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Christopher Stasheff Message Board


Christoher Stasheff posts on 11/11/2006 4:52:46 PM Well, of course it isn't so, Rob W! Gwen and Rod will live forever in Tir Nan Og (well, Heaven, actually, but you can't get into Heaven while you're still alive, so Rod went looking for Tir Nan Og). Gwen was in Heaven, of course, so when he found her, he found Heaven, even if he was looking for it by a different name. Fess is with them, too, for that matter, or the part of him that derived from associating with Rod. The robot that stayed with the second generation will develop a different personality as time goes by -- and as the third generation begins to appear and need a babysitter. He'll gain a persona from them more than from the second generation. Meanwhile, Rod and Gwen and Fess are embarked on the greatest adventure of all. I'm glad you enjoyed the books. Keep bothering your library to buy more of them. Thanks, Christopher Stasheff. Tim D, sorry about the misunderstanding -- I'm still a Catholic, though one who insists on thinking through the Church's teachings. As to magic in an alternate universe, sure a Pentecostal could be a magician -- because what we call magic is the science of that world. If a chemist comes up with a new formula that saves lives in our universe, we think of it as science, not magic -- and a Pentecostal can certainly be a pharmacist. Pratt and deCamp do a much better job of explaining this than I can, in THE INCOMPLEAT ENCHANTER and its sequels. Arthur C. Clarke may have said it best with his Third Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Just think of the computers we're using on this board -- really think about what they're doing. If that ain't magic, what is? Okay, so we know how it works, and that means it's not magic. Uh... let me think that through again... So enjoy the books and don't worry about the theology. I've done the best I can to make it clear that magic is happening in a very different universe and doesn't work in ours. Thanks for reading my books. -- Christopher Stasheff
Tim D posts on 11/8/2006 4:11:51 PM Dear Dr. Stasheff, I have enjoyed this series immensely and am wondering if you will be adding to this series any time soon. I, like yourself am a former Catholic and have since leaving Catholicism have been attending a pentecostal church. I can't but wonder what would happen to a pentecostal in Matt's universe..Would he be a powerful wizard and yet reluctant to do magic because it is against his beliefs that magic in any form is evil. I would appreciate your thoughts Thanks
Rob W. posts on 11/6/2006 5:17:26 PM Mister Stasheff, I have read all of the Worlock series and the Wizard in Rhythem series and have reread them many times. I am hoping that you will becoming out with a new story about Matthew and his friends and familey. Your books have given me countless hours of enjoyment while I served in the military and as I grow older. I hope you continue with the series and I was saddened by the ending of the Worlock series. Please say it isn.t so. Thank you for you wonderful books. Sincerly, Rob W.



Christopher Stasheff posts on 10/27/2006 3:01:31 PM Cjones, thanks for the vote of confidence. I would love to do the series as an audio book, but none of the companies have noticed I exist. If they do, I'll be very glad to license it. R. Whiting, I do have a few ideas for series, but at the moment, I'm working on standalone novels -- just as well, since the publishers don't seem to be interested in any of my new writings. I'm working on a children's fantasy at the moment, but it has the potential to turn into a series if the readers buy it. It's about a boy who wakes up three feet over his bed... Thanks for your interest. I'll keep working. All best, Christopher Stasheff
Cjones posts on 10/27/2006 12:30:31 PM I would love to see the warlock series in audio book. I read these many years ago in my youth and still think about them and the various struggles. Due to a vision problem I can no longer go back and read them and would truly love to enter that world again someday. For what its worth, I vote for the series to go full theatrical audio book publication.
R. Whiting posts on 10/23/2006 5:14:00 PM Dr. Stasheff, I have been wondering if you are planning any NEW series, and if so, when are they likely to be released.
Christopher Stasheff posts on 10/23/2006 11:52:21 AM Resident Viking, thanks very much for such praise, and for such long and devoted attention. Wish we could still sit down for a face-to-face chat. Singing Skies, I really appreciate your understanding and appreciation of the family saga. Sometimes I've wondered if anyone really wanted to see how the family developed after the kids were grown; responses like yours are very encouraging. Thanks very much.
Resident Viking posts on 10/19/2006 10:59:01 PM Dear Prof Stasheff: A long time ago, when you were still teaching at Montclair State, and "Escape Velocity" was published, I called you after I finished reading it, and said that I would've killed to have been first in line to sign up for the Romantic Emigres. Now, having read "Warlock's Last Ride", I wish that I had been able to attend the funerals, and to speak in memory of those who have been more than merely entertainment, but close friends.
SingingSkies posts on 10/19/2006 10:19:13 PM While I cried copiously at Gwen and Rod's deaths, I believe you handled it honorably. Over the years I've traveled the life story of the Gallowglass family and watched as relationships grew and developed and it felt honest to me. Of course, the story had to move through the death of the parents as the children continued their journey through adulthood. Thank you for giving us "people" we could identify with and care for, Dr. Stasheff.
Christopher Stasheff posts on 10/19/2006 5:45:37 PM Thanks for the thoughtful response, Mr. Brown. Yes, both series did become darker – but apparently not dark enough to satisfy the reading public, and somehow I wasn't willing to resort to the depictions of outright evil, combined with sex and violence, that seem to be selling now. As to the deaths of Rod and Gwen, after THE WARLOCK IN SPITE OF HIMSELF, I had a choice – I could simply start the sequel with Gwen disappearing, never to be mentioned again, as was the habit with action stories in the Sixties, when I wrote it – or I could take what I felt was a much more realistic view and have the two marry and rear a family. I set out, then, to write the story of a family, not of the husband and wife alone, which is one reason why Gwen and Rod took a back seat in the WARLOCK'S HEIRS books and virtually disappeared in the ROGUE WIZARD series. As a family grows, the young folks go off on their own – they have to become independent. The parents have hopefully passed through most of their ordeals, so the action passes to the younger generation. But the story of a family is incomplete without the deaths of the parents – unfortunate but necessary; the question was not whether I would deal with their passing, but how. I had originally planned to have the book published after I died, but when it wanted to be written, I knew I had to do it then – and I had begun to realize that after I passed away (hopefully in another twenty years), my books might not be published at all. By medieval standards, Rod and Gwen had lived long and happy lives – into their sixties, when fifty was old age in the 1300s. As to Rod's becoming delusional, it allowed me to show the fantasy equivalents of the final challenges in the hero's journey of life – battling with the monsters of old age, such as depression and dementia, but also showing the hero still able to contribute to his society and help his children. In the end, he finds Gwen again – and though it's sad that he finds her by dying, it is a triumph, as Heaven is the reward of a life well and fully lived. I also felt the need to show the family pulling together and maintaining its stability even without Rod and Gwen to keep them centered. So, of course, I felt that the good guys HAD won, as I hope to in my turn.
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