Monthly Archives: December 2013

Trade Secret – Chapter 30

4 Replies

Gobelyn’s Market, Clawswitts

In which the Gobelyns receive news of kin.

So that’s why Jethri suddenly decided he needed to send a message to Freza.

Apart from the trade and economic factors, which I don’t feel qualified to judge, one useful effect of publishing the Envidaria that Jethri must have considered is that the Liadens will have to stop bugging his friends and family for a copy. (Whether they’ll believe, among themselves, that the published Envidaria is the real thing, is another matter – I suspect those Liadens inclined to believe in Terran trickery will consider this more of the same – but at least they’ll have to act in public as if they believe it.)

And it looks like I was wrong (again) about Ynsolt’i. I think, looking back, that I’ve been tending to get predictions wrong about this book by tending toward being too neat and tidy. Life don’t always go in for quick and tidy endings to things.

Speaking of things in life that aren’t neat and tidy, I’ve got some of my sympathy for Iza back. She’s a complicated woman, is Iza Gobelyn.

Trade Secret – Chapter 29

6 Replies

Arrival on Hatalan

In which Jethri Gobelyn regains his birthright.

Hah. I did wonder if they were just going to let the ex-Scout walk off with the Envidaria, but of course Captain ter’Astin had a plan.

Interesting that Jethri’s lucky fractin ended up in the deal. I wonder whose idea that was: just yos’Belin’s, to sweeten the pot? or did ter’Astin suggest it, knowing that Jethri would get to keep all, as a roundabout way of making a start at apologizing for bringing him all this trouble?

I like the bits where the Scout is describing the world they’re visiting: more of those bits of background detail that aren’t absolutely necessary but add to the richness of the story. (And then you get further on in the chapter and realise that there was, after all, a plot-relevant detail hidden in there.)

I’m not sure I grasp all the details of the extract from the Envidaria, but one thing I get is that it’s talking about shifts that cause Jump points to change, with some routes to become safer and others more dangerous, which sounds like the foundation of the explanation for why, a few centuries from now, it will be necessary to revise the official Jump tables. (And that the example of “more dangerous” is a Jump point moving hazardously close in to a star reminds me of the tale, near the end of Mouse and Dragon, of a certain pilot coming to grief through using the unrevised tables.)

Another thing I get is that he’s saying that in a particular area of space the result will be that the big Combine-backed cargo ships won’t be able to pass through, so trade there will be left to smaller ships, like the Market and Balrog. And this will continue for four or five hundred years, so it’ll still be the case in Val Con’s time and for some time after. (Say, I wonder where Bechimo rates on the scale of “small enough” to “too large”…)

And now, they’re for Ynsolt’i, which gives the idea of a nice tidy ending of the story at the place where it began. I was wrong when I predicted a geographical appropriateness for Jethri and Freza (although come to think of it, I was right that Jethri would have better luck on that visit, just not about who with); I wonder if I’ll be wrong again if I predict now that Jethri’s first return to Ynsolt’i since he left the Market will coincide with the Market‘s first return to Ynsolt’i since Jethri left.

Trade Secret – Chapter 28

9 Replies

Port Chavvy

In which Bar Jan chel’Gaibin learns the consequences of his actions.

Well. I thought something interesting might result when they asked Jethri to translate for the medics, but I wasn’t expecting this.

I think I know Jethri well enough by now to expect that he’ll try and do something to help chel’Gaibin, though I doubt whether chel’Gaibin will accept or understand it.

(I wonder how this is going to affect Tan Sim. Does he become a suitable candidate for heir now that the delm has no other sons, or will she attempt some other solution that will permit her to leave him where he is?)

The interactions between chel’Gaibin and his valet say a lot about both of them. (Running the numbers, Khana vo’Daran has been at Bar Jan chel’Gaibin’s side more than half of Bar Jan’s lifetime, since Bar Jan was a child in truth.)

Trade Secret – Chapter 27

7 Replies

Port Chavvy

In which Bar Jan chel’Gaibin gets what he traded for.

What little eloquence I normally have deserts me, and I have just one thing to say: Yes!

I like Jethri’s response when chel’Gaibin doubts that he is covered by the Code.

“All I ask is an honest advantage” has a polished sound to it, but if it’s a quote from somewhere else I’m not familiar with it.

Trade Secret – Chapter 26

2 Replies

Port Chavvy

In which there are many secrets.

This is another chapter that calls for the reminder that I do appreciate the emotional parts of the Liaden stories, but I’m not very good at talking about them.

Some of the things Freza tells Jethri about the intent of Arin’s Envidaria remind me again of the conversation Theo has with the Carresens of her time. (Though that doesn’t help as much as it might, because I don’t quite recall what the Carresens actually said.)

When the dateline said “Port Chavvy”, I said to myself, “That sounds familiar, has someone mentioned it earlier this book?” – and then there was Dulcimer, and Klay Patel Smith sitting by the equipment rack. So apparently I was wrong when I guessed “Out of True” was set earlier than the Jethri books, having underestimated how unfamiliar a sight Liadens are in parts of Terran space. In fact, there are several things about “Out of True” I understand better having read (this much of) Trade Secret, and I think I would recommend to a new reader that they read Trade Secret first and then “Out of True”.

Phase 2 – Schedule and Availability

6 Replies

Phase 2 of the Liaden Universe Re-Read will begin next week, on Saturday, December 14.

Phase 2 Schedule

  • 14/12 – “Naratha’s Shadow”
  • 15/12 – “The Space at Tinsori Light”
  • 16/12 – “Sweet Waters”
  • 17/12 – “Phoenix”
  • 18/12 – “Pilot of Korval”
  • 19/12 – “A Choice of Weapons”
  • 20/12 – “The Beggar King”
  • 21/12 – Local Custom
  • 5/2 – Scout’s Progress
  • 15/3 – Mouse and Dragon ch.1-36
  • 20/4 – “Guaranteed Delivery”
  • 21/4 – Mouse and Dragon ch.37-40, Epilogue

The schedule for this phase contains two small deviations from standard novel reading.

Firstly, the final chapter of Scout’s Progress is omitted, as it is repeated in its entirety near the beginning of Mouse and Dragon.

Secondly, the post for “Guaranteed Delivery” will appear during an appropriately-timed pause in the reading of Mouse and Dragon.

You are, of course, free to ignore this and read both novels in whatever way makes you most comfortable.

Availability

The novels in Phase 2 are Local Custom, Scout’s Progress, and Mouse and Dragon.

Local Custom and Scout’s Progress are currently in print in a Baen collected edition titled The Dragon Variation, which is also available as an e-book. (The Dragon Variation also includes Conflict of Honors, which we’ll get to in Phase 3.)

(Baen also offers the old separate e-book editions of Local Custom and Scout’s Progress.)

Mouse and Dragon is in print in a standalone edition, which is also available as an e-book.

The short stories in Phase 2 are “Naratha’s Shadow”, “The Space at Tinsori Light”, “Sweet Waters”, “Phoenix”, “Pilot of Korval”, “A Choice of Weapons”, “The Beggar King”, and “Guaranteed Delivery”.

If you have some or all of the Adventures in the Liaden Universe® chapbooks put out by SRM Publisher, “Naratha’s Shadow” is in #8 (Shadows and Shades), “The Space at Tinsori Light” is in #19 (Legacy Systems), “Phoenix” is in #7 (Loose Cannon), “Pilot of Korval” is in #3 (Duty Bound), “A Choice of Weapons” is in #5 (Trading in Futures), “The Beggar King” is in #11 (Necessary Evils), and “Guaranteed Delivery” is in #18 (Courier Run). “Sweet Waters” is in the non-ALU chapbook Calamity’s Child.

The chapbooks are out of print now, but they’re all available in e-book form via Pinbeam Books, whose Adventures in the Liaden Universe® page is also a convenient reference for which story is where. (The page for Calamity’s Child is here.)

Baen offers in e-book form the Liaden Unibus I and Liaden Unibus II, which collect #1-6 (including “Pilot of Korval” and “A Choice of Weapons”) and #7-12 (including “Naratha’s Shadow”, “Phoenix”, and “The Beggar King”) respectively. If you don’t have any of the chapbooks already, these may be a more efficient option than obtaining individual issues.

Baen is also working on updated collections, to be available in print and e-book form. A Liaden Universe Constellation, Volume One, out now, includes “Naratha’s Shadow”, “Sweet Waters”, “Phoenix”, “Pilot of Korval”, and “A Choice of Weapons”, among others. Volume Two, which will include “The Beggar King”, isn’t due until next year, though.

For searching out second-hand print editions, the authors’ web site recommends Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore, The Missing Volume, and White Unicorn Books.

Trade Secret – Chapter 24

Leave a Reply

Gobelyn’s Market

In which the Gobelyns keep an eye out for trouble.

One of the commenters remarked, back when we were reading Balance of Trade, that she wondered how Iza had continued to be captain. I was inclined at the time to give Iza the benefit of the doubt, since we hadn’t seen much of her and that not at her best, but the more we see of her the less room for doubt there’s getting to be. This chapter, one of the crew goes so far as to express (out loud, though not in Iza’s hearing) a hope that Iza will think to step down, but it seems they don’t think the case is bad enough to ask her outright.

Yet.

In other news, the stuff about the difficulties of navigation in a four-star system is interesting, for those who are interested in that kind of thing, and may be a warm-up for a discussion of the difficulties of navigating the Seventeen Worlds later.

I don’t like the way the Liadens are paying attention to them, and I don’t like the way the chapter ends with “and then the door opened”. That could lead to “so they stopped talking and went in”, but it could just as easily lead on to “revealing, to their shocked gaze, …” (So far, though, I am being good and not going straight on to the next chapter.)

Trade Secret – Chapter 23

3 Replies

Tradedesk

In which the Scout has located Jethri’s logbook.

Given that the Scout has made his discovery after being seen speaking to the chel’Gaibin’s pilot, I feel confident in predicting that Wynhael‘s abrupt departure has some connection with the business which now brings on the departure of Jethri and the Scout. That thought doesn’t seem to have occurred to Jethri yet, though it has doubtless occurred to the Scout.

I’ve been wondering since Master Trader pin’Aker asked to speak to Tan Sim whether that was going to result in him offering to buy out Tan Sim’s contract. I’m currently entertaining a vision of Jethri and Samay getting hooked up in a contract marriage, simultaneously as a genuine strenghthening of bonds between Ixin and Midys and as an excuse for Samay’s uncle to give Tan Sim to Jethri as a wedding present. That’s just for my own amusement, though; it’s a bit too tidy to be plausible as an actual resolution.

Trade Secret – Chapter 22

11 Replies

Tradedesk, Framinham Cafe

In which Jethri is properly introduced to his Uncle.

So, Jethri is not an exact duplicate of Arin; his genes have been tweaked somewhat, with the purpose of giving him his knack for salvage lots. Just as Arin is not an exact duplicate of Yuri, his genes having been tweaked to produce some other result Yuri was unable to reach on his own. And Uncle Yuri… brings us back to the question of whether he is the Uncle, or perhaps that Uncle’s younger brother, through however many generations of being tweaked somewhat. He doesn’t seem like the same person, quite, but then again who would after living through a thousand years and seeing the universe change dramatically around them?

Uncle Yuri seems more agreeable to Jethri continuing on his own path than he did back when he was talking to Grig. Perhaps it’s just that he’s had time to think it over, and an opportunity to see what Jethri has made of himself. I kind of get the feeling, too, that Dulsey is a positive influence.

And… Scout ter’Astin was not in evidence, having apparently found something to occupy him elsewhere. Pleasantly, one hopes.