Testimony of Mute Things up for pre-order at SubPress > Likes and Comments
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Silly thought: isn't the descriptive text a bit redundant? I mean, nobody expects a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the world of the five gods.
Bo wrote: "Silly thought: isn't the descriptive text a bit redundant? I mean, nobody expects a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the world of the five gods."
One can always hope for new readers!
Ta, L.
Bo wrote: “… nobody expects a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the world of the five gods.”
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Your comment leads me to wonder about a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the World of the Five Gods. Imagine the pair magically transported to our world (past or present)… or to the Discworld… or to Barrayar… or to the world of Rivers of London… There are so many worlds out there awaiting a sorcerous visit. But I don’t suppose it’s going to happen.
Lois wrote: “One can always hope for new readers!”
When I look at the beginning of the story, I see that it was written to be somewhat comprehensible to new readers. It would be a bit eccentric to start the series at this point; but people are strange… And sometimes people pick up a random book in a shop without knowing anything about it.
Jonathan wrote: "Bo wrote: “… nobody expects a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the world of the five gods.”
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Your comment leads me to wonder about a Penric and Desdemo..."
I'm sure it must have been already; check Ao3 for crossovers.
Ta, L.
Jonathan wrote: "Lois wrote: “One can always hope for new readers!”
When I look at the beginning of the story, I see that it was written to be somewhat comprehensible to new readers. ... And sometimes people pick up a random book in a shop without knowing anything about it."
Just so.
I grew up finding series books at random, and generally no way to immediately access their co-volumes. I do try, as much as I can, to provide enough incluing (as Jo Walton phrases it) for new readers to not be unhappily at sea, without boring old readers with repeated information. As you might imagine, it gets harder to do both simultaneously the longer a series goes on.
As usual, one of Pat Wrede's writing-advice remarks was a touchstone for me. She once suggested that a writer should treat the events of prior works in a series exactly the way one would treat the (never to be written) backstory of a new book just starting out, supplying just the information this story needs right now as it goes. And no more and no sooner, so as not to impede the forward impulsion of the narrative flow. This scheme works pretty well to keep things manageable.
Ta, L.
Lois wrote: “… check Ao3 for crossovers.”
Thank you, I had never heard of A03 before. I searched for Penric, and got two pages of results, including a few non-fiction items. Most of the rest are not crossovers. There are a few crossovers to or from worlds I’m not familiar with, plus a pair of characters from the World of the White Rat appearing in Vilnoc, plus a demon appearing in the Vorkosigan saga.
Lois wrote: “I do try, as much as I can, to provide enough incluing (as Jo Walton phrases it) for new readers to not be unhappily at sea …”
And you do it well. Although I think these days readers can easily find out (even from their phones) where a series starts and how to obtain the first in the series.
Any readers who want to be unhappily at sea should go straight to The Orphans of Raspay…
Jonathan wrote: "Lois wrote: “… check Ao3 for crossovers.”
Thank you, I had never heard of A03 before. I searched for Penric, and got two pages of results, including a few non-fiction items. Most of the rest are n..."
Trying not to boggle at the thought of someone not having heard of AO3 before (aka Archive Of Our Own)... it's only the largest database of fanfic in the world, and has in fact won a Hugo Award in its own right. Oh well, I guess that makes you one of today's "Lucky 10000", as the xkcd meme has it. ;)
Anyway, searching for "Penric kin Jurald"* and "Crossover" on AO3 shows only 5 fics, so sadly, people have not come up with any significant crossovers involving Penric and Desdemona set in other fictional worlds - or, if they have, they haven't posted them on AO3 *(searching by Penric's name, because the series doesn't have its own tags; it's subsumed within the World of Five Gods and Chalion Saga tags).
Mitali wrote: “Trying not to boggle at the thought of someone not having heard of AO3 before…”
I read plenty of fiction, but I’ve never been a reader of fan fiction, and haven’t tried looking for it before.
Mitali wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Lois wrote: “… check Ao3 for crossovers.”
I, too, have never heard of AO3. For that matter, I had never heard of the xkcd meme of The Lucky 10,000 (had to look it up.)
The only fan fiction I ever read was the published Star Trel novels.
I love the cover of Testimony. Lauren Saint-Onge continues doing great covers for Penric.
Speaking of crossovers, anybody who'd been magically transported into that world would be the least fitting of misfits and thus come under the Bastard's aegis, right?
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Bo
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Oct 15, 2026 08:57AM
Silly thought: isn't the descriptive text a bit redundant? I mean, nobody expects a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the world of the five gods.
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Bo wrote: "Silly thought: isn't the descriptive text a bit redundant? I mean, nobody expects a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the world of the five gods."One can always hope for new readers!
Ta, L.
Bo wrote: “… nobody expects a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the world of the five gods.”Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Your comment leads me to wonder about a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the World of the Five Gods. Imagine the pair magically transported to our world (past or present)… or to the Discworld… or to Barrayar… or to the world of Rivers of London… There are so many worlds out there awaiting a sorcerous visit. But I don’t suppose it’s going to happen.
Lois wrote: “One can always hope for new readers!”When I look at the beginning of the story, I see that it was written to be somewhat comprehensible to new readers. It would be a bit eccentric to start the series at this point; but people are strange… And sometimes people pick up a random book in a shop without knowing anything about it.
Jonathan wrote: "Bo wrote: “… nobody expects a Penric and Desdemona story not set in the world of the five gods.”Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Your comment leads me to wonder about a Penric and Desdemo..."
I'm sure it must have been already; check Ao3 for crossovers.
Ta, L.
Jonathan wrote: "Lois wrote: “One can always hope for new readers!”When I look at the beginning of the story, I see that it was written to be somewhat comprehensible to new readers. ... And sometimes people pick up a random book in a shop without knowing anything about it."
Just so.
I grew up finding series books at random, and generally no way to immediately access their co-volumes. I do try, as much as I can, to provide enough incluing (as Jo Walton phrases it) for new readers to not be unhappily at sea, without boring old readers with repeated information. As you might imagine, it gets harder to do both simultaneously the longer a series goes on.
As usual, one of Pat Wrede's writing-advice remarks was a touchstone for me. She once suggested that a writer should treat the events of prior works in a series exactly the way one would treat the (never to be written) backstory of a new book just starting out, supplying just the information this story needs right now as it goes. And no more and no sooner, so as not to impede the forward impulsion of the narrative flow. This scheme works pretty well to keep things manageable.
Ta, L.
Lois wrote: “… check Ao3 for crossovers.”Thank you, I had never heard of A03 before. I searched for Penric, and got two pages of results, including a few non-fiction items. Most of the rest are not crossovers. There are a few crossovers to or from worlds I’m not familiar with, plus a pair of characters from the World of the White Rat appearing in Vilnoc, plus a demon appearing in the Vorkosigan saga.
Lois wrote: “I do try, as much as I can, to provide enough incluing (as Jo Walton phrases it) for new readers to not be unhappily at sea …”And you do it well. Although I think these days readers can easily find out (even from their phones) where a series starts and how to obtain the first in the series.
Any readers who want to be unhappily at sea should go straight to The Orphans of Raspay…
Jonathan wrote: "Lois wrote: “… check Ao3 for crossovers.”Thank you, I had never heard of A03 before. I searched for Penric, and got two pages of results, including a few non-fiction items. Most of the rest are n..."
Trying not to boggle at the thought of someone not having heard of AO3 before (aka Archive Of Our Own)... it's only the largest database of fanfic in the world, and has in fact won a Hugo Award in its own right. Oh well, I guess that makes you one of today's "Lucky 10000", as the xkcd meme has it. ;)
Anyway, searching for "Penric kin Jurald"* and "Crossover" on AO3 shows only 5 fics, so sadly, people have not come up with any significant crossovers involving Penric and Desdemona set in other fictional worlds - or, if they have, they haven't posted them on AO3 *(searching by Penric's name, because the series doesn't have its own tags; it's subsumed within the World of Five Gods and Chalion Saga tags).
Mitali wrote: “Trying not to boggle at the thought of someone not having heard of AO3 before…”I read plenty of fiction, but I’ve never been a reader of fan fiction, and haven’t tried looking for it before.
Mitali wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Lois wrote: “… check Ao3 for crossovers.”I, too, have never heard of AO3. For that matter, I had never heard of the xkcd meme of The Lucky 10,000 (had to look it up.)
The only fan fiction I ever read was the published Star Trel novels.
I love the cover of Testimony. Lauren Saint-Onge continues doing great covers for Penric.
Speaking of crossovers, anybody who'd been magically transported into that world would be the least fitting of misfits and thus come under the Bastard's aegis, right?