If Amber was to be written today...

[Voros]

GRRM use to be a really concise writer with a real skill for tight and effective plotting. But as the Ice and Fire series has progressed those virtues have become increasingly short in evidence. Check out his sf/horror short stories and novellas to see how far he's come.

[Krimson]

If the series were written 20 years later, the Corwin Cycle would happen in the 90s, and the Merlin cycle would have been written in the last decade. I'm sure Merlin would somehow figure out how to use the Internet to browse shadow by turning a laptop into a Trump card or something. By the time of the later novels, as Headless mentioned, he would probably be looking at pictures of cats on his iPhone which would be hooked up to the Logrus somehow.

[ArrozConLeche]

GRRM use to be a really concise writer with a real skill for tight and effective plotting. But as the Ice and Fire series has progressed those virtues have become increasingly short in evidence. Check out his sf/horror short stories and novellas to see how far he's come.

Maybe he needs an editor, much the same way that Neal Stephenson, and maybe Stephen King (though I disagree with that), are said to need one. Sometimes as authors become more popular, they are given more rope, but then they sort of hang themselves with it.

[Malleus Aforethought]

I think that Editors have lost a lost of their influence today. Look at Stranger in a Strange Land. The original was published without the middle, transitional section due to Heinlein's editor at the time. Frankly, I think it made a better book. The contrast between the first and last sections in as-published version server the story well. The redacted portion just didn't move the story as well. Or look at Donaldson's Mordant's Need books. Really should have been one largish book. A good editor wouldn't have let him ramble on like he did. I think with some authors it's a little like pop bands. The music may be crap, but the fans go nuts, so they get away with shit less famous people couldn't as long as the money flows (to the publisher or the record label as the case may be).

[daniel_ream]

I agree that the princesses would be more active, and that Corwin would dismiss them less readily

I think the whole problem with "what if the Chronicles were written today" is that they either wouldn't be the Chronicles or they couldn't get published.  All of Zelazny's protagonists in every one of his books is a sardonic white alpha male who upends the existing order and creates a  new one, cementing himself at the top of it.

If you think that's going to get past the No Award brigade, you're naive.

[finarvyn]

All of Zelazny's protagonists in every one of his books is a sardonic white alpha male who upends the existing order and creates a new one, cementing himself at the top of it.

See, now that is a valid point of discussion. There is no reason why Oberon's wives would need to be of a single ethnicity, so no reason why the major players in the Chronicles would have to be Caucasian. This could be a big difference, at least from a tv-series casting perspective.

[daniel_ream]

See, now that is a valid point of discussion. There is no reason why Oberon's wives would need to be of a single ethnicity, so no reason why the major players in the Chronicles would have to be Caucasian. This could be a big difference, at least from a tv-series casting perspective.

Yes, I remember all the "Zelazny doesn't explicitly say" arguments from the Amber mailing list twenty years ago.  And if one felt the need, one could exploit that to earn diversity points with the SJW brigade by transparently shoehorning a diversity agenda into a work where it's neither necessary nor helpful.

But I fear you miss my point.  I said "...all of Zelazny's protagonists".  Corwin, Merlin, Mahasamatman, Pol Detson, many others - they all fit a type Zelazny quite liked.  A type that's simply unmarketable in SF lit today.

[AsenRG]

Yes, I remember all the "Zelazny doesn't explicitly say" arguments from the Amber mailing list twenty years ago.  And if one felt the need, one could exploit that to earn diversity points with the SJW brigade by transparently shoehorning a diversity agenda into a work where it's neither necessary nor helpful.

But I fear you miss my point.  I said "...all of Zelazny's protagonists".  Corwin, Merlin, Mahasamatman, Pol Detson, many others - they all fit a type Zelazny quite liked.  A type that's simply unmarketable in SF lit today.

But not Kai Wren, nor the main character in Creatures of Light and Darkness, who we'll not name for fear of spoiling people. Many of his short stories also don't feature a white protagonist, either, including the one told from the perspective of a Japanese woman;).
And why do you think the Mahasamatman isn't South Asian:D?

[Voros]

I think that Editors have lost a lost of their influence today. Look at Stranger in a Strange Land. The original was published without the middle, transitional section due to Heinlein's editor at the time. Frankly, I think it made a better book. The contrast between the first and last sections in as-published version server the story well. The redacted portion just didn't move the story as well. Or look at Donaldson's Mordant's Need books. Really should have been one largish book. A good editor wouldn't have let him ramble on like he did. I think with some authors it's a little like pop bands. The music may be crap, but the fans go nuts, so they get away with shit less famous people couldn't as long as the money flows (to the publisher or the record label as the case may be).

I agree but it is true of only certain writers. I find Heinlein's juveniles of a much higher standard in terms of structure and character than Starship Troopers, the book where he broke away from the editor he thought was 'restricting' him. In this case retricting him from including pointless OT gun and women rants in a classic like Red Planet. After ST he just got worse and worse and the books got more and more wooly.

[finarvyn]

But I fear you miss my point.  I said "...all of Zelazny's protagonists".  Corwin, Merlin, Mahasamatman, Pol Detson, many others - they all fit a type Zelazny quite liked.  A type that's simply unmarketable in SF lit today.

Okay, you've got me there and I did overlook that part. As others have noted, there are some characters that don't fit that model (Kai Wren from Lord Demon is an excellent example) but the vast majority of his characters are similar in their ethnicity.

On the other hand, I suspect that most authors naturally default to their own gender and ethnic background when they write since that's what they know best. Tolkien, for example, was known to be a hobbit....

[AsenRG]

Yes, given that the social structure of hobbits is heavily borrowing from rural England, AFAICT;).

[finarvyn]

So, to summarize what we have so far -- looks like we have identified five areas of potential change:
1. Less smoking
2. Tendency towards longer, more verbose language
3. Stronger, more active female characters
4. Modern tech, like cell phones or using the internet as a Trump
5. Broader ethnicity among main characters

I doubt that any of these would be "deal breakers" for my enjoyment of the series. Any or all of them might change the "feel" of the books, however.

Anything else to add?