Keep in mind that Jim LIKES doing cons; remember, he's a fan as well. It's just that going to so many of them together wear on him, as it would on anyone. But he's also savvy in regards to PR—authors benefit greatly from having a physical public presence, especially one as amiable, entertaining and interesting as his. It's what really hooked me into his books; I saw him at a con in '07, and between him and Shannon, I moved from simply liking his books a lot to thinking they're extremely good people who deserve our support. It's always a good thing when you can help reinforce people doing right.

It's a balance, in the end: between his own fan-ness and keeping a public image, there's got to be a happy medium.

Hi all! Guess who just graduated with a B.S. in Animal Science from UC Davis!!

Congrats!

Ditto the above - sometimes, weird stuff happens, so Evil Hat is jaw-droppingly dedicated to customer service.

I'm not much into fanfiction, but, like all other fiction, its legitimacy is entirely dependent on the individual work. Consider, for example, all the fantasy compilations out there where multiple authors are given a common world to write in (e.g., Thieves' World); it seems pretty much parallel to fanfic, in that they're using other people's creations, but given that they're pro authors and they get praised for their work in those compilations, that makes it sound as legit as anything else.

Still, for someone trying to make a name for himself, it would seem more effective to do so for his own story, not someone else's. Yes, there's plenty of awful fanfic out there, but there's also a lot of awful pro fiction, so quality has no direct correlation to that question of "originality". So, again, it's an individual thing and what the writer DOES with it.

The few steampunk stories I've read and enjoyed reminded me of this little plum: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Which describes the "accidental" (i.e., an ill-understood discovery in an alternate timeline) steampunk stories quite well.

Personally, I imagine it's most likely the result of something out there pop-culture-wise at that time that's triggering the formation of certain ideas.

It wasn't my intention to be impolite or to violate forum rules.

And now that you know where one of the lines is, it'll be even easier to fulfill your intention now.

Quackpot!