Comments on: Hongguo ship names

By: Mark Terry

Mark Terry — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:55:37 +0000

That’s pretty cool. I remember thinking somewhere while reading Ragamuffin that one of the ships had a name that meant something in some other language. I don’t remember specifically what it was, but it matched up with some other bit of trivia floating in my head concerning various Asian languages and I thought, “Huh, that’s cool.”

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:21:56 +0000

This is cool to know. Info like this would make for a good “Director’s Cut” Edition of Buckellcast!

By: Pablo Defendini

Pablo Defendini — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:10:37 +0000

I second Josh’s ‘Director’s Cut’ idea. When I read both Crystal Rain and (particularly) Ragamuffin, I got the distinct feeling of there being layers of information about your universe hiding deep under the actual text, and I enjoy that feeling immensely. I’m sure a lot of this is simply comprehensive world-building on your end, in order to better write the novel, but I’m one of those guys that loves to read or find out about the details that inform what actually makes it onto the page. It makes for a deeper and richer immersion into the world depicted.

By: Mark Terry

Mark Terry — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:56:02 +0000

…and in 20 years you can published the “Ragarillion” and it will be so esoteric and incomprehensible nobody alive will understand it, but you’ll be so famous everybody will buy it anyways. Then literature professors can force feed it down the throats of their students.

First ya gotta start with a creation story…

By: Chris Wojciechowski

Chris Wojciechowski — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:59:05 +0000

This is random, but… cool moment of the day: Going to Science Fiction Book Club and seeing Crystal Rain a “recommended” book on the front page when I logged in. I was like “*GLEE* I KNOW HIM!”

Yep.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:59:14 +0000

Thanks, Toby. I find this bit of extra backstory helpful, as I am currently about one third of way through Ragamuffin (beginning of Ch. 14, to be exact). I thoroughly enjoyed Crystal Rain, and am just now starting to see the connection between the two novels.

By: Steve Buchheit

Steve Buchheit — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:58:55 +0000

“Ragarillion!” That’s classic, Mark.

By: Steve Buchheit

Steve Buchheit — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:01:20 +0000

Of course, then Tobias would need to have a son who could then make a living out of pilfering through his father’s notes.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:23:19 +0000

Of course, then Tobias would need to have a son who could then make a living out of pilfering through his father’s notes.

Maybe his son could hook up with Kevin Anderson’s. They could do a whole series of prequels to Crystal Rain.

By: Mark Terry

Mark Terry — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:19:46 +0000

Ragamuffin Messiah
Ragamuffin Prophecy
Children of the Raga
Grandchildren of the Raga
Raga Children of the Raga
Dune Ragamuffin
RagaRaga Rah Rah! (The XXX version!)

By: tobias buckell

tobias buckell — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:29:06 +0000

You guys are cracking me up…