Talk:Catherine Asaro

Order of Skolian Empire books
The order for the Skolian Empire books is from the SciFan page, where they attempt to place books in reading order. Maybe someone who actually owns the books can check and if necessary update. Phil 13:33, Dec 22, 2003 (UTC)


 * I've rearranged the order from "chronological by plot" to "published" order. Some of the books, like The Last Hawk and Radiant Seas, actually overlap other books, so it's not completely clear as to how the order should be set "chronologically by plot." --Lowellian 05:46, Mar 1, 2004 (UTC)

That's a shame (and redundant because the publication dates are right there): the idea is to provide a reading order for someone (myself included) who has no clue where to start. Maybe you could have another go, or I can just re-sort them. --Phil 08:14, Mar 1, 2004 (UTC)

Added reading order - which is also on the back of every book Laurellias 20:24, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Added graphic reading order, more based on my feel of the books. Please tell me if you have suggestion of improvement! -- Luneart (talk) 13:25, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Catherine Asaro's official author webpage has a rather different chronology: http://www.catherineasaro.net/works/I — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.62.21.200 (talk) 05:34, 26 December 2013 (UTC)

Could a photo be included in this article? If a public domain photo is unavailable would a link in the article to a photo suffice? For example, http://www.sff.net/people/asaro/Catherine.gif. jg 07:10, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm now looking into the copyrights ... I'm on it, good idea! JamieJones  talk 12:44, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

More awards
Should any more awards or nominations be listed? ..Hugo nominations: “A Roll of the Dice”, “Walk in Silence” ..Nebula finalist: “A Roll of the Dice” ..Sapphire Award: “Moonglow” in Charmed Destinies “Aurora in Four Voices” Catch the Lightning ..Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Best SF Novel: Skyfall Affair de Coeur: Spherical Harmonic The Quantum Rose ..HOMer winner: The Veiled Web “A Roll of the Dice” “Aurora in Four Voices” (Best Novella) ..Analog Readers Choice winner: “A Roll of the Dice” “Aurora in Four Voices” ..PRISM Award: The Veiled Web ..National Readers’ Choice Award: The Veiled Web ..UTC Reader’s Choice Award: Catch the Lightning

(see http://www.sff.net/people/asaro/)

.. jg 23:00, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Uhm, yeah, if you think so, why not make a nice formatted list for the awards section? JamieJones  talk 23:51, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Degree
An M.A. degree is Master of Arts. You can't get those in physics. Rotiro 02:50, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Meh, "Molecudyne Research" doesn't have a Web presence apart from the author bios either. Anyone know what the Molecudyne was? (Hint: Look it up.) Don't mess with the Legend Building, she's a very fun romance writer. "He partook of her pink lacy confection..." ~ Otterpops 13:25, 17 August 2007 (UTC) P.S. The "Harvard MA in Physics" thing is not a misquote.

Merger proposal
The article Saga of the Skolian Empire for 90% repeats the main article's sections on the Saga of the Skolian Empire and the booklist. Therefore I propose to merge it into here. Please let me hear your opinions. Debresser (talk) 19:49, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Done. Content reworked into article. Double redirects checked. Debresser (talk) 20:38, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Prism/Prizma
In the article Jaibriol III the planet is called Prism (Both parents of Jaibriol III are believed to be dead, though they are secretly living with their other children on the planet Prism.), and likewise in the article Sauscony Lahaylia Valdoria Skolia (At the end of the war, she and Jaibriol faked their deaths again to go back into exile and start a stable colony on Prism together with their children, Soz’s brother Althor and a group of Jagernaut volunteers.), but in the article Radiance War it is called Prizma (Sauscony Valdoria survived, actually faking the ship's explosion, and went into hiding to start a new life on the planet Prizma together with her brother, husband and children and a group of Jagernaut volunteers.), while in The Radiant Seas it is Prizm (They relocate, with help, to an Allied-discovered, unknown planet which they call Prizm.). Which is correct? Debresser (talk) 20:22, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I've been told it's Prism, so I've updated the two articles accordingly. Debresser (talk) 10:17, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Told by the author? RP459 (talk) 16:38, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
 * No. Why? Should I ask her? Debresser (talk) 17:59, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I asked this question on another talkpage. The answer was there. But I don't remember now where that was. It is likely it was on one of the three redlinks that you can see in the text of the question. Debresser (talk) 18:01, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Honestly I was just curious, I know that she is one of the few well know authors who will answer her readers and participates on her discussion list once in a while. RP459 (talk) 19:00, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

A.M. vs. M.A.
I noticed in the edit summary of one of the edits today that it is am A.M. and not a M.A. and that "we have been here before"...  I do not see anything on the talk page so I was wondering if you could explain as it likely happened through edits rather than on the talk page. Thanks RP459 (talk) 16:38, 7 September 2009 (UTC)


 * An allusion to the subject is here in . Debresser (talk) 18:13, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
 * See this Harvard link where it says: "Some Harvard degree abbreviations appear to be backwards because they follow the tradition of Latin degree names. ... Likewise A.M., equivalent to the Master of Arts (M.A.), is Latin for “artium magister”;" Debresser (talk) 18:17, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for posting that! RP459 (talk) 18:59, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
 * My pleasure. Debresser (talk) 19:10, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Articles for deletion/Roca Skolia (2nd nomination)
FYI. Ongoing AFD. Ikip 19:28, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

EL
I was wondering why the external link to the science fiction encyclopedia for Asaro was reverted. It seems a reasonable link. If no one objects, I'd like to add it back in.

74.107.127.25 (talk) 05:06, 27 July 2011 (UTC)


 * The same just happened on David Weber also. Let's invite the editor who did this to comment here. Debresser (talk) 08:08, 27 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The links cannot be considered in isolation - there was a massive spam campaign involving these links late last night (UTC) involving 30+ abusive (see WP:SOCK) (sock|meat)puppet IP addresses adding one link each in three hours. . MER-C 08:55, 27 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I noticed they came from different IP's, and I suspected as much. Thanks for your reply. Debresser (talk) 09:01, 27 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, I think I'll add it back in, then. 74.107.127.25 (talk) 22:57, 27 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Now that's an interesting interpretation of this discussion. :) Debresser (talk) 23:10, 27 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I may have misinterpreted the comment above. I assumed it meant the abuse was in removing the links. But if it's the reverse, the the spam campaign was in adding them, we can delete it again. It's not an important link. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JacDT (talk • contribs) 12:20, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry about my signature confusion in the above comment; I forget to login. Will try to keep consistent here. About sfcrowsnest: they are a reputable site, well respected in the sf field. It looks like they are developing an SF encyclopedia.  As far as I can tell, the links they added to the articles for various author's pages here are meant to coordinate their Wiki with this one. It looks like they weren't meant to be abusive. 74.107.127.25 (talk) 01:02, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Order of Skolian Empire books, Redux
If you look at the infoboxes of the individual novels in the Skolian Empire series, you'll soon see that the Preceded by/Followed by titles aren't consistent, although they generally follow the date of publication order. Additionally, novellas, etc. are sometimes shown and sometimes not shown. Examples follow:


 * Primary Inversion, the first novel based on publication order, shows no Preceded by (although it's actually preceded by the novelette Light and Shadow) and Followed by is Catch the Lightning. Catch the Lightning shows Primary Inversion as the Preceded by and The Last Hawk as the Followed by.  So far, so good - everything comports with the date of publication order (note that Catch the Lightning is the last novel based on the internal chronology).


 * However, when we look at The Last Hawk, it shows no Preceded by and the Followed by is Ascendant Sun, neither of which match either ordering system. Ascendant Sun shows The Last Hawk as the Preceded by and The Moon's Shadow as the Followed by.  Here again, neither of these match either ordering system.


 * Moving on to The Radiant Seas, the book after The Last Hawk based on publication order, it shows Primary Inversion as the Preceded by and The Shadowed Heart as the Followed by. Suddenly, the linking is governed by internal chronology order (and both The Radiant Seas and Catch the Lightning show Primary Inversion as the Preceded by).  Further, The Shadowed Heart is only a novella not separately published.


 * The Quantum Rose, the book after Ascendant Sun based on publication order, doesn't show any Preceded by or Followed by at all.


 * The next book, Spherical Harmonic, shows The Quantum Rose as it's Preceded by and The Moon's Shadow as the Followed by, which is consistent with both ordering schemes.


 * The Moon's Shadow shows Spherical Harmonic as the Preceded by and Diamond Star as the Followed by, which is another internal chronology ordering.


 * Skyfall shows The Moon's Shadow as the Preceded by and Schism as the Followed by, and now we're back to the publication date ordering.


 * Schism shows Skyfall as the Preceded by and The Final Key as the Followed by, and The Final Key shows Schism as the Preceded by and The Ruby Dice as the Followed by, which is consistent with both ordering schemes.


 * Finally, The Ruby Dice shows Diamond Star as the Preceded by and Catch the Lightning as the Followed by, putting us once again back in the internal chronology ordering mode.

You can see how confusing all this is!

All of the Preceded by/Followed links should be made to be consistent with a single ordering scheme. I would suggest the ordering by date of publication, but would be willing to entertain the internal chronology order as an alternative.

Additionally, linkages (or the lack thereof) to novellas, etc. should be consistent. Here, as I suspect is the general practice, I would suggest that only novels be linked.

Comments? --BehemothCat (talk) 09:45, 23 August 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree with you that publication order is the most logical one. As to whether to link to novella also or just novels, here I am uncertain. Debresser (talk) 07:54, 26 August 2012 (UTC)


 * I think that before deciding on an order, a question should be asked: is the page for new readers? in which case the publication order is a logic one, to entertain the newbie as much as possible. However, if it's for a reader who is looking for the books (s)he may have missed or for a reading order of the global story, it's not going to fit very well his/her needs. This being said, I do think the publication order is an okay one, as it cover every book (but does not avoid jumps). Maybe the readers of the book's pages should be advised to have a look at Asaro's page, for more complete list, reading order,...?
 * One more thing: creating a new section for the order of the books (below the first one) was not a very good idea, I did not see this talk for several months :/ Luneart (talk) 16:08, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

I actually asked Catherine Asaro on her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Catherine.Asaro Unfortunatly I have no way of linking directly to that post. Here is her response:

Catherine Asaro Yes, that would do it! Catch the Lightning is actually last in the chronology of the books currently published. They are all stand alone (or at least, I tried to make them that way,), so it isn't as important to read them in order. But still, it helps for some of them. I'd suggest the following order:


 * Primary Inversion
 * The Radiant Seas
 * The Last Hawk (stand alone, but good to read before Ascendant Sun)
 * Ascendant Sun
 * The Moon's Shadow
 * The Quantum Rose
 * Spherical Harmonic
 * The Ruby Dice
 * Carnelians

Some other books which are mostly stand alone


 * Skyfall (about the parents of the characters in the above books)
 * Schism and Triad (takes place when Soz is a cadet at the military academy)
 * Diamond Star (takes place after Spherical Harmonic, but is a stand alone with less relation to the other stories above. And of course Catch the Lightning, which takes places about 38 years after Carnelians


 * The City of Cries (currently available as an eBook as well as in hardcover anthology). This is one of my best. It's a novella that is only tangentially connected to the above, but takes place in that universe.

Not sure how to intergrate that in? Make a 3rd section that says Author Suggested Order? Her webpage has a Chronological, Alphabetical, and Published order. Notice that the above list does not match with either of the two lists that are already listed on this page. Mpking (talk) 17:51, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I think a 3rd section would be an overkill. 2 lists are already taking up a lot of space and does nothing to draw the reader's eye towards it. Maybe I'm partial, but I think graphs would be better. It would be best if wikipedia had a text graph tool like the dot tool from graphviz, that would make for more appealing orders with easy edition. Another solution would be to ditch the main character names and all information in the lists, and lay them in a 2 or 3 columns table. Then, put back the information on given works via a list of those, or footnotes, or ...Luneart (talk) 09:14, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

I updated my 'visual reading order' graphic, as I had a few more books left to read. It is really difficult for me to find some of the works, so the short stories/novellas in particular are difficult to place adequately. If you have any insight please tell me! Luneart (talk) 09:14, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Soul of Light?
Is there a reason the story "Soul of Light" is excluded from the Skolian Empire list? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.6.206.32 (talk) 00:41, 28 December 2013 (UTC)

Seeing no response to this question, I went ahead and added it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.6.206.32 (talk) 17:18, 11 January 2014 (UTC)


 * After reading your first post, I asked Catherine, but didn't receive a reply. So this is fine with me. Debresser (talk) 20:28, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Unfortunately, the last link was found incorrect. Debresser (talk) 11:59, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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1975-1995
She’s done a lot, but the article doesn’t say when: until the novels in 1996. I’m sure the “she is”-es (maths coach, SIGMA writer, president, +++) cover most of it; but wouldn’t the article be nicer with some dates? MBG02 (talk) 13:20, 9 August 2018 (UTC)