On Fri, Mar 21, 2003 at 11:17:43PM -0600, Beth Friedman wrote: > In our previous episode at 10:05 PM 3/21/03, Gaertk at aol.com wrote: > > >BTW, I got the impression while reading the [Liavek] books that the > >authors believed the series would end at book four and so > >they tied up most of their plot threads, forcing them to > >scramble to write something for book 5. And as a result, > >book 5 had lots of characters acting out of character for > >most of the stories (except Mr. Brust's, of course). > > That doesn't match my memory of the actual events. Nor mine. Volume 5 was the last chance to follow the less evident implications of one's previous writing. I might agree with that as a characterization. We did know 5 was the last, and part of some people's idea was to leave things open-ended enough for people who wanted to write novels. There was also some idea of picking up some considerable time in the future. But the scrambling, if there was any, happened in 5, not in 4. -- Pamela Dean Dyer-Bennet (pddb at demesne.com) "I will open my heart to a blank page and interview the witnesses." John M. Ford, "Shared World"