Otázky pro Davida Webera

[Muphrid]

Twombly a Johnak nadhodili návrh na položení otázek Davidu Weberovi, který je v poslední době hodně aktivní na fóru Baenu. Zakládám tohle téma, do kterého vkládejte své otázky (pokud možno rovnou v angličtině, ať se nemusím plácat s překladem) a já bych to pak očísloval a plácnul na Baen. Otázky prosím formulujte co nejkonkrétněji a tak, aby z jejich kontextu šlo poznat na co se vlastně ptáte . Za týden, tedy v pátek 6.6., tohle téma uzavřu a otázky vystavím na Baenu (a případné odpovědi samozřejmě vystavím také zde). Na ty otázky, na které jsou již známé odpovědi, můžeme odpovědět vlastními silami zde .

[twombly]

Dear Mr. Weber.

I have a question about the Royal Manticoran Marine Corps. I'd like to know if the Boot Camp or Recruiting Depot is on the same place as Saganami Island Naval Academy. From your books i know that RMMC Small Unit Tactics Course is taking place on the Saganami Island compound, but the question about basic traning for marine recruits is still unanswered.

Thank You for Your answer.
With regards - Stanislav Cech

Doufám že tam nemam moc gramatickejch chyb ale vždycky sem byl lepší překladatel než spisovatel či mluvčí 

[Johnak]

 Dear Mr. Weber

   Greetings from Czech Republic. I have several questions.

   1) In one interview, you said that you have the general idea and plot figured out from the beginning and you figure out the details as you write. I want to ask if you know from the beginning which main character is going to die in the end or if it is also something you figure out as you write. In particular I have in mind the (SoS and AAC spoilers) death of Ragnhild Pavletic in Shadows of Saganami and Alistair McKeon's demise in At All Costs. Was that thought of from the beginning or did you figured out at that time? Ragnhild's death was a real masterpiece. It was very unexpected and it's the kind of death that makes reader cry and keep asking "why?". Well done. :-)

  2) How are the SF writers selected for your anthologies? They are all established succesful SF/F writers themselves. Are they asked to write a story into a Honor anthology or do they came to you on their own? For example Timothy Zahn was offered to play in the Honorverse of did he shown the iniciative himself? Did you met him yourself or was it arranged through Baen?

 3) How did the idea of naming a Honor's personal doctor Janet Frazier come to you? Would you be doing some similar homages to characters from other SF shows?

      Thank you for your answer and best wishes for the future!

             Jan Kotouc

[Muphrid]

Skvěle, díky pánové!

Ještě nějací další zájemci?

[twombly]

Já bych to klidně odeslal dřív, páč se steně asi už nikdo nepřidá.

[Muphrid]

Já bych to klidně odeslal dřív, páč se steně asi už nikdo nepřidá.

No dobrá, až zítra odpoledne vystřízlivím, tak to tam plácnu...
Marika & Muphrid

[Muphrid]

Takže je to tam - teď už jen vyčkat odpovědi... (hned jak se tam objeví, tak to plácnu sem)

[Muphrid]

Tak Mistr už odpověděl! Napoprvé přehlédl můj post, protože byl pojmenovaný dost podobně jako jiný, vydaný dříve. Dnes jsem to tam plácnul pod názvem "Czech fans" a ejhle ho .

Přikládám celou odpověď a původní otázky jsou pod ní (kvůli číslování):

Subject: Re: Czech fans
Group: Honorverse
Author: davidweber
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:30:13 GMT
Local: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:30:13 -0400

(1) Marine boot camp is not at Saganami Island. It's at ummpfff in the Duchy of Tum-te-tum-te-tum on Gryphon. [g] One of these days the information may become significant in one of the books. Until then, I'm reserving the details in case it ends up making sense from a story-telling perspective to put it somewhere else. Most writers, no matter how far they plan ahead, will tell you that they reserve the right to make changes at any moment up until publication for exactly that reason.

(2) I know from the moment that I introduce them that some characters are going to die. Paul Tankersley was a case in point in the Honorverse, as was the original Sean MacIntyre in Mutineers' Moon, or Raoul Courvosier. Others end up dying (or living, against original plans) because of something the story demands. And some of them end up dying because I write military fiction and in military fiction, good people die as well as bad people. Military fiction in which only bad people -- the ones the readers want to die -- die and the heroes don't suffer agonizing personal losses isn't military fiction: it's military pornography. Someone who write military fiction has a responsibility to show the human cost, particular because so few of his readers may have any personal experience with that cost. In answer to your specific questions, I knew that one of the middies was going to be killed in the confrontation with the Jessyk Combine ship. The fact that Ragnhild wound up as Terekhov's personal shuttle pilot made it here. And in AAC, it was actually Honor who was supposed to die and McKeon who was supposed to arrive too late to save her. Due to some things which happened when Eric and I started collaborating, elements I had planned for a post-Honor Honorverse (if that makes sense) got pulled forward considerably in time. As a result, there wasn't time for me to have Honor's child mature to a point of dealing with the new generation of problems. I won't pretend that I was heartbroken to not killer her after all, since it had never been something I'd looked forward to, but that was the original game plan.

(3) There is no set basis for how writers get invited into the anthologies. There are some basic rules for who can be invited, but within those limits, the rules vary . . . a lot.

On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:40:03 GMT mph wrote:

Dear Mr. Weber,
greetings from Czech Republic. I'm member of "honorverse-addict" group of people here in CZ and I've collected a few questions from the other guys. So here it is:

1) I have a question about the Royal Manticoran Marine Corps. I'd like to know if the Boot Camp or Recruiting Depot is on the same place as Saganami Island Naval Academy. From your books i know that RMMC Small Unit Tactics Course is taking place on the Saganami Island compound, but the question about basic traning for marine recruits is still unanswered.

2) In one interview, you said that you have the general idea and plot figured out from the beginning and you figure out the details as you write. I want to ask if you know from the beginning which main character is going to die in the end or if it is also something you figure out as you write. In particular I have in mind the (SoS and AAC spoilers) death of Ragnhild Pavletic in Shadows of Saganami and Alistair McKeon's demise in At All Costs. Was that thought of from the beginning or did you figured out at that time? Ragnhild's death was a real masterpiece. It was very unexpected and it's the kind of death that makes reader cry and keep asking "why?". Well done. :-)

3) How are the SF writers selected for your anthologies? They are all established succesful SF/F writers themselves. Are they asked to write a story into a Honor anthology or do they came to you on their own? For example Timothy Zahn was offered to play in the Honorverse of did he shown the iniciative himself? Did you met him yourself or was it arranged through Baen?

Thank you for your answer and best wishes for the future!

Stanislav Cech, Jan Kotouc and Petr Svoboda

"Oh, bother!" Pooh said as Piglet came back from the dead.

[Muphrid]

btw: Twombly, přesně takovou odpověď na umístění boot campu jsem čekal - heh, psal jsem to i minulý týden Johnakovi na ICQ

[twombly]

Tajnůstkář jeden 

Ale když už nic jinýho, tak alespoň vim že to je někde na Gryfu a ne na ostrově Saganami.

[Muphrid]

Tajnůstkář jeden 

Ale když už nic jinýho, tak alespoň vim že to je někde na Gryfu a ne na ostrově Saganami.

no, napsal sice Gryf, ale přeci jen taky dodal, že si to nechává otevřené, takže může nakonec změnit i tohle - koneckonců to není nikde napsané "oficiálně"... (i když na druhou stranu spousta podobných informací a Weberových komentářů sezbíraných z Baru se nakonec ukázaly být pravdivými a použitými v dalších pokračováních)

[twombly]

Tak Gryf by byl celkem odpovídající vzhledem k tomu jak je to "hostinný" místo a i místní gravitace dá rekrutům celkem zabrat.

[Johnak]

¨Gravitace je silna na Sfinze, na Gryfu je celkem normalni

[twombly]

Měl jsem za to že na Gryfu taky dle stavby místních horalů, ale máš pravdu. 1,05 pozemský gravitace neni nic extra silnýho.

[Muphrid]

taky v tom mám docela guláš . Chtělo by to nějakou pomůcku na zapamatování...