Again to see the Wiz(ard)?

February 22, 2008 7:41 AM

Rick Cook, the author of the 5 novels in the "Wizard's Bane" series of computer-infused light fantasy from the early 90s (the first two are available, free, and legally, courtesy of the Baen Books Free Library) was in the middle of writing a sixth in Spring 2000, when he underwent emergency heart surgery. The result of that, and the meds that followed — he says in his blog — is that he has the sixth book (The Wizard Recapitalized) about 90% complete, but can't finish it, and he wants to know if he should release it anyway. Not all that much

I vote yes; I loved the books — as well as his off-series Mall Purchase Night — but the 7 yes votes he has so far, plus mine, probably don't constitute a quorum. If you, too, got a laugh out of a demon named Toth Set-Ra, then this would be a good time to go tell the man so.

posted by baylink (22 comments total)

I hate to ask a dumb question, but how do meds make you unable to write fiction, but non-fiction is okay? Just kinda confused on that.

That said...hm, I don't know. I haven't read any of his books (may check out the Baen Free again), but then again, if they can publish Leaving Cold Sassy with no ending whatsoever, I guess this fellow can put a subplot-free plot online.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:16 AM on February 22

From personal experience, it is possible to keep blogging under just about ANY medication, but fantasy writing requires a strong heart.
posted by wendell at 8:24 AM on February 22

It looks like he answered this question on his blog a couple days ago (the answer is yes, he's going to publish it online). He answered jenfullmoon's question as well, basically he says fiction requires a lot more intense mental focus and concentration for him than nonfiction (and that as a result he's always been a more productive nonfiction writer), and the meds he takes precludes that level of concentration, although he keeps trying.
posted by nanojath at 8:24 AM on February 22

(Good guess, wendell)
posted by nanojath at 8:25 AM on February 22

Well, y'know, Jen, I wondered that too...

but I can see, having done it *once* myself, that writing fiction can require you to keep a lot of balls in the air, and I suspect a lot of it can have to do with your writing style as well. Non-fiction, you might not have to make notes per se; just work off your sources. If you need notes to write fiction, though, you're pretty much screwed; the work is inside your head.

If you're the sort who doesn't write notes, but just plows ahead... and it's an ingrained habit...

Or maybe I'm just rationalizing because I want another book out of him. :-)
posted by baylink at 8:26 AM on February 22

Damn. Apparently, nano, he was posting that while *I* was posting this to the Slashdot firehose (it never surfaced).

<litella>
Nevermind.
</litella>
posted by baylink at 8:30 AM on February 22

"The three most dangerous things in the world are a programmer with a soldering iron, a hardware type with a program patch, and a user with an idea." -- Rick Cook
posted by jbrjake at 8:31 AM on February 22

Doesn't Cook have any trustworthy friends in the fantasy community who'd be willing to collaborate/ghostwrite to finish up the novel? Hand it over to Neil Gaiman or Peter S. Beagle or somebody.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:32 AM on February 22

He says in the original post that he doesn't want to collaborate on completing it, though he doesn't discuss why.
posted by nanojath at 8:38 AM on February 22

And it's still an interesting situation I wouldn't have heard about otherwise, baylink.
posted by nanojath at 8:40 AM on February 22

He says in the original post that he doesn't want to collaborate on completing it, though he doesn't discuss why.

It feels a lot like one of those AskMes that basically boils down to, "I know there's really only one solution to this problem, but that's not the answer I'm looking for."
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:41 AM on February 22 [2 favorites]

I hate to ask a dumb question, but how do meds make you unable to write fiction

statins?
posted by panamax at 8:50 AM on February 22

Well said, kfb.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:32 AM on February 22

Thanks for the post, baylink. I've long wondered where Rick Cook went. I loved the Wiz books, though Mall Purchase Night was pretty weak.

My vote is 'no'. I have wonderful memories of that series, and I read the first couple books every few years to refresh my memory of them. I'd hate to have those cherished memories ruined by later material that is not up to snuff.
posted by gurple at 11:08 AM on February 22

He should put it on a wiki and let the readers finish it.
posted by smackfu at 11:42 AM on February 22

I simultaneously think that both gurple and smackfu are right. ;-)

You're welcome, gurp. He has another blog as well, though I don't know if he keeps it up, at Heresy, Pornography and Treason. A sidebar explains the apt title.
posted by baylink at 12:35 PM on February 22

Oh, and you didn't like MPN? Why?
posted by baylink at 12:42 PM on February 22

I always enjoyed his books, including Mall Purchase Night, though I can barely remember anything that happened in the later books (I'll probably be disappointed if I reread them.) I wondered why he hadn't written anything new yet.

Sad news, but thanks for the post, baylink.
posted by ErWenn at 6:59 PM on February 22

How sad. I wonder if his prescribing doctors realize that their meds are interfering with their patient's livelihood?
posted by ikkyu2 at 8:10 PM on February 22

If only Robert Asprin had such a concrete excuse.
posted by jscott at 1:01 PM on February 23

Ha, I said this before I followed gurple's link.
posted by jscott at 1:16 PM on February 23

And he's posted more, on a comment to the first blog link (the second link in my OP) describing the drug thing, for those who care. And panamax: you drug up the guy (pun entirely intentional :-) who wrote that statins piece, if you hadn't noticed.
posted by baylink at 9:48 PM on February 25