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Post by Boyd Percy on Jun 18, 2020 13:13:42 GMT -5
Not Wes
What Gives! Did Biloxi, Mississippi magically float to the northwest to Shreveport, Louisiana (actually, Bossier City which is across the Red River from Shreveport)? If the hi-jackers were heading to the Daytona 500, I-20 is much too north deadening in Florence, South Carolina while I-10 ends in Jacksonville, Florida which is less than 100 miles north of Daytona Beach. You will probably need to change Magic Carpet and Hearts of Gold so they match up with Nature Girl!
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Post by Boyd Percy on Jun 18, 2020 13:19:00 GMT -5
Deadenind should be Deadending in Florence, South Carolina.
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Post by Anthony Hilton on Jun 19, 2020 1:49:35 GMT -5
Growing Together (chapter 1) and Picking Up The Pieces (chapter 34) would also need changing.
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Post by John Robert Mead on Jun 19, 2020 17:42:34 GMT -5
What gives is it turned out Keesler AFB doesn't have the capacity to land the airplane in question, which was brought to Wes' attention _after_ the various other works were already in print.
The AFB used in Nature Girl _did_ have the capacity at the time the story is set, and apparently was the closest AFB to Keesler that did.
Wes wasn't big on making changes outside of planned overhauls of given works, so they didn't get changed in the already published volumes.
He also wasn't big on continuing a mistake once he'd learned he was in error, unless there was a d*mned good reason to, which this _didn't_ have.
We've no way of knowing if he would have revised the sections in the already published works at the time of _Nature Girl_'s publication or not, but the suspicion is that would not have occurred, but would rather have been added to the things to do when he _did_ next review each of those works.
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Post by Not Wes on Jun 20, 2020 12:45:35 GMT -5
Sorry guys (and any gals out there) but I don't know what's gonna happen for sure. Likely not much, but we'll see.
To expand on what John Robert Mead said above, the way this all came about was one of the editors, who happens to a retired lifer in the air force, pointed out to Wes early on that the runway(s?) at Keesler are not long enough to land the big Airbus jet that Jennlynn was flying. This was after Magic Carpet was finished, while other books that followed were being worked on, so the precedent was set. Wes did not change those subsequent books for some reason and we'll never know why, though likely simply because the work involved in going back to do those that were affected (maybe just Magic Carpet at the time? Not sure, but likely happened during editing for Picking Up the Pieces) was more than he wanted to contemplate. However, he did change this story. And I left it.
The original draft of this story that I got from Wes mid September of 2014 (the "v4" version) has the copyright dates the same as the version you're reading. The earliest copyright date in Picking Up the Pieces (2005) is a year before this one in 2006. Somewhere between 2005 and 2014, likely that 2007 date you see, maybe just as an experiment when NG was being separated from Picking Up the Pieces, Wes changed Keesler to Barksdale in NG though he hadn't in PUtP. It was Barksdale in the original NG draft I got, though the story in that version wasn't finished not as long as the one posting, not that I think the book really is in its final form even now. The revised version ("v5") came to me about two weeks later, end of September, and had another 10,000 words added to it. The original v4 version only had six mostly very long chapters with lots of scene breaks in each one. Wes rechaptered the final v5 version to the 21 chapters you'll see coming here. I think he modified and maybe lengthened some of the scenes lifted from PUtP (though I didn't compare), and also added at least one long chapter's worth to the end of this later version.
Anyone who reads Wes's books at all seriously knows he has a rubber ruler, rubber clock, rubber calendar, and rubber geography. Keeping all the books to canon with a bibliography as large as Wes's is very difficult. The other editors and I could have changed this story back to Keesler to match all the others. It wouldn't even have been hard to do. I resisted that because there was so much already similar to another book (PUtP) that I thought this change would counteract that some, as well as it being the way Wes wrote it. (It'd also give the fans something other than PUtP similarity to unload about.) Was Wes going to go back and change all the other stories to match this one? I don't know. If he'd lived, he may have changed this story back to Keesler before publication instead, despite the problem and just never mention it. No one's noticed up to now. Wes gets away with a lot in his stories.
Wes sent occasional book posting list schedules around to the editorial team. On earlier lists, Nature Girl was definitely on the list for posting, though I complained strongly about its similarity to PUtP. On the last posting schedule I got from Wes just before he went in for surgery, NG's status was changed to "Maybe," which to me meant he hoped to modify it more before it was actually posted, and maybe never post it at all if changes weren't made. I sort of doubt the latter, but we'll never know. One strange thing was that the version of NG included in the packet of eight books sent to me by Wes just before his surgery date was theearlier "v4" version, not the expanded "v5" version you're reading. I considered that a mistake and used the longer story for posting. Barksdale is in both, so that aspect doesn't matter. I can't believe that Wes wouldn't have used the expanded version to work from even if he changed the story again before actual posting.
If we do decide to go back and change earlier books, lots more would be necessary. Hearts of Gold would be one. Anytime Biloxi is mentioned in a book would likely have to be changed to Shreveport. The Cajun restaurant started by Jennlynn's friends from the Redlite would have to be moved. Jennlynn flying to visit Will at Keesler would have to change. We're not likely to do all that. This isn't the last book in the BE series. That one might have to be changed, and it might be easier to leave it as Keesler if there is any reference to it (don't remember) and leave this one story the "odd story out" in the series. Or change this story back to Keesler, though it's not gonna fix all those copies that are already out there.
(Wikifolk, feel free to include any of the above background material in the Wiki info for the NG entry if you wish. Ask for clarification on anything as necessary, not that I can help with some things.)
Thanks for reading.
Not Wes
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Post by Boyd Percy on Jun 21, 2020 13:29:44 GMT -5
Shreveport and Biloxi aren't too much different in several ways. One is by a river (Red) and the other by the ocean (Gulf of Mexico); both have AF bases; both have gambling casinos; both are hot and humid and both have Cajun restaurants. Shreveport MSA is over 400,000 while Gulfport-Biloxi MSA is over 200,000.
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