I started reading a book by F. Paul Wilson, All the Rage. His credits prior to the start of the book make it sound suspiciously like he is in some kind of writer's group, and he mentions stories by other writers who are lending him some of the characters in this book. I would love to learn more about this. Anybody know?
[This message has been edited by debhoag (edited August 12, 2007).]
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Not familiar with the book, alas...if it's not "RF." Paul Wilson, and is "F." Paul Wilson, he's been around awhile, in and out of the science fiction field, and went on to bestselling success. I remember reading some of his stuff in Analog back in the early seventies, back in the days when it was all new and impressive to me.
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
yeah, don't know how that R got in there - this sounds like the guy. I did a little surfing after I posted, and found the repairman jack website. I guess he edited a book that was a collection of shorts on a traveling freak show. This is what I think i would like to get my hands on. It sounded way cool.
Posted by HuntGod (Member # 2259) on :
The Repairman Jack books are ok, his best work was probably The Keep, which has a couple of sequels, though they are not as good as the first book.
He does end uip tying them all together.
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
You know, the more i read, the more I think i like it when a writer's books all overlap a little. Stephen King does it a lot.
Posted by arriki (Member # 3079) on :
Or even just little touches like how the statue of Hermes? inventing lyre which the main character in Mary Renault's THE LAST OF THE WINE is posing for in Athens during the Peleponesian wars, shows up in passing in the throne room of Philip of Macedon in her later novel about Alexander the Great, FIRE FROM HEAVEN.
[This message has been edited by arriki (edited August 13, 2007).]
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I can't vouch for the "mundane" writers...but a lot of SF writers will use a lot of background stuff from story-to-story, even if the stories cannot possibly be set in the same universe. A name for a "ray gun"...how they get around in faster-than-light travel...planet-bound transportation systems...planets with the same names...well, you get the idea. (I hope.)