Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 21:09:13 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
From: Samuel Lubell <lubell at cais.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Anvil & Flint
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

At 02:50 PM 3/24/02 -0500, Erica posted a description of Flint's editing
process:
>Sam Pierce <scpierce at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>> Speaking of Anvil, Baen has issued "Pandora's Legions" edited by
>> Eric Flint.  The new version inserted three stories published Analog
>> prior to the original novel (also serialized in Analog.)  Did Flint
>> "update" these stories as he did with Schmitz's work?
>
>I will let Eric reply to this one.  (He evidently has a time machine,
>as he replied last January.)  Please note that I am not necessarily
>agreeing with him.  He posts fairly often in the rec.arts.sf.written
>newsgroup, and yes, he always takes this snide tone.
>
>If anyone wants, I'll also post his defense of his alterations to the
>Schmitz works.

In my opinion, there's a huge difference in the *author* allowing an editor
to make changes, (and, as the post makes clear, approved those he liked and
changed those he didn't) and an editor taking the work of a dead author and
making changes that the dead author never approved in his lifetime.

But, as I noted on rec.arts.sf  even edited Schmitz is better than no
Schmitz at all and some of the stories Flint reprinted were *never*
available in book form.