ladder.

In short you are NOT in command. Rather you are trying to herd dogs using cats without a true goal other than "better". Now add Politics into the mix with lobbyists... I would either kill myself or go on a shooting rampage with... rubber bullets, or pepper spray or tasers, if I had to work that job.

Daryl wrote:Not necessarily. From my own experience in this exact field I agree that all the problems you list exist, however with the right good people you can achieve much. Having someone with the public cachet of Honor would have cleared many road blocks.

I was sort of a "careerist bureaucrat", but was at the point in my career where I knew there was no further interesting places to go up. During the decade I had in charge of my particular patch I partnered with a number of good flag officers who were dedicated to our capability, and we had fun while getting good results. Hard to judge your own worth but when I announced my intention to take early retirement I was offered inducements to stay or to transfer into both the other services. One amusing point was that none of the "gun runners" (US armament firms) tried to poach me. Enough about me, I never forgot that my role was to facilitate the wishes of those in uniform, and they did get what they wanted (within budget and political constraints).
Damn interesting job being in charge of determining the future direction of a significant capability. Honor would do well, and Manticore would benefit from her knowledge, profile and temper.

Honor can do absolutely any job she sets out to do. She's the quintessential poster child for any parent's claim that "You can be anything you want to be - if you set your mind to it." If your parents didn't constantly preach that to you then I'm shocked. My parents used it like a buttoned-down highly-polished canned speech.

Take Honor's political career. Something she loathed. Yet Courvosier gave her the same speech that she gave Hamish. "Wake up. You're being short-sighted." Now consider exhibit G -- her astounding political career as one of the best, most significant Grayson Keys that will ever live. She's come to exceed Henke in the political realm and has become Elizabeth's equal.

I have no doubt that she could run BuShips. Whether she'll want to or not is another cat to chase. If you can somehow make her believe that it is her duty, that lives will depend on it... then yea. Whether she'll enjoy the job? ⬆⇩ ⬆⇩ ⬆⇩

I think she'll also do well at BuPers. Who can scare warm bodies up better than Honor -- and the Salamander? With her history and widespread appeal, a national patriotic HD commercial will create a critical shortage in other areas in view of everyone begging to join the navy. People will dress their infant babies in RMN colors and their one-yr-olds in RMN uniforms and their teenagers in mess dress.

All in my wormhole-warped opinion.

I think Honor would hate the idea of people joining the Navy because they want to be like her honestly. Because she knows how close hes come to death many times and knows some of those who join the Navy in an attempt to be like her would die very young. So I think she would hate the poster child slot more then any other personally.

cthia wrote:Honor can do absolutely any job she sets out to do. She's the quintessential poster child for any parent's claim that "You can be anything you want to be - if you set your mind to it." If your parents didn't constantly preach that to you then I'm shocked. My parents used it like a buttoned-down highly-polished canned speech.

Take Honor's political career. Something she loathed. Yet Courvosier gave her the same speech that she gave Hamish. "Wake up. You're being short-sighted." Now consider exhibit G -- her astounding political career as one of the best, most significant Grayson Keys that will ever live. She's come to exceed Henke in the political realm and has become Elizabeth's equal.

Well... Honor's genes weren't exactly assembled via random selection, were they?

Her political career also had a jump-start from military accomplishments and events. IMO, she didn't become good at politics until her bond with Nimitz had developed to such an extent that she was able to sense the emotions of other people. I believe President Pritchart called it "cheating!"

I could very easily see Honor adopting a 5 (or 6) duty rotation once these current events play out.

CO, Home Fleet
First Space Lord/First Lord of the Admiralty
CO, ATC (while teaching tactics at Saganami)
CO, Protector's Own/Whatever replaces the Grand Fleet (8th Fleet)
High Admiral, Grayson

CO, Grayson's OTC (if they decide to create their own)

The posting to Home Fleet would be definitely boring to Honor, but it would allow her to really drill a ton of commanders and in time of peace she could spend time with individual squadrons and their COs/XOs/TOs giving feedback. It would also allow her to be close to Elizabeth and Nimitz close to Sphinx. Exact same logic applies to a posting as either First Lord of the Admiralty or First Pace Lord, only both of those would be much more politically involved.

A posting as the CO of the ATC whiel teaching at Saganami would probably be ideal for her while her kids are still young, as she could be home with them, Hamish, and Emily each night while making a big impact on the future. Still would be involved with Elizabeth, and Nimitz has Sphinx just a short hop away.

A posting as High Admiral as the GSN would be attractive as it would allow her to spend multiple years in a row on Grayson, carrying out her duties as Steadholder while allowing Yanakov to transfer into fleet command and re-hone his skills (attractive for the GSN).

A posting in charge of the Protector's Own (or whatever becomes the main offensive fleet), would probably be Honor's preferred assignment - but quite dull if there is no one to fight. If she takes over the Protector's Own, that would allow Yu potentially become High Admiral of the GSN and again allow Yanakov to spend time in a fleet posting.

Finally, I could see Grayson very well wanting to establish its own Naval Academy so they are not wholly dependent upon the SEM. Now, I still think Saganami Island will be utilized by Grasyon as long as they are allowed to. However, I still think Grayson will want to create its own Academy and ATC to train their own citizens. I could even see Grayson wanting to work out a transfer student system where promising candidates from both Manticore and Grayson spend their 2nd year at the other school, widening their exposure and spreading their learning.

I'm pretty sure Grayson does have its own naval academy and has been working on updating and upgrading it to modern standards for some time if they haven't finished doing so already.

munroburton wrote:

cthia wrote:Honor can do absolutely any job she sets out to do. She's the quintessential poster child for any parent's claim that "You can be anything you want to be - if you set your mind to it." If your parents didn't constantly preach that to you then I'm shocked. My parents used it like a buttoned-down highly-polished canned speech.

Take Honor's political career. Something she loathed. Yet Courvosier gave her the same speech that she gave Hamish. "Wake up. You're being short-sighted." Now consider exhibit G -- her astounding political career as one of the best, most significant Grayson Keys that will ever live. She's come to exceed Henke in the political realm and has become Elizabeth's equal.

Well... Honor's genes weren't exactly assembled via random selection, were they?

Her political career also had a jump-start from military accomplishments and events. IMO, she didn't become good at politics until her bond with Nimitz had developed to such an extent that she was able to sense the emotions of other people. I believe President Pritchart called it "cheating!"

Sure they were, "Eeny meeny miny Meyerdahl."

Seriously, I can't board your second bus. Honor was good at politics from the beginning - she just didn't know it, or like it. It was her command presence - as opined and polished by that old dinosaur Clinkscales. Plus, you have to remember that Honor has an incredibly high IQ (I wonder what her IQ actually is) and she spent eons listening to her old roommate Henke talk politics. In effect, Honor's friendship and close proximity to Henke (who isn't a political weakling herself) taught her much.

She didn't become a powerhouse - able to hold her own against the Pritcharts and Wintons of the galaxy - until her increased bond with Nimitz.

To get back to the subject headline, with all the other commitments Mr Weber has to the other books/series for which he is contracted and has received advances, how long will it be until he does finish the present arc of the Honorverse?

We are all growing older along with Mr. Weber and I'm sure we would all want to see at least the wrapping up of the Sollies and an inkling of where the story is going vis-à-vis the Mesan Alignment, (if that is still the correct terminology now that Mesa has been liberated/conquered).

as far as i know RFC is working on 3 series at the mo. not counting any anthologies or co-author efforts like house of steel or hells gate stuff.

those 3 are

Honourvse
safehold
Bahzell

he is working on is the current honor book (currently expected oct/nov), then he does the next safehold (also expected oct/nov if amazon is accurate), then likely the next bahzell book (with at least 3 more due in that series after that one i believe), then what is meant to be the final honor book of the current arc and last safehold book of current arc.

After that i have not heard anything though he did say a while back that the series which kicked off with Sword of the South was meant to be 5 or 6 books.

Dauntless wrote:as far as i know RFC is working on 3 series at the mo. not counting any anthologies or co-author efforts like house of steel or hells gate stuff.

those 3 are

Honourvse
safehold
Bahzell

he is working on is the current honor book (currently expected oct/nov), then he does the next safehold (also expected oct/nov if amazon is accurate), then likely the next bahzell book (with at least 3 more due in that series after that one i believe), then what is meant to be the final honor book of the current arc and last safehold book of current arc.

After that i have not heard anything though he did say a while back that the series which kicked off with Sword of the South was meant to be 5 or 6 books.

There is also the Manticore Ascendant series and I believe the possibility of a sequel to Out of the Dark.