SM Stirling's Dies the Fire, Protector's War, etc.

[QUOTE=MaxTheVool]
I definitely get the impression that the pagan gods definitely exist and are real in the post-Change world. But it’s not necessarily clear that they existed and were real in the PRE-Change world.
[/QUOTE]

I think Stirling is being a bit more coy than that. Sure, Juniper MacKenzie believes in them, has visions of them, and so forth. But she’s NUTS.

[QUOTE=RandMcnally]
I hope not, because I find the Clan MacKenzie extremly boring. I read every page, but I really want to just skip ahead. I do skim the songs/rituals and whatnot. I just wish he’d spend more time on the Bearkillers.
[/QUOTE]

Funny, my reaction is exactly the opposite. I find the MacKenzie lifestyle very interesting, and the Bearkillers little more than marines with swords.

Stirling meta’d Alien Space Bats into the books? Not sure if I like that.

Well, it’s not like they appear or anything. One of the characters has taken to facetiously calling whoever caused the Change “Alien Space Bats”. He figures it has to be an intelligence of some kind, so he gives them a name.

ETA: Oh, I see you’re just referring to the direction the plot is taking. Never mind.