posted
Really? I've never read any of the non-Asimov Foundation books, never saw the point! Oops. But, hey, I'll give it a go. Er, does your book require any familiarity with the non-Asimovs?
posted
A good number of the characters in my book, maybe a third of them, originate in the Second Trilogy novels, but I don't think you really need to read them to understand the story. (If you do, I need to know that so I can fix it!) You might wonder where some of the more esoteric characters come from, in which case you can read the Second Trilogy to find out. Only two originate in Foundation's Fear, though, and that book is widely considered inferior to the others, so you might limit that one to a skim. But Foundation and Chaos introduces most of the rest, and that one and Foundation's Triumph are both definitely worth the read.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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* I agree that Bear and Brin's books are more in fitting with the themes that Asimov was exploring than Benford's. That said, the copyright holders approached Benford first about a sequel, and he recommended the other "Killer B's" to write a trilogy, so variety was desired. Brin's book is perhaps too full of "cute" call outs, but the overarching themes are a solid attempt to repair the gaping plot holes in Asimov's work. They certainly leave the reader with a different and more realistic assessment of R. Daneel Olivaw.
* Are you aware that Brin wrote an short, unofficial epilogue to Foundation's Triumph? He posted it to the brin-l mailing list back when I was a member (just after the books came out). You can find it here (SPOILER ALERT): http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg18281.html - although it probably won't make any sense unless you close attention to Foundation's Triumph and had a "WTF?" moment in the middle. I have a printed copy of that signed by Brin tucked away inside my copy of FT (also signed by Brin; fun story that, involving baby sniffing).
* Lastly, I also took a stab at writing a post-Foundation and Earth story that would wrap up the loose ends there and tie in the Foundation's Triumph revelations. Unlike Omega, I never got through the first chapter. But I sketched the plot outline and dumped what I wrote here: http://inexorabletash.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!3FC59671BAEE20E9!1087.entry - Omega: you have my EXPLICIT PERMISSION to re-use any and all concepts, themes, text or dialogue from that snippet and the preamble. No attribution necessary, do with it what you will.
posted
I was aware of Brin's epilogue. I didn't much care for it, really. Seldon didn't need to become a crutch, without whom humanity could solve nothing. Some of your plot outline points are not dissimilar to my own, though I do get there significantly differently.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
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-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
But I sketched the plot outline and dumped what I wrote here: 
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