(no subject)

[olivermoss]

* I'm going to New Orleans in less than a month? How did that happen? I have things to do!

* Because I've backed Zombie Orpheus projects before, I got an email about them doing a deluxe Grand Master edition of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books. I have mixed feelings looking at the project page. One one hand yes, I do I want this book with it's edge painting and timeline and stuff, but also every time I see the name Larry Dixon I'm like... maybe not?

But here is the thing I find weird:

Plus, we're adding sheet music for three new settings of Misty's Valdemar songs to both books. So many of you asked for it, now it's happening: we're starting to rerelease Misty's Valdemar music!

Since the original tunes aren't available (copyright got complicated), Misty and Ben Dobyns have spent the last few months collaborating on new music.

The Firebird Music bankruptcy crunched a lot of artists and that's who did the original Valdemar albums*. But, much smaller artists did get their rights back. This project is currently at 233k of their 120k goal. They can get those rights back, unless either they don't want to or the actual problem is a problem with the actual artists she worked with, and the main one was Alexander James Adams.

So, on one hand this is something younger me would have wanted with the force of a thousand black holes, on the other hand every time I see Larry Dixon's name I remember that weird viral thread about them looking for an intern that had more red flags than can be counted... and on the third hand whomst the fuck is Vixen? Some of the stories in the actual book will be about Vanyel and... Vixen? Whomst the fuck?

Also, the Scholarships for free copies and who the hell painted that Valdemar Digital Wallpaper and why don't they understand basic facial anatomy?

So, yeah, my mixed feelings are very mixed. I am going to keep an eye on the project, but I am not backing. That Larry is going to sign every copy kills any chance that I might go for it anyway.

(* Some cons still let Firebird sell their remaining stock for years even though they were not paying out to artists, because it was just so ~important to provide access to the music, such an ~important culture thing to some old-school geek spaces... ugh. Actually, my local con wasn't even charging them a booth fee to continue to sell. It's like, one of the musicians not getting paid is performing at the con, can you fucking not?)

Comments

[alexseanchai]

I have the Vanyel trilogy in searchable ebook, and whomst the fuck is Vixen

[taichara]

Vixen is from a set of short stories written by Lackey across several of the Valdemar anthologies, which -- as noted on the Backerkit campaign page, are the sources of the short stories being collected into the book being crowdfunded.

It's not a reprint of the Herald-Mage books.

[alexseanchai]

why would it be a reprint of the Herald-Mage novels? it's just news to me that there's enough Valdemar short stories about any character in none of the novels (excepting possibly recurring characters by authors other than Lackey herself) to collect Tarma-and-Kethry-books style, which is why I checked whether Vixen is in any of the novels

[taichara]

I was wondering why you were looking in the Vanyel books for a character from the list of Lackey's anthology short stories that are going in the crowdfunded book.

The Valdemar anthologies have been running for eighteen volumes and that's what the Backerkit campaign page says they're drawing from.

[taichara]

I was directed over here by the ol friend network and yeah, I agree with your assessments here.

I'm also tempted to dig around and see what the first crowdfunder these people did for Lackey was, because I sure don't remember hearing anything but I'm way out of that loop.

(for Vixen, see above, lol. tl;dr she's an anthology character.)

[olivermoss]

Hi!

I know Zombie Orpheus from when they run stuff for Dead Gentlemen Productions back in the '00s, but have heard very little from them since. I was surprised to even hear from them again.

I haven't read anything new in a while so the story list seemed odd to me. I wasn't expecting it to be a reprint of novels, didn't look big enough. Just a lot about the email I got had me boggling and conflicted, partially just due to my own experiences sort of adjacent to the fandom.

[taichara]

*waves*

The story list is odd, you're not wrong -- it's from the Valdemar anthologies, some of which are pretty long in the tooth now, but only stories Lackey didn't co-write. Why they're starting with a collection of stories which are 99% about characters not from the novels, instead of with any of the actual novels, I have no idea >.>;;

I did find ZOE's first Valdemar crowdfund as it turns out. It was pins and maps and other kibble and I ... hm. Have opinions. Most aren't really good (kind of like most of the maps), and the KS page for this one is as weird-feeling as the new one.

It's all very something, isn't it?

[olivermoss]

And now they've got the new stretch goals up and it does involve song of the original lyrics and putting them to new music? I don't know the behind-the-scene here, but this is really rubbing me the wrong way.

I don't want to be grumpy about any of this. I obviously have strong attachments to the early Valdemar books, but yeah this is all very something.

[mistressofmuses]

I keep getting this advertised to me as a sponsored thing on FB. But uh... mixed feelings very mixed.

I can't describe how much this would have been my THING when I was younger.

I know that Firebird going under really did screw up a lot of things for a lot of people... but it does sound weird for them to be saying that they just couldn't get the copyright sorted out and fixed, when I know that a lot of artists *have*. So something weird is going on with that.

...whomst the fuck is Vixen?

[olivermoss]

Yeah, same. And I want to like enjoy this, maybe hang with people who are excited about this, not have layers and layers of mixed emotions.

[mistressofmuses]

It's unfortunate that the emotions have grown so mixed. (Like you said... the red flag city that was that damn post!)

The books were such a formative thing for me when I was a teen, it sucks to have that become something so complicated.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, there were formative to me to an almost scary degree. Could be worse, but yeah, wish I could just enjoy stuff

[mistressofmuses]

Same.

Like... certainly not a unique experience to have "the formative fiction of my youth has been horribly complicated by the actions of the creators, and now it's a lot to untangle" but... Yeah. I wish that some things could just stay enjoyable or remain a source of warm nostalgia and excitement, rather than... the sorts of things that keep happening.

(And like, yeah, it could be a whole lot worse! Like, so much worse. But that air of vague sketch is still there.)

[olivermoss]

Yeah, it's just weirdly hard to process because ML fandom is something that casts a long shadow on fandom, but we don't really talk about it... or we do when given a chance. When I bring up ML related stuff, I tend to draw people dying to talk about it. It feels like all my early fandoms where huge and fell into a weird black hole. Then it actually pops up and it's this

[mistressofmuses]

I remember someone referring to the "semi-annual ML fan support group" that crops up in the comments when the subject comes up, ha.

It's such a long shadow on fandom as a whole. Super formative to SO many fantasy fans, and such a huge impact on general fandom culture, writing styles, storytelling... But also yeah, kind of a weird black hole. I think there are now a lot more people who aren't familiar with her stuff, and it's weird when you can still see some of the effects.

And uh... yeah. Then it's this.

Unless that Last Herald Mage series eventually actually happens, lmao.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, so much of my formative media is in this weird black hole.

That train wreck of a TV show would be so amazing. No new updates in the past two years, but I am impressed that there are updates as recent as 2022, it's more than I hoped for

[mistressofmuses]

Man, I can't imagine a TV adaptation being anything OTHER than a trainwreck, but the fact that there was talk of it in 2022 shocks me!

[olivermoss]

But it would be a glorious trainwreck... even if some of the discourse would get tedious

[mistressofmuses]

I can only imagine how annoyed I'd be at The Discourse around it... but I also know I'd have *several* boxes of popcorn at the ready to microwave.