Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Worlds

[Defcon]

On its Star Trek homepage Simon and Schuster offers free eBook copies of The Entropy Effect for US residents at the moment:
http://pages.simonandschuster.com/startrek

What's even more interesting is this:

The 50th anniversary of Star Trek is coming! Get news about Star Trek book releases, book deals, giveaways, trivia, sweepstakes and a brand-new Strange New Worlds writing contest launching later this year.

 

[Markonian]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

I haven't read all of the Strange New Worlds anthologies but found the stories fan-fic. Still, an anthology like that is a great opportunity to re-/visit interesting concepts and fill in the blanks of some time gaps.

Also, I love crossovers. I'm optimistic for this one.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

On its Star Trek homepage Simon and Schuster offers free eBook copies of The Entropy Effect for US residents at the moment:
http://pages.simonandschuster.com/startrek

Requires a glose dot com account...

 

[Defcon]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

On its Star Trek homepage Simon and Schuster offers free eBook copies of The Entropy Effect for US residents at the moment:
http://pages.simonandschuster.com/startrek

Requires a glose dot com account...

Since I wasn't eligible myself I didn't even check the requirements too closely. Figured glose.com was a S&S subsite or something like that.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

I haven't read all of the Strange New Worlds anthologies but found the stories fan-fic.

Ummm... yeah. That's cause they are fanfic. That's the point. Still, many of today's professional writers were discovered by going through that process.

.

 

[Markonian]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

Ummm... yeah. That's cause they are fanfic. That's the point. Still, many of today professional writers were discovered by going through that process.

Agreed, on both accounts. What I meant is, some of them came across as cheesy. "Seven and Seven", or the Kirk/Voyager/Borg alliance. Still, I remember liking "Our Million-Year Mission" except for the name ÜberEnterprise, and the Voyager story where they find another Federation ship lost in the Delta Quadrant, the Nova-class USS Anticipation.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

Ummm... yeah. That's cause they are fanfic. That's the point.

That's a common misconception. They were paid professional works published under contract, which is the opposite of fanfiction. The point was to give new writers their first (or second or third) professional sales.

 

[Reanok]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

Great news I liked the Strange new worlds books.

 

[TheAlmanac]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

The Strange New Worlds news is quite exciting and surprising (given how the anthologies were described as a loss leader). I guess it's time to dust off some years-old story notes...

 

[Idran]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

Ummm... yeah. That's cause they are fanfic. That's the point.

That's a common misconception. They were paid professional works published under contract, which is the opposite of fanfiction. The point was to give new writers their first (or second or third) professional sales.

Wouldn't the opposite of Fan Fiction be something along the lines of TMZ or Perez Hilton?

 

[DimesDan]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

Ummm... yeah. That's cause they are fanfic. That's the point.

That's a common misconception. They were paid professional works published under contract, which is the opposite of fanfiction. The point was to give new writers their first (or second or third) professional sales.

So you're saying it was fan fic, but they were paid for it, so it's not then even though some of it clearly was.

 

[ATimson]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

So you're saying it was fan fic, but they were paid for it, so it's not then even though some of it clearly was.

The Strange New Worlds volumes are as much fanfic as all the other novels and anthologies published by Pocket. Either it all is (in that it's fiction written by fans), or none of it is.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

On its Star Trek homepage Simon and Schuster offers free eBook copies of The Entropy Effect

Woo-hoo!

for US residents

D'oh!

 

[E-DUB]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

I enjoyed SNW. Yes, the story quality was hit or miss, but when it hit, it was great.

Absent this series short Trek fiction has been few and far between. (Mostly the single-series anthology.)

What I've always wanted to see is a "Masters Edition", with short Trek fiction written by big-name authors not normally associated with Trek. But that would probably cost mucho bucks.

 

[David Mack]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

So you're saying it was fan fic, but they were paid for it, so it's not then even though some of it clearly was.

That's not what he said at all. Perhaps you should work harder at developing your reading-comprehension skills.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

So you're saying it was fan fic, but they were paid for it, so it's not then even though some of it clearly was.

No, I'm saying it was not fanfiction, because they were paid for it. The word "fanfiction" does not mean "fiction by fans," it means fiction that isn't professionally published. If I wrote a story on my own time and posted it for free online, that would be fanfic. But what I and the others write for Pocket is published under contract and paid for, and therefore it is professional fiction by definition. The SNW writers did not write and publish their stories on their own; the stories were solicited by Pocket Books (as part of the contest) and the authors were paid for them. That is professional fiction. What you may think of its quality has nothing to do with it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

If you don't feel comfortable giving Glose your personal information, I have found an excellent site to use: 10 Minute Mail. It will generate a disposable email addy that will expire after 10 minutes, and which you can give when you "sign up" for the free ebook. Glose will never know who you are.

Unfortunately, there's no way to save the e-book, so you'll have to do this every time you want to read it. Still, it's better than having to use your real information.

 

[Amaris]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

Blergh. You have to download the Glose app on either an iOS or Android device, otherwise you can only read it on your PC. I hate it when companies do that. Either offer it for free, or don't. None of this "very short strings attached" business.

 

[DimesDan]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

So you're saying it was fan fic, but they were paid for it, so it's not then even though some of it clearly was.

That's not what he said at all. Perhaps you should work harder at developing your reading-comprehension skills.

I know what he said, tis was meant as a joke, although the lack of smiley face at the end wasn't there, so I understand why you'd feel affronted by such a comment.

So you're saying it was fan fic, but they were paid for it, so it's not then even though some of it clearly was.

No, I'm saying it was not fanfiction, because they were paid for it. The word "fanfiction" does not mean "fiction by fans," it means fiction that isn't professionally published.

I'm afraid to say, you're wrong on this matter, a very quick and rudimentary google search looking for the what the definition of fanfic is, I found this:

From Dictionary.com

noun, Informal. 1. fiction written by fans of a TV series, movie, etc., using existing characters and situations to develop new plots.

2. a work of fiction in this genre.

From the Collins online Dictionary site:

noun

fiction written around previously established characters invented by other authors

And finally, here is what google had to say on its search page:

noun
noun: fanfiction

1. fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, film, etc.

If I wrote a story on my own time and posted it for free online, that would be fanfic. But what I and the others write for Pocket is published under contract and paid for, and therefore it is professional fiction by definition. The SNW writers did not write and publish their stories on their own; the stories were solicited by Pocket Books (as part of the contest) and the authors were paid for them. That is professional fiction. What you may think of its quality has nothing to do with it.

I get what you're saying, but it really does look like fan fiction does actually mean that it's pretty much fiction by the fans. Nothing wrong with that as you clearly are a fan when it comes to Star Trek.

Of course opening up Strange New Worlds again is a good thing, I assume it will only be available to North America again though due to legal reasons?

 

[Idran]

Re: Free Star Trek eBook by S&S (US only) and return of Strange New Wo

I do have to say that, thinking on it and all joking aside, this is the only place I've seen "fanfiction" defined as specifically amateur fiction written in the fictional universe of another creator. In all fandoms I've been in that I can think of, "fanfiction" is just defined as any fiction written in the fictional universe of another creator, unpaid and amateur or paid and professional.

And it's shown in practice elsewhere too: Kindle Worlds, for example, specifically refers to it as fanfiction despite the fact that it's all official and licensed and for pay as a publication platform. That's an official publishing company calling licensed for-pay work in other universes (if admittedly not professionally edited) "fanfiction".