A Singular Destiny review thread (possible spoilers) - Page 6

KRAD · January 23 2009, 10:42 PM

Christopher wrote:

KRAD wrote:

^ The first name was removed and your assumption regarding the second name is false.

Okay, thanks. But could all those people with the same family name be relatives of the character I thought it was?

Given how common that family name is, I'd say no.

Mysterion · January 23 2009, 11:02 PM

William Leisner wrote:

ClayinCA wrote:

This may be a bad sign...

I noticed that Borders' website page for A Singular Destiny lists the book as "available online only." This is separate from its status as a pre-order, so it looks as though the book, even when it comes out, will not be sold at Borders B&M stores (further ensuring that I won't be shopping at Borders for much longer).

I don't know what Borders thinks they're doing. This was the same message they had for Errand of Fury Book 3, and it doesn't seem like they intend to carry Shards and Shadows in store, either. Not putting new releases into their stores (even if its just the less mainstream titles that are being sacrificed) hardly seems to be the way to bring customers in.

Agreed. I've ehard rumours of the chain being in trouble, and this does seem the wrong way to try and fix things. For my part, I've stopped going to my local Borders in lieu of a Barnes and Noble which is twice the distance and an extra bus transfer away. Their loss, I suppose.

Dimesdan · January 23 2009, 11:15 PM

Mysterion wrote:

William Leisner wrote:

ClayinCA wrote:

This may be a bad sign...

I noticed that Borders' website page for A Singular Destiny lists the book as "available online only." This is separate from its status as a pre-order, so it looks as though the book, even when it comes out, will not be sold at Borders B&M stores (further ensuring that I won't be shopping at Borders for much longer).

I don't know what Borders thinks they're doing. This was the same message they had for Errand of Fury Book 3, and it doesn't seem like they intend to carry Shards and Shadows in store, either. Not putting new releases into their stores (even if its just the less mainstream titles that are being sacrificed) hardly seems to be the way to bring customers in.

Agreed. I've ehard rumours of the chain being in trouble, and this does seem the wrong way to try and fix things. For my part, I've stopped going to my local Borders in lieu of a Barnes and Noble which is twice the distance and an extra bus transfer away. Their loss, I suppose.

Sorry, that makes no sense what so ever!

You hear a shop is in trouble so instead of buying which ever goods you need/want from them in an admittedly tiny way to help there profits and remain open, you decide to go to the competition and thus possibly contribute to the decline of the first shop.

LightningStorm · January 23 2009, 11:23 PM

Dimesdan wrote:

Sorry, that makes no sense what so ever!

It's all unnecessary hysteria anyway. The way their site works is that the date they have stamped as the "release date" prevents the "check store inventory" zip code box from showing up and instead it says "not available in stores". On that day (in some cases a day before) the box shows up like normal. As will be the case here.

I've even seen this happen in the case of Gods of Night where the site listed the release date as the 27th and thus "not available in stores" but on the 25th I went to my local borders and there it was. Then on the 27th the box showed up like normal.

Mysterion · January 23 2009, 11:41 PM

Dimesdan wrote:

Sorry, that makes no sense what so ever!

You hear a shop is in trouble so instead of buying which ever goods you need/want from them in an admittedly tiny way to help there profits and remain open, you decide to go to the competition and thus possibly contribute to the decline of the first shop.

It makes perfect sense. They have ceased to carry the goods (i.e. ST novels) that I want to buy, so I am instead going to a vendor who does carry the books I want. If they my (and presumably other folks) business and thus keep themselves from going under, they should improve their selection (which has gotten more and more sparse in many areas other than just ST books).

Lightningstorm wrote:

I've even seen this happen in the case of Gods of Night where the site listed the release date as the 27th and thus "not available in stores" but on the 25th I went to my local borders and there it was. Then on the 27th the box showed up like normal.

Maybe so, but a bit more recently the third Errand of Fury book remains "internet only" at my local borders. Nor have they stocked Shards and Shadows at all.

Over the past year, the two or three Borders stores I visit here in the Seattle/Tacoma area have been stocking fewer and fewer titles. It started with them not carrying as many backlist titles. Now they are carrying fewer and fewer new titles. Recently the store in Tacoma and the one in downtown Seattle have gone as far as to rearrange their floorplans/shelves to make it look like there are more books than there really are in the store. *shrug* For the last decade, Borders was my store of choice. Good customer service, efficient at ordering in titles for me, etc. The last 12-18 months this has gotten to be less and less the case. So, I'll just go elsewhere where the selection is better and the service more accomodating.

Christopher · January 23 2009, 11:46 PM

^^Have you tried special-ordering books from them? Even if they don't have a book on their shelves, you should be able to order it.

Mysterion · January 23 2009, 11:50 PM

Christopher wrote:

^^Have you tried special-ordering books from them? Even if they don't have a book on their shelves, you should be able to order it.

Yes. Apparantly these days when they say "internet only", they mean it.

Dimesdan · January 24 2009, 12:17 AM

Mysterion wrote:

Dimesdan wrote:

Sorry, that makes no sense what so ever!

You hear a shop is in trouble so instead of buying which ever goods you need/want from them in an admittedly tiny way to help there profits and remain open, you decide to go to the competition and thus possibly contribute to the decline of the first shop.

It makes perfect sense. They have ceased to carry the goods (i.e. ST novels) that I want to buy, so I am instead going to a vendor who does carry the books I want. If they my (and presumably other folks) business and thus keep themselves from going under, they should improve their selection (which has gotten more and more sparse in many areas other than just ST books).

And from a certain point of view I see where you are coming from. BUT, maybe the reason why the Borders around you are not ordering in stock is because they honestly do not believe that Trek books will sell because, oh I don't know, people arn't going into the shop to buy them or making enquires and going to the competition instead.

If you don't go in and spend your green in there, it will increase the risk of them going under because they will think no one wants to buy certain books and in this case Star Trek. Now, if you go in there, order the books, make it known that you and others want to buy them, maybe they'll start ordering them in in greater numbers. Shops try to anticipate what will and won't sell, but this is because they use sales figures in most cases and if for what ever reason certain things don't sell or don't seem to be selling, they look at the maths and decide to cut back as it's not really worth having the stock on the shelf and not sold as it could be used for things that will sell and I'm assuming due to one thing or another, that's why there are fewer and fewer Trek books on shelves.

Thrawn · January 24 2009, 12:27 AM

Woo! My copy just arrived (thank you Amazon Prime); review up tomorrow.

I'm excited!

Marie1 · January 24 2009, 12:47 AM

KRAD wrote:

Marie1 wrote:

I have a question, my map accuracy is probably wrong... but how can the Federation be completely surrounded? At least to a point they're bordered by Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians... so... is that not to be taken literally? Or is my map off? Or is my thinking not 3D enough...

You're being too literal.

My imagination is small... and broken...

LOL, thanks for clearing that up.

I love the comparison between Stitch and the councilor I met in Destiny!

JoeZhang · January 24 2009, 12:52 AM

Marie1 · January 24 2009, 12:54 AM

^ I would say we're supposed to think so...

Thrawn · January 24 2009, 01:02 AM

JoeZhang wrote:

I don't think it's true, but either way it's a pretty great tease.

KRAD · January 24 2009, 01:20 AM

MINE IS (yes, still) AN EVIL LAUGH!!!!!!!!!!

JD · January 24 2009, 04:48 PM

I've run into the same problem as you guys with Borders. Either one or two weeks ago, I went to Borders to look for Shards and Shadows, but they didn't have it, so I went to the B&N which is so close you can almost see it from the Borders parking lot, and they had like 6 copies. But I also noticed that there did seem to be alot less stock in general in the Borders, there everything was really spread out with lots of open space, and then at B&N the store was packed pretty tightly. This is sucks for me because I tend to prefer to shop at Borders, I don't know why but for some reason it's always felt more casual to me.
Oh, and I went to both stores again this week, and couldn't find ASD in either store yet.

January 23 2009, 11:46 PM	#81
Christopher Writer	Re: A Singular Destiny review thread (possible spoilers) ^^Have you tried special-ordering books from them? Even if they don't have a book on their shelves, you should be able to order it. __________________ Christopher L. Bennett Homepage -- Includes purchasing links for Only Superhuman, on sale now! Updated 12/30/12 with annotations for the novel. Written Worlds -- My blog

January 24 2009, 12:27 AM	#84
Thrawn Commodore Location: Washington, DC	Re: A Singular Destiny review thread (possible spoilers) Woo! My copy just arrived (thank you Amazon Prime); review up tomorrow. I'm excited!

January 24 2009, 12:52 AM	#86
JoeZhang Rear Admiral	Re: A Singular Destiny review thread (possible spoilers) Are we meant to think that Klingon woman and her kid from voyager are actually dead? really? just seems to be tease to get you to pick up the next voyager book.

January 24 2009, 12:54 AM	#87
Marie1 Rear Admiral Location: Alpha Centauri	Re: A Singular Destiny review thread (possible spoilers) ^ I would say we're supposed to think so... __________________ Vote: RA Avatar Contest #21! "He sings lounges? I'm not familiar with that musical form." -Taran'atar, DS9-R Mission Gamma 3 --Save Taran'atar!

January 24 2009, 01:20 AM	#89
KRAD Keith R.A. DeCandido Location: New York City	Re: A Singular Destiny review thread (possible spoilers) MINE IS (yes, still) AN EVIL LAUGH!!!!!!!!!! __________________ Keith R.A. DeCandido Blog \| Facebook \| Twitter "Even when you turn your back, you're facing something."

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January 24 2009, 04:48 PM	#90
JD Admiral Location: Arizona, USA	Re: A Singular Destiny review thread (possible spoilers) I've run into the same problem as you guys with Borders. Either one or two weeks ago, I went to Borders to look for Shards and Shadows, but they didn't have it, so I went to the B&N which is so close you can almost see it from the Borders parking lot, and they had like 6 copies. But I also noticed that there did seem to be alot less stock in general in the Borders, there everything was really spread out with lots of open space, and then at B&N the store was packed pretty tightly. This is sucks for me because I tend to prefer to shop at Borders, I don't know why but for some reason it's always felt more casual to me. Oh, and I went to both stores again this week, and couldn't find ASD in either store yet. __________________ Over the course of many encounters and many years, I have successfully developed a standard operating procedure for dealing with big, nasty monsters. Run away. Me and Monty Python. Harry Dresden - Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6)