If the writing is good and the story justifies the length, I'll read any length. Hell, Stephen King's The Stand (The Uncut Edition) is 1153 pages and I loved every page.
Star Trek Paperback Novels Are Too Long
- Thread starter Dayton3
- Start date
Uncut is the only way to read The Stand.
As to the OP's complaint: while I assume there's a minimum word count for any novel-length book, the great variation in the length of contemporary Trek books shows that length is not dictated by editorial policy but is mostly a question of how long the author feels the story needs to be in order to do the tale justice. This ain't the Pop-Up New Testament, here, Dayton ole buddy. The novels' length reflects the ambition of several of these works to tell in-depth and complex narratives, to flesh out cultures or really get into a character's psyche. It would be tragic to scuttle the attempt at creating an epic story to meet some arbitrary standard of brevity for an attention-deficit culture.
Quite frankly, as a reader and a consumer, I think longer books are inherently better: if they're good books, they last longer, and I get more reading for my buck; if they're bad books, you can still quit at any point and length is irrelevant (since most Trek MMPB are priced the same regardless of length).
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
I actually wish Star Trek novels were longer because I finish them way too quickly. I read all of Q&A in about 5 hours.
300 pages! PAH! try reading 'Executive Orders' by Tom Clancy. that SOB is FOUR times longer!
What difference does that make?
If it is a story I enjoy, the longer the book is, the better! Although my to-read pile is growing, I don`t mind coming back to the same book for a long time. Also, if the book has padding I find interesting or enjoyable, I don`t mind that either, the contrary!
I think it is great that there is such a big variety. Not only do we have very long novels and the more "standard" sized ones but also novellas and short stories.
And on top of that, we have comics again!
I think it is great that there is such a big variety. Not only do we have very long novels and the more "standard" sized ones but also novellas and short stories.
And on top of that, we have comics again!
Well, I can tell you they're awful, IMHO.
As for book length, I'm used to Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance which would typically have trilogies of 400+pages for each book. Hell, there are full-size novels coming out just to fill the gapes in the original Dragonlance trilogy!
In my opinion, the best Trek book is Q-Squared, and that's relatively huge for Trek books, so I have no problem with longer novels.
Besides, I would certainly rather a book that was longer because it was somewhat padded than one which is split into several books because it was padded...
Does your edition include the illustrations? That may be the discrepancy.
Trent: I'm glad you agree.
SPOCK MUST DIE! by James Blish was a short, sweet, to the point book
My copy has black and white illustrations, so I guess it was a friend's book you saw.
Hmm... just checked my copy (Signet, 1991). It has 1141 pages and the black and white illustrations. However, the prologue (where the world is doomed due to a malfunctioning lock and an asshole guard), is not included in the regular page count, but instead continues the Roman numerals continuing from the forewords. That might explain the discrepency. (Or, you know, more regular stuff like font size, margins, etc.)
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
(Apologies for the further derailment! I know, I know...)
Must be font size, margins, etc. because my copy (Gramercy, 2001) also has the prologue with Roman numerals. Additionally, the illustrations aren't included in the page count.
Must be font size, margins, etc. because my copy (Gramercy, 2001) also has the prologue with Roman numerals. Additionally, the illustrations aren't included in the page count.
Similar threads
- Poll
