So, I finished reading Agent of Change some while back. A couple of things struck me, that I’ll talk about here in no particular order.
First is that the reviewer who said that there was more action in this one book than in many trilogies, was not indulging in (too much) hyperbole.
I, as many, continue to adore the Clutch in general, and Edger, specifically.
The panic attack that locks Val Con into the Loop on Edger’s ship — that was Steve, who, unfortunately, was prone to panic attacks for all the years I knew him.
I recall the conversation, when I was waving my hands in the air and trying to explain the shape of what I thought needed to go right here, and Steve said, suddenly and firmly, “Right. He has a panic attack.” And he got up from the kitchen table, carried his wine to the typewriter, and wrote that scene, right there, right then.
We’ve told this next story many times, but for those who may have tuned in late — the original “outline” had Val Con steal Edger’s ship. I was lead on the book, and was typing merrily along on my day off (I was working three days a week at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in the Modern Languages department at that point), got everybody up to the space station and it was time for Val Con to steal the ship and!
My fingers stopped.
The story stopped.
Val Con stopped.
I got up, got myself a diet Pepsi, came back to the typewriter — nothing happened. I looked at the sheet of paper where Steve had written our “outline.” I showed the sheet of paper to Val Con.
“It says here,” I told him, “that you have to steal Edger’s spaceship now.”
He refused, and the story stayed stalled until Steve came home, and asked how the writing had gone.
“Val Con won’t steal the spaceship,” I told him. “I tried talking to him, but he just won’t.”
“But he’s got to steal that ship,” Steve said. “They can’t stay on the station; they’re on the run. If they stop, the Juntavas’ll catch up.”
“I told him that,” I said.
“Well,” Steve said. “I’ll go talk to him.” And he headed for the typewriter.
I finished getting dinner into the oven, and, noticing a lack of keys clicking from the other room, went to find out how the man-to-man was going.
Steve looked up from the unmarked sheet of paper in the typewriter, and said, “You’re right. He won’t steal the spaceship.”
So, that was when we learned the priceless lesson, “If the story stops, you took a wrong turn.”
We sat down at the kitchen table with our typescript, and went through it.
“How about this,” Steve said. “At the party at the Grotto, what if Edger gives him the ship?”
“That might work,” I said. “The reason he won’t steal it is because Edger’s his friend — his brother. And he won’t steal from a friend. It’s an honor thing.”
“Then, let’s change this here –” he pointed at the paragraph. “And have Edger maybe remind him that the resources of the Clan — which include the ship — are his to use, if he needs to?”
It was my turn to go to the typewriter. I made the change, and the next day when I sat down to see how things were going at the space station, the story flowed like water.
It struck me when, on Edger’s ship, Val Con presents himself to Miri as a man with a couple cantra in his pocket and a minor skill on the omnichora. It seems from this that he doesn’t intend to go home. Of course, we didn’t at that point know what was going to happen, going forward, Clan Korval being not much more than a name to us. But now — resonance being what it is — it seems like the Loop was still acting on him.
The exchange with the Yxtrang commander was a little — um. The hysteresis effect was all Steve, as were the workings of the electron substitution drive, and what it would look like in operation.
Another story we’ve told before: Agent of Change was written on Uncle Harry, a second hand “electrified” typewriter we’d bought on time at the local stationery store. (“Electrified” meant that the machine had started life as a manual typewriter and later on, someone had “converted” it to an electric typewriter. You still had to hit the return by hand, and when you turned the machine on, it RUMBLED, and you could hear it not only in all rooms of our (very small) townhouse, but out into the parking lot.)
So, I was typing the clean, submission, copy of Agent, and I smelled — smoke. I figured maybe the next door neighbors were having a cookout, and ignored it.
As I was taking a page out and rolling another in, I noticed that the smoke was coming from Uncle Harry.
I considered unplugging him — no, really, I did. But I only had two pages to go, and we were so close to having the book finished, and I did type really fast.
So, I gambled. And, not to brag — I won. I was in fact typing the last page with little flames coming out of the back of Harry, and Steve had just walked in to ask if I smelled smoke, when I was rolling the last page out.
He pulled the plug, and notably didn’t ask me if I was nuts.
We put Harry in the trunk of the car and took him down to the stationery story, but — there was nothing to be done. Uncle Harry was dead.
And we had a manuscript to submit.
I felt like the Yxstrang in Agent of Change sounded very much like Klingons. Which makes sense to me for it being written in the 80s and being the first book.
I love that they become a complete People with definitely non-Klingon culture as the series goes on without making a huge break, so that in a reread the Yxstrang here are still believably connected to the Yxstrang we later come to know well.
I thought that Val Con didn’t intend to go home after he started to find himself again because if he did then he’d be caught, and rewritten again out of himself and into an Agent.
I just finished Agent of Change for at least the fourth time (at least that I told Good Reads about). I was a bit behind time getting started but I’ll catch up.
Love the backstory behind the book and other people’s reactions too. I’ll start Conflict of Honors next and am looking forward to it.
Just an aside here. We name our computers on our LAN with human names so we can keep track of who is connected, etc. I had a computer named Illisidi, but when she died, I replaced her with Miri, who is my work computer that I spend most of my days with.
I had a computer named Illisidi.
Can I ask a pre-emptive question for the readalong of “Conflict of Honours”, please?
While I was reading “Just Agent of Change, really only one book” (Liaden books are like Pringles), in the chapter called ‘ Arsdred Port City Local Year 728 Midday Bazaar’, I came across this in-passing description:
“only a towering Aus, golden-haired and full-bearded, head bent as he addressed a booming remark to the tiny woman skipping at his side.”
Do we know who that was? Did I miss it?
TIA!
I love the interactions between you and Steve. How he could take your arm waving and attempted description of shape and interpret and translate it into the scene needed. And how you and he both had to talk with Val Kon and then figure out the right answer for moving forward. Nice insights into how you work together.
I enjoy when a character puts their foot down it always seems to be for the better. The panic attacks are no jokes, having raised four wonderful daughters who have this affliction. Looking back, maybe it was better that we never enrolled them in self-defense classes. I was never as agile as Miri…
I really enjoy reading the behind the scenes action. These are some of my favorite books and hearing about their genesis and growth endears me all the more. Thank you for sharing!!
Thank you for the exxcellent comments on the writing of Agent of Change. I especially liked Val Con’s refusal to steal Edger’s ship and Harry’s valiant effort to print the manuscript.
I’m one who tuned in late, so THANK YOU for revisiting stories like this! Absolutely cracked up over “I showed the sheet of paper to Val Con.” ?
“If the story stops, you took a wrong turn.” Ayuh; it works in many situations, that if you’re stuck on something it’s best to back up and regroup.
I am very glad that I came to the Liaden universe late, because while agent of change ends, it ends in a way that made me totally desperate to immediately know what happens next. So having that book at hand was essential. This was also true on the reread. I had to read the whole sequence until I Dare in one breathless surge.
To me, the book remains perfection because it manages to combine a huge amount of action with so much character showing. All our beloved heroes are so fully there. I tried to pay attention how this was done, and how very short scenes really clearly delineate who a person is. Vibrant!
I can never decide whether Conflict of Honors or Agent of Change is my favorite book. Shan is such a scene stealer, so very often! And his relationship was Priscilla so hard won. So from the people, I love them, just the slightest bit more. But for the perfection of balance between action and character, for the perfect flow throughout the pace of the book, it is Agent of Change.
Where is my great gratitude for your creation!.
When I was a child, my father had his own business: he was an exterminator, with a storefront on a main Street in a town in the county that was his location. When I was nine, he chose to encourage me to learn to type; I was handed a small booklet on learning to type which may well have been titled “Learning to Touch-Type” (This being the late 1960s), and given access to a mechanical typewriter. I have since come to believe that that is when my dad splurged and purchased at least one of the two Remington portable electric typewriters that he had in that storefront when I visited at times. It was absolutely a splurge to do that since I expect they cost at least a couple of $100 a piece, which would be more expensive in today’s money than most low-end computers. When I went away to college, circa 1980, my dad (having long since had to give up his company) handed me one of these electric typewriters to take with me. Despite being a made-from-scratch-intentionally electric typewriter, it’s still rumbled and people outside my room could hear that it was on even when I wasn’t typing. Despite having my own electric typewriter at college, I frequently begged a friend if I could use their typewriter, which was an IBM selectric with a replaceable typehead ball that had italic type font. This typewriter had apparently cost more than the two typewriters that my dad had, come by, in the previous months before my friend came to college.
That Val Con is one stubborn dude. Thank you for both stories, they add extra nuance to the book for me. Poor Uncle Harry, a true comrade to give his life for the story.
This made me smile, a lot.
From the wrong turn to Uncle Harry, remembering the enjoyment of reading it for the first time (and then going back to page 1 and starting over…., and grateful there have been continuing excellent adventures.
Thank you.
Glorious end to the story!
Agent of Change was my gateway drug to the Liaden universe. I have loved the book from the first page and re-read it frequently.
Thank you for the insights. It makes it even better. (Plus I love the turtles) Plus plus – the lesson that you can’t make your characters do what they don’t want to do is a lesson that applies to life. THANK YOU (ooops, now I’m yelling) sorry.
This is reminiscent of everything I love about hearing actors’/directors’ voice-over commentaries on some movie, but it’s my favorite books, so it’s more delightful by far.
Thank you for your stories, both then and now.
Wonderful tales!