The alt.books.david-weber FAQ

Going Up in a Ball of Plasma or
the alt.books.david-weber FAQ
   Archivist: Cynthia Gonsalves (cynthia1960@attbi.com)
Last Revision Date: 10 December 2001 (version 1.5)
Last Revision by: Daniel Bernstein (Deputy Mad Archivist)
   Note: This document is primarily housed at:
http://www.warriorgoddess.org/weberfaq.html
Mirrors are available at:
http://weberfaq.thefifthimperium.com/ courtesy of Joe Buckley.
http://www.nimitz.net/weberfaq.html courtesy of Randy and Anne Kaelber.
There is a non-US mirror site available with the generous assistance of Mike Richards. The URL is: http://www.z9m9z.demon.co.uk/weberfaq.htm.
   Hi there and welcome to alt.books.david-weber!
Table of Contents
1) Introduction (history, partial cast of characters, general guidelines)
2) Books, series, and other published miscellany
3) When, oh when, is the next book coming out?
4) Is David doing book tours?
5) In what order should I read his books (by series)?
6) Basic Netiquette or How to Save the Weapons for the Fictional Enemy
7) The Thread that Cannot/Will Not Die: Casting the Honor Harrington Movie
8) Spoiler Protection
9) Other Authors
10) Other DW Resources on the Net/Web
11) Miscellaneous Stuff
12) The Filks
13) The Great ABD-W Typo Hunt
14) Frogs and Buzzards and Tortoises, oh my!
15) ABDW Acronyms
16) Thanks/Acknowledgements for FAQ help

1) Introduction (history, partial cast of characters, general guidelines)

1.1) History

   I'm willing to court graser fire, missile pods and other flamage and release a FAQ for the new recruits. Please feel free to email me with suggestions and corrections at the address given at the beginning of this article.
   Through the benevolence of the Usenet Deities, abd-w was formed in June of 1997 (June 12th to be exact, and the person who initiated the ng creation was David Ball) so that Weber fans wouldn't have to wade through the masses of postings in rec.arts.sf.written looking for tidbits. Of course, that hasn't stopped many of us from lurking and posting in rasfw, but now we have a place in cyberspace to call our own. It seems that abd-w is actually fairly high traffic for a group in the alt.books hierarchy, we are a chatty bunch, even when there's no new stuff out. Right now, it happens to be one of the busiest groups on my watch list!
   Also, abd-w has been blessed with the presence of the Master of Honor's Universe himself (aka Big Wizard Dave, Himself, MWW, HWKABSM (see ABDW acronyms), etc.) when he's not working on his next anxiously awaited release. Other members of Dave's family or friends have been known to post as well, and are sometimes privy to and allowed to give out tantalizing little news releases (news releases that aren't allowed are a form of snerking (see section 14 for a link to the ROMANCE web page, which explains the concept)).

1.2) Other Important People
   Family and friends of David Weber who play in our cybersandbox include:

Mike Weber-yes, they're related. Mike's four years older than David and doesn't let his younger brother the author forget it.

Sue Phillips-David's sister-in-law.

   New recruits may wonder who Navbuoy was:

   David Weber delurked briefly just after the release of Echoes of Honor to tell us all that his good friend Richard Maxwell, who used the screen name Navbuoy and was a prolific contributor to abd-w, had been killed in a skydiving accident on September 17th, 1998.
   Richard had recently won an official red shirt when his namesake character was killed off in Echoes of Honor; David told us that Richard was laughing his butt off in the spring when he saw the manuscript. He also cheerfully bore the brunt of all the lawyer jokes thrown at him for being our resident legal eagle and gave us the background on how he earned the nickname of the Man Who Dropped the Spanner in real life.
   Richard also had done some postings on Baen's Bar, but abd-w was his major hangout. Navbuoy's posts were universally considered worth reading for their wit and skill. His contributions to our portion of fandom are sorely missed by all of us in the newsgroup as well as by the denizens of Aegys' discussion board.
   To absent friends, Richard! And his Ranger comrades remind us that Rangers always lead the way....

1.3) General Guidelines

   Discussion of the Weber books, especially when a book comes out, can come at a fast and furious pace and often features attention to minutiae. Some of us have found typos to nitpick, and as a reward, it has been suggested that the nitpickers get the proverbial red shirt (remember the anonymous Classic Trek person who inspires the phrase, "He's dead, Jim") and become part of the casualty list of the inevitable death ride or shootout in the next book (a practice also known as Tuckerization in fannish lore). There's a section later on in the FAQ that has the most egregious typos found to date. Happy hunting, hope you look good in red!

1.4) Fanfic

   Note to the newsgroup: A recent inquiry about the implications of posting fanfiction and story ideas in the group brought up some serious issues that needed to be addressed promptly. David Weber himself was kind enough to delurk at the behest of some of us and gave me a prompt response to the ramifications of fanfiction and story idea postings on his work. Since this comes from the author himself, I believe that David's wishes ought to be respected and that we should not post fanfiction and story ideas to abd-w. Failure to abide by these guidelines could make it more difficult for David to continue with the stories we all enjoy so much and we would no longer have the pleasure of his company when his schedule permits. Let it be written, let it be so. Ken Nixon suggests that "In case someone didn't read the FAQ, and DID post fanfic, I suggest that you recommend that EVERYONE IGNORE IT! It will make it much easier for DW to ignore it if there aren't 10 million complaint posts from others....." Probably a good guideline to work from, we haven't had a real problem yet, but it's better to be safe.
   David's message follows:

   For general information (ie, YOU decide what to do with the info, Oh Archivist), fanfic poses all sorts of problems for an author, and not just of the "how dare you publish in MY universe" sort of hurt feelings.
   As Mike pointed out in his post, it leads to a situation in which an author can be accused of "ripping off" someone else's idea, which can both impugn his/her honesty and even lead to ugly courtroom scenes as some non-pro attempts to sue because his or her original idea was "stolen" by a pro. (This has actually happened.) It would also be possible for a pro actually TO rip off an idea, perhaps without even realizing that he or she has done so. (I have never seen any actual documentation of such an event, but I HAVE seen a couple of stories, by authors who shall remain nameless, in which I personally suspect that that is precisely what happened.)
   Even more importantly, the publication (even in electronic form) of fiction based on a writer's work, without the specific, documented permission of said writer (on a case-by-case basis) can void the writer's copyright. This has actually happened, and does not represent mere paranoid fantasy on my part. Nor am I the only writer concerned about it. Misty Lackey, for example, has a legal contract form drawn up which anyone publishing fanfic in her universe(s) is required to sign and return to her before they may use any of her material. (I have a copy of it thumbtacked to my wall for use as a model if I ever decide to go that way.) Anyone who publishes WITHOUT said signed contract is in violation of her copyright and she will, if it comes to her attention, take legal action against them. (Mind, I suspect many authors in such a position might take some pains to avoid having the unapproved fanfic come to his/her attention if he/she believes the fans' intentions were pure, but there is a limit to how many times someone can look the other way and still convince a judge, at need, that his/her ignorance was genuine.)
   I deeply regret that this should be the case, as fanfic is often at least as imaginative and enjoyable as anything the writer who created the character/universe/whatever is likely to turn out. It is also rather flattering to an author to know that other people want to come over and play at his house, as it were. Unfortunately, the situation has become such that a writer cannot allow the free use of his universe without risking the loss of his own rights to it, and so I must regretfully ask that no fanfic appear on this group. Should that happen, I would have only two choices: (a) to take legal action (which I would hate to do and would endeavor to make as painless as possible for all concerned), or (b) leave the group and not return, as the only way I could avoid taking legal action NOW and still be in a position to defend my copyright down the road at need would be to avoid learning that the fiction was being published, electronically or otherwise. Since I would like to lurk and keep an eye on what's happening whenever projects (and things like weddings and house buying expeditions) allow me the time, I would very much appreciate it if it didn't happen here.
   Again, my sincere regrets at having to take this position. I checked with my attorney when the matter first came up for me a couple of years ago, however, and he confirms what Baen, Misty, Roger Zelazny, Fred Saberhagen, and several other pros had all told me on previous occasions. With that much experienced opinion on one side of the question, I see no choice but to believe they know what they're talking about.
   Take Care,
   David

2) Books, series, and other published miscellany
   David Weber's published books to date (all are available through amazon.com or bug your local bookstore). Hardback editions are specially flagged, all dates are for US/Canadian releases only.

2.1. Book info

2.1.1. Honor Harrington

2.1.1.1. On Basilisk Station (Baen, 04/1993, ISBN 0-671-72163-1, special paperback reprint 10/1998, ISBN 0-671-57772-7(out of print as of 09/1999), hardback release 02/1999, ISBN 0-671-57793-X)

2.1.1.2. Honor of the Queen (Baen, 06/1993, ISBN 0-671-72172-0)

2.1.1.3. The Short Victorious War (Baen, 04/1994, ISBN 0-671-87596-5)

2.1.1.4. Field of Dishonor (Baen, 10/1994, ISBN 0-671-87624-4, hardback special edition 10/1999, ISBN 0-671-57820-0)

2.1.1.5. Flag in Exile (Baen, 09/1995, ISBN 0-671-87681-3)

2.1.1.6. Honor Among Enemies (Baen, hardback 06/1996, ISBN 0-671-87723-2, paperback 06/1997, ISBN 0-671-87783-6)

2.1.1.7. In Enemy Hands (Baen, hardback 08/1997, ISBN 0-671-87793-3, paperback 10/1998, ISBN 0-671-57770-0)

2.1.1.8. More Than Honor (anthology with David Drake and S. M. Stirling, Baen, 01/1998, ISBN 0-671-87857-3)

2.1.1.9. Echoes of Honor (Baen, hardback 10/1998, ISBN 0-671-87892-1, paperback 10/1999, ISBN 0-671-57833-2)

2.1.1.10. Worlds of Honor (anthology with Linda Evans, Jane Lindskold, and Roland Green, Baen, hardback 02/1999, ISBN 0-671-57786-7)

2.1.1.11. Ashes of Victory (Baen, 03/2000 hardback, ISBN 0-671-57854-5, 03/2001 paperback, 0-671-31977-9)

2.1.1.12. Changer of Worlds (anthology with Eric Flint, 03/2001 hardback, ISBN 0-671-31975-2, 02/2002 paperback, 0-7434-3520-6)

2.1.2. Dahak/Fifth Imperium

2.1.2.1. Mutineer's Moon (Baen, 10/1994 reissue, ISBN 0-671-72085-6)

2.1.2.2. The Armageddon Inheritance (Baen, 10/1994, ISBN 0-671-72197-6)

2.1.2.3. Heirs of Empire (Baen, 03/1996, ISBN 0-671-87707-0)

2.1.3. The Lay of Bahzell Bloody-Hand

2.1.3.1. Oath of Swords (Baen, 02/1995, ISBN 0-671-87642-2)

2.1.3.2. The War God's Own (Baen, 05/1998 hardback, ISBN 0-671-87873-5, 02/1999 paperback, ISBN 0-671-57792-1)

2.1.4. Path of the Fury (Baen, 12/1992, ISBN 0-671-72147-X)

2.1.5. Starfire (books written with Steve White)

2.1.5.1. Crusade (Baen, 03/1992 reprint, ISBN 0-671-72111-9)

2.1.5.2. Insurrection (Baen, 03/1993, ISBN 0-671-72024-4)

2.1.5.3. In Death Ground (Baen, 05/1997, ISBN 0-671-87779-8)

2.1.5.4. The Shiva Option (Baen, 02/2002 hardback, ISBN 0-671-31848-9)

2.1.6. The Apocalypse Troll (Baen, 01/1999 hardback, ISBN 0-671-57782-4, 01/2000 paperback, 0-671-57845-6)

2.1.7. The March Series (books written with John Ringo)

2.1.7.1. March Upcountry (Baen, 05/2001 hardback, ISBN 0-671-31985-X, 05/2002 paperback, 0-7434-3538-9)

2.1.7.2. March to the Sea (Baen, 08/2001 hardback, ISBN 0-671-31826-8, 08/2002 paperback, ISBN not yet known)

2.1.8. The Excalibur Alternative (Baen, 01/2002 hardback, ISBN 0-671-31860-8)

2.1.9. The Warmasters (anthology with David Drake and Eric Flint, Baen, 02/2002 hardback, ISBN 0-7434-3534-6)

2.1.10. Other Short Stories

2.1.10.1. "Miles to Go" in Bolos anthology #3, The Triumphant (Pocket, 09/1995, ISBN 0-671-87683-X)

2.1.10.2. "The Traitor" and "A Time to Kill" in Bolos anthology #4, Last Stand (Baen, 03/1997, ISBN 0-671-87760-7)

2.1.10.3. "The Captain from Kirkbean" in Alternate Generals, (Baen, edited by Martin Greenberg, Roland Green, and Harry Turtledove, 08/1998, ISBN 0-671-87886-7)

2.1.10.4. "A Certain Talent" in The Williamson Effect, (Tor, edited by Roger Zelazny, 1996, ISBN 0-312-85748-9, out of print as of 09/1999)

2.2. Subject header tags (got any better suggestions, let me know!)

   It's not always convenient to write out the entire title when referring to a book. These are the abbreviations that have been picked up by the members of the group. It has been suggested that both the series number and title abreviation be used for easier remembering, although where it's not ambiguous, the title alone is usually used.

2.2.1. Honor Harrington

2.2.1.1. HH1/OBS for On Basilisk Station

2.2.1.2. HH2/HotQ for Honor of the Queen

2.2.1.3. HH3/SVW for The Short Victorious War

2.2.1.4. HH4/FoD for Field of Dishonor

2.2.1.5. HH5/FiE for Flag in Exile

2.2.1.6. HH6/HAE for Honor Among Enemies

2.2.1.7. HH7/IEH for In Enemy Hands

2.2.1.8. HH/MTH for the anthology More than Honor

2.2.1.9. HH8/EoH for Echoes of Honor

2.2.1.10. HH/WoH for the anthology Worlds of Honor

2.2.1.11. HH9/AoV for Ashes of Victory

2.2.1.12. HH/Changer or CoW for Changer of Worldsfs

2.2.2. Dahak

2.2.2.1. D/MM for Mutineer's Moon

2.2.2.2. D/AI for The Armageddon Inheritance

2.2.2.3. D/HoE for Heirs of Empire

2.2.3. The Lay of Bahzell Bloody-Hand

2.2.3.1. O1/OoS for Oath of Swords

2.2.3.2. O2/WGO for The War God's Own

2.2.4. Path of the Fury

2.2.4.1. PotF or Fury-it's short, sweet, and to the point

2.2.5. Starfire

2.2.5.1. S/C for Crusade

2.2.5.2. S/I for Insurrection

2.2.5.3. S/IDG for In Death Ground

2.2.5.4. S/TSO for The Shiva Option

2.2.6. The Apocalypse Troll

2.2.6.1. AT or Troll for The Apocalypse Troll

2.2.7. The March Series

2.2.7.1. M/MU for March Upcountry

2.2.7.2. M/MttS for March to the Sea

2.2.8. The Excalibur Alternative

2.2.8.1. TEA. Thirsty, anyone?

3) When, oh when, is the next book coming out?

3.1 All of the early HH books are being re-released in hardback. Rumour (based on the December issue of Locus) has it that the next one is The Short Victorious War, due in June 2002.

3.2. The next HH book, tentatively titled War of Honor, is rumoured to be coming out about July 2002.

3.3. David has said that the next book on his schedule will be in Norfressa with Bahzell -- but he hasn't yet started writing it, so he may get sidetracked. Let's hope he doesn't...

4) Is David doing book tours?

4.1. The book tours happen when David isn't writing. David's doing a lot of that now, so don't expect much.

4.2. David was the Guest of Honor (apt title, yes?) at CopperCon in Scottsdale, AZ in September of 1999.

5) In what order should I read his books (by series)?

5.1. Honor Harrington

5.1.1. Order of publication seems to be the best way to do this. This series really does need to be read in order, because there are *tons* of references to past events in the later books.

5.1.2. The anthology More Than Honor should probably be read after In Enemy Hands, the 7th novel. Even though there are no stories featuring Honor herself, one of the stories (S.M. Stirling's) would be a spoiler for parts of In Enemy Hands and the subject of Weber's novella was first alluded to in Field of Dishonor.

5.1.3. The second anthology Worlds of Honor is less spoilerish for the books, but perhaps waiting until after Field of Dishonor would be best.

5.1.4. I wouldn't read the Changer of Worlds anthology until after Ashes of Victory. One of the stories David wrote there is a story that's skipped over in AoV, and gives away significant events in that book.

5.2. Dahak/Fifth Imperium

5.2.1. I suggest reading them in order of publication, Mutineer's Moon, The Armageddon Inheritance, then Heirs of Empire.

5.3. Path of the Fury

5.3.1. There is just one book to date in this universe.

5.4. The Lay of Bahzell Bloody-Hand

5.4.1. Oath of Swords, then The War God's Own.

5.5. Starfire

5.5.1. Dan Cannata the Offog suggested that following the chronology in this universe instead of publication order is the way to go....makes sense to me, so here goes: Crusade, In Death Ground, The Shiva Option, and then Insurrection.

5.6. The March Series

5.6.1. March Upcountry, then March to the Sea.

6) Basic Netiquette or How to Save the Weapons for the Fictional Enemy

6.1. Navbuoy was a master at wittily disagreeing with people's points without resorting to personal attacks; we can do well to honor Richard's memory by emulating his style.

6.2. Kate Collins recommends visiting alt.callahans and reading their FAQ on flamewars.

6.3. Flame War Prevention aka Do Not Feed The Trolls 101

6.3.1. Basic Definition

6.3.1.1. Flame wars are nasty, brutish things. They clog up the incoming message spool and distort the meaningful signal to noise ratio beyond recognition. Old friends get frustrated and leave, possible new friends get scared away and never come back.

6.3.1.2. They are not to be confused with spirited, yet polite, arguments. If we couldn't debate various aspects of the Mad Wizard's works or even have fun with off-topic discussions, what good would the newsgroup be?

6.3.2 What characterizes a flame war?

6.3.2.1. Most of the time, they are abetted by a troll, who is a person who absolutely delights in escalating responses to real or imagined slights and insists that he or she absolutely, positively, has to get the last word in edgewise.

6.3.2.2. Often, the use of profanity reaches critical mass, and even people who aren't usually bothered by those words observe that things have gone too far.

6.3.2.3. In heated arguments, one participant forcefully objects to another participant's arguments and opinions. In flame wars, the insults are directed at a person, rather than at a person's opinions (thanks to the Wombat Woman for this definition).

6.3.3. So, how do you put out a smoldering or worse yet, rapidly burning flame war?

6.3.3.1. Watch your language in your postings. Some groups tolerate a certain level of profanity, but abd-w since its inception has been a newsgroup where George Carlin's seven words and other related invective have not been put in play very often.

6.3.3.2. Unless you modify the header in your message with something like "X-no-archive = yes", your posting gets archived by DejaNews and/or related search engines. Do you *really* want all of cyberspace who's curious enough to search out read your profile to note you as a person to be avoided because your messages are so filled with nastiness? Should electrons be diverted to enshrine your incoherent screeds?

6.3.3.3. If you're the recipient of flamage, you've got a much harder job than the troll who is wasting bandwidth in the attack. You've got to *not* respond. Bite your lip. Sit on your hands. Close your newsreader, turn off your computer, and walk away if you have to. Trolls thrive on the quickly dashed off response filled with emotion. They aren't susceptible to elegantly reasoned out appeals to amend their bad behavior.

6.3.3.3.1. Think of this as a high-tech adaptation of the Amish practice of shunning. You ignore the offender until one of two events occur. Either the troll moves on to more flammable newsgroups, or somewhat less likely (but a ethically superior event), notices that its bad behavior has cost it the companionship of its former comrades. If by some happy chance, the recovered troll goes back to posting interesting and enjoyable messages, welcome it back by responding in a similar fashion. It knows it crossed the line, and it has paid the price.

6.3.3.4. I've noticed several instances in my time online where newcomers to groups do something that violates the group's norms, get *plonked* by the regulars, but sit back and figure out where they messed up. They amend their styles and become welcome members of the group.

6.3.3.5. As for the unrepentant trolls, no big loss if they leave. Really. They may or may not get a clue, but you don't have to invest any psychic, spiritual, mental, or electrical energy on them. Only time will tell for them.

6.3.3.6. Killfiles (if your newsreader supports them) and marking the offending thread "to be ignored" are good things. Use these features. If you don't smell the smoke, you won't get upset and fan the flames higher.

6.3.4. If you find yourself on the sidelines watching, you've got to follow the guidelines in 5.3.3 too. If you want to support the person or persons attacked, a brief email off the group, especially if you respect how the person is not making matters worse, will probably encourage them and help them persevere. Publicly taking sides against the troll ends up feeding its sense of "me against a cold cruel world" and things get worse.

6.3.5. Don't think that we are advocating mindless conformity and sycophancy here, because we're not. We've had truly free- wheeling discussions, and people have been quite passionate in defense of their views. The goal should be always to avoid personal attacks and accept the fact that not every person in the group is in complete alignment with your world view. We're all brought together here because we enjoy the Mad Wizard's works, and while we're on this common ground, we're all welcome to pitch our tents and stay a while.

6.4. Wombat Flinging

6.4.1. In a past flame war, Wombat Woman flung herself into the fray as a warning to the group that things were going too far. Her commentary about this series of events is as follows:

6.4.1.1. I admit to a bit of concern about wombat FLINGing. This is something that apparently started in jest while I was off the NG for a couple of weeks. My return and resulting discovery of the thread coincided with the recent flame war, and so the wombat was flung. Now what? While I don't have an objection to playing referee, I'd rather not become a NG nazi--or a self-righteous troll.

6.4.1.2. In the most recent situation, I did not FLING myself into the fray until two separate and non-flaming NG members suggested it. I limited myself to a single posting in which I attempted to define non-acceptable behaviour. I attempted to inject a little bit of humor in hopes of dampening the flame.

6.4.1.3. *If* I ever resort to FLINGing again, I will again wait until other NG members suggest it. I will only post once. I will attempt to use humor to defuse the situation. My purpose in posting will be to let the troll(s) know that such behaviour is not accepted on abd-w and to remind other NG members Not To Feed the Trolls.

6.4.2. If someone on the ng mentions flinging the wombat, this is where we came up with this tactic. Flamewar DEFCON protocols are as follows:

6.4.2.1. Five is peacetime

6.4.2.2. Four is be alert

6.4.2.3. Three is be worried

6.4.2.4. Two is wombat lock and load

6.4.2.5. One is Wombat Attack Inbound

6.4.3. Wombat Woman is honorary captain of the FLINGers, but any member of the ng should be able to take up marsupials in defense of the collective peace.

7) The Thread that Cannot/Will Not Die: Casting the Honor Harrington Movie

7.1. Every newsgroup has its version of the endless thread, ours seems to be casting of the Honor movie/miniseries.

7.2. There is a website set up for voting on the casting call at http://www.nimitz.net/honor_harrington/. Thanks to Randy and Anne Kaelber for putting this all together.

7.3. There's a new runner-up to this category -- the gun thread. Several threads seem to degenerate into either arguments about carrying guns or comparisons between the weight of metal different people carry. This may be part of what makes us such an unusually civil newsgroup.

8) Spoiler Protection

8.1. Not all of us in the newsgroup are able to get (and devour) David's latest works promptly (e.g. if you live in small towns or outside of the North American book distribution system). Others wait until the hardback books get released in paperback before they can join in the discussions.

8.2. Many of us participate in other newsgroups and mailing lists where spoiler protection is invoked. With Baen's practice of posting a substantial number of sample chapters online well before release of the books, the possibility of inflicting spoilage on people who want to devour the book all at once upon release or are waiting for paperback release has now gotten too high. If you want to share spoilerish commentary with the newsgroup, it would be appreciated if you to note that clearly in the subject header with a [spoiler] tag and include 25 blank lines and a control-L before any of your comments or quotes of other people's postings.

8.2.1. Someone recently quoted some material found on a web site without clearly noting spoilage content and many of us were not happy with the result. Con reports seem to be especially suspect.

8.2.2. And of course, all the spoiler tags and blank lines are useless if your subject heading is a blatant spoiler! Discretion is the better part of valor.

9) Other Authors

9.1. Who is Lois McMaster Bujold, and why are so many folks in a newsgroup dedicated to David Weber talking about her?

9.1.1. Lois McMaster Bujold is another of Baen Books' top authors and a Hugo and Nebula winner for installments of her Miles Vorkosigan saga. There seems to be a fairly large overlap between Bujold fandom and Weberphiles, so even though Bujold discussions are technically off-topic, the newsgroup consensus seems to be tolerating them with the addition of a [bujold] tag in the subject line to allow folks to filter or killfile those discussions. Further Bujold fannish information can be found at http://www.dendarii.com.

9.2. Who is John Ringo?

9.2.1. John Ringo is an a.b.d-w/Baen's Bar mustang. He's been a regular contributor both in our newsgroup and on Baen's Bar for quite a while. Then he published his own first book, A Hymn Before Battle, with Baen in August 2000. He has, as of this writing, four books published, including two co-authored with David, and more on the way. John also remains an active participant in a.b.d-w. John's novels are considered on-topic in abdw. You can find more information about John on his web page at http://www.johnringo.com/.

10) Other DW Resources on the Net/Web

10.1. Scott Deering's Unofficial David Weber Fan Club Page

   http://www.movie-trailers.com/weber/ was one of the very first fan sites, but seems to be rather out of date.
10.2. The Baen Books Website has sample chapters and a discussion board for addicts of Baen products (large Weberphile contingent) and a separate board for virtual mercenaries to play in at http://www.baen.com/. They also have a free library online of several published books, including a number by David Weber at http://www.baen.com/library.

10.3. Mike Weber's webpage is chock full of stuff that the Family Weber is up to. Go to http://weberworld.virtualave.net/ for the website

10.4. Cool Renderings of Ships (Check them out! The artists are part of the newsgroup.)

10.4.1. http://www.ibfs.demon.co.uk/nojay/nike/

10.4.2. http://www.home.earthlink.net/~captruss/RMN.html

10.4.3. Some drawings of missiles are at:

   http://www.ameritech.net/users/jmrobert/shipkill.jpg and at
   http://www.ameritech.net/users/jmrobert/shipkill2.jpg

10.5. Aegys's Hall of Honor (http://www1.jump.net/~fearless/)is another good starting point for fans of the Honor Harrington books and contains portions of the Royal Manticoran Encyclopaedia. This site is a great addition and very helpful to fans of the series. There's also a discussion board that is rather busy with Weberphiles. The chat board URL is http://disc.server.com/Indices/4096.html. Many of these folks do online chat on Thursday evenings (6 PM Central US time). Aegys also set up the Honor Harrington webring with a listing of current sites at: http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=honor_h;list.

10.6. Ed Hogg has created a website for the People's Republic of Haven that counteracts the propaganda put forth by the Manticoran Alliance. For another side to the story, see: http://www.equus.demon.co.uk/peeprep/index.html.

10.7. Joe Buckley hosts Dahak's Orbit, which usually carries chapters of upcoming books, among other interesting info (such as this FAQ), at http://dahak.ne.mediaone.net/.

11) Miscellaneous Stuff

11.1. Other odd topics of conversation have included: the relative merits of the cover art for the Honor books, one fun thread that started out wondering what would happen if Weber characters crossed over into the Star Trek universe, then it cascaded to encompass other universes and inspire a filksong, and comments about other books, TV shows, and movies that newsgroup members enjoy. Note: spoiler protection probably ought to be added to these discussions out of courtesy. "Babylon 5" spoilers, especially, are liable to result in your introduction to a certain gang of bat-wielding Narns. You don't want that to happen, trust me!

11.2. Here's a question that needed an answer: "I see a lot of references to E. E. "Doc" Smith and the Lensman universe in the newsgroup....what's the connection to David Weber?" Mike Richards wrote a very good capsule summary, enjoy!

11.2.1. Who is E.E. "Doc" Smith?

11.2.1.1. Edward Elmer Smith, Ph. D., was a writer of SF novels from the late twenties until his death in the mid sixties. He was perhaps the first author to write recognisable "Space Opera" novels, with his Skylark and Lensman series ("Triplanetary", "First Lensman", "Galactic Patrol", "Grey Lensman", "Second Stage Lensman", "Children of the Lens" and "Masters of the Vortex"). The latter books in particular featured not-implausible science (based on what was believed at the time it was written), a meticulously detailed plot spread over several self contained stories, characters changing and developing, space battles on a galactic scale and truly awesome weaponry. It was a source of inspiration for the "Green Lantern" comics, and was also one of the first SF series to portray any strong female characters, with Clarissa MacDougal (the "Red Lensman") and her daughters fully the equal of anyone they met.

11.2.1.2. Now, fifty years on, the books look dated (particularly some of the science), but the stories remain popular. They were among the SF works that David (and Mike) Weber grew up with, and favourable comparisons have been drawn in the newsgroup.

11.2.1.3. Most of Smith's work went out of print in the early eighties, but the Lensman series has just been reissued ("Ripping" in the UK, "Old Earth Books" of Baltimore, Maryland in the US) and the other books can often be found in second-hand bookstores. The anime version bears little relation to the stories other than some names.

11.2.1.4. A "Lensman FAQ" is posted occasionally on rec.arts.sf.written by Gharlane of Eddore.

12) The Filks

12.1. Mike Richards' Ladies Night on Argo can be found at:

   http://www.z9m9z.demon.co.uk/filk/ladies.txt, and all of his space-related filks are at http://www.z9m9z.demon.co.uk/filk/space.htm.
   There's a filk there about Path of the Fury as well and the libretto to his generic do-it-yourself space opera at
   http://www.z9m9z.demon.co.uk/filk/opera.txt.
12.2. The Gilbert and Sullivan filks from the newsgroup filking challenge are at http://www.warriorgoddess.org/weberfilk.html

12.3. There are also some terrific filks posted on Aegys' discussion board, and Jonathan Cresswell has compiled them on his own website at http://www.netrover.com/~jcresswl/filkpg/filkpage.html. He's got the most extensive collection of filks.

13) The Great ABD-W Typo Hunt

13.0. Note from the Deputy Mad Archivist: This section has not been updated with this version of the FAQ. We've had several new books published, and plenty of new typos found, since the last version of this FAQ was created. However, all of these are stored away somewhere in the secret depths of the Mad Archivist's computer, which is currently inaccessible since Cap'n Cynthia's ISP has just gone under at this point.

13.1. Joe Buckley calls them Weberisms in his recent compilation of the spoils of the Typo Hunt [Archivist's Note: This is not to be considered a blanket indictment of the quality of work the proofreaders are doing (Kate Verleger gave a most impassioned defense of that most thankless job) but when a writer like TOWiDW creates such detailed universes, Deity alone knows that there are plenty of opportunities for gremlins to do their will and have discrepancies show up in the final product.] The top offenders so far are:

13.1.1. Honor Harrington Series

13.1.1.1. When Honor is knighted at the end of Honor of the Queen, Sir Anthony Langtry says his authority to do so is as Her Majesty's Ambassador to Haven, not Grayson. Whoops! (attribution is unclear, John Moreno and Splifford had this discussion on both abd-w and rasfw recently, but this could also have been brought up in the infancy of the newsgroup)

13.1.1.2. Sir Lucien Cortez, head of the RMN BuPers, gets called Lucius several times. (Jeanne Hedge posted about this one)

13.1.1.3. Another contribution by Jeanne Hedge... In HAE, at the Steilman-Wanderman Captain's Masts (pgs 442-446 of the US hardcover edition): Steilman's charges include violation of Article 35 (assaulting a fellow crewman). Wanderman is charged with violating Article 36 (fighting with a fellow crewman, with aggravated circumstances). Yet when Captain Harrington passes punishment on Wanderman, she says it is for violation of Article 35, with aggravated circumstances.

13.1.1.4. The first paperback printing of Flag in Exile gives the Gregorian equivalent date of 3919, the second printing is corrected to 4019 and is consistent with the time line in More than Honor. (I caught that one in late 1997)

13.1.1.5. Joe Buckley recently found this in his re-reading of the saga: "One I spotted the other day was during the scene when McKeon, Harrington, and her Guard are in _Prince Adrian's_ lift after Honor's arrival aboard and McKeon was discussing the 'burn-before-reading' secret multi-stage missiles and mentions that he worked on the first field trials of the FTL coms when he was with _Madrigal_. Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but he's only had _Troubadour_ and _Prince Adrian_. He may well have worked *with* _Madrigal_ before he showed up in Yeltsin in the same short squadron as her, but it was when he was CO of _Troubadour_. (In Enemy Hands)

13.1.1.6. In Enemy Hands also provided additional fuel for Joe's musings: "Then we have a section that several rereadings has failed to illuminate: About the time when _Prince Adrian_ is about to translate out of hyper, we get a discourse on the relative lack of sophistication of the _Prince Consort_ class ships' accomodations. I have yet to sort out what he means when he jumps from discussing _Prince Consorts_ to _Crown Princes_ to _Star Knights_. The _Prince Consorts_ and the _Star Knights_ are easy enough to see, but where do the _Crown Princes_ fit into that discourse? Unless the _Crown Princes_ were supposed to have had the squadron flag accomodations before the _Star Knights_ rolled out.

13.1.1.7. And Joe found the following in the prologue to Echoes of Honor: Something that stuck out at me when I first read the prologue to _Echoes of Honor_ was during Boardman's mention the _Sirius_. Well, correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure *someone* will!), but in _On Basilisk Station_, she was designated PMSS _Sirius_." Joe suggests "If you want some more fun with _tHotQ_, reread the section where the Grayson/Manticore task force gets spanked. Particularly where it discusses the engagement envelope for _MSN Principality_/_PNS Breslau_. ( Re: closest approach of Graysons to _Breslau_ being one hundred million kilometers.)

13.1.1.8. Jack Tingle found a rather serious timeline problem: "As an exercise, I put together a simple timeline from the HH books. Frankly, it doesn't hold water. There's a 0.52% error in the long term time line, and all of the events in "TSVW" had to have taken no more than 2 days. That's the time between HH assuming command of the Nike and the final battle as reported in Lord Young's court martial. (RE: Honor assumed command of _Nike_ on 6/21/282 and White Haven stated at the courts' opening that the events in question took place on or about 6/23/282.)

13.1.1.9. Navbuoy noticed the following discrepancy: Honor got an elevation in rank from Knight Companion to Knight Commander between THotQ and tSVW.

13.1.1.10. Brom O'Berin has the following inquiry about the Manticore wormhole termini... OBS paperback version pg 52 describes the Manticore wormhole as having 'no less than six additional termini' ... plus 'the survey readings suggested there should be at least one more undiscovered terminus' ... and the diagram at the front of OBS shows and names six (Basilisk, Republic of Haven, Phoenix, Solarian League, Mazapan and Anderman Empire) termini ...However the MTH appendix (Universe of HH) ... in (4)(B) on the Manticore Junction - pg 350 - has the junction connected to _five_ additional termini (names all but Mazapan) plus possibility of one, maybe more undiscovered termini ...Which one is canon ... or blooper, etc.

13.1.1.10.1. Joe Buckley replies: "I'd imagine that _MTH_ was in error, since Book 1 (_OBS_) mentioned the six and named them, as well as all of the subsequent Junction Maps showed all six. (Unless, of course, this is a further example of letting the treecat out of the bag early like his FTL-comm pulse rate fiasco.) Just my two bits.

13.1.1.11. Brom O'Berin also had the following question about the number of Honor's hyper-capable commands: "How about where Honor in uniform is described as having _six_ gold stars ... representing 6 hyper-capable commands. Unless I have Alzheimer's, shouldn't that be five ... for 'Hawkwing' (DD), 'Fearless' (CL), 'Fearless' (CA), 'Nike' (BC), and 'Wayfarer' (AMC)?

13.1.1.12. An unknown contributor found the following discrepancy between On Basilisk Station and the technical appendix in More than Honor (thanks to Joe Buckley for finding it for me): "Well, IIRC, the Honorverse forts are *not* driveless. They can maneuver slightly. I seem to recall a mention of their being able to pull about 100g's (perhaps in OBS?), but that was negated by the acceleration tables supplied in MtH."

13.1.1.13. Scott Powers caught the following, and Navbuoy confirmed that this is a major typo in the series: In "On Basilisk Station" the forts are described this way: "The smallest fortress out there massed close to sixteen million tons, twice as a superdreadnaught" (Chap. 5, pg. 55). Later in that same chapter, is this: "the 'forts' in the outer ring had to be able to move to fill in the gaps and mass upon an attacker. Their maximum acceleration rates were low, well under a hundred gravities, but their initial position had been very carefully planned. Their acceleration would be enough to intercept attacking forces headed in-system, and their engines were sufficiently powerful to generate impeller wedges and sidewalls to protect them." (pg. 57) In "More Than Honor", at the back of the book, in the section titled "The Universe of Honor Harrington" 8,500,000 tons is the limit of a warships size, with maximum acceleration dropping rapidly. An SD has an acceleration of 420 gees, a ship of 9,547,500 tons would have an acceleration of 1 g. (Pg.309-310) By this, we can assumethat the 16,000,000 ton forts would have an acceleration of effectively ZERO gees. Either I missed something, or DW did.

13.1.1.14. Casey Lazo says, "My favorite is in Honor Among Enemies (I think): the one with the reference to the *Sky* Kingdom (of Manticore). IIRC, it appeared in both the hardcover and paperback releases.

13.1.1.15. Casey also found the following in the online version of Chapter 14 of Echoes of Honor: "[Honor] stepped closer, moving slightly to one side to get the sunset out ofher *eyes*..." ?!? Unless she's developed a third eye, that ought to have been in the singular, ne?

13.1.1.16. On page 6 of Field of Dishonor, TZ found: "The heaviest Manticoran units were 6 battlecruisers, 3 of them already circled by the flashing yellow bands of combat damage, and 6 superdreadnoughts led the Peeps charging up their wakes." However, Admiral Chin's heaviest unit was a dreadnought and not a superdreadnought.

13.1.1.17. Thomas Ambuehler points out a German typo in Honor Among Enemies: "When the Andermani Admiral Rabenstrange challenges the Q-ship, he firstly uses German, and he says "Gutten Morgen, Kapitain!" This really struck me like a bolt. It should be "Guten Morgen, Kapitän!" But that is only because he used my mother tongue." That just goes to show that typo hunting is an international and multilingual pastime!

13.1.1.18. Here's a typo that Miguel Velez had to remind me about after an eleven-month lapse (my bad): In IEH, there's a line about Haven being over 1800 light-years from Earth which justifies not recalling the Foreign Secretary and making him take a six month trip back home. However, Miguel noted that the appendix of MTH states that Haven is 667 LY from Earth (155 LY more than Manticore). David confirmed that it is a typo, but that the six month transit time is about right. DW elaborated further: "Assume the distance is 620 LY; to make the trip in 6 months, you'd have to average around 1,240 times the speed of light which is just about right for a "fast" merchant ship. Given that merchies don't go above the Delta bands, where the maximum attainable effective velocity is about 1,100 cee (don't have the tech manual in front of me), even at 6 months, you'd have to assume a merchie in the Epsilon bands (max effective V = about 1,400 cee) to get a 6 months turn around. Now, if they put him on a courier boat and ran him home clear up in the Zeta bands (which they wouldn't normally do with an important diplomat), they could cover 620 LY in about 3.5 months, which is still a pretty long time. Assuming your 667 LY figure is right (and it probably is) a merchant ship in the Epsilon bands should take about 5.6 months--still close to the 6 month transit figure. A courier boat would take about 3.7 months for the same trip. Yes, I suppose you can go ahead and post it with Cynthia. As I said, I'm not sure how it got in there in the first place. Sigh."

13.1.2. Dahak/Fifth Imperium

13.1.2.1. Just to show you that we're not just picking on the Honorverse for typos, Jason found the following in Mutineer's Moon: "In the October '94 edition, p156, when Colin is getting ready for the fighter strike. Sentence reads "He hung his gray gun on his suit webbing" As that's the only mention of gun color that I've come across, I presume it's supposed to read "grav gun"."

13.1.2.2. Joe Buckley found this as well: "Another little glitch that I always trip over is in "Heirs of Empire", just after _Isreal_ (spelling?) is unceremoniously ejected from _Imperial Terra_ and the kids are doing their systems checks: Harriet refers to her brother Sean during her part of the brief as *Colin*.

13.1.2.3. And another goodie caught by Joe's eagle eyes: "When Gen. Hatcher is discussing recent developments of the Siege with (I believe) Horus and the Achuultani use of Iapetus as a bludgeon, he mentions that the current orbital position of Saturn puts it 1.5 *trillion* kilometers from Earth."

13.1.3. The Lay of Bahzell Bloody-Hand

13.1.3.1. Daniel Bernstein found this in Oath of Swords: On page 192, when Bahzell and Brandark are counting their money, it says "...and Bahzell sat back to let Brandark count it." At the bottom of the same page, though, we have "Bahzell finished counting..."

14) Frogs and Buzzards and Tortoises, oh my!

14.1. Kate Verleger, our Judge Advocate General, and resident chief of amphibian artillery has described the tradition of lobbing frogs at punsters. Other abd-w denizens have adapted this tradition recently to include other members of the animal kingdom such as buzzards and tortoises. Look out Below! We've got a whole group of folks (ROMANCE) who are the chief flingers of animalia and their preferred target are snerkers who publicly gloat about privileged information online. Check out http://members.aol.com/gwynedd/beatrice/index.html#top for the history, including a contribution by the Mad Wizard Weber himself.

14.1.1. As requested, here is a short history of the role of Frogs in mechanized warfare. (edit it as you see fit: I decided I'd better err on the side of caution and be as complete as possible).

14.1.2. The tradition of Frogs in Warfare is a long and honorable one, whose origins date back approximately twenty years to Bryn Mawr College, outside of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania.

14.1.3. At this college is a dormitory called Denbigh Hall, and in this dorm is a common room called a back smoker. The point of back smokers, originally, was to provide students a place in the back of the dorm where they could smoke in peace and not disturb anyone, and, not so coincidentally, burn down the building (again).

14.1.4. As time progressed, a particular sort of people tended to collect in the back smoker: among the more illustrious Denbigh Back Smoker (DBS) alumnae is the author Caroline Stevermer (Bryn Mawr '77), and to whose denizens her novel, _A College of Magics_, is dedicated. As the people collected in the DBS, so did the books they tended to read[0]

14.1.5. The inhabitants of the DBS developed two means of communicating with one another: face to face conversation, and a sort of bound bulletin board, called the DBS Diary. In the Diary, the Mawrtyrs would write anonymously, under pseudonyms, or under their own names, messages to one another or the group at large.

14.1.5.1. For example, "May 5, 1995: Calamity is happy to announce the birth of a Senior Thesis (52 pages text, 6 pages endnotes, 5 pages bibliography), at approximately 3 am this morning, "A Spectrum of Characters: Religion, Love and Responsibility in _The Brothers Karamazov_". Viewing upon request, IBM WP 5.1 or paper only."

14.1.5.2. Alternatively, "Cheat session for Spring Ball Erd Liv Rm 12 pm Sat. --Amy L."[1]

14.1.6. In approximately 1980, someone left to the DBS as a May Day Gift (gifts are traditionally given by upperclasswomen to younger students on the morning of the College's celebration of May Day), a stuffed green frog. The frog was of convenient size, approximately 8x8x8, slightly understuffed, and was a fading green.

14.1.6.1. No one knows the first time that it was thrown in outrage at a particularly bad pun, however the idea quickly caught on and spread to the other major backsmoker on campus in Erdman Hall. Further, when one was with one's fellow denizens but away from the DBS (thus without the frog), and a particularly bad pun was uttered, one could say to the offender "Frog!" and the frog would have been considered thrown.

14.1.6.2. This extended to the diary: when a pun was posted to the diary, the first responder to the pun would be likely to write as his/her post "frog," "thwap" (the sound the frog makes when impacting a target), or draw a frog into the diary, and the frog would be considered duly thrown. Bad jokes were equally considered worthy of frogging.

14.1.6.3. I adapted this practice to the 'net to express my responses to the epidemic of viral punning online.

14.1.7. Frogging 101

14.1.7.1. Definition

14.1.7.2. Frog: noun. 1. any of numerous tailless, chiefly aquatic amphibians of the order Salienta, and especially of the family Ranidae, having a smooth, moist skin, webbed feet, and long hind legs adapted for jumping. 2. A projectile punning mechanism, with a selector switch for automatic / semiautomatic. [2]Users are advised to chamber the frog before firing. (The projectile gives a satisfactory "thwap" sound as described by manufacturer's spec that way). Available in a variety of projectile sizes, from amazonian tree, through green Clemens, up to and including Denbigh Stuffed (recommended only for

targets at least 6 feet from user).
14.1.7.3. No incantation required prior to depressing trigger (see "sending messages"), though specifying size of projectile would be an amusing read.

14.1.8. PLEASE! Practice good research habits! If you're going to start frogging on an ng without an active Bryn Mawr Alum on it (who ought to be able to explain the tradition), CITE YOUR SOURCE for the tradition.

14.1.9. The appropriate citation if you're relaying the tradition on to someone else--in person or on the net--is: Denbigh Back Smoker, Denbigh Hall, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA,c. 1980.

14.1.10. That's really all there is to it, with one caveat: Remember to tell your frogs to look before they leap--they've got better odds of hitting their targets that way.

14.1.11. May the Frogs be with you, Kate Verleger, Igor--sorry, that's Graduate Assistant, Department of Economics, Indiana University; Ars Bacheloris, Russian, Bryn Mawr College, 1995; Fearless Leader, Doublestar Science Fiction and Fantasy Club, Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges, 1993-1995.

14.1.11.1. Notes:

14.1.11.1.1. [0] This is how Homer got shelved next to McCaffrey.

14.1.11.1.2. [1] It is interesting to note that the DBS Diary, likewise the Erdman Back Smoker Diary (also of Bryn Mawr), both behave in a -very- similar fashion to a ng today. Even anonymously, flaming other writers was severely sanctioned, threads of conversation developed and were quickly lost as you had to flip through page upon page of "posts" to find out what "happened" since the last time you wrote, and the more stressed out the posters were (such as during finals or midterm exams), the more they wrote.

14.1.11.1.3. [2] Period methods of lobbing frogs are available: by hand, long bow, recurve, javelin, and crossbow, for period use.

14.2. Jack Tingle also notes another use of the FROG acronym that would be of interest to a fair number of the group (the technology and tactics mavens) which is not related to Kate's tradition: "WRT FROG, note also NATO designation for light Soviet-made, land-based, ballistic artillery rocket; "Free Rocket Over Ground", which the US semi-copied as the MLRS.

14.2.1. This weapon class dates back to the Congreve rockets used by the British in the Napoleonic wars. They were eventually superseded by large guns in European warfare, but Russian and later Soviet doctrine never gave up on them. Naval equivalents were also never abandoned, since rocket bombardment of land emplacements from barges were often useful during the ramp-up to amphibious assults (or even amphibian assaults).

14.2.2. One of the more famous Soviet relatives of the FROG was the light, infantry-carried Katyushka bombardment rocket, used by the Viet Cong in the war in Indochina."

14.3. The members of ROMANCE have expanded this to include a wide variety of amphibians, even going so far as to borrow a concept from Terry Pratchett and use eagle-launched TORTOISEs (see _Small Gods_ by Terry Pratchett).

15) ABDW Acronyms (send me ones I've missed!)

15.1. TOWiDW = The One Who is David Weber

15.2. HWKABSM = He Who Knows All But Suggests Most (David Weber)

15.3. MWW = (the) Mad Wizard Weber

15.4. SWMBOiG = She Who Must Be Obeyed in Greenville (Sharon Weber)

16) Thanks/Acknowledgements for FAQ help

16.1. My thanks to "AmyCat" <amy_c@efn.SPAM-SUCKS.org> ["You know what to delete if you want to e-mail me!" <g>] for proofreading and being my beta reader on the original version and to all the past and current members of the newsgroup for keeping me honest and nudging me to do the updates.

16.2. Contributions to future versions of the FAQ are gratefully solicited in advance. I will advise the RMN Bureau of Personnel that all FAQ contributors should be considered candidates for the RMN Medal of Gallantry and my own personal order, the Mad Archivist's Thanks.

16.3. Past recipients of the Mad Archivist's Thanks are (in no particular order): Ken Nixon, Kate Verleger, David Bell, Mike Richards, Carmold, Captain Button, Dan Cannata, Brom O'Berin, Joe Buckley, Jeanne Hedge, Scott Powers, Casey Lazo, Navbuoy, John Moreno, Splifford, Jason at concentric.net, Jack Tingle, TZ, Miguel Velez, and Wombat Woman.

16.4. Recipients of the Deputy Mad Archivist's Thanks are: Marten Kemp, Robert Woodward, Michael Dolbear.

16.5. Recipients of the Cashew Cluster to the Mad Archivist's Thanks are: Daniel Bernstein, Linda Fox.

16.6. And of course, profuse thanks go to David Weber himself, who provides us all with a reason to get together in the virtual world.

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