[OT] sad but true

Stackpole's writing is adequate in BT and SW genres. As someone pointed
out, you're not reading them for their literary value. You're reading
them for genre stories, and the best the author can do is use the
material at hand usefully and get out of the way (not make his writing
painful). Timothy Zahn did this sufficiently well. 

As for his other work, I _really_ like Talion:Revenant a lot. I was
hoping for a sequel. 

Of course, if he's a _real_ writer at heart, he'll write regardless of
whether things get published - it is a kind of mania that grips you. The
fact is, if you've got 30+ books published, and you write anything
halfway interesting, someone will publish you. Might not be Baen, but
it'll be someone. 

I hope he does okay, but I'm not rushing out to throw money at his work
until it stands on its own and attracts my attention. And as for having
to get a real job (for which he seems to believe he has very little
useful qualification)... that's just too bad. Welcome to my world. I
love to write SF gaming stuff, but I'm a software designer and network
architect because that's how bills get paid. People don't (or damn
rarely) pay you to do what you want. If you've enjoyed that for even a
while, you're doing well. 

Heck, if that were the case, I'd be in the Carribean, on a beach,
drinking rum drinks, surrounded by nymphs, and in my spare moments I'd
be found playing Stargrunt at the Batallion level with 100 of my best
friends from the list! But I'm not holding my breath for that option...

-----------------------
On the unpainted lead front, I have a short anecdote:

My buddy Paul (thousands of napoleonics minis and AD&D 25mm and 15mm
figures and hundreds of 1/72nd WW2 models) was getting married. One day
he was doing something male (hence annoying his wife) like not coming
home from a gaming session. She made some comment on the phone which
turned him white, then green. When asked, he let us know (as he donned
his jacket to leave) that his wife was looking around his miniature
storage area musing on how many lovely pewter ashtrays and earings and
bracelets she could make..... 

Moral: If you're gonna do something boneheaded and typically masculine,
don't leave your wife with access to your most valued possessions! 

;0