The Struggle Within cover

[Idran]

Personally, I liked Douglas Hofstadter's solution to that from GEB: end the book early. But since blank pages would both give it away to flip-to-the-enders and be a waste of resources, have the prose keep going. In a sloppy manner completely contrary to the style of the rest of the book. So that if you're reading closely enough, you can tell that the plot's already ended and the rest is just fake.

(Yeah, he meant it as a joke, but still!)

As I recall, not a sloppy manner-- a manner close enough to the real style that only an attentive reader would be able to tell the book was over by reading straight through.

I suspect it was a joke inasmuch anything he says is a joke.

Ah, that's right. And I just reread GEB just a few months ago too, I should've remembered that.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I love my bookmarks. I love my shelves and shelves of double-stacked books. I don't just love reading. I love the books themselves.

I've always bought more books than I could read, thinking I was making a long-term investment for retirement. However, as my eyesight starts to fail, I am beginning to regret that I may end up have to repurchase most of my unread books as eBooks, so I can quickly adjust the font size on the eReader. Reading tiny font tends to send me sleep these days! I well remember my grandfather boasting, in the 1980s, that held a record at his public library for having read every large-print book they had in stock. He would have loved eBooks.

 

[Therin of Andor]

it shouldn't be an either-or proposition.

So far, the only advertised eBook-exclusive ST title is "The Magic of Tribbles: The Making of ST: DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations" by Terry Erdman, which was deemed not commercially viable to come out as a hardcopy book. I have every expectation the other eBooks will make it into hardcopy.

 

[Sakrysta]

I will take heart from all your reassurances.

 

[JD]

I still think of it as The Courage of Conscience, a title that got shot down as not intense enough. And I made a bunch of other suggestions, but TSW was the best of the ones that didn't get rejected.)

I like that title much more. The Struggle Within isn't nearly as original.

I'm still kinda bummed that this is only being offered as an eBook.

I violently hate this practice. I want a copy I can put on the shelf next to all my other books. I was reading through this thread thinking how nice this cover will look next to the others, and now I see that will not be the case after all. I am NOT pleased.

^Whether there's a paperback compilation at some point in the future probably depends on whether this eBook sells well enough to convince Simon & Schuster to do more Trek eBooks. So really, if you want to see The Struggle Within published in paperback, your best bet is to buy it as an eBook.

That would seem to me to support further eBook-only offerings, not to encourage a physical printing. If people are willing to pay for just a download, why bother actually printing anything?

And who says you have to "switch over?" There are still plenty of paperback and hardcover books available. Reading the occasional eBook doesn't require giving those up. It's not switching over to anything, it's just broadening your repertoire.

I have tried e-reading multiple times. I just don't like it. So, if the publishing world is trending toward it, I'm going to miss out on more and more books that I really want to read. It sucks. And it frustrates the collector in me, because my purchasing of Trek Lit is as much about collection and display as it is about reading.

Yeah, my best friend has a Kindle. I didn't last five minutes. Besides, I don't want to have to buy another gadget to be able to read my books. I want to read actual books. I guess I'm just too tactile for my own good. There's something about watching the proportions of the pages read to the pages unread change as I make my way through a book. I'm always looking for that halfway point, where there are more pages past than yet to go. I love my bookmarks. I love my shelves and shelves of double-stacked books. I don't just love reading. I love the books themselves.

You know, I used to feel pretty close to how you say you do, until I got my Nook. Honestly, other than the fact that it's digital you can do pretty much all of the things you say you like about physical books. With the Nook, you can tell it to show the covers on the bottom bar, and you get a progress bar on the bottom and page counter. And they recently introduced shelves to the basic Nook, so you can even get all of you're Trek books organized together if you want to. I'll admit I'm baffled by this kind of an attitude, but then again I'm a bit of a tech nut, so I'm pretty quick to switch over to these kinds of things first opportunity I get.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'll admit I'm baffled by this kind of an attitude, but then again I'm a bit of a tech nut, so I'm pretty quick to switch over to these kinds of things first opportunity I get.

My grandmother was a huge complainer about colour TV when it was introduced Down Under in 1975. Colour sets were hugely expensive, and every time she saw ours, or passed a shop window full of them, she'd state very loudly that the screen gave her terrible headaches. All of this magically changed, about two years later, when her b/w set died - and my grandfather bought her a colour set of her own.

 

[JWolf]

However, I'm still really looking forward to this, but am struggling to find listings for it. It will only be my second ebook purchase, and I think I want to get it in the kindle format (as I imagine if I ever get an ebook reader I might get a kindle), but it doesn't seem to show up in searches on Amazon.com or uk.

I'd have to say that buying this for the Kindle when you don't have a Kindle is going to seriously limit your choices should you decide to buy a dedicated reader. More devices support ePub then not. You can get readers from Sony, B&N, Kobo, Pocketbook, Onyx and other that support ePub. But only one supports Kindle DRM. If you don't strip DRM, then you are locking yourself into Amazon. That's not a good idea.

^ Have you tried e-reading on an actual e-reader? I tried a Kindle and was converted in about 2 minutes. Computer screen reading sucks.

I have a Sony Reader PRS-650 and Sony is due out (I think in October) with at least one new model.

I started off reading on an old laptop and sometimes my desktop computer. The laptop was better for reading then the desktop. But, my 650 is better then both.

The new Sony is going to have wifi so you'll be able to buy eBook from Sony without needing a computer. I know the Kindle has been able to do this for some time. But, the Kindle is using an obsolete eBook format. So if you do someday plan to get a reader, get one that supports ePub.

Yeah, my best friend has a Kindle. I didn't last five minutes. Besides, I don't want to have to buy another gadget to be able to read my books. I want to read actual books. I guess I'm just too tactile for my own good. There's something about watching the proportions of the pages read to the pages unread change as I make my way through a book. I'm always looking for that halfway point, where there are more pages past than yet to go. I love my bookmarks. I love my shelves and shelves of double-stacked books. I don't just love reading. I love the books themselves.

I used to be like that too. But what I do now is just keep a watch on the page numbers and see how far I've read and how far I have to go. That works very well instead of the pages going from right to left.

 

[Idran]

If you don't strip DRM, then you are locking yourself into Amazon. That's not a good idea.

Though really, not stripping DRM regardless of the situation isn't a good idea either.

 

[JWolf]

I love my bookmarks. I love my shelves and shelves of double-stacked books. I don't just love reading. I love the books themselves.

I've always bought more books than I could read, thinking I was making a long-term investment for retirement. However, as my eyesight starts to fail, I am beginning to regret that I may end up have to repurchase most of my unread books as eBooks, so I can quickly adjust the font size on the eReader. Reading tiny font tends to send me sleep these days! I well remember my grandfather boasting, in the 1980s, that held a record at his public library for having read every large-print book they had in stock. He would have loved eBooks.

One thing that might help with your stock of pBooks is to get a pair of reader glasses. I've tried a pair and found that they did magnify the screen of my Reader so if I wanted, I could use a smaller font quite comfortably.

 

[JWolf]

I'm all for eBook only releases if it means we can have stories such as The Struggle Within. I hope this does well enough that S&S would consider more.

For an even higher resolution cover, http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/cvr9781451651423_9781451651423_hr.jpg

 

[JD]

Same here. It's a great way to get the smaller stories published. I'm a huge fan of the Sigma Force series, and they did the same thing for that. Right before they latest novel in the series came out, the author came out with an ebook novella that dealt with what one of the recurring supporting characters was up to since her last appearance. I would love to see them do that kind of stuff for Trek Lit, stuff that helps fill in the gaps, but might not be 100% necessary for people who don't do ebooks.

 

[Therin of Andor]

One thing that might help with your stock of pBooks is to get a pair of reader glasses.

Not really. I already wear glasses for long sight (ie. short sighted, since about age 11) and, by age 50, my eyes essentially "maxed out" what can be done. I was warned a few years ago that my short sight might then also start to go.

What I need is laser therapy on both eyes so I can throw away my old glasses, then get prescribed proper reading glasses. So... one day.

 

[JWolf]

One thing that might help with your stock of pBooks is to get a pair of reader glasses.

Not really. I already wear glasses for long sight (ie. short sighted, since about age 11) and, by age 50, my eyes essentially "maxed out" what can be done. I was warned a few years ago that my short sight might then also start to go.

What I need is laser therapy on both eyes so I can throw away my old glasses, then get prescribed proper reading glasses. So... one day.

Good luck. I hope you can get the laser therapy. Do you remember the old Twilight Zone episode where the guy was the last man on Earth and had all the books available to him but his glasses broke and he was unable to read?

 

[Daddy Todd]

What I need is laser therapy on both eyes so I can throw away my old glasses, then get prescribed proper reading glasses. So... one day.

I got lasik about 5 years ago and I couldn't be happier. Who would've thought I could find immense pleasure in just being able to look at the bedside clock and see what time it is when I wake up in the middle of the night without having to fumble around in the dark for a pair of specs.