Stephen Baxter anyone?

[bobbo19]

I was just intrigued to know, as to why Stephen Banks one the best British sci-fi writers does not have an authors section on this website?

 

[Clansman]

Create enough buzz and interest among the other Chronians, and he'll get a sub-forum. You need some sustained activity, and a number of active threads, in order for the moderators to justify a sub-forum.

Take some time, post some stuff on the General Discussion forum, and buzz around to other parts of the Chrons and see what else there is for you. You might be surprised at what happens. There are a number of good authors who don't have a sub-forum, and it boils down to the fact that not enough people want to talk about them here. That, of course, can always change, and it can change in both directions. Terry Goodkind used to have a sub-forum, but opinions were so negative about his writing, his forum was closed.

Start some interesting threads, and see what happens. If Banks is as good as you say he is, there is bound to be a response. Me, I'm a fantasy buff for the most part, so I've never read Stephen Banks.

BTW, welcome to the Chrons! Introduce yourself in the Introductions Thread, if you haven't done so already.

 

[AE35Unit]

Note to mods, a sticky explaining the Author forums inclusion rule would be useful for new members I think.
But yea,Baxter is one heck of a fine SF author who unfortunately for me also dabbles in alternative history. When I first read his stories and novels I could see a new Clarke and I enjoy most of what I've read.
And back in the mid 90s he had a lot of stories featured in Interzone. I wrote in to the magazine to comment on one such story,concerning the Xeelee and The author sent me a signed photograph of himself! It now resides in the copy of Voyage i bought not long after.

 

[J-Sun]

We are talking Stephen Baxter, not Iain Banks, right? (Some confusion between title and post.) Because Banks does have a subforum. And I've never heard of a Stephen Banks. But I completely agree with AE35Unit: a sticky would be good. The forum itself already says

Discussions on some of the most talked about authors and their works on the chronicles network - to create a new board in this section, each author must have at least 5 discussion threads specifically about their work in the Books and Literature section.

but people apparently don't see it. Maybe a sticky in the actual threads would be more visible.

Then people could ask "Why doesn't Baxter have 5 discussion threads?" instead.

I also completely agree with "Baxter is one heck of a fine SF author who unfortunately for me also dabbles in alternative history". A fellow AltHist hater, AE35Unit? Or just think Baxter's time could be better spent giving us more SF? Especially Xeelee stuff. Especially especially Silver Ghost stuff.

 

[AE35Unit]

We are talking Stephen Baxter, not Iain Banks, right? (Some confusion between title and post.) Because Banks does have a subforum. And I've never heard of a Stephen Banks. But I completely agree with AE35Unit: a sticky would be good. The forum itself already says



but people apparently don't see it. Maybe a sticky in the actual threads would be more visible.

Then people could ask "Why doesn't Baxter have 5 discussion threads?" instead.

I also completely agree with "Baxter is one heck of a fine SF author who unfortunately for me also dabbles in alternative history". A fellow AltHist hater, AE35Unit? Or just think Baxter's time could be better spent giving us more SF? Especially Xeelee stuff. Especially especially Silver Ghost stuff.

Well i wouldn't say I was an AltHist hater as I've never read any. Its just not my thing so yea, I think his time is better spent on proper SF. We have Harry Turtledove for good altHist i think

 

[Ian Whates]

Baxter is one heck of a fine SF author who unfortunately for me also dabbles in alternative history.

Hey, don't knock alternat(iv)e History!!!

Ian Watson and I have just delivered to Constable and Robinson the completed manuscript for The Mammoth Book of Alternate History Stories to be released next February (we both wanted Alternative but the publishers insisted on sticking with the generally accepted incorrect wording) and yes... there's a Stephen Baxter story in there.

In fact, Steve's is one of three originals in the collection (twenty seven stories in all), the other two being from James Morrow and Ken MacLeod. All three are real crackers!

 

[AE35Unit]

The genre or sub genre just doesn't appeal to me Ian sorry

 

[Ian Whates]

The genre or sub genre just doesn't appeal to me Ian sorry

No problem, AE35Unit, between you and me it's not my favourite either, but the anthology was great fun to do -- gave us the chance to dig up some real overlooked and forgotten gems as well as see accepted classics such as Leiber's "Catch that Zeppelin" and KSR's "The Lucky Strike" published under our names.

On the subject of Stephen Baxter, I have a copy of an old semi-pro magazine from the late 1980s -- Dream Magazine #10 -- which closes with one of my first ever published stories and opens with a tale called "The Bark Spaceship" by a promising young writer called SM Baxter...

I think Steve made more of those early beginnings than I did.

 

[J-Sun]

Yeah, there are some good works of AltHist (or reasonable variations of it) like Lest Darkness Fall but I don't care for it in general and it became a sort of peeve due to the explosion of marketing behind it lately (using "lately" loosely). I also would call it a genre and not a subgenre. It's anti-sfnal in many ways.

Anyway, also sorry, Ian, but I'm sure it'll do gangbusters even without me or AE35Unit.

 

[Rodders]

I haven't read too much Baxter. I did read Time Ships, which i thought was superb. I've also read moonseed.

 

[iansales]

On the subject of Stephen Baxter, I have a copy of an old semi-pro magazine from the late 1980s -- Dream Magazine #10 -- which closes with one of my first ever published stories and opens with a tale called "The Bark Spaceship" by a promising young writer called SM Baxter...

I think I have that issue somewhere as well.

 

[Ian Whates]

I think I have that issue somewhere as well.

You realise we're ageing ourselves here, Ian...

 

[iansales]

I've still got a whole bunch of zines from that period - Dream, New Moon Quarterly, Works, REM, BBR, Exuberance...

 

[AE35Unit]

On the subject of Stephen Baxter, I have a copy of an old semi-pro magazine from the late 1980s -- Dream Magazine #10 -- which closes with one of my first ever published stories and opens with a tale called "The Bark Spaceship" by a promising young writer called SM Baxter...

I think Steve made more of those early beginnings than I did.

Oh I'd like to find that!
I wish i had all my old interzone magazines featuring Baxter's stories

 

[bobbo19]

Create enough buzz and interest among the other Chronians, and he'll get a sub-forum. You need some sustained activity, and a number of active threads, in order for the moderators to justify a sub-forum.

Take some time, post some stuff on the General Discussion forum, and buzz around to other parts of the Chrons and see what else there is for you. You might be surprised at what happens. There are a number of good authors who don't have a sub-forum, and it boils down to the fact that not enough people want to talk about them here. That, of course, can always change, and it can change in both directions. Terry Goodkind used to have a sub-forum, but opinions were so negative about his writing, his forum was closed.

Start some interesting threads, and see what happens. If Banks is as good as you say he is, there is bound to be a response. Me, I'm a fantasy buff for the most part, so I've never read Stephen Banks.

BTW, welcome to the Chrons! Introduce yourself in the Introductions Thread, if you haven't done so already.

Oh yeah cheers man, i'm pretty new here so jsut went straight into the author forum, i have not seen the Introductions thread yet!

 

[bobbo19]

sorry folks, just to clarify the title, i meant to put Stephen Baxter, not Stephen Banks. What a muppet i am

 

[AE35Unit]

I haven't read too much Baxter. I did read Time Ships, which i thought was superb. I've also read moonseed.

Check out his early novels Raft,Timelike Infinity, Flux and Ring. They deal with the Xeelee,an advanced race living around a dying star.
There's also a collection of stories set in the same universe,Vacuum Diagrams which I wouldn't mind finding!

 

[bobbo19]

Check out his early novels Raft,Ring,Timelike Infinity and Flux. They deal with the Xeelee,an advanced race living around a neutron star

Hang on, i thoguht the Xeelee lived at the centre of the galaxy around the black hole(forgotten the name). Flux is a must, really does grow on you after a while, and ring was just superb. The destiny's Child series is also a must. Still have not read his first Raft and Vacuum Diagrams was too hard for me, tooo much science(Will attempt that one later).

 

[AE35Unit]

Hang on, i thoguht the Xeelee lived at the centre of the galaxy around the black hole(forgotten the name). Flux is a must, really does grow on you after a while, and ring was just superb. The destiny's Child series is also a must. Still have not read his first Raft and Vacuum Diagrams was too hard for me, tooo much science(Will attempt that one later).

Ah yes see my edited post

 

[iansales]

Raft is set in another universe with a gravitational constant a billion times stronger than this universe's. The cast are all human, but the novel is implied to be part of the Xeelee series. Timelike Infinity is set in the Solar system and while the Xeelee are mention I don't recall them making an appearance in the book. Flux is set inside the mantle of a neutron star, and the Xeelee make an appearance off-stage towards the end.