Hope & Aspirations for the Finale

Daryl"We generally agree, but I know that David does read this board. A few years ago I was the one that sprung him when "RFC" slipped into first person mode.
As his taking advice, he would be foolish not to take note of the continuity checks that the more dedicated train spotters here make. I agree that this is his series and it will go where he wants it to go, so future directions are unlikely to be influenced.
[quote="The E wrote:

cthia wrote:Ok, here is your chance to possibly direct the course of the final book. *giggle*

Given the "no fanfic" rule on these boards and the reasoning behind it, the chances of RFC reading this thread or even taking on board suggestions from it are incredibly slim.

We already know that fans influence Baen authors. They've even been known to be incorporated into storyline, even if they've killed them just as quickly. Joe Buckley proved that authors can't buck what the fans think. It also proves that authors consume at least a portion of 'fanwise.' RFC's even managed a few cameo appearances in my threads. Damn near chewed my ass out in one. I'm still healing from that biting. Got the scar to prove it. So either the author does peruse threads or someone snitched on me for my complete exasperation with the Mueller School Dome collapse.

He even professed a liking to my Top Ten Tacticians thread.

The closest thing I got to quick heal is antibiotics and sutures.

JohnRoth wrote:My understanding is that he has the final book outlined, and he's not going to change that. He's mentioned a couple of things: Firebrand will likely be a major character, it will deal with events after the SL falls apart, and they will not find the MAlign. (The latter two are in the 3-part interview in the Baen Podcast.)

Beyond that, he's also mentioned that he has several other books he'd like to do, but they're essentially side stories to flesh out some characters or situations. Pursuing that direction might be a good deal more fruitful.

Can't one argue that an addendum isn't really changing the outline, just fleshing it out?

I always thought that authors change things right up until the bewitching hour in publishing parlance. Didn't I read somewhere that SOV was delayed because of that?

Cthia, I'm paranoid enough to wonder about the title of the ultimate baddy's planet "Darius". The original Persian version of my log on. Came out not long after I pointed out a few continuity contradictions. Probably not, as I am dust beneath his feet, and not worth the trouble.

Daryl wrote:Cthia, I'm paranoid enough to wonder about the title of the ultimate baddy's planet "Darius". The original Persian version of my log on. Came out not long after I pointed out a few continuity contradictions. Probably not, as I am dust beneath his feet, and not worth the trouble.

I don't know Daryl, it could simply be circumstantial. But perhaps too circumstantial. Therefore, too much of a coincidence. As dust on one's feet invariably gets carried to bed with one. Don't sell yourself short.

This thread is to keep hope alive!

After listening to the podcasts a few random things that came to mind:

- since Damien is one of DW's favorite characters (as he put it, the Fringe's version of Victor in a way) and DW confirmed he will be around for a while after the last volume, this means the good guys will find and disable his kill switch and in the process learn a lot about the Alignment capabilities there; also they should learn from him about the fast ships the Alignment has and probably develop their own as once something like that is known to be doable, it usually is done

- Beowulf becomes the focal center of the action (as expected) and if i remember it right from earlier comments of the author, it will suffer million level casualties in the SL's misguided attempt to bring it in line, and that probably will lead to the immediate downfall of the Mandarins and the dissolution of the SL as that will happen in the last volume from the podcast

- I am fairly sure Darius wont be found and the MA will remain the Manticore/Haven bogeyman still as people in the SL won't accept it even when their lives are so massively disrupted

- I expect the ending will be with the Renaissance factor proclaimed as a countervailing force to the naked and aggressive Maticoran imperialism that produced so much disruption and loss of lives and wealth for the good citizens of the League, Darius preparing to reveal itself massively armed with all the new weapons and a "force for good" in the support of the new good guys on the block, the Renaissance Factor and while obviously Albrecht is not around anymore, his sons will be in the background watching that

I hope the good guys will at least get Aldona (she will activate her suicide switch or blow herself up spectacularly)

- Of the main good guys, the only one I definitely think will die in the final is Admiral Henke who will die on Mesa in a suicide attack of some local residents outraged at "the Manticoran atrocities" as told by the intrepid reporter on the scene

tonyz wrote:Me,

I want some interesting character development.

I want some genuinely nail-biting space battles, not exercises in pushing baby chicks into shark-filled oceans.

I want to see the Lenny Dets in action.

I don't want recaps.

I'll double vote for this one—hope they don't catch me at the polls.

I'm expecting big things from the Lenny Dets too. Why such a build-up in suspense if they are going to turn out to simply be nothing more than duds shooting blanks.

I have a distinct nagging suspicion they are going to be formidable foes. The MAlign has had centuries to cultivate their plan—and an unrushed centuries to develop their technology. Centuries is an awful lot of time. I don't think they've been simply sitting on their analysis and twiddling their thumbs.

I'd like to see some spine tingling space battles as well and not simply baby chicks summoning PETA.

I'd like to see the Manticorans meet their match—and that match igniting a real test of wills and technologies.

I'd like to see Dr. Illiescu find the source of the leak responsible for Honor's invasion of privacy.

I'm surprised that hasn't been dealt with already. After all, finding the culprit would be easy - just have Dr. Illiescu re-interview the staff with a treecat present.


What I'D like to see is confirmation on Honor's son winding up having near treecat-like mental abilities.
After all, Honor is already close to those abilities herself, and from how DW has written about the interaction between Raul and the treecats (Nimitz in particular) you'd have to be blind not to see that that's the direction he's heading in....

AND Raul having those abilities could help wrap things up nicely, as he would be able to use it to break up the MA.

I want to see the mandarines fall down.

Every ruler is only so strong as his Support behind him. And the mandarines haven´t finish the Transport crisis yet, so, it is time to try new men or women on their chairs to get back to buisyniss.

Such an ironic thread title. Is this a joke? I have lately been reading the many amazon readers reviews of DW's latest book and something struck me while reading them; there is fan fiction and then there is this; all the topics and discussions here on this forum reflect a desire, hope and anticipation for what content will be found in the NEXT book; ALWAYS the next book. Although I don't always participate here I do scan and read the various topics for discussion.
Much of DW's content in his last book did NOT correspond to the bulk of what people here would discuss. My "hopes and aspirations" are that DW spend a few hours and review not just this thread but many threads and reacquaint himself with where his readers' passions lay.

I agree strongly with npadln, and I am sure I am not the only one. It is not that we want to dictate story to the Wonderful Wizard Weber, rather that we enjoyed certain aspects of his writing the most and wish to see those types of scenes and stories again. Much of the angst over the last two books has been about the lack of movement and the story that has been written not fulfilling our particular hunger that was previously being well sated by his writing. We hope he gets back to that, as the many comments elsewhere have urged him.

I too would like to see the Lenny Det's in action. I am not sure (in spite of the great discussion threads we've had about them) what their capabilities may be in the end. I feel that some people believe that the way the MWW has built up the GA and it's technologies has left there no effective method for the MAlign to fight back. Even with the Lenny Dets.

Every scene we've had so far of the MAlign leadership's talking about the GA tech has implied that not only is the GA ahead of the MAlign in weapons tech, the MAlign (Who was paying attention to the developments of the Haven sector wars) was still being routinely surprised by the GA's abilities. I can't help but wonder if the story may veer off of using the Lenny Dets. Perhaps a discussion scene of the leadership of the MAlign along these lines:

'Wow, the Grand Alliance would kick our rump up one side and down the other, even with the marvelous super weapons on the Lenny Det's. We'd win the first few rounds with our super weapons but the alliance would counter them shortly and we'd be stuck. Especially if our non-combat experienced crews didn't have the advantage in every engagement.'

'You know, you're right. Why don't we hold off and close the tech gap before we expose ourselves and our fleet to the rest of the galaxy at large? We can hunt small ships and convoys for practice in the meantime.'

'Sounds good....'

After which the MAlign, Darius and the Lenny Dets are all moved out of the storyline to wait until the next arc of the series. The gap in time would give the MAlign time to not only continue developing their superweapons but would also be able to catch up to the GA tech in other areas so when the battles do come it's on a more even keel.

We definitely want to see the Mandarin's fall be well covered from a lot of angles, as Maldorian requested.

For myself, I would like to see some of what goes on at Bolthole. Some of the tech discussions or the work-ups for the new construction.