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51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just wait, and stop badgering Gerrold, October 4, 2002
By A Customer
Good things come to those who wait.In response to jdthorn007's diatribe, which he seems to have posted as a "review" with each of David Gerrold's "Chtorr" novels, I present the author's own words. I hope David doesn't mind my reproducing them here; the original link to his posting of September 2002 is at Here's David: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: In the past ten years, I have 1) adopted a little boy 2) survived a rather harrowing earthquake (we were litterally at the epicenter)
3) had a house fire
4) had a near-fatal case of bilateral pneumonia
5) dealt with the worse-than-usual problems of adolescence in my teenage son
6) dealt with the emotional traumas connected to all of these events.
7) a somewhat milder recurrence of pneumonia this year.
8) and several minor legal matters which necessitated my killing a couple of lawyers.... Several years ago, Bantam Books shut down their science fiction line, which meant that all of my backlist books, including all four of the Chtorr books and The Man Who Folded Himself and When Harlie Was One, went out of print. This also meant that two other completed novels have not yet seen publication. I am now publishing with Tor Books who have a sizable commitment to science fiction. Before they were willing to invest in the Chtorr series, they wanted something original for their own line of books, hence JUMPING OFF THE PLANET, BOUNCING OFF THE MOON, LEAPING TO THE STARS. (And the story of my son's adoption, THE MARTIAN CHILD.) (I will immodestly mention that THE MARTIAN CHILD and JUMPING OFF THE PLANET are both award winners, and BOUNCING OFF THE MOON is a multiple award nominee. Now that those books are finding an audience, Tor Books has committed themselves to publishing The War Against The Chtorr -- they will reprint the first four books when book five is finished. The War Against The Chtorr is my life's work, magnum opus, call it what you will. It is the series that I have invested the most energy in. It is the one that I want to do right, more than any other project I have ever worked on. And in that regard, there is no one more impatient and more frustrated than I am. I have nearly a million words of notes on where the series must go. Plus I have dictated over a dozen hours of additional notes that need to be reviewed. I want to show as much of the Chtorran ecology as I can. The first four books have only been the setup for several MAJOR surprises planned for the fifth book. Much of what we thought was so we now discover that we had it wrong. There are realizations and discoveries that must be carefully and patiently worked out so that they are not inconsistent with what has already been established and at the same time, opens up the series for what is to come next. At this point in time, there are over 180,000 words finished of the narrative and another 30,000 words of interstitials, the stuff that goes between the chapters. And the book isn't even half done. It will be at least 300,000 words, maybe longer. During the month of August, I wrote 30,000 new words and I have blocked out 30,000 more. Because of several interesting suggestions made over the past year, I have realized that there are additional places I need to go to make this novel work. Where I had planned only to do one chapter on the infestation of New York city, I now need to expand that to 20 chapters. That takes enormous time and energy. I remain enormously enthusiastic and committed to the series. And I am equally grateful to the readers who have waited so patiently for so long. I remember my frustration waiting for Jack Vance to finish the Star King series and Roger Zelazny to finish the Amber series. And I do apologize for the length of time this has taken. Certainly I had no idea that there would be so many obstacles thrown in my path. I honestly wish I could write as fast as fans can read, but I move my lips when I write, so we all have to be patient. Thanks for the opportunity to answer some of these questions. David Gerrold
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