On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 7:44 AM, Greg Stafford <glorantha1_at_Z2cS0GyV6bPYWMVNm8QETUFPsxWarE82ZrFJxXIoqFRWcWf36gBwNICoISTyUrhrCGE5j2elQS1OgTv9EA.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
>
> > Kevin McDonald wrote:
> > >
> > > Part of the discussion, I suppose, should be what we mean by "canon"
> > > in the first place. Is it something that the community decides, or
> > > licensed publishers, or Issaries, or what?
>
> Please do forgive my presumption here, but until I am cold int he grave, the
> official word on what is canon is up to me.
Considering the topic, you are much less likely to be presumptive than I am! My apologies if it appears that I was not giving your stake in this adequate recognition.
> Officially, it is whatever is published.
How are you defining "published"? Do you mean published by a commercial license holder like Mongoose and Moon Design or published by anybody in any form? Or something in between? I assume you mean commercial license holders.
This gets back to the "what do we mean by "canon" question. Clearly, as the IP owner you have the right to set license terms however you see fit. If we are talking about what the fan community will accept, then the standards may be different. These are IMHO two related but separate concepts. Things in the "fan canon" - also called Generally Accepted Glorantha - may (or may not) find their way into the Issaries canon if you and the commercial publishers like it. There is no guarantee though, either written or implied!
> Although some of the material by Mongoose made me start to reconsider that.
I think this falls under the guideline of "don't contradict published material unless you feel you have too". If a licensed commercial publisher feels they need to contradict something previously published then they should contact you for guidance (Assuming that they are required to do so by the terms of their license and/or are trying to be respectful).
> > >On
> > > the other hand, if someone decided that the Pelandans worship Turos
> > > and Oria instead of Lodril and Ernalda, and backed it up with cool
> > > mythlets and stories, then that might be received somewhat more
> > > warmly. :)
>
> Pelandans do worship Turos and Oria.
I was making a veiled reference to the publication of The Entekosiad - the "someone" I was referring to was you. Sorry if I was being too obtuse!
> What is definitely true, though, is that
> > > Glorantha would be much less interesting if, say, authors felt
> > > constrained to continue saying that Pelandans really do worship Lodril
> > > and Ernalda because Avalon Hill (IIRC) said they did.
>
> Yea, but if someone gets that published as canon in opposition to what is
> there, then when I will write something about it and everyone who
> contributed to the new interpretation will be crying about being Gregged.
True, but people can get "gregged" if they stick to the Issaries sanctioned canon too - and not just by you. Fan publications do occasionally get contradicted by subsequent commercial publications even when you aren't directly involved. Who could keep track of everything that is published by fans? It is clearly much less likely to happen if an author doesn't "play in traffic" by contradicting the Issaries canon, though.
Personally, I try not to contradict previous publications (commercial or otherwise) very often. I don't treat all publications with the same level of respect, though. In general the older a source is the less credence I give it. I also have a "focus standard", where I give more credence to articles written directly about something than otherwise unrelated articles that mention something for color. My assumption is that an author gives more thought to the primary topic than on things just mentioned for color.
Like most authors I fill in the "blank spaces" of a topic with my own ideas. (Not that I write much these days.) I don't do it with the expectation that it will be adopted into anyone's idea of canon, though. When new things get published I either accept it and adapt or put a metaphorical box around it and avoid including that subject in what I write.
The reason I talk about this so passionately is that I love Glorantha and want to see it continue to bloom with good ideas. The way to get new good ideas is to encourage the creation of new ideas in general and then choose the best from what comes up. I particularly want to encourage new ideas that breathe life into things that have not been given much attention previously.
You are my favorite Gloranthan author because of your ability to write things that open up new vistas of possibility. For example you took Peloria - which had previously been lightly and crudely described - and breathed so much life into it with the Pelorian trilogy that I still get something new from them every time I pick one of them up. Did you contradict what had previously been written? Occasionally, yes. Did you do it wholesale or arbitrarily? No. Was it the right thing to do? Absolutely!
Even with the Orlanthi, which I thought I knew pretty well, you blew my mind with stories and articles depicting heroforming and heroquesting. They caused me to look at the Orlanthi - and Glorantha generally - in a whole new way, which was delightful!
I would love to have that kind of creative ability, and would love it if there were many others who did as well. This is what I meant when I said "Heroform Greg. If you meet the canon on the road, shoot it." I want more Entekosiads and Glorious Re-assent of Yelms. Preferably from you, but your time is limited.
If it can't be you that writes them then it would be great if there were others who are practiced at thinking big in a Gloranthan context. For most of us, that takes practice. Lots and lots of practice. It also seems daunting and perilous from the gregging and community acceptance points of view. Therefore, I encourage potential authors to worry less and take more risks, keeping in mind that the work they do may be dismissed or changed beyond recognition by future writers. Instead of looking on that as a problem, feel liberated by it - get excited and participate!
-Kevin McD
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