very odd fanmail
Jul. 13th, 2008 06:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deborahjrossLike many authors, I get mail from readers from time to time; they reach me through a link on my website. And probably like every author who has written in a shared world or as a junior author in someone else's universe, I get complaints. Usually, these involve my departure from the reader's conception of a character, or else that they simply didn't like some aspect of the story. Those are fine; you can't please them all.
This one is new for me, however. The reader refers to The Alton Gift (in which one of the viewpoint characters is Danilo Syrtis, grieving the death of Regis Hastur in the previous book, which I did not write):
"The characters ... have been twisted - for example, into blatent [sic] homosexuality that fits badly with both the Darkovian culture and the characters, and had barely been hinted at before, if that."
I am quite baffled as to how anyone could read The Heritage of Hastur or Sharra's Exile and not have understood that Regis and Danilo are lifelong lovers. Heritage came out in 1975, when it was daring to portray a sympathetic and heroic gay protagonist, but Marion did it quite deliberately -- both Marion and Betsy Wollheim, our editor, told me so. It is so odd to be accused of "twisting" Darkover into what Marion intended in the first place, especially on an issue that was so important to her -- and to so many of her readers.
Of course, my first impulse is to respond, informing the reader how just plain wrong this is. But I think it better to simply let it go, as the omens are not auspicious for a meeting of minds, and so I have vented my befuddlement here.
This one is new for me, however. The reader refers to The Alton Gift (in which one of the viewpoint characters is Danilo Syrtis, grieving the death of Regis Hastur in the previous book, which I did not write):
"The characters ... have been twisted - for example, into blatent [sic] homosexuality that fits badly with both the Darkovian culture and the characters, and had barely been hinted at before, if that."
I am quite baffled as to how anyone could read The Heritage of Hastur or Sharra's Exile and not have understood that Regis and Danilo are lifelong lovers. Heritage came out in 1975, when it was daring to portray a sympathetic and heroic gay protagonist, but Marion did it quite deliberately -- both Marion and Betsy Wollheim, our editor, told me so. It is so odd to be accused of "twisting" Darkover into what Marion intended in the first place, especially on an issue that was so important to her -- and to so many of her readers.
Of course, my first impulse is to respond, informing the reader how just plain wrong this is. But I think it better to simply let it go, as the omens are not auspicious for a meeting of minds, and so I have vented my befuddlement here.
The Next Darkover Book
Date: 2008-07-17 06:20 am (UTC)I clearly remember reading somewhere that it was not Adrienne Martine-Barnes' decision to almost completely remove homosexuality, but that this was forced upon her. I might be mistaken though. I still liked the Marguerida trilogy very, very much. Although Regis and Danilo are my favourite Darkovan character (I discovered Darkover with HERITAGE at age 15).
Olaf
Re: The Next Darkover Book
Date: 2008-07-20 01:11 am (UTC)There will be another "modern" Darkover book, not a direct sequel to THE ALTON GIFT but continuing the general timeline, but not this next book. For one thing, the ms kept whispering to me; for another, when I tried to write "what comes next" I realized that I had to fill in the background for Silvana Hastur, who is indeed the "hidden" daughter of Regis (she's the Keeper of Nevarsin Tower in GIFT) before I could write more about her. Hence, the change in plans.
I've just been discussing with the MZB Literary Trust what to call this current book. Marion had variously called it THE SHADOW KING or THE RELUCTANT KING, but neither of those works for various reasons. We have a tentative agreement on HASTUR LORD. Not engraved in granite. Yet. Stay tuned.
Re: The Next Darkover Book
Date: 2008-07-20 08:29 am (UTC)it is always good to hear that more Darkover is on its way to us. I so need to do some serious re-reading.
HASTUR LORD sounds like a very good title to me. Way better than SHADOW/RELUCTANT KING which both sound a little to generic to me.
And after that, the other two books in the CHILDREN OF KINGS trilogy!
Sincerely,
Olaf
Re: The Next Darkover Book
Date: 2008-07-20 11:26 pm (UTC)THE CHILDREN OF KINGS is actually three stand-alone novels. They continue the modern timeline, but do not have anything like a single story arc. I sooo badly need to update my website.
People also ask about THUNDERLORD. It's a gross overstatement to say Marion began this, because what I have is a page and a half that is essentially a recap of STORMQUEEN! No clue as to where she was going. So if, after the next 2 "modern" Darkover novels, DAW still wants to keep on, I'll basically have to write it whole-cloth. Which is okay, just takes longer than if I have even a wisp of a skeleton to work with.