Outside of a Dog: Smith, Sherwood, and Dave Trowbridge: (03) A Prison Unsought

William

William wrote on September 8, 2002 at 12:01 AM:

The ending IS cool! I just finished Book Three again. I say again because I purchased this book when it was published in 1994 or thereabouts. I was once the proud owner of all five Exordium books, but after a decade's worth of travel and moving from place to place, I can only find three of them. Ruler of Naught, Prison Unsought, and The Thrones of Kronos.

I recently re-captured these volumes from my older brother on an unnanounced visit after many years apart. No smoking in his house so he and I step out to the garage into his little smoking-cum-reading room. I happen to glance over at a box and THERE THEY ARE!! My Exordium books! Three of them anyway. I immediately snatch them up and demand the other two. He, of course, denies that he has them and even feebly attempts to claim that they are HIS books and that I had originally borrowed them from him, hoping that the veil of years would blur my recollection. Ha! As we say in Texas, bull-hocky!

I happened across the Phoenix in Flight while at a grocery store, of all places, and, always one to judge a book by it's cover, I bought it. After reading it, I was hooked. The breadth and vision of the universe created by Monsieurs Smith and Trowbridge is enthralling. I read that book twice in a row. And for me, that is the highest praise that can be bestowed. (Anything worse than buying a book, getting it home, and after three chapters you realize that you've read it before?) I found myself pacing the aisles of bookstores, impatiently awaiting the next volume, bugging the clerks for publishing dates. This was back in the days before the www.com thing really got rolling, so my poor neighborhood book dealer was the only target available for my ceaseless badgering. Over the years, I eagerly gathered the entire series. Then I stupidly loaned them to my younger brother so I, like you, could have someone to discuss them with. And from then on, it was a constant struggle to keep track of them all. So their recent rediscovery was an unexpected delight. And also unexpected frustration.

Since I am still missing Book Four and Book One, I find myself tearing through every box in my closets and storage spaces in the hopes I can find them. So now I am on the net google-izing and web-crawling, trying to find the missing tomes, wishing that I had some brainsuck to help me cull the data. With no Book Four, I don't want to start in on Five! There is the whole Lokri trial and the Tau Srivashti plot, that twisty little blit, and the... Well, since you haven't posted anything about Book Four yet, I suppose you are still reading it so I won't mention anymore, but... Damn! Now I can't rest until I find them!

My Book Two is in dreadful shape. The cover is dog-eared and torn, the spine cracked and splitting. I will soon take some clear packing tape to it. I actually have two copies of Book Three, one in shape not quite as bad as Book Two and one in almost perfect shape. (I believe I actually pirated a sibling's copy. Hope they dont find this post;) And the Book Five is in fair condition, with a little humidity swelling.

My greatest hope would to be to find them all in hardcover. So please, tell me, where did you get your copies? Are there anymore available? Help!

Perhaps we should petition Mr. Baen to help Mr. Trowbridge get the publishing rights! Put up banners! Pass out buttons! A grass roots campaign!

May the Hand of Telos keep and guide you.

Kate

Kate wrote on September 8, 2002 at 11:28 AM:

I got all my copies from scouring used bookstores on the web. I actually just found another copy of _Thrones_, but you don't need that one...

_Rifter's Covenant_ is sort of legendarily hard to find. I lucked out with a cheap copy, but I've seen them going for quite a lot of money. You might want to contact Mr. Trowbridge (which reminds me, is it grammatically proper to use "Monsieurs" for a mixed-gender group?), as a while ago he'd mentioned on rec.arts.sf.written that he might be able to assist with the rarity-of-book-4 problem.

"I read that book twice in a row. And for me, that is the highest praise that can be bestowed. (Anything worse than buying a book, getting it home, and after three chapters you realize that you've read it before?)" -- I'm a re-reader, so for me, one of my highest praises possible is that a work gets *better* on re-read. Obviously I can't say that about Exordium yet, but with a work this complex, it wouldn't surprise me.

Sherwood Smith

Sherwood Smith wrote on September 8, 2002 at 1:23 PM:

*beam*

Dave Trowbridge

Dave Trowbridge wrote on September 9, 2002 at 12:43 PM:

What Sherwood said. I'll happily send ASCII copies of the books to anyone who either can't find, or can't justify the cost of, a missing volume. They aren't entirely accurate, since they don't have the copy-editing, but they're close enough.

Rebecca

Rebecca wrote on September 18, 2002 at 3:51 PM:

Is anyone going to tell her about the mailing list? :-) If one is looking for people to discuss the books with, the list could certainly use some traffic.

exordium-l@yahoogroups.com

Guy Kay comparison never occurred to me, not entirely sure I agree with it, but that's okay.

Kate

Kate wrote on September 18, 2002 at 6:13 PM:

Oh, I know about the mailing list, I just barely have time to keep up with the things I already read (witness my not having posted comments on book five yet)...