Simon & Schuster to release ST titles in eBook omnibi?

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Defcon, Dec 3, 2012.

  1. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    Well, should have bought Slings and Arrows when the price was reasonable. ;)
     
  2. OmahaStar

    OmahaStar Disrespectful of his betters Admiral

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    Seven dollars for a 43 page short story? I would dearly love to hear how Pocket can possibly justify that price.
     
  3. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    Way back when before S&S went agency, the prices were reasonable. In fact, I bought all of them. Now that I have them as ePub via B&N, I may reread Slings and Arrows.
     
  4. 8of5

    8of5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    These three omnibuses have covers now, they reuse the artwork from Plagues of Night, Forgotten History, and Mere Mortals. Have a looksie.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2012
  5. DS9forever

    DS9forever Commodore Commodore

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    I would have included Rough Beasts of Empire with Plagues of Night and Raise the Dawn. :confused:
     
  6. shanejayell

    shanejayell Captain Captain

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    I'm also scratching my head at tossing the Temporal Investigations book in with the 'Original Series' omnibus. I mean, aren't the readers gonna be a BIT lost without the first DTI book?
     
  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Hopefully not. I was originally told it was going to be published under the TOS banner, so I approached it so that it could work as a TOS novel -- so that someone unfamiliar with DTI, or even the TNG era in general, could still follow the book. Although the same characters appear, there are virtually no references to specific plot points or story arcs from Watching the Clock. So the uninitiated reader could pick it up and just see these characters from the future as one-time guest stars, kind of like the futures glimpsed in novels like Crossroad and Imzadi.

    I like to think the two DTI novels can be read in either order, which is appropriate. Indeed, I'm hoping that including FH in this TOS omnibus will introduce DTI to some fans who didn't take note of it when it was published under its own subtitle.
     
  8. bfollowell

    bfollowell Captain Captain

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    I have to agree with Christopher. I'm currently reading DTI: Future History, and loving it by the way, and have to say it is as much a TOS novel as a DTI novel, maybe more in some ways. I think it fits in well. Also, there are several brief mentions of the "Scagway" incident. Nothing major, just that name actually, and I take it those are references back to Grag Cox's Rings of Time which I haven't had a chance to read yet.

    I'm just glad to see the covers, though it would've been nice to see some totally new art. I'm also curious what is driving this new direction and wondering if it means we may finally see the final two S.C.E. omnibus editions in ebook format.

    - Byron
     
  9. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Yep!
     
  10. Deano2099

    Deano2099 Commander Red Shirt

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    Some of these are out now, David Mack's blog confirmed that the Destiny collection is the revised version http://www.davidmack.pro/blog/?tag=omnibus - and on Amazon UK at least they seem to be decent value - £7 for Destiny and £9 for the Typhon Pact book.
     
  11. Sho

    Sho Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    ^ Ah, that means I got work to do on generating those errata I promised. Hopefully on the weekend.

    Do you guys think I should open a new thread for that, or tack it on somewhere else? Thinking new thread at the moment.
     
  12. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

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    Awesome... thanks for sharing that! I already had the individual pBook releases, so I didn't feel any need to buy the pBook omnibus. However, I wanted a copy of Destiny for my Kobo, so I had planned to buy the eBook version of the omnibus... and then of course they didn't release it. Now that they have, and the author confirmed it is the "tweaked" version... sold!

    (OT: When I bought this, I also got the complete HGttG "trilogy". I have wanted this as an eBook version for a while now, but it wasn't available last time I went looking...)

    Me too. If they had done that, I would have considered buying it... if it also didn't have that $26 price tag!

    I hope these eBook omnibuses catch on. I normally buy my ST books in hardcopy, but some of them I'd like to have eBook versions of too. However, I'm not going to pay full eBook price just to have the same book in two formats. But omnibuses released a few years later could (hopefully) be sold at a discount. Imagine a few years down the road getting the entire Vanguard saga as an eBook omnibus. With eBooks, it doesn't matter if the printed equivalent would look like two phone books glued together... ;)

    What I really want, right now, is an eBook-only updated version of the Bloodwing Voyages omnibus which includes The Empty Chair. I understand why they did it the way they did it back in 2006, but it's been six years now, so hopefully they wouldn't be hurting the bottom line too much by adding the final chapter. (But keep the original BV cover design mostly intact... I love that cover!)
     
  13. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    Exploration of most profitable, marketable and popular eBook options?
     
  14. Sho

    Sho Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Here's a quick example of how I think my change list for the Destiny novels is going to look like. It's a paragraph from chapter 1 of Gods of Night:

    [​IMG]

    Reading advice: The red parts were removed by Mr. Mack in the revised addition and the green parts were added. So to compare, first read black+red and then read black+green.

    I'm currently trying to figure out just how much context I can quote, both in terms of legal fair use and in making sure Mr. Mack approves of the publication. I think the easiest way would be to number the paragraphs and list any paragraph with changes, so readers can easily find them and their context in their books. But quoting an entire paragraph with only one changed sentence may be too much, even if it'd make lookup a lot easier than having to find sentences in paragraphs. Stay tuned ...
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2013