|
Different strokes and all that.
For my money, Heinlein's worst by far was the utterly self-indulgent (and devoid of any editorial fingerprint) NUMBER OF THE BEAST. SUNSET might be worse, I suppose, but by then I was done with him.
Now, on the Baen side I'm quite fond of the recent Vorkosigan volumes, most of the 163x series, to say nothing of the triple ongoing Weber Honorverse series. Or the Hell's Gate series. The recent Webers are a tad verbose in places, yes, but I survived reading Lord of the Rings twice in one week long ago, so verbose doesn't stop me. And, having purchased the odd ARC here and there (plus the oopsie), I can attest that *some* editing has occured. Which is more than I can say for Weber's Tor-published Safehold series.
(Shrug)
Being well acquainted with Sturgeon's law, I don't pretend any publisher is above putting out clunkers but since SF is the literature of ideas, even the most vile or poorly executed SF book has something to say to somebody as long as they're willing to listen. Doesn't mean everything has to please everybody, though. In fact, most of my favorite books have annoyed somebody somewhere which I take as a good sign.
Baen makes it clear they are not adverse to publishing space opera and neo-pulps, as well as straight adventure SF, urban fantasy, and spoofs. Suits me just fine. I like risk-takers.
|