>Also, as someone who has been reading UF since the Core stories were
>first published (well, I started at UF4, there are others here who
>predate me by a little bit), I can say with near 100% certainty that
>much of the old stories (primarily the Core series, plus a few others
>that are pretty obvious from the writing style) are best taken with a
>few tablespoons of salt - it's not that they're completely apocryphal,
>but with the evolution of the UFverse (and the authors' writing
>abilities), events of the newer stories are much more thoroughly
>planned out (not to mention better written).

However, I find it interesting when reading the older UF stories (not the Core, but the entire universe) to see how the story and characters were as originally written, and then how things changed later. For example, at the end of the FI story "No More Innocence" (no date on it) Kate is a kid chasing around Martin Rose's legs with other kids, Len is a rather well spoken toddler, and Priss is a babe in arms. In "Checkmate" (2 dates on it, 1994 and 1996), Kate is 5, Len is 2, and Priss isn't a year old yet. Makes me wonder if the comment somewhere in Symphony about K/G denying that Guy was named "Guy" because he was unexpected and K & G didn't have a name picked out for him is actually an in-joke, and that's actually close to what happened during writing the Symphony (he didn't exist until then).

Jeanne

	Jeanne Hedge http://www.jhedge.com
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem." -- Gabrielle of Potadeia