A Maze of Stars by John Brunner

An intelligent ship crisscrosses space-time to track the progress
of the colonies it established

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/till-eternity
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

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On 2025-07-15, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/till-eternity

| A number of SF authors pursued careers like Brunner’s: early
| prodigious output of competent pulp, a middle ambitious period,
| the grim realization that readers had no interest in rewarding
| their hard work with a commensurate increase in income, embittered
| disenchantment, and a return to their origins, albeit with better
| prose and plotting.

I'll bite: What other authors followed such a career trajectory?

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

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In article <slrn107cs87.bsl.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

On 2025-07-15, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/till-eternity

| A number of SF authors pursued careers like Brunner’s: early
| prodigious output of competent pulp, a middle ambitious period,
| the grim realization that readers had no interest in rewarding
| their hard work with a commensurate increase in income, embittered
| disenchantment, and a return to their origins, albeit with better
| prose and plotting.

I'll bite: What other authors followed such a career trajectory?

Piers Anthony is one. Robert Silverberg is another.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In article <10562ch$6ou$1@reader1.panix.com>,
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

In article <MPG.42e02af582dc07f7989718@news.eternal-september.org>,
Melissa Hollingsworth <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:

Verily, in article <1055vk9$a6t$1@reader1.panix.com>, did >>jdnicoll@panix.com deliver unto us this message:

In article <slrn107cs87.bsl.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

On 2025-07-15, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/till-eternity

| A number of SF authors pursued careers like Brunner�s: early
| prodigious output of competent pulp, a middle ambitious period,
| the grim realization that readers had no interest in rewarding
| their hard work with a commensurate increase in income, embittered
| disenchantment, and a return to their origins, albeit with better
| prose and plotting.

I'll bite: What other authors followed such a career trajectory?

Piers Anthony is one. Robert Silverberg is another.

It's always a bummer to be reminded that there are more people who like >>predictable tropes than who like creative literature.

I liked some of Piers Anthony's more ambitious work. I believe it's all >>Xanth all the time now. Of course, he's also fairly old and may just see >>this as semi-retirement.

Oh, Anthony worked out very early that writing books like Macroscope
is hard and pays poorly, whereas cranking out endless crap like Xanth
is easy and pays well. He was quite frank about it in early interviews.

The most significant exception from this pattern that comes to mind is
Samuel Delany, whose Dhalgren is ambitious, difficult to read (I'm
working on it), and wildly successful. He mostly stopped writing SFF
but not because effort was not rewarded.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In article <MPG.42e02af582dc07f7989718@news.eternal-september.org>,
Melissa Hollingsworth <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> wrote:

Verily, in article <1055vk9$a6t$1@reader1.panix.com>, did
jdnicoll@panix.com deliver unto us this message:

In article <slrn107cs87.bsl.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

On 2025-07-15, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/till-eternity

| A number of SF authors pursued careers like Brunner�s: early
| prodigious output of competent pulp, a middle ambitious period,
| the grim realization that readers had no interest in rewarding
| their hard work with a commensurate increase in income, embittered
| disenchantment, and a return to their origins, albeit with better
| prose and plotting.

I'll bite: What other authors followed such a career trajectory?

Piers Anthony is one. Robert Silverberg is another.

It's always a bummer to be reminded that there are more people who like >predictable tropes than who like creative literature.

I liked some of Piers Anthony's more ambitious work. I believe it's all
Xanth all the time now. Of course, he's also fairly old and may just see
this as semi-retirement.

Oh, Anthony worked out very early that writing books like Macroscope
is hard and pays poorly, whereas cranking out endless crap like Xanth
is easy and pays well. He was quite frank about it in early interviews.




--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

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On 7/15/25 08:17, Christian Weisgerber wrote:

On 2025-07-15, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/till-eternity

| A number of SF authors pursued careers like Brunner’s: early
| prodigious output of competent pulp, a middle ambitious period,
| the grim realization that readers had no interest in rewarding
| their hard work with a commensurate increase in income, embittered
| disenchantment, and a return to their origins, albeit with better
| prose and plotting.

I'll bite: What other authors followed such a career trajectory?

It has only lately that readers have been able, it they can afford it, to
reward writers and grahic artists directly. In the old pulp days and in the golder age of Galaxy, Worlds of If, Astounding, Amazing, Fantasy and
Science Fitction, Azimov's, magazines it was editors and publishers who
limited
the rewards for all the writers. The readers merely paid the cover price
for the magazine or book and we expected the publishers to reward
the writers appropriately.

bliss.

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begin fnord
Melissa Hollingsworth <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> writes:

I liked some of Piers Anthony's more ambitious work. I believe it's all
Xanth all the time now. Of course, he's also fairly old and may just see
this as semi-retirement.

Given the simplicity of language in his recent newsletters when he
actually writes one, said massive drop in frequency, and his recent move
into a managed decline facility on the other side of Unistat [1], I'm sure
it's more than semi.

[1] Unistat in processu sui ipsius destruendi est.

--
Steve Coltrin spcoltri@omcl.org
"A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for Deuel
to be driven to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed."
- Associated Press

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