"Razorclaw X" <spiceoflife@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

 I might be utterly selfish by saying this, but I'll be HAPPY when it's 
over. Why? It's getting high time to pass the torch, I think, for the 
next great story (I won't be selfish to say that it's mine, but it's 
more likely Gary Kleppe's, which is only JUST starting, but already 
people are making a big deal about it-- you can tell me my prediction is 
wrong after the story's over, but not before). Everyone and their 
third-removed cousins probably know of Hearts of Ice by name. But, it's 
not the ONLY story there is. Everyone has a story to tell, a tale to 
pass. Just because Tolkien stopped writing in Middle Earth doesn't mean 
it's all over-- the impact of the great story is obvious as it 
influences its successors (even Babylon 5, itself a great story). All 
good things must come to an end. 

Razor, while I'm not one to disapprove of the practice of ranting, I
have no idea what point you're trying to make here.

You talk about the "next great story" as if there can be only one at a
time. While I think most of us agree that HoI is a great story, that
doesn't mean we don't read and like other stuff as well. HaM hasn't made
people stop paying attention to anything else either.

 (I say all this fully knowing that I've never read Hearts of Ice in 
its entirety (just chapters 1 and 20... odd, no? Which must make me a 
real moron), any of Tolkien's stories, or Hearts and Minds-- but impact 
is there.)

I don't think it makes you a moron, but frankly, commenting on stories
that you haven't read makes you someone who doesn't know what he's
talking about. If you want to discuss HoI, or HaM, or whatever other
fic, that's great, but *read them* first. Otherwise, what you say
doesn't carry a whole lot of weight, IMO.


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics