New Book about TOS: These Are The Voyages

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by neoworx, Jul 13, 2013.

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  1. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I heard November sometime.

    I got a tweet that Trekmovie is going to have an interview with Cushman sometime soon, so we'll probably hear a more concrete date then.
     
  2. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    I wonder if they'll ask him about some of the more contentious issues surrounding the book, or if it will just be a softball piece?
     
  3. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Frankly I'm more annoyed by the numerous typos than any of the supposed "issues" that have been raised.

    You almost get the impression the book was copied and printed straight from his computer, without anyone even running a simple spellcheck on it. lol
     
  4. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    Well, I still think the image reproduction issue is serious, but that may be entirely unknown to Cushman, and simply an issue with the publisher and "The Collector."

    Besides that issue, however, the sections about 'The Alternative Factor' which I've highlighted (which appear to print supposition as if it were fact) are, I think, worth elaboration from the author.

    There are other instances of the same thing (he reprints a Shatner story about Ellison that Ellison has flatly denied as if it were fact, too) that are worth discussing, too.

    Of course, the typos are annoying, but I think they're a symptom of a broader problem with the book rather than the main issue: it wasn't professionally edited.

    This is too bad, really, because I think the book has done something really well that Cushman hasn't gotten credit for: he's thoroughly gone through the secondary literature about Star Trek (memoirs, magazine articles, newspaper stories, etc.). It's too bad that the book isn't better put together, because the raw materials for something terrific are certainly there.
     
  5. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    Ever more often I'm finding numerous typos in newspaper and magazine articles as well as online news reports and other items.
     
  6. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    That may be the case, but this is easily one of the worst-edited nonfiction books I've ever read. And that doesn't just cover typos -- there are a lot of little factual errors, too, although most of them have nothing to do with Star Trek.

    Then again, I haven't read many print-on-demand books before, although this one had a push behind it that made me anticipate a higher level of quality than we got.
     
  7. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Mine is well-edited, give it a try! :). (See signature below.)

    But seriously, this is the well-deserved rep of self-published works. I hired an editor and had several more English major pairs of eyes proof-read (which is different from editing, though it sounds like the book in question needed both). As expensive as it is, and with the decent sales this book must get relative to most self-published ones, the dude could've hired an editor. But didn't. I would add cover designer too, btw.This publisher is more like a marketer for the self-designed book.

    As for the author being clueless about the pics, that is highly unlikely. Authors of nonfiction have to tell publishers what pics to go get and license. And this book sounds author-designed and formatted, so it's really probably on him.
     
  8. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I just watched Conscience of the King, and having read the passage in the book, all I could see was Barbara Anderson's giant cold sore. :borg:
     
  9. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    A few proofreaders would have cleaned up the typos (of which there are hundreds).

    The book credits three editors. Unless the book was an utter disaster before they got their hands on it, it seems like they either didn't have much time to work with the author or just didn't care (or both).

    Believe it or not, the book had a cover designer, who was paid a portion of the funds raised on Kickstarter (the publisher raised a little under $12,000).

    Interesting.
     
  10. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    The one that slapped me in the face last night was "run the gambit of..." instead of "run the gamut of..." to describe a variety of things.
     
  11. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    I wonder if we're so used to so much poor spelling online that a lot could be missed I print.
     
  12. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    My apologies to the cover designer, since I implied there wasn't one. It's all a matter of taste, and I TRY to go through life not snarky.

    Cover design was an area I didn't have money for (though I did license the pic I used), so I copied/imitated other covers like a fiend. After reading lots about it too.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    Well, the cover design is a mix of awful graphic elements (the TV at the bottom left) and typical ones (the starfield). I would have just gone with the starfield myself. It's not inspired, but at least it doesn't look unprofessional.
     
  14. bbailey861

    bbailey861 Admiral Admiral

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    I didn't mind the cover design at all. I did mind all the typos.
     
  15. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    The real problem with the cover is it doesn't grab you. You could walk right past it on display and if you didn't know what you were looking for you'd never see it.
     
  16. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    To be fair, that's a problem with a lot of unlicensed books about Star Trek (especially academic books, although this is not one of those).

    Given the money they raised, though, you'd think they could have either (a) commissioned a more grabbing cover design or (b) licensed a photo from the series. I mean, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story just has an image of the Enterprise on the front, but that is infinitely more grabbing (and specific) than this. Then again, perhaps licensing a photo like that for the cover would still be cost-prohibitive. I really don't know.
     
  17. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    At the risk of blowing my own horn I think I could easily have come up with something more attention getting and aesthetically appealing. :lol:
     
  18. Green Shirt

    Green Shirt Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    If you did it might somehow end up on the cover of the next volume. :devil:
     
  19. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    When I licensed my cover photo (a very famous photo of Louis Armstrong, once used on the cover of Life), it was $400 for a print run of a thousand. When I informed the very helpful agent at the rights agency I was POD and didn't know how many I would "print," he said if I went over a thousand to call and we'd work out another pay. (I told him I'd like nothing better than to have to call him, since that would indicate nice sales.)

    A photo from Trek for as many books as this might be moving, might be pretty costly. Some books are gonna sell because of the cover, to browsers. Others are going to sell to fans who HAVE to have it regardless of cover. the author might have gambled well on this issue (cover cost). I'd still want a better one because it was my product with my name on it. I wish I could figure out how to post my cover here. I am pretty proud of it.
     
  20. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    It can be seen pretty easily by clicking on your signature. It's very simple, but effective.

    It also doesn't have as much noise at the Cushman cover -- which jams a beyond the grave endorsement from Roddenberry and Justman, his name, his co-writer, the authors of the book's forward, and the TOS: Season One subtitle all together, along with the book's title, which takes up nearly half of the cover.
     
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