I just finished Needle last night - pretty good, especially considering it was published in 1949(serial)/1950(novel). I see in isfdb that there's a 1978 sequel - is it faithful and/or similar in tone to the original?

Tony

On Thursday, January 19, 2023 at 5:16:30 PM UTC-5, Tony Nance wrote:
> I just finished Needle last night - pretty good, especially considering it was published in 1949(serial)/1950(novel). I see in isfdb that there's a 1978 sequel - is it faithful and/or similar in tone to the original?
>

<sigh> Would be nice if I'd remembered to include the title: Through the Eye of the Needle.

In article <320eb4f2-0c29-4842-9c93-8b5d51461cf1n@googlegroups.com>,
Tony Nance <tonynance17@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Thursday, January 19, 2023 at 5:16:30 PM UTC-5, Tony Nance wrote:
>> I just finished Needle last night - pretty good, especially
>considering it was published in 1949(serial)/1950(novel). I see in isfdb
>that there's a 1978 sequel - is it faithful and/or similar in tone to
>the original?
>>
>
>
><sigh> Would be nice if I'd remembered to include the title: Through the
>Eye of the Needle.

My recollection is that it is "OK". There was a bit of retconning going
on, and the plot was not as memorable (he says because he can't remember it..)
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On 2023-01-19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> <ted@loft.tnolan.com> wrote:

>><sigh> Would be nice if I'd remembered to include the title: Through the
>>Eye of the Needle.
>
> My recollection is that it is "OK". There was a bit of retconning going
> on, and the plot was not as memorable (he says because he can't remember it..)

Yep, I concur with this assessment.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

In article <slrntsllcn.1gdp.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>On 2023-01-19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> <ted@loft.tnolan.com> wrote:
>
>>><sigh> Would be nice if I'd remembered to include the title: Through the
>>>Eye of the Needle.
>>
>> My recollection is that it is "OK". There was a bit of retconning going
>> on, and the plot was not as memorable (he says because he can't remember it..)
>
>Yep, I concur with this assessment.

I recall that the Hunter was finding that symbiosis with a
new species was something that really required specialists of
his kind to deal with -- his presence was causing escalating
health problems with the kid who hosted him, a juggling act
with more balls being thrown at him, which he desperately
did not want to drop, since he really liked the kid...

Fortunately, his folks showed up, and one of said specialists
gave him a "You idiot..." speech, and fixed the issues.

There were other things going on of course, but I don't
recall them.

--
Mike Van Pelt | "I don't advise it unless you're nuts."
mvp at calweb.com | -- Ray Wilkinson, after riding out Hurricane
KE6BVH | Ike on Surfside Beach in Galveston

On 2023-01-21, Mike Van Pelt <usenet@mikevanpelt.com> wrote:

> I recall that the Hunter was finding that symbiosis with a
> new species was something that really required specialists of
> his kind to deal with -- his presence was causing escalating
> health problems with the kid who hosted him, a juggling act

In other words: There were large advances in our understanding of
the immune system, and some of this trickled through to Clement,
who realized that he had waved away the issue rather too casually
in 1950.

> There were other things going on of course, but I don't
> recall them.

There was a serious concern that the main plot element of the first
book hadn't been resolved as thoroughly as it had seemed at the
time.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

In article <tqhic7$2nouh$2@dont-email.me>,
Mike Van Pelt <usenet@mikevanpelt.com> wrote:
>In article <slrntsllcn.1gdp.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
>Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>>On 2023-01-19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> <ted@loft.tnolan.com> wrote:
>>
>>>><sigh> Would be nice if I'd remembered to include the title: Through the
>>>>Eye of the Needle.
>>>
>>> My recollection is that it is "OK". There was a bit of retconning going
>>> on, and the plot was not as memorable (he says because he can't
>remember it..)
>>
>>Yep, I concur with this assessment.
>
>I recall that the Hunter was finding that symbiosis with a
>new species was something that really required specialists of
>his kind to deal with -- his presence was causing escalating
>health problems with the kid who hosted him, a juggling act
>with more balls being thrown at him, which he desperately
>did not want to drop, since he really liked the kid...
>

That was the retconning I mentioned.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 8:13:13 PM UTC-5, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <tqhic7$2nouh$2...@dont-email.me>,
> Mike Van Pelt <use...@mikevanpelt.com> wrote:
> >In article <slrntsllcn...@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
> >Christian Weisgerber <na...@mips.inka.de> wrote:
> >>On 2023-01-19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> <t...@loft.tnolan.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>>><sigh> Would be nice if I'd remembered to include the title: Through the
> >>>>Eye of the Needle.
> >>>
> >>> My recollection is that it is "OK". There was a bit of retconning going
> >>> on, and the plot was not as memorable (he says because he can't
> >remember it..)
> >>
> >>Yep, I concur with this assessment.
> >
> >I recall that the Hunter was finding that symbiosis with a
> >new species was something that really required specialists of
> >his kind to deal with -- his presence was causing escalating
> >health problems with the kid who hosted him, a juggling act
> >with more balls being thrown at him, which he desperately
> >did not want to drop, since he really liked the kid...
> >
> That was the retconning I mentioned.
>

My thanks to all three of you. If I run across this somewhere
I'll probably pick it up, but I don't think I'll actively pursue it.
- Tony