Talk:Steven Brust

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Interesting fact: "Táltos" is an old hungarian name for a kind of shaman / magician / holy person. --grin 16:54, 2004 Feb 23 (UTC)

I confirmed that and included it. JerryFriedman

Contents 1 Enchantress/Sethra Lavode ? 2 Styles 3 Weblog defunct? 4 DZUR 5 Agyar 6 Short stories added & other news 6.1 Clarification 6.2 (dubious honors) 7 Firefly news? 8 Devera 9 Added nicknames; also, subcategories 10 S. K. Z. Brust, drummer to superheroes 11 Wikisource 12 Books Versus Biography 13 LARPs

[edit] Enchantress/Sethra Lavode ?

Please note that I might have gotten totally confused and that The Enchantress of Dzur Mountain might be a discarded working-title for Sethra Lavode. I have tried to check but evidence is mixed. At least one site is convinced there's a fourth volume; various others say Sethra Lavode is the third and final volume. --Phil | Talk 09:08, Mar 18, 2004 (UTC)

Indeed, Enchantress... was a working title. The word is that Brust's editor thought that Dzur being hard to pronounce might hurt sales.

And yet, the book Dzur was the one to make him a NYTBSA! --Starwed 11:15, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

I see you've fixed my error. Thanks. --Phil | Talk 18:17, Mar 18, 2004 (UTC)

The deletion of TEoDM was confirmed by Brust on the Dragaera mailing list. It's nice to have authoritative information. Hey, who was that masked man? JerryFriedman

[edit] Styles

By my count, five of the nine Vlad novels have straightforward first-person narration by Vlad (Jhereg, Yendi, Teckla, Phoenix, and Issola), so it seems like an exaggeration to say that "almost all" these novels are written in different styles. Or am I missing something? --JerryFriedman 01:53, 20 Jul 2004 (UTC)

• I would agree that almost all is not correct. There are different styles though. One is written from Rocza's point of view, Dragon seamless switches contexts in the middle of most chapthers. Orca is written from Kiera's point of view. I think Taltos has the beginning of every chapter that merges to the end of the novel with different time lines. That's enough in my book to say "a lot"  :) Wikibofh 04:45, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Weblog defunct?

Brust's weblog appears broken today. I have never been to his site before and I was wondering if he still keeps it, or if the weblog has been down for some time (in which case we should change the article to reflect he no longer is a blogger)? Kit 19:10, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

• The computer that hosts his website went completely down. It was rebuilt, but they have not fixed the weblog yet. Right now he is using LJ. It can be found here. Wikibofh 19:28, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

There's a cache of that old weblog. Shall it be put into External Links? I'm too tired to have a really good opinion, so I rely on all of you.

=Chica= 5 July 2006

• I'd say no. We already have a link to dreamcafe, and you can get to it from there. Wikibofh_(talk) 14:23, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, Wikibofh.

(Ah-hah! The cache now works from Dreamcafe.com! Yay for people fixing Stuff.)

=Chica= 11 July 2006

[edit] DZUR

His latest book Dzur comes out 8-August-2006; it is already available for ordering. This can be verified on Amazon.com. Since I know that anyone looking in here is a fan of Steven's... I'll update the other neat thing about DZUR as soon as it posts officially. Then you won't have to take my word for it.

I put this note up because I should like the year for DZUR to stay up. Please stop taking it down. Thanks! - Chica

Hi Chica. I altered the article to include the actual date and a link to the Amazon page for a source, so no one will question the date. I will keep an eye on things here for you, too. I can hardly wait for Dzur! Kit O'Connell (Todfox: user / talk / contribs) 17:30, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Kit! - Chica

Since Dzur is out now, I changed the article to list only the year, in harmony with the other listed titles. Since the article has been updated to reflect the book's release, this shouldn't cause any confusion. --Gavia immer 18:38, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

DZUR was chosen for the new logo deal between Tor and the Science Fiction Channel. It's called "A Sci Fi Essential Book" and bears that as well as the Sci Fi logo. Every month one Tor book will be chosen. More info can be found on the Tor.com website. This program began July 2005.

Anyone want to write that up all poetically for the article? Pretty please...

- Chica

• The press release doesn't mention Dzur at all. PDF of it is here Do you have a different source? Wikibofh_(talk) 05:02, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes. I have the cover itself for DZUR.  :> I have been waiting for the SciFi web calendar to <bleeping> add the 2006 books. They haven't put them up as of my last search. grrr. Actually, neither has Tor...

- Chica

That press release looks quite old. As to sourcing, first off I am looking at a copy of the dust jacket right now and it has the logo. The cover shown on Amazon has the logo as well. Kit O'Connell (Todfox: user / talk / contribs) 07:07, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

How's that, Chica? Kit O'Connell (Todfox: user / talk / contribs) 07:12, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Beautiful! Thank you, Kit. I may have to prod them about the calendar.

BTW, if any of you want to add a convention to the SciFi calendar, they have a webform for that. May help if you're trying attract more people.  :> I'm just sayin' is all.

- Chica

[edit] Agyar

I've just read Agyar - what is the narrator? I didn't spot the term vampire in the book.--80.4.252.114 15:25, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

The narrator is a vampire, it's just a subtle book. Kit O'Connell (Todfox: user / talk / contribs) 17:23, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I enjoyed it. I've been looking for good horror for a few months, and this is the first worthwhile read. It was hard to begin with, and by the end I thought maybe I'd missed something because of various distractions I had when I started on the book. Half-way through, I was totting up the vampirisms to see if the equation would fit, but I suppose it's beside the point. One criticism: I was confused about whether, in the final scene, the narrator was expecting to survive - the reference to "autopsy" forced me to read back over the previous pages, and it was only the epilogue that put my panicked brain at ease. At various points I got the impression that American Psycho was an influence (minus the scenes of sex and gore) - facile comparison? Will re-read. Perhaps you could give me hints about these clever author's clues the article mentions - is the title Agyar one of them? I am a slow, slothful --shtove 22:16, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

It's been a few years since I reread the book. I never took the narrator to be a conventional vampire but more read the novel as a sort of built around the bare bones of the myth -- predator, drinks people's essence in some way, hard to kill, doesn't like daylight... but it's definitely not exactly the vampire we've grown familiar with. I expect the title is a clue but I don't know the answer. No idea about the comparison to American Psycho as I haven't read it myself, interesting though. If I reread the book anytime soon (might) and see anything of note I'll let you know or post here. Kit O'Connell (Todfox: user / talk / contribs) 03:56, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Not to derail from the topic of this page, but as far as horror goes my favorites are S. P. Somtow's Vampire Junction and Moon Dance and Kim Newman's Anno Dracula. Kit O'Connell (Todfox: user / talk / contribs) 03:58, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Shtove, the trick about the narrator is - that the book is from different points of view. That is another subtle feature. Don't fash yourself, but that is the disparity. Some time after I first read it, I picked it up again, and reread the two parts that belong to the other character. That's when I finally realized two narrators existed.

AGYAR, according to the Magyar-Angol dictionary, means tusk or fang. So, yes, if you speak Hungarian (or have the translation) it'd be a clue.  :> I don't speak Hungarian...

- Chica

Chica, thanks for the dual-narration point. In response, I have a simple question: WHAT??? On second thoughts, just give me a hint and I will reread. And BTW - what do you youngsters mean by fash?--shtove 00:52, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Shtove, "fash" is an archaic word I picked up. Just means getting excited or upset.  :> Elizabethan English.

I'd say, since you've read the book - go back and read it again. Cheat. Read the epilogue first, then read the prologue (and the remainder) in order. Kit's right, it's subtle; and I'd agree that it's like the bare bones of the myth. AGYAR is one of my favorites. Also, if you haven't read Roger Zelazny's _Frost and Fire_, you may want to read that. Roger wrote a really neat short story ("Dayblood") about vampires and predators. I don't know whether that influenced AGYAR or not.

- Chica

I rather thought "fash" was Scots. (Where hae ye been, me bonny lad? Dinna fash yersel'!) Chica probably picked it up where I did, reading old Scots ballads. Considering the decline of good literary education, I'd say that Shtove is the younker here. :.)

As for the dual narrator, I thought it was immediately obvious from the change in voice and tone of the bookending chapters? And who else could be writing the last chapter? What we're doing when we pick up Agyar is, we're picking up a typescript left after the bookending narrator has added (ahem) its own pages—just as (mumble) had picked up the typescript at the beginning while getting used to (um) its new condition and the ghost. Another PJF device to frighten and confuse. → (AllanBz ✍) 07:58, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I first learnt "fash" from Christopher Stasheff.  :> But no, it wasn't immediately obvious to me; when I got to the end, I realized it was a frame around the rest of the story. Before that, I thought Our Hero was feeling incredibly bitter in the prolog, and then went into the story.  :>

- Chica

It's been ages since I read those! By the way, a "gallowglass" is a Scots mercenary. → (AllanBz ✍) 12:42, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

> Mom sent me _King Kobold Revived_. I remember not liking _King Kobold_ so I figured I should try KKR. P'rhaps it's better, being a rewrite. Dunno yet. I ate up Stasheff in high school

=Chica= 11 July 2006

After reading this Discussion, SKZB asked me to add this note: "The powers and limitations of the vampire I used in Agyar are exactly those Stoker used in Dracula. Moreover, the timeline for Agyar is the inverse of the timeline for Dracula."

=Chica= 05:17, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Short stories added & other news

Those are all the anthologies I know of. If any of the stories got reprinted, then I missed the reprints. Same applies to anything printed in other magazines.

- Chica

Mrm. I'll probably erase this subsection of Discussion after 9-30-06.

=Chica= 08:41, 28 June 2006 (UTC)Chica

Erased: my comments about _Dzur_ & the reprint of _Brokedown Palace_.

=Chica= 08:38, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clarification

Hrm. Per Steven, he did not know a mobster; he knew a fellow Trotskyist who was killed by a mobster. This is from a recent conversation and is not from a bio nor an interview. Any thoughts?

How does one substantiate this??? Especially since I'm not a journalist, interviewer, publisher... =sigh=

=Chica= 11 July 2006

[edit] (dubious honors)

First, Steve IS ambivalent, which is why I listed it as dubious honor.  :>

Second, I would NOT use the dates from the *original* link I appended for the nominations. I have found the ISFDB site to be exceptionally bad about correct dates. I do know that the Nebula nominee is actual; but they list the actual story twice (because they can't spell and they didn't bother to look up the story itself). Otherwise, I trusted them about awards.  :/

(In fact, checking back on Locus itself, I find absolutely NO mention of Steve being nominated for a Hugo. Farathoom! and similar oaths. Half of the dates listed are wrong or show nothing.)

=Chica= 21:50, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

[Edited after corrections using Locusmag.com] =Chica= 00:35, 19 August 2006 (UTC) 18 August 2006

[edit] Firefly news?

Any of you see this yet? Paragraph two. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#Books

I can't find a text version of the interview KRAD did, saying that two Firefly books were to be published. If any of you do, please post the link here. No news from Pocket Books about Steve's Firefly submission yet; it was submitted in October 2005, per Steve's weblog.

- Chica

Hmmm. (10-May-2006) All the Firefly books submitted went to Joss. http://www.serenitymovie.org/browncoats/forums/index.php?showtopic=5986

http://www.serenitymovie.org/browncoats/forums/index.php?showtopic=626 (January 2006 discussion)

- Chica

[edit] Devera

Can we mention in the article that Devera [edit]. Not sure if it's too much of a spoiler..?  :)

-- Hallo, anonymous one. (I post without a Wiki-ID as well; I'm not heckling.) No, I wouldn't mention that. Let people read. Anything regarding Devera is better left to the reader's own discovery. Much of Steve's style relies on his masterful sleight-of-hand. Remember: The more is told beforehand, the less to discover - and what fun is that?

What you're thinking about is the sort of detail that fans share between themselves. Are you on the Dragaera mailing list? Not to mention the many blogs, discussion groups, etc.  :]

- Chica

Heh - Good point. :) Thanks for the guidance. Have read & re-read Taltos, the first compendium many times, only to recently discover there are many more books in the series.. Yay! Am looking at the list now.. - Gareth

My pleasure, Gareth. Welcome! Hope to see you on the list sometime.

- Chica

Devera sighting in Emma Bull's FALCON. Per this website - http://mindstalk.net/brust/devfaq.html#sightings - and Will Shetterly confirmed this on Usenet.  :>

Phoenix mentions that Devera's in F&N also. I'm not good at catching sight of Devera myself, so I take it on faith. For once I'll leave these tidbits here and let someone else take care of 'em.

=Chica= 00:45, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Added nicknames; also, subcategories

Back before I had a login-id, I sat down and typed all the nicknames in. I began with the interview that lists them all.

Now, I suspect that someone took it as vandalism. 'Cause it's not even in history. So I made a much shorter version. Same topic.

I think it's neat that he makes those up.  :> It also explains CSN [The Sun, the Moon...] to me.

=Chica= 15:37, 7 August 2006 (UTC) 7 August 2006

• I thought there was a full list somewhere, maybe C&S. Regardless, good edit. I did some minor style changes. Wikibofh_(talk) 16:01, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

=blush= Aw, thanks, Wikibofh. Just didn't feel like watching it all go boom again. (I suspect that someone in Wiki-land felt that "Uretha" and "Sh!t Happens" weren't appropriate and therefore must be vandalism.) FYI: "Stir" may eventually show up on the Dragaera list as the newest nickname. A certain greeter-bird suggests as much.  :)

=Chica= 12:04, 8 August 2006 (UTC) 8 August 2006

Specifically subcategories in the External Links. Because I'm that kind of nitpicky.  :>

=Chica= 01:49, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] S. K. Z. Brust, drummer to superheroes

I added more to the paragraph on Brust's appearance in Excalibur, since he was in two issues rather than just one, but on second thought, maybe that's more detail than is really needed? It could be trimmed and the excess moved to Cats Laughing if it's out of balance. —Celithemis 06:58, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

According to Steve - and this may actually be printed somewhere in an interview - his kids were quite geeked that he was in a comic book. Whether that was more exciting than in his being an author is hard to say now. So it's all relative.  :>

Having said that, the Brust offspring ARE very proud of their dad.

=Chica= 13:53, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Ah. It's the Bookslut interview. Specifically:

"I still remember one occasion when -- I’m exaggerating the story a little -- when my band Cats Laughing was in an Xcalibur comic book and a certain of my children thought that was far more exciting than the fact that I had written some books. They do seem to be proud of me as a writer, which I like, because they sure as hell have no reason to be proud of me as a father. So at least they get something out of the deal."

http://www.bookslut.com/features/2004_05_002065.php

=Chica= 07:37, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone know why or wherefore the bio importance is hanging over this page? I've read more than once, and I'm not sure. If someone could explain it, I'd be grateful. Please don't say "go read the links" pasted up there, because I have and they really don't help me. Thanks!

=Chica= 01:54, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

• All "living persons" articles have bio tags. The importance means they haven't been assesed. I presume this one will be low, even though Steven is a great author, compared to heads of states, etc, of low importance. I don't view it as a precursor to AfD. This article would survive that easily. Wikibofh_(talk) 04:13, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Actually, the Biography Wikiproject wound up scrapping the idea of ranking articles by importance anyway. There are probably lots of articles still tagged with a blank "importance" attribute, but it's just a leftover and doesn't do anything. I've removed it and added the appropriate workgroup. —Celithemis 05:15, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikisource

Why is Wikisource linked? There are no quotes by/about Brust in it. Perhaps either quotes should be added or the link removed?

• A Dream of Passion used to be there. Think it got deleted as copyvio. Wikibofh_(talk) 22:48, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Books Versus Biography

As I understand it, author pages are supposed to be biographical articles on the author. Details about the author's works should be saved for articles about the books. Since there were no articles about Brust's works for some time, I suppose that it why all that info was put here. I'm working on starting articles for Brust's various works, so I'll probably be moving a lot of this information away from this article. Hopefully I or someone else can find some actual biographical info about Brust to fill this article back out again. -Captain Crawdad 21:51, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

• Sounds good to me. I've seen you traipsing around Dragaera so keep up the good work. Wikibofh_(talk) 22:48, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

If that means some meta-articles, that would be rather nifty.

I do have some argument with the huge listings under the Vlad books. Detailing an entire book here makes it less fun to read. Is there some earth-shattering reason for this?

Noticed the same problem elsewhere; the Nero Wolfe books for example.

Captain, I understand that to you - and others - that much detail may be what appeals to you. I recommend that you ask Steve his preference when he's back, three weeks hence. Another thing to consider: some people outside the States may not have access to DZUR yet. Spoiling their read would be criminal. - Thanks for listening.

=Chica= 08:46, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

That's why there's a spoiler warning at the top of the summary. No one's being forced to read it. I know I wouldn't read it if I hadn't already read the book.

I wrote that summary so I could refer back to it when reading future books in the series -- rather than trying to remember what had happened, or having to re-read the series every time a new book comes out. Having done that I thought it'd be a useful resource for other Brust fans. If it isn't, delete it (but I'll keep my copy). -- Rsholmes 13:12, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I added the spoiler warning to the books last night, Rsholmes. (A few books had the warning attached previously.) I realize that not everyone has the same definition of resource - and that some people may know about sites like Cracks and Shards, while others seek Wiki... Having a difference of opinion isn't fatal. If we all liked oatmeal, there wouldn't be enough haggis to go 'round.  :>

Goes back to the question "just because you can do something, should you?" by my lights. No offense intended, although straight text may imply offense.

=Chica= 19:40, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] LARPs

I attended Opusfest 2006. No Dragaera LARP occurred. 'Twas promised on both the Dragaera list and the Opusfest website - but life gets in the way of plans, unfortunately. I haven't found citations nor info for other Dragaera LARPs.

=Chica= 05:08, 6 January 2007 (UTC)