DS9 novels!!! WTH????

[JD]

Sounds like a good idea. I don't know about where you are, but here they don't order very many copies of the Trek books when they first get them. Then they either don't order more, or only order one or two copies. I just went to Borders this weekend, and they only had probably a dozen or so books, and only one copy of most of them. There was only one copy of Unworthy, and it has a tear on one edge of the cover, and some sort of lines pressed into the cover. I don't like to get books in that condition, but in this case I sadly didn't have much choice.

 

[Freman]

The sad thing bout my situation, and the reason I'm so behind on everything I like to collect, is that there are NO book stores in Kenora. And even our Wal-mart and Zellers NEVER get any good books in.

I think the last time I saw a Star Trek or Star Wars book in town was a decade ago, and that's minimum.

 

[MNM]

So there's no way to get these unless I pay ridiculously high prices for them? That's just sad.

Depends where you look. On the uk amazon website right now, via the market place you can get the first two Mission Gamma books for 1p and 70p (before postage) and the final one for less than £2, and the hardback Unity for a little over £3.

 

[Lindley]

Sounds like a good idea. I don't know about where you are, but here they don't order very many copies of the Trek books when they first get them. Then they either don't order more, or only order one or two copies. I just went to Borders this weekend, and they only had probably a dozen or so books, and only one copy of most of them. There was only one copy of Unworthy, and it has a tear on one edge of the cover, and some sort of lines pressed into the cover. I don't like to get books in that condition, but in this case I sadly didn't have much choice.

As long as the book is still in print, you can always ask the bookstore to order in a copy for you. A lot of people don't seem to know that they'll do that free of charge.....

 

[TheAlmanac]

while looking for matching editions of the two Phoenix novels

That was very hard to do Australia! Our bookshops got Corgi UK versions of "Price" but US versions of "Fate". (A similar problem with the two Joe Haldeman novels, actually.)

We get the US editions in Canada.

(There've been analogous problems with other tie-in series in the past, though--the Highlander novels, for instance, had no Canadian distribution when they were coming out, and I bought the only one I have in New York.)

I started out thinking it would be pretty easy--I used to see the Eighties editions of the novels (with the predominantly black covers) all the time, which would also match what little Bantam content I already own, so I pledged to pick those up as soon as I'd seen copies of both of them (even if they'd been in different stores).

Strangely enough, that edition of Fate of the Phoenix is all over the place here, but only the (comparatively garish-looking) Seventies edition of Price is around. :/

 

[bbailey861]

The sad thing bout my situation, and the reason I'm so behind on everything I like to collect, is that there are NO book stores in Kenora. And even our Wal-mart and Zellers NEVER get any good books in.

That in itself is a great reason to scoot over to Winterpeg for the day or even two. When we lived there (93-97), we used to drive over to Kenora for the day because it was so beautiful there by the lake...and to pick up cheap smokes. We've since quit that nasty habit, but ahh, the memories. I know you like new books but there are some great used book stores in Wpg or you might want to try Abe Books or Alibris as well.

Byron

 

[Reanok]

When I got the Mission Gamma books when they first came out originally in bookstores. I had to special order them because they kept selling out at the bookstore. The most difficult one to find was the novel about Jake. Unity was alot easier to find on their bookshelves at Barnes & Noble.I had to special order The never ending Sacrifice because the store didn't have any copies in their store.

 

[Fer]

I've noticed the same thing is starting to happen with the Gorkon books. I bought Books 1 & 2 when they came out because I enjoyed Diplomatic Immunity and The Brave & The Bold, but I still haven't gotten around to reading them. So I had Book 3 on my Amazon wishlist. (I also bought Klingon Empire when it came out because I heard it needed the sales boost.)

I went on Amazon the other day and discovered that they were now sold out of Enemy Territory, and the cheapest they had it used was $8.26! Half.com was the same way, their cheapest copies were all in the $8 range, with new copies being listed at $75! I found a used library copy at Abes for $1 & grabbed it asap. All the remaining copies there are now ranging from $8.29 - $35.95.

I guess the moral of the story is, if you want to read it someday, buy it today.

Glad to hear about the eBooks option. I don't like eBooks because I don't have an eBook reader yet, and I like to take my books with me. Sooner or later I'll probably break down and buy a reader, but in the meantime it's good to know that at least that option is there.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Glad to hear about the eBooks option. I don't like eBooks because I don't have an eBook reader yet, and I like to take my books with me.

See, this is what I don't understand. You can read an eBook on just about any computer. If you really, really need to use an eBook to catch up on a title you can't get in hardcopy, then that's the one you stay home to read. If you don't like reading from the screen, do it in shorter bursts. You won't grow to like it if you never do it. If you have to "take a book with you", then you take a different book that day.

Use the available tech to enable you to read the stories you can't get in any other format. Then, you can be more relaxed about reading more books in a particular story arc, or that burning need to buy a cleaner, more pristine hardcopy version when you discover it on one of your trips to a second hand bookstore.

 

[Freman]

I only read one book at a time so that's out. lol Plus, reading off a computer screen for extended periods gives me headaches.

So before I went the eBook route, I would have to have a Kindle or other reading device.

 

[Fer]

Glad to hear about the eBooks option. I don't like eBooks because I don't have an eBook reader yet, and I like to take my books with me.

See, this is what I don't understand. You can read an eBook on just about any computer. If you really, really need to use an eBook to catch up on a title you can't get in hardcopy, then that's the one you stay home to read. If you don't like reading from the screen, do it in shorter bursts. You won't grow to like it if you never do it. If you have to "take a book with you", then you take a different book that day.

Sure, and that's what I did with some of the Star Wars eBook novellas when I was reading New Jedi Order. And it's the same thing I'll be doing now with their Lost Tribe of the Sith eBooks. It's just such a pain to lug my monitor into the bathroom with me, and you should see the marks it leaves on my knees!

Seriously though, I'm not an eBook hater. It's just for me to get the most out of my reading, it needs to be portable. Which is why I know that someday I'll wind up with a Kindle or something like it. But for now, if I can get a dead tree version, that's my preference.

Use the available tech to enable you to read the stories you can't get in any other format. Then, you can be more relaxed about reading more books in a particular story arc, or that burning need to buy a cleaner, more pristine hardcopy version when you discover it on one of your trips to a second hand bookstore.

Don't get me wrong, if I were done with Honor Bound and about to start Enemy Territory and that was the cheapest option, then what you suggest is exactly what I would do. I can work around reading two different books at one time and have something for those times in public. (Freman, I find in cases like that I like to read a non-fiction book or a graphic novel (or even just comics) as my "traveling book," while I'm reading the eBook at home.)

 

[Thrawn]

The Kindle did just drop in price again. It's only $259 now, which is still a lot, but way better than the $400 of a year and a half ago.

 

[Steve Roby]

Still not available in Canada, though.

 

[Sci]

As someone who occasionally sells books online, I'd just like to point out that it's not ripping people off to charge the highest amount of money someone is willing to pay for a book. A book seller is generally going to sell a book at the lowest going price, unless they literally can't make a profit that way. But if there's a high enough demand that the price gets jacked up really high, that just ensures that a limited supply of books only ends up going to the people who care about those books the most rather than to people who value them less.

Now, if we were talking about some sort of substance that people need to survive, I'd agree that that would be "ripping people off" or price gouging. But we're not talking about medical care or food or something anyone needs. We're talking about a luxury item that no one needs to live a good and healthy life. So I for one feel absolutely no guilt for selling a Star Trek book for, say, $17 dollars if the demand is high enough (even if I initially bought the book for less than half of that). Especially considering that most of these books can be ordered for free from your local public library.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I only read one book at a time so that's out.

And I had a rule that going to the cinema by oneself was admitting that one was a failure at getting a date. After a few days of ringing almost everyone I knew to go see ST:TMP with me, in December 1979, I ended up going by myself. Had I gone to see it with a partner, or not at all, the film would not have had the mesmerizing effect on me that it did, and I wouldn't be an avid ST fan today.

reading off a computer screen for extended periods gives me headaches.

Someone sent me this fascinating, relevant link only today:
Does the Brain Like E-Books?
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/does-the-brain-like-e-books/

 

[DimesDan]

I admit this won't be much help for non Brits, but I managed to pick up A Stitch in Time earlier today for a couple of quid in a place in Somerset called the Book Barn which I thought was dandy.

 

[21Spike65]

I admit this won't be much help for non Brits, but I managed to pick up A Stitch in Time earlier today for a couple of quid in a place in Somerset called the Book Barn which I thought was dandy.

Speaking from the U.S., A Stitch in Time is not one of the books I've had trouble finding. I've seen it in numerous used books stores. I stumbled on a couple of the Mission:Gamma books as well, but I'm having the same problem with the other two, the first Left Hand of Destiny book, and Rising Son and Unity. Though I still have a lot of reading before I get to these, so I'm still hoping I'll stumble on these in the meantime too.

 

[crotig]

I don't know if this will be of any use to anyone but on the e-book front I find it useful to read them using my mobile phone. I have a samsung omnia and use word mobile to read the books in text format. I have a fairly complete collection of star trek books on PDF and convert them to text format so I can carry several around with me in my phone. I also have them all in paperback before anyone starts screaming pirate or thief at me, I started collecting when i was about 13 years old.i

I find the e-books are great especially for having books with you to read on the move.

 

[Reanok]

Yesterday I went to a used to a usedbook store and they had Avatar books sold as a set for six dollars.They also had ds9 Prophecy and change for eight dollars. And the Alternate story anthology series but no Mission Gamma books.

 

[seigezunt]

so which relaunch books are in omnibus?