Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Last Dancer is at Immunity ...

Click on the link to the right. Bryant Durrell create the .pdf file for me, since my main system was having seizures.

We're probably a couple weeks away from the 1st half of AI War going to proofers, and a couple months away from the 2nd half, but progress is being made.

When I took this blog live several people requested a donate button. Now that the published CT novels are up, I'm going to go ahead and add one. If you feel inclined to donate, bless you, but there is no quid pro quo going on here -- you're welcome to download and share the books regardless.

Terminal Freedom should go relatively soon.

God help me, I'm talking to Bill Stewart, copyright holder for "The Ring." I'm not going to re-publish it the way it is, but if he's open to revisions, there may be a verson of that novel that I'm not embarrassed by, some day. I had ideas at one point for an expanded version of that novel -- Caine's rebellion followed by the bulk of "The Ring," told in more or less chronological order -- don't know if we'll get there or not.

Neither Bill nor I ever liked that book, but I'm unclear to what degree we agree on what we disliked. We'll find out.

Somewhere down the road "A Freeway in My Back Yard" will be published. It's a collection of essays and short fiction, including pieces that have never seen the light of day anywhere.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess I'm in the minority, but I liked The Ring. I've read it several times, and will no doubt read it again one day. I'd like to see more of Cain, and maybe one day learn the full story of how Donner Almandar took humanity to the stars.

Sean Fagan said...

I liked half of The Ring. I can't remember which half now, unfortunately -- but I do seem to recall you pointing out it was the part that was your own invention :).

prophet said...

There are parts of the Ring that I want to read again, enough that when I pass the book on the shelf I take it down more often then not.

It's not my favorite book of yours - that would be The Long Run - and it's definitely clunky in spots; the overall flow doesn't come together very well for me, although you've done the same structure in other books with good effect.

There are books that succeed without using a linear flow of storylines or experiences (the "spiral" pattern where many distinct plotlines/characters each end up spiralling into and interacting with some central event is a science-fiction staple), but this doesn't feel like a story that would work like that.

That said, the problems that I see in the Ring could probably be fixed by a less-subjective(1) editor; the content is decent, there are some good characters, the plot is interesting, and there's some quite nice scenes and dialogue. It just feels like those scenes are stuck in with a bunch of words, and don't really fit together to advance the story.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I liked parts of it, but see why it's not a shining example of the writer's craft.

1. less-subjective meaning someone who can step back and see both the trees and the forest, pruning the bits that need pruning even if they resonate strongly with the author, and not burning down the forest and starting over because the author can't see the healthy sections within the overall work :<)

Daniel Keys Moran said...

The Ring is salvageable. Whether there's a business proposition there is questionable. My own stuff I'm writing at a loss at this point -- a really big loss, compared to what I can make billing those hours -- and I'm unwilling to do that for The Ring. We'll see.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Moran,

Thank you.

It's been years since I fell in love with EE ('89, I was a freshman and I stole the copy from my HS library, still have it too, wife loves it :) and there is no other serial fiction story I've been awaiting more than the Continuing Time. My Many Thanks Sir, as another one in a long line of InfoSec professionals, you honestly write the stories I WANT to read.

Thank you.

Atergoboy said...

The first book I read was Emerald Eyes. I found it in a used book store, and it caught my attention. I loved it. So I went to B Dalton to see if I could find anything else by the same author. As luck would have it, The Last Dancer had just been released. I had never heard of The Long Run, I only read it recently. Out of those three, TLR is my fave. I also read Armageddon Blues recently, found it on ebay... I am somewhat impatiently waiting for the next book. But take your time; I'd rather have it right than fast LOL

Banshee said...

You don't remember me, probably, but I used to lurk on the Continuing Time list. :)

Anyway, I saw on one of your previous posts back in the summer that you're interested in having audiobook versions of your stuff. I'm not as good as an actor, but I've read a ton of public domain free audiobooks for my podcast, Maria Lectrix -- so I guarantee I'm better than a synthesizer. Unless the synthesizer's playing Ralf. :)

Let me know if you're interested. I'm suburbanbanshee over at Gmail.

(Oh, and the podcast is over at marialectrix.wordpress.com. It's a little of everything.)

quarkwright said...

I may be a total weenus, but I've looked, and can't find the donate button.
Did you add it yet?
If so, could you point it out to this lost soul??

A Literary Addict said...

Mr. Moran,
I first read "The Ring" as a freshman in high school. I read somewhere that there was an extremely limited printing of this book (like 3000 copies?). Somehow, my small southwestern Ohio public library got one. Over the course of 3 years I was the only patron who checked it out (something like 10 times). Then they sold it at a book sale and I despaired of ever seeing it again.
Cue the inspirational music as Amazon.com and eBay took off in the late 90s, and I now have a mint condition version of this book.
I think you do yourself a disservice - this is such an open-ended story and I find some of the dialogue running through my mind at odd times... I really love this book...