A Stitch in Time audiobook...finally?!

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Tosk, Jul 29, 2022.

  1. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    If they re-issue the paperback, I'd re-buy it simply to get a copy without the advert on the cover and tacked on excerpt at the end. I know that sounds stupid, but there it is.
     
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  2. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    It has been customary for CD sets of the recent unabridged audio to be available, but they don’t seem to have an endless supply and they are quite expensive. (Mainly created for public libraries by Blackstone Publishing for S&S Audio.) Best bet is to keep watch on Amazon and preorder the CD set when offered.

    I would imagine a trade PB might come out at the same time, and the audio download.

    Likely to be a trade PB. Similar to recent reprints of TMP novelization and “Ex Machina”.
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2022
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  3. USS Firefly

    USS Firefly Commodore Commodore

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    We are talking about "A Stitch in time" so it doesn't sound stupid. You will be forgiven ;)
     
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  4. captainmkb

    captainmkb Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    thinking of the bygone era where there was a hole in the schedule so they dumped a reprint of some random TNG numbered book into the schedule just to sell some paper when the JJTrek novels were cancelled. or even a more bygone era where Black Fire and Triangle ran for four or five printings well into the following decade after their release. but we still havent seen re-issues of seminal books from the turn of the century 22 yrs ago
     
  5. Brendan Moody

    Brendan Moody Vice Admiral Admiral

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    “Some random TNG numbered book” by Laurell K. Hamilton, author of the NYT-bestselling Anita Blake series. They didn’t just pick a backlist title out of a hat…
     
  6. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    I remember Marco Palmieri once saying that you can't always judge the popularity by number-of-printings alone because print-runs can vary wildly. So one book's first printing might have been way overestimated (and warehouse storage is expensive, so they try to guess well) while other books may have had many rather short print-runs.

    As for "Nightshade", yes, Pocket suddenly had requests for her Trek title to go into reprint due to Hamilton's rising popularity. So it wasn't a random selection.
     
  7. captainmkb

    captainmkb Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    whatever. i wouldnt pick Nightshade as one of the standout highlights of the TNG numbered era
     
  8. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    No, but the Hamilton completists wanted it.
     
  9. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    That doesn't matter. They wanted to draw in the readers who would buy the book because of Hamilton's name alone. They were in the business of making money, not curating a list of best books.
     
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  10. captainmkb

    captainmkb Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    thanks, i read that the previous two times someone said it. the popularity of the author (that i'd never heard of) is a valid point (which must be why you took it upon yourself to repeat the previous posts)

    my point to be made though - curating a list of decent readables would also turn into sales. a reissue of an old book that generates buzz (like A Stitch in Time) could conceivably do that, without the added cost of commissioning a new author to write a lower quality book (which they've done a lot over the intervening decades)
     
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  11. Smiley

    Smiley Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Star Wars is rereleasing some older titles with new covers in trade paperback as part of an essential Legends collection. I would love to see Star Trek do something like that one day, especially if they can get artists that make the covers pop as much as the German releases.

    Keeping it a little bit more on topic, how long does it generally take to produce a full length audiobook once the narrator is in the studio?
     
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  12. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    "Forgive my delay in responding to your kind communications."

    The book opens with this sentence. This is such a pie in the sky thought, but wouldn't it be great if Andrew was to write a new prologue, said letter from Bashir to Garak, and get Sid to "guest spot" record it for the audiobook? Brand new material and a second Niner? Extra sales, baby. ;)
     
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  13. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    I would not be surprised if they co-read this on the audio. I believe they performed some letters together at conventions, after Andy's solo efforts at previous ones.
     
  14. Arpy

    Arpy Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I can’t wait for this. My favorite Trek book ever!
     
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  15. KRAD

    KRAD Keith R.A. DeCandido Admiral

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    I would be extremely surprised if they co-read it, as Simon & Schuster's license is for single-reader audio only. More than one person reads it, it becomes a dramatic audio presentation. They were able to make an odd exception for the early audios where Leonard Nimoy read bits as Spock while George Takei or James Doohan read the bulk of the (abridged) text, but that time has passed.

    And yes, Q-in-Law was an exception, but that audio actually violated the terms of S&S's agreement, and only was forgiven because one of the two readers was Gene Roddenberry's widow.
     
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  16. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    Yeah, there was no interaction. I recall chatting to John Ordover about the distinctions of that license (vs dramatic audio), when the audio tracks for the computer games ("Klingon" and "Borg") were being cobbled together to create audio books.

    Although wasn't there an announcement recently that the dramatic audio license had been taken up? (EDIT: As in the original audio, "No Man's Land", performed by Michelle Hurd and Jeri Ryan, with Fred Tatasciore, John Kassie and John Cutmore-Scott.)

    It explains why "Q-Squared" came out as a single reader (John de Lancie) audio in 1994, after it was promoted at a convention with a live reading of extracts by John de Lancie and William Campbell!

    But there had also been "Relics", read by James Doohan and LeVar Burton.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2022
  17. James Swallow

    James Swallow Writer Captain

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    This "two readers makes it a drama" rule is interesting... I wonder if that's a common clause on all audiobook licenses? I'd always assumed single readers are used because it's cheaper and easier than using multiple ones, but maybe it's because of that. Then again, I have seen other IPs that have two readers on their audiobooks... I remember the audio version of the Halo novel Contact Harvest had both a male and female reader (although it seems to be an outlier, as all the other Halo books are single-voice).
     
  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Also in the Captain Sulu audios, where they had multiple cast members but never allowed them to exchange dialogue with each other directly, instead having them read separate parts as personal logs or monologues. They came as close as they could to making them feel like dramas without ever having two performers in the same scene (unless you count vocalists performing under the narration/monologue).
     
  19. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    If you can have two people but keep them separate, then Stitch is still the perfect vehicle for that approach. No conversing between Garak and Bashir, just letters to each other. But I feel bad now for introducing the idea...it's not like it's needed, just thought it would make for a neat prologue. :)
     
  20. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    As Keith said, the time for such exceptions has apparently passed.