Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
I've just read this thread, front to back, and have a few comments.
First, I look at stories, not books. They can be short, long, or in between, but a short story series is just as much a series as series of novels.
Second, there is another category that seems to have been glossed over. I call it the mosaic story pattern. A series of stories with a common milieu, with no other obvious connection. I'll give a couple of examples. Ray Bradbury's Mars yarns. A mosaic of short short stories, with very little interconnection, against a common background. You could read virtually any one as an independent story, or you could read the whole mosaic. Another aspect is the S/F "future history" milieus. First started by Heinlein, where totally different stories all map upon a common background, occurring over a long "historical" timespan. You can pick and choose among the time points to read inside that milieu, and not be dependent on reading another other part of the "series".
Finally, what to do about a true sequel? Some stories end up spawning a sequel. Often those books are not dependent on the first book that spawned them. For example, does Huckleberry Finn require reading Tom Sawyer to be enjoyed? Or from the Heinlein Future History, does Time Enough For Love require reading Methuselah's Children ? I don't think so.
Anyway, just another perspective.
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I've never read Tom Sawyer. I have read Huckleberry Finn and knowing the year it was published won me a rain gauge. Even better than that was the dingbat I was with told me I didn't know the answer while I was dialing the phone. The look on her face was priceless when the TV station said I won.