Since the question has been raised…

I haven’t yet set a date for a chapter-by-chapter blogging of Fair Trade. The current plan is “a few weeks to a month before Trade Lanes comes out, whenever that turns out to be”.

This, you will have noticed, is a departure from the way I’ve been doing things.

The thing is, when I started this blog, it was all about re-reading the Liaden novels chapter-by-chapter, finding new things in old favourites and giving old not-favourites a chance to change my mind. Then eventually I ran out of Liaden novels I’d already read, but there were new ones coming out, and I was feeling so enthusiastic I decided to just keep on reading Liaden novels and blogging them chapter-by-chapter. But I’ve been increasingly feeling that this isn’t sustainable and has been injuring my ability to enjoy the new novels in the way they’re meant to be enjoyed. (Accepting the Lance, in particular, wasn’t done any favours by being chopped into a hundred pieces and spread over three months, and I’ve regretted that I didn’t give it a fair shake on its own terms.) On the other hand, I do enjoy revisiting the novels and finding details that I didn’t notice before.

So what I’m going to try is a return to this being a re-reading blog. I’m going to read Fair Trade by myself, at whatever speed it wants to go. And then, in the lead-up to Trade Lanes, I’m going to re-read it and do the chapter-by-chapter blog then.

There’s a certain symmetry to the new Jethri books being the ones where I try out this plan: one of the reasons I started this blog when I did was to give myself an excuse to re-read Balance of Trade in the lead-up to Trade Secret coming out.

9 thoughts on “Since the question has been raised…

  1. Ed8r

    Hear! Hear! Sounds like an excellent plan! I’ll attempt to possess myself in patience until 2023!

  2. Paul A. Post author

    I can report that I’ve now finished reading Fair Trade, and that I enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading it again in the run-up to Trade Lanes. Particularly since there are several characters and plot lines I suspect we’ll be seeing again…

    (Among others, I find myself wondering about the job the bold scouts are going to be doing with Dulsey. Given the timing, it’s occurred to me that we might be on a path to learning how the norbears knew Joyita in Dragon Ship. Or even, if Dulsey is like Guild Master Peltzer and sees them as having a useful part to play in personnel selection, to getting to meet Bechimo’s First Crew.)

  3. Othin

    yes, patience it’ll have to be….

    Among my things to wonder about is – do we get to meet anyone of Theo’s great-great-grandsire’s family – meaning Fer Gun pen’Uldra grandsir Captain Arl Fed pen’Uldra. This Terran-Liaden Trader Council thing seems fit to begin in Jethri’s time.

  4. Ed8r

    Very curious myself about those bold scouts! I also wish somehow that Jethri could know what has transpired with Bar Jan. One of my favorite plot lines is to see enemies become, if not friends, at least allies or compatriots.

    And I *still* want to hear more about the twins!

  5. Ed8r

    Meanwhile, instead of Trade Lanes, next we will be seeing Salvage Right—the sequel to Accepting the Lance—in July, with the sequel to Fair Trade being put off until . . . much later?

  6. Ed8r

    Next book after Salvage Right will be a sequel to Trader’s Leap rather than Fair Trade. Sequel is titled Ribbon Dance.

  7. ohtin

    Has there been any word of what happened to Trade Lanes, that I somehow missed? Or should it still come sometime this year?

  8. Paul A. Post author

    The current information on the home page of Sharon Lee’s site is that Ribbon Dance is due to be turned in to the publisher in August 2023, followed by Trade Lanes in November 2023. Publication dates have not yet been set for either, but probably won’t be this year.

  9. Othin

    Thanks Paul,
    I’m glad that Trade Lanes will come, even if it is next summer or so.
    I’m also looking forward to the next book discussion here. 🙂

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