Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-5417731-20150531054933/@comment-21519-20150601005631

I read The Sky People and was amazed. I couldn't believe how seamlessly he'd updated Burroughs' world-building for modern literary sensibilities and integrated a really excellent story as well. The cliffhanger had me on needles and pins for the fifteen months or so till In the Courts of the Crimson Kings came out, and I jumped on that one at the earliest opportunity. The world-building was just as impressive there, but the story. . . well, it was exciting, but I was disappointed that it answered so few of Book 1's questions and asked so many others that Stirling had no intention of ever answering. When he contributed a short story set in the same universe to George RR Martin's 2013 anthology Old Mars, I hoped he was considering revisiting that continuity, but he never did. (I was able to enjoy the story just fine in its own right, and whiled away a very pleasant evening in my B&N cafe, where I spend so much on refreshments that I don't feel guilty about using their books and magazines like a lending library's collection.)

"The Charge of Lee's Brigade" is the only other SMS story I've read. As TR said, it was fun. It certainly stood out in the otherwise mediocre-at-best company it kept in the first Alternate Generals anthology. (I don't know whether AG volumes ever improved after that, I was so unimpressed with the original that I never checked.)

I bought the first Nantucket book some years ago but never got around to reading it. At this point I highly doubt I ever will. Really, the only SMS work I'm likely to make a point of seeking out would be a hypothetical continuation to the Lords of Creation series, which I fully expect I'll never see. If he collaborated with HT on something, and especially if he returned the "Topanga" favor by contributing something to one of HT's timelines, I'd be more likely to check it out, but still no guarantees.

I've heard he's known for expressing provocative opinions, but I really never cared nearly enough to track down the details.