Spoilers TP: The Struggle Within (ebook) review thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Thrawn, Oct 4, 2011.

  1. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It's 100p so that makes it a novella, not a short story. I don't know any of the word counts though, so I don't know how far over the short story count it is.
     
  2. ATimson

    ATimson Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Simon and Schuster forbids retailers from allowing discounts on their ebook titles.
     
  3. BrentMc

    BrentMc Commander Red Shirt

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    Wow, as if I needed another reason to not like eBooks. I am already upset at my inability to buy them used, or sell my read eBooks like you can with hard copy. Now I can't use a coupon? I thought maybe one of the coupons Barnes and Noble emails me might work with eBooks. I just bought 4 Star Trek novels on amazon with the 4 for 3 promotion, so they came out to be about $6 a piece for a full, paperback novel. I do not want to pay $6 for a novella length eBook.

    This is not an attack on CLB. I like talking to him here and I enjoy his work. I just don't think the pricing is reasonable.

    I own a nook mostly for free ebooks and library e-lending. I like it OK, but I don't see much incentive for me to buy eBooks.
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    The Struggle Within is about 25,000 words. Short stories are up to 7500 words, novelettes 7500-17,500, novellas 17,500-40,000, novels 40K-up.
     
  5. BrentMc

    BrentMc Commander Red Shirt

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    I meant nothing buy calling it a short story. I referred to it as a novella in subsequent posts. Again my comments have not been an attack on you. I would not be upset if I did not want to read it.
     
  6. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    When did I say I felt attacked? I was just answering JD's question about word counts.
     
  7. BrentMc

    BrentMc Commander Red Shirt

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    Were cool. I just wanted to make it clear that while stating my frustration about eBooks I was not trying to diminish your novella by calling it a short story.
     
  8. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Nothing wrong with short stories. It's a common misunderstanding, but there's no reason to see it as a value judgment.
     
  9. Warp Coil

    Warp Coil Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I've heard that this title is quite good, but I don't have an eReader and have yet to make the switch to the electronic format. I still enjoy reading in dead tree format. I'd love for Pocket to maybe do a couple of other Typhon Pact novellas, and then release an omnibus in paperback.
     
  10. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^If you have a computer, then you have an e-book reader. Reader software/"apps" can be downloaded for free wherever e-books are sold.

    And it doesn't have to be a "switch" -- it's not like you have to give up paper books when you get an e-book reader. Heck, I have half the Strange New Worlds series in trade paperback and the other half as e-books on my computer.
     
  11. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'm pretty close to a 50/50 split when it comes to paper books & e-books. I'm mainly just trying to finish the paper books I bought before I made the switch, but there are still a few things I want to read in the future that I will have to get in paper, so I probably won't be able to go 100% digital for quite a while.
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I don't see any reason to ever go 100% digital (unless you're, like, living off the back of a motorcycle and don't have any bookshelf space at all). That's like going 100% paperback. Books come in a variety of formats, and I'm open to all of them.
     
  13. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I know in some of the other threads people have been talking about Abrams Trek stuff in the novels, and this one does include bald tattooed lower class Romulans.
     
  14. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I just finished this a couple minutes ago. It wasn't anything amazingbut I enjoyed it. I especially liked the development of the Tallarians and Kinshaya. I also liked the way that it dealt with non-viloent resistance, and the charter work for Trys and Choudhury. My rating: Above Average.
     
  15. toughlittleship

    toughlittleship Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    There was a spelling mistake that was very minor, but bugged me; the Andorian terrorist group Treishya is spelled as "Threishya".
     
  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Umm, that wasn't a typo, just a different transliteration from Andorian! You know, like Qadhafi/Khadafy/Gaddafi. Yeah, that's the ticket! :o
     
  17. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    It's not truly Andorian-sounding until you add in an awkward lisping sound!
     
  18. Garrovick

    Garrovick Commander Red Shirt

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    I just read this book over the weekend and I quite enjoyed it - it was a nice change of pace from the earlier Typhon Pact novels (not to say I didn't like them also), and I felt that the story was well suited as a novella. Personally, I'd like to see more novellas like this.

    For what it's worth, I purchased the book through the iBooks app on my iPhone and read the whole thing on the iPhone 4 screen. I was a little uncertain about doing it that way but I haven't purchased any kind of e-reader yet so it was either that or my PC screen. On my iPhone screen the book ran 302 pages with about 80 to 90 words per page. Actually, if you disregard the pages at the beginning with the title/publishing info/etc., the actual story ran to more like 285 pages. It ended up being a fairly comfortable read (even with my poor eyesight), but YMMV.

    I personally prefer paper books, but I'm open to e-books as well, especially for shorter tales like this one.
     
  19. Paris

    Paris Commodore Commodore

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    ^I one of the people who prefer paper books as well. Hopefully this story gets a paper release in the future. Maybe part of an anthology or something. I'd love a "Tales of The Typhon Pact" book at some point. I'd be nice if Christopher's story could be a part of it :)
     
  20. Markonian

    Markonian Fleet Admiral Moderator

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    This was one of my first dozen ebooks, as I appropriated a Kindle around that time to start banning dead-tree-editions from my life. ;)

    I liked this story but then, I'm easy to please anyway. However, when will there be some follow-up? I remember the Talarians were mentioned in The Khitomer Accords Saga but there hasn't been major new info about them and the Kinshaya since then. I thought the Kinshaya were included in the Pact for some major payoff later on, but they are curiously on the sidelines.

    Ah, I wish there was a GKN/KE Typhon Pact story dealing with them, that would fit. :borg: