On Sun, 26 Jan 2003 12:49:28 -0800, you wrote: >At 11:00 AM 1/26/2003 -0800, lazarus wrote: >> >> >> >At 04:44 PM 1/25/2003 -0800, David Goldfarb wrote: >> >> >>not to risk damaging them. So, he read _Agyar_ without >> >> being spoiled >> >> >>by the blurb. He reports that he got about halfway through >> >> the book >> >> >>before the penny dropped -- he'd had clues before then, but it took >> >> >>the hero taking a shotgun blast before he was sure what was >> >> going on. >> >> > >> >> >Interesting. But...I can't figure out how that dust jacket >> >> blurb could >> >> >have given anything away that wasn't evident by about page 6. >> >> > >> >> >> >> I didn't get it until halfway through, either, but then, I went into >> >> knowing exactly one thing, it was a Steve Brust novel. That's it. >> > >> >Never underestimate readers' obtuseness. >> >>I think it could also be due to the subtlety of Steve's writing. > >This is all very flattering (and it is, really...and I do not mind in the >least being flattered) but misses my point. > >When I said I couldn't see what the hardcover dustjacket might have given >away, I meant just that. It seems to me that that jacket copy was a really >lovely piece of work, that gave the tone and feel of the book, but didn't >give away anything at all. Certainly the "V" word was never used, and I >don't think the hints from the jacket are any broader or clearer than the >hints in the first chapter or two of the book. > > > Ah, that. We had wandered from the point, hadn't we? To be honest, I can't recall the blurb off-hand, as I'm very Away-from-book right now (across the continent). -- lazarus "Therefore, my Harry, Be it thy course to busy giddy minds with foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, may waste the memory of the former days." -- King Henry IV, Part ii Act 4, Scene 5