Starship Troupers 4: The Unknown Guest

[Majikah]

I just finished re-reading the Starship Troupers series for the second time and I can't wait to read the new story. I've only been waiting 18 years. My how time flies when you read a good book. I remember when you had to go to the bookstore ( look it up ) to get a new book. You actually had to turn a page by hand and couldn't make the text larger with your fingers. Technology is wonderful and won't hurt us ( repeat this daily to make it seem true ).

[cstasheff]

Too true, Majikah -- both the advantages of e-books and the loss of paper -- thogh considering what happened to the library of Alexandra, it may be a matter of which loss we'd rather risk -- this from a man whose books threaten to crowd him out of his house. There's something about the feel and scent of a book that are irreplaceable. If you haven't read Asimov's "The Holmes-Ginsbook Device," see if you can find it.
Starship Troupers is being released onto this website chapter by chapter -- but please remember, this is a very rough draft. Ortho has already caught me in several mistakess.

Thanks for your note.
Christopher Stasheff

[NZJLY]

I will admit I don't even see the typos as I get too engrossed into the story Chapter 13 was a bit difficult to read though.The fight scene with the "posse" riding to the rescue made me wonder - how did they know to turn up there, or was it some mad coincidence? Also I got a bit confused in the dialogue between Ramou and Lazaro, the conversation didn't flow as much as in the other chapters.
I am loving the book, and look forward to each chapter. I am looking forward to find out how the man in gray was turned to the dark side...

John

[Nexus99]

This is good to see. I just picked up a copy of A Slight Detour. Cant wait to get to the new new stuff!

[a3kHH]

Accidentially I just read the first three books. Needed something intelligent and humorous as change to my dealings with IT managers. And of course thumbs up, when can I buy this book on dead wood ? (Ok, I'm old-fashioned, being above 50.)

[Ortho the Frank]

Actually, what you read here on the website is the rough draft (critiques and feedback are not only okay, they're welcomed and encouraged!). Chris is currently doing the (hopefully) last revision. When that's done, he'll self-publish the book as both a paperback and ebook.

So keep an eye on this site! We'll let you guys know as soon as it's available!

[Jondarme]

Thank you Mr. Stasheff for writing this. I'm just sorry I didn't know about this sooner.

[udiosd]

This was a good way to end (or maybe set the stage to continue...) the series. I zipped thru it buy b I really liked it. I couldn't shake the feeling that it was two books crammed into one tho... ok here's the tiny mistake I saw, um the captain was gantry in all the other books, mother gavin. And maybe I read too fast, but what happened to prudence? Did they lose her on the computer world? OK sorry for the critique.
Ok, now I'd like to indulge in some horrible fan gushy-ness.
Mr. Stasheff, you totally rock. I started reading you books when I was a kid in the 80s. I remember the bit in the beginning of King kobold revived when you said "..only overlook if you were too young to read it" , and 20 yrs later I found the original. It was good. Since you haven't posted in a while I hope you read these still, but I feel better for writing it. With your wit and puns and eye towards reality as it may become, sir I applaud you. You and Terry Pratchett dominant my book shelves. Thank you for so much fun over all these years. And Thanx for letting us find out what happened to our friends on tour.

[OutOfAfrica]

Just finisch reading your on-line book "The Unkown Guest". I enjoyed it very much. As too comments if you are to bring it out as a paperback book I honestly think with fleshing out and fixing some rusty transitions you could easily have two books here. I enjoyed the first 3 books when I read them back in the 90's. My wife and I met in a touring company, a Christian one called Covenant Players, and having always enjoyed science fiction the books were a real treat. I did find your treatment of modern Puritins interesting because I've always remembered a class on "America Historical Thought" where ina a book about Putitins there was related a story of a wife who called her husband to task in a church service because he was not "fullfilling his husbandly duties" and the husband was told in no unsurtain terms to "due his duty to his wife more frequently so that she not fall into tempation". Not the image we usually have of these folks. " :^) But as I was saying I enjoyed the on-line book, was glad to see growth in Marnie's character, even if we lost her at the end of the story. And good to see R & S finally getting together. Don't know if you have time to reply, but I am currently a missionary in South Africa working with an HIV/AIDS ministry. I was recently back in the Stattesand brought back several scifi trilogies, your's was one of them. Keep up the good work.

[Ortho the Frank]

udiosd and OutOfAfrica, yes, you are correct, book four IS two books crammed into one. Chris originally planned the series to be five books, but the series was cancelled after book 3 due to sluggish sales (the overlap between theater folk and sci-fi fans exists, but is small). To cap off the series, theoretically by self-publishing, Chris wanted to combine books four and five into a single volume (and it shows). And yes, this is a rough draft, with inconsistencies and mistakes. Part of the goal in sharing it with fans was for them to point out the things Chris missed, so they could be fixed in the final draft. So don't worry about nitpicks, that's why the rough draft is online in the first place!

And don't worry about fanboy gushing, every (okay, most) authors find it flattering, and Chris is one of them. I'll be sure to read him both your posts.

Thanks for dropping by and commenting!

Ortho/Ed