I remember reading the most current novels the 2-3 years after the Soviet Union collapsed and thinking "awwwww, these poor writers are talking about Soviet Union as if it still exists! How CUTE! Cooochie cooochie coo! If only they'd known how much the world was about the change!"
This happened again, but with less cuteness and more sadness, after 9-11.
But in both cases history had taken over and left just published and just about to be published novels shattered in it's wake. In both cases I think the SF (those SF stories that relied heavily on the US and USSR colonizing space together as two superpowers, that is), Spy, and world trotting adventure genres were hit the hardest. Almost overnight, even their most current work screamed "I'm outdated! The author was clueless about how much the world was about to change! La la la, all of the sudden this book sucks because you can't escape into the fantasy because it keeps slapping you in the face with reality!"
So my question is this: Let's say you were within a month of having a novel of yours published and some major world changing event that impacted either the plot or the canvas upon which your story is painted. Assuming the publisher would let you (a fantasy in and of itself, probably) would you pull it back and change it or just let it go under the theory that your novel will reflect the more innocent time in which it was written?
This happened again, but with less cuteness and more sadness, after 9-11.
But in both cases history had taken over and left just published and just about to be published novels shattered in it's wake. In both cases I think the SF (those SF stories that relied heavily on the US and USSR colonizing space together as two superpowers, that is), Spy, and world trotting adventure genres were hit the hardest. Almost overnight, even their most current work screamed "I'm outdated! The author was clueless about how much the world was about to change! La la la, all of the sudden this book sucks because you can't escape into the fantasy because it keeps slapping you in the face with reality!"
So my question is this: Let's say you were within a month of having a novel of yours published and some major world changing event that impacted either the plot or the canvas upon which your story is painted. Assuming the publisher would let you (a fantasy in and of itself, probably) would you pull it back and change it or just let it go under the theory that your novel will reflect the more innocent time in which it was written?