Where were you when...

I started with OBS about 2005, recommended to me by a SciFi reading friend/coworker shortly before I ended up in the fight of my life, for my life.

Honor and friends kept me company through several hospitalizations and chemo sessions. The MWW's writings kept my attention on the story and off "everything else" that I was going through.

No mean feat that. And it led me to several of MWW's other story lines.

Still reading and enjoying his writings.

I actually don't remember the year specifically. I am reasonably sure that MoH hadn't hit the shelves yet, but the first of the Shadows books had, because I Freaked Out (as only I can) when MoH was released and.... well, those of you who have been around here for more than five minutes will know why MoH was a landmark novel for me.

I remember it well. It was 2010. I was at the local public library looking over their SiFic collection when one of the librarians recommend At All Costs to me. By the time I came up for air it was four months later and I had purchased every available book published IIRC it was eighteen or twenty books.

Stumbled onto the Baen Free Library in 2005, which led to me buying everything out up to that point in paperback over the next few months. Put off getting AAC because I thought it would be out in paperback soon, then eventually went ahead and bought the hardcover.

I was looking at the shelves for new fiction when I saw Crusade and David Weber, and that's when I went and started on the MWW's stuff. I remember reading some of his fiction from the Starfire universe and just had to see more. Of course The Diary of the Rigellian Empire started me down that road.

For me it was sometime in 2004. A friend from work knew I loved SF and gave me 4 or 5 of the Harrington books. I don't remember which one I started on but a couple of chapters in I realized that there were previous books. Found OBS in the stack I was given and started fresh. I have been a Honor Addict ever since. If you happen to read/hear about this post (RFC) Great F#%king Job Mr. Weber Sir.

zuluwiz wrote:I was looking at the shelves for new fiction when I saw Crusade and David Weber, and that's when I went and started on the MWW's stuff. I remember reading some of his fiction from the Starfire universe and just had to see more. Of course The Diary of the Rigellian Empire started me down that road.

Oh man, The Rigellian Empire, I haven't read that in quite awhile. Of course it takes quite awhile to read. Kind've sad, Walmsley hasn't put out any of his game fiction for a couple years now. I guess work and building your own game should come first but...

I picked up On Basilisk Station right before departing for Romania on vacation the summer before I joined the forum. I picked it up for $1 (I think, certainly less than $5) at a sidewalk book clearance. I wasn't in the market for books. I was in the market for romance and I was shopping for a gift. Running into this sidewalk sale somehow magnetized me to all of the preeeeety books. Books tend to have that effect on me. Many on the forum know that I love strong female characters and the first hardback edition of OBS where Nimitz looks more like a demon and Honor looks more like Horatio Hornblower with a close cropped pixie haircut.

I began reading OBS on the riverfront in Wilmington, NC awaiting the arrival of a friend girl's (not my gf yet) parent's yacht for a trip to Martha's Vineyard before departing for Romania. I was part of a group of friends scheduled to meet and depart from Wilmington. I arrived first, anxious to get the girl, and began reading OBS which I had procured as reading material for Bucuresti. It tends to rain quite a bit in the UK. More so in Romania.

I like the sentimental side of storytelling. It has been said that RFC doesn't do romance well. I beg to differ. I sat on the riverfront of Wilmington, N.C., across from an awesome view of the battleship North Carolina with a works of Weber in my hand with streams of tears rolling down my face reading OBS.

"Mommy, that man is crying something bad," says a quite concerned and observant little girl. Though one didn't really have to be observant when they were literally slipping on my tears.

Can't do romance well? pfft

The love between Honor, her crew and Fearless -- in the eyes of himself?! Gargantuan in scope!

More proof is in the pudding by the way he has affected Rose. RFC does characters quite well. He makes them real as a good storyteller must.

One thing is for certain, in the midst of all of his hints of foreboding, I won't dare partake of Uncompromising Honor in public.

One thing I think needs saying in David Weber's -- not RFC's nor runsforcelery's -- defense. He is the one who writes these stories from his heart. And no one is as emotionally attached to the characters as the author. And no matter how much pain and emotional loss we as readers may feel over a particular character, the author feels it double.

I know this for a fact because to write so well must come from the heart. Since it is embedded in the heart, the heart is vulnerable...

I know this because, when I composed Honor at the Bat, it was a thrilling and very emotional ride for me all of the way. I thoroughly enjoyed it and bristled with excitement during the composition of many of the lines.

MaxxQ paid me the most wonderful compliment when he said that it brought him to tears. I know the exact lines. The original author did it to me, and it translated quite well. (Thanks Maxx, only the strength of real men can admit to tears.)

In closing, we (I as much as any) must give the author a break if he kills off any of our characters. He isn't immune from the pain either. Especially him, since they were born in his heart.

And... we can't argue, fuss and fight about our author for using handwavium in his tech, if he uses handwavium, and accusing him of war porn if we turn around and expect him to wave his hand for the characters. We can't have our cake and eat it too.

Besides, at the end of the day, I've always championed an author remaining true to himself and his vision of the storyline, and for readers getting the hell out of the way and stop screaming from the back seat. It's unsafe for the driver, and the passenger.

BTW, I began my foray into the Honorverse with OBS, but alas, the impassioned logistics of sobbing dictated my completing it atop a mountain in Bucuresti, Romania.

That mountain reading is a quite interesting memory in and of itself. Early members of the forum may remember the encounter which time has dropped off of the backend of the forum.

What happened to the girl? I married her.

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2004. Just completed my Explorer Belt Challenge in Brazil, waiting to get on the plane to return to Blighty and visited the book shop for something to keep me entertained.

The only 2 that caught my eye were the novelisation of the Incredible Hulk movie or a book called "War of Honor" by some guy called David Weber. I could only afford one...

WLBjork wrote:2004. Just completed my Explorer Belt Challenge in Brazil, waiting to get on the plane to return to Blighty and visited the book shop for something to keep me entertained.

The only 2 that caught my eye were the novelisation of the Incredible Hulk movie or a book called "War of Honor" by some guy called David Weber. I could only afford one...

How did you make such a wise decision with such a daunting challenge?

"The force is strong with this one."

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