An anthology I would love to see some day

[james_davis_nicoll]

THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF JOAN D. Vinge. Such a collection would include the following:

Mother and Child
Media Man
The Crystal Ship
Fireship
Fool's Gold
Legacy
Psiren
Tin Soldier
The Peddler's Apprentice
To Bell the Cat
Eyes of Amber
Phoenix in the Ashes
The Hunt of the Unicorn
The Storm King
Tam Lin
View from a Height
Voices from the Dust
Exorcycle
R and R

and would be about 300,000 words long.

Comments

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

Not very short short fiction, is it?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

She seems to have prefered novellas and novelettes in the 1970s.

I use the past tense only because I have not encountered her more recent short fiction. As far as I know, she is hale and hearty.

Joan Vinge

[bschilli.livejournal.com]

She isn't hale and hearty. She was involved in a fairly nasty car accident a few years ago.

Ben

Re: Joan Vinge

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Oh, crap. Why the authors I like?

Re: Joan Vinge

[(Anonymous)]

She _looked_ pretty much recovered when she was a GoH at Conclave in NZ a month ago. Looking somewhat healthier than Steve Jackson in fact, who had a heavy cold.

A word of warning: Don't give her an opportunity to read to you.

Cheers
Errol

Re: Joan Vinge

[bschilli.livejournal.com]

According to her husband, she hasn't recovered enough to do much writing. (Why do I know so much about this? Her husband comes to the Madison SF Wednesday night get togethers...)

Ben

[rosefox]

I should pitch this idea to 5 Story Walkup. It's the sort of thing they'd love.

Joan Vinge

[bschilli.livejournal.com]

Her husband is her editor. He works for Tor.

Ben

Re: Joan Vinge

[rosefox]

That doesn't mean that other publishing houses won't have a chance. Sometimes small press has its uses.

[luned.livejournal.com]

And I'd definitely buy it if it existed because all the collections of her short fiction that I own are rapidly decaying. Some of them are older than I am.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Some of them are older than I am.

image: narrowed eyes.

[luned.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel any better, I misstated. Fireship came out later in 1978 than I did... ;)

[(Anonymous)]

It would be multiple volumes long.

And the rights might be expensive.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, perhaps James is underestimating the number of words, but at 400 words per page 300,000 words works out to around 750 pages. I have a Stephen King paperback right nearby that runs to 1093 pages.

Bruce

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

perhaps James is underestimating the number of words,

I got the total from her website:

http://www.sff.net/people/jdvinge/home.htm

[(Anonymous)]

So, definitely doable in one volume, if a bit of a doorstop.

Bruce