Talk:Christopher Stasheff

Saint Vidicon
I've created an article on Saint Vidicon. Please feel free to edit or correct it as needed. --KNHaw 19:12, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Escape Velocity
I'm going to move Escape Velocity from the Warlock of Gramarye to Other Books because it has no correlation to the actual warlock series Ergna (talk) 03:06, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually, it does. It tells the story of how Gramarye was founded, as well as featuring an ancestor of Rod Gallowglass. However, the connection is remote enough (in time) that the removal makes sense; its connections to other series related to the Warlock of Gramarye (the Warlock's Heirs, Rogue Wizard, and Starship Troupers) are equally strong (or tenuous). Basically, all these works, and Saint Vidicon to the Rescue as well, are set in a common future (though not all in the same time period). BPK (talk) 05:28, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Notable
I can't find any news sources which make Stasheff notable, despite the "keep" on the deletion discussion. That discussion was all about how he ought to be notable. I think we should merge to List of science fiction novels. BE——Critical __Talk 17:55, 12 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Your opinion is noted, but the issue is already decided, and your viewpoint was not sustained. It's time for you to drop it. BPK (talk) 15:37, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Source
I found a source http://www.enmu.edu/eastern/?p=4#CS — Preceding unsigned comment added by Becritical (talk • contribs) 04:22, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

Sources for notability
During the 2010 deletion debate, an anonymous editor posted. "As for citing sources, what kind of sources do you need? What, exactly, need to be documented? Tell us (his fans) what his entry needs, and we'll add it!" The appropriate guidelines are Notability (people), particularly WP:AUTHOR. As you will read, what is needed is a collective body of work, that has been the subject of an independent book or feature-length film, or of multiple independent periodical articles or reviews. With 40 novels published, logic suggests the sources are out there; it is just a matter of digging them out. HairyWombat 18:50, 28 September 2011 (UTC)

General descriptive notes - amended
This section was deleted in November 2010. The general gist is valid but how is this verified without enormous amounts of references to each of the books ? (and there are many).

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Stasheff's stories could be categorized as "medieval fantasy"; they are filled with sorcery, monsters, castles, etc. Stasheff has written several series of novels featuring a wizard or warlock as the main character. However, in at least the Warlock series, the "fantasy" is actually psionic or esper powers: telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, psychometry, etc., with time-travelling enemies, and the protagonist's best friend is a high-tech computer AI in a robotic equine body.

The central theme running through all of Stasheff's novels is the spreading of democracy (constitutional republic) as a form of government. Some of his novels have a religious tinge to them. The plot of almost every one of his novels is about a main character causing a change (whether a revolution or coup) in a society from monarchy, feudalism, or any other form of government to a more democratic and populist style of government.


 * It should be noted that many of Stasheff's books were banned in the Soviet Union during the 1970s & 80s (too pro-democracy). Samizdat (illegal, underground hand-typed copies) of his work like this circulated for years until the U.S.S.R. fell.159.83.196.1 (talk) 00:20, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Many of Stasheff's books seek to educate the reader without the reader knowing. He signals this to the reader through the character of Cholly Barman in Escape Velocity: an outlaw educator who believes that people are best taught when they don't know they're being taught. Stasheff manages to pack ideas like Hegelian dialect, mediaeval forms of government and theory of poetry into his books, more or less thinly disguised as entertainment. The Warlock Rock involves constant punning on the names of famous rock-and-roll musicians and bands, and Warlock and Son has several chapters in which the happenings reference folk songs.

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suggested redraft

A central theme running through both DDT/Warlock series is the spreading of democracy (constitutional republic) as a form of government. The plot of the majority of DDT/Warlock/Troupers novels is about a main character causing a change (whether a revolution or coup) in a society so as to move from from monarchy, feudalism, or any other form of government to a more democratic and populist style of government. As regards the Wizard in Rhyme series there is a strong endorsement of benevolent monarchy versus the formats found in the other realms.

The DDT/Warlock series involves an unusual triple of modern futuristic (e.g time-travelling, advanced AI robotics, psionics & telepathy) versus mediaeval (courts, chivalry, castles, feudalism, peasants, belief in magic, etc) and actual wizardry or sorcerer abilities  (successful magic, fairies, monsters etc).

The Wizard in Rhyme series also uses the mediaeval plus real-magic formula with a touch of 'twin-earth' to allow the introduction of new characters and formats. Nojoking (talk) 11:54, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Systematic ?
There is an old saying that "sometimes what we actually do is not as important as what we are perceived to do" ... I think it is sad that an internationally recognized author with a body of more than 30 years of work in several languages can even be nominated for deletion under the "Notability" (read "Worthiness") test, but I think is EVEN SADDER that this same author's own webmaster can "perceive" the following: "Recently, Wikipedia has been systematically removing their entries on Christopher Stasheff's books, so we've responded by relocating that information here!" Note that I do not think it is as bad as he says, but at the same time the infamous ongoing battle of Wikipedians has claimed another victim of perceptions. Sigh... 159.83.196.1 (talk) 00:47, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
 * These were deleted a while back, but if a few good reviews can be found (which is likely for Stasheff) or commentary, then there's no reason why they can't be reinstated in the future. Personally, I'm inclined to focus on getting sources to establish series articles, rather than individual book ones, which I see as just as useful and easier to do.
 * I wouldn't be worried about this article being deleted, though - Stasheff is clearly a significant fantasy author. :) - Bilby (talk) 02:17, 30 January 2013 (UTC)