"S.M. Sterling's "Conquistador"" Topic

Just finished the book. Interesting, but the pacing seemed off. The whole finale seemed rushed and tacked on.

Still enjoyed some of the obscure jokes – such as the "Morrison's – from Pennsylvania originally".

Part of the problem might be reading too much Sterling too quickly. The style and series start to blur together.

Maybe it time for an Elmore Leonard story?

Sounds like an idea.

Or a nice Donald Westlake.

My experience with Stirling is that he's OK… but he isn't a favorite and I don't go out of my way to read his books.

I only ever read his series where the island of Nantucket goes back in time to the era of the Trojan War. At first it was a fun premise, but I got so thoroughly disgusted with the gratuitous S&M stuff he stuck in that I swore never to read anything else by him. I've kept that vow, and intend to continue to.

I've read that series (the last of his stuff I read), and the Peshwar Lancers, which I liked better.

I thought his "modern pulp Venus and Mars" were kind of fun, though not literary classics, or anything.
-Kle.

i did not like the last Sterlings, the stories lack momentum, speed.
The last ones i liked were island in a sea of time series and terminator

He's not a bad writer and has some interesting ideas, but where he and other writers of this sort of fiction really fall down in my opinion, is their total inability to realistically understand technology and manufacturing. For some reason, these authors seem to think that a bronze age culture can be producing advanced weapons within a few year of being told how to.

A number of these authors are guilty of it, but Sterling seems to be one of the worst.

Dan

I've found him hit and miss. Conquistadors was just kind of 'meh' and I couldn't finish the Nantucket books beyond about halfway through the second. On the other had, I like Peshawar Lancers and the Dies the Fire first couple of books.

He's not a bad writer and has some interesting ideas, but where he and other writers of this sort of fiction really fall down in my opinion, is their total inability to realistically understand technology and manufacturing. For some reason, these authors seem to think that a bronze age culture can be producing advanced weapons within a few year of being told how to.

The Peshawar Lancers had an inversion of this trend, with the Pathans lacking the know-how to make Lee-Enfields, but being able to make Martini-Henries (not to mention the airship fleet). Given how long the LE had been in service in that timeline and how the Afghans in ours have blacksmiths that make 1-2 AK47s per year, I find this hard to believe.