BTW, why the hell are Jim Butcher’s books so damn expensive in ebook format. I’ve already bought some of them on paper at full price, I’m not about to spend $11.99 for an ebook.
Ok, wow, just double checked and now the pricing is even weirder. Book one is $1.99, so I’m snatching that up soonest, book two is $5.99, which is ok (not great for it’s age, but still buyable),
3 is $6.99
4 is $8.99
5 is $7.99
6 is $6.99
7 is $7.99
8 is $9.34
9 is $1.99 (What?)
10 is $8.84
11 is $7.12
12 i s$6.99
13 is $8.99
14 is $5.99
All the same publisher.
WTF?
The collections are $53 for 6 books, And those compilations just aren’t done all that well.
I’d like to get Elizabeth Moon too, but she’s expensive last time I checked too.
If you are cranking formulaic books out every 14 months, price them as such and give a good option to get the whole series to date every few books. $6.99 isn’t that much if I’m buying as you write, but ten years into it I shouldn’t have to drop $100 to catch up.
I’m rereading the original Dragonlance trilogy. Despite what I had heard, it’s actually standing up surprisingly well!
But, yeah: eBook pricing really needs an attitude adjustment. I can kind of understand ‘new’ books being expensive, but I feel like the publishers should really be more aggressive with pricing on older stuff like fantasy series. If I could get an entire trilogy I read 20+ years ago for $6 or so I’d be all over it and probably spread out to new stuff from that setting and/or authors (at regular pricing). Keeping the price high on a 20+ ‘pulp’ fantasy series seems a bit extreme.
Also, I picked up Butcher’s Storm Front as well, but probably won’t get to it for at least a month.
I don’t think I have seen a “I’m not a hero” done quite like that. Katniss isn’t captain of her own fate, much less a hero. And the whole love triangle thing got old by the end of book one.
I took a speed reading class my freshman year of highschool. It was technically advanced reading comprehension or something silly like that. I was burning through the college material before Fall break. I’ve always been a fast reader, and my retention has always been pretty high, but I reread the shit out of books.
I’ve reached the point with some authors, Pratchett and Corriea come to mind, that when I read the newest book I turn around and start reading it again to fill in the holes. With the books I’m reading now I’m not doing that because I’m reading the whole series at once, and after chunking down 6 books about the same people I won’t reread them for a few months at least.
The worst loss for me in the move, and wear and tear, has been my LE Moddisett Jr. books. TOR published those on tissue paper bound with elmers glue or something. Half of them are disintegrating and I’ve only read them maybe a dozen times each. Meanwhile I still have my dad’s copy of Catch-22, and dozens of other paperbacks that are 20+ years old.
I’ve thought about getting Amazon’s new service, but I read so many non-mainstream authors, Baen and Indie, that either aren’t on the service, or are screwed by the royalty system they set up for it.
The original you sit aren’t and, as is the follow-up series. It got really out of control for a while, with quite a number of sub-series by different authors that often contradicted the established canon.
(A big theme of the original Dragonlance storyline is that the fantasy-world gods have abandoned mortals a few hundred years back. IN the first book, the heroes get together after five years searching for truth. They all say, “Nope. No real gods.”
The prequels seemed to have characters run into Gods, or something that could claim that position, something like 50% of the time…)
The the original authors came back (Weis & Hickman)… And many fans fell off the wagon as they seemed to really pull the canon around in an effort to do something with it. Not sure what.
If you want a classic, if pulpy, fantasy genre fictions series the original Chronicles trilogy (that you identified) and the follow-up Legends are good. Everything else… less so.
Currently working through As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride. Cary Elwes describes the making of the film he will always be most remembered for, and is grateful and appreciative of that fact. He was inspired to write after seeing the reception to the movie at the 25th Anniversary screening at the New York Film Festival in 2012.
The hardcover version currently has a special poster on the back side of the dust jacket. It’s not reversable since it doesn’t really give the full title of the book.
Throughout the book, there are stories by the various cast and crew that relate to the subject Cary is talking about on that page. I’m just at the “True Wuv” chapter and I see there’s 16 pages of photographs, most of them in color. I’m hoping that there will be a note somewhere about the fencing lessons he took non-stop during filming (including during any short breaks they had during the day) were used on other films like Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Of course, you learn details about his co-stars, and especially about André the Giant, which you won’t find on Wikipedia: the constant positive attitude even when he was in pain or when he knew people were making fun of him, and how he rescued the crew by bringing in a catering truck from France when the contracted caterers proved to be a one trick pony.
There is a website for the book, located at http://www.asyouwishbook.com . It has a little bit of info about it that’s different than what you can read on the book jacket, but that’s all it has. You need to go the Simon & Schuster website to get more details. The video where Cary discusses it is on both the the book’s page and his page.
Once I get things a little more settled, I’ll try to find which box I packed the original novel in and get started on that.
Final recommendation: if you’re looking for a copy on DVD, I recommend the 20th Anniversary Edition for the cover artwork alone. Go to the Amazon page and see what I mean.
Guess I will be putting this one on my list to read.
Just finished the “Odd Thomas” series by Dean Koontz. Very good. Still have most of his older stuff on my list but of course having some trouble finding it through the library. Thank goodness Columbus has a huge system and can request from all over…
But first I have a few new releases from my favorites to read. Working on “Cold Cold Heart” by Tami Hoag. I am such a huge fan of cop/murder mysteries it’s ridiculous. Guess even when relaxing I can’t help but solve a challenge…
I read the first few Odd Thomas books in Afghanistan. I’d find one in one of the book bins, read, and return, and then the next time I came through Kandahar I would check, and often there’d be another one. Somebody there was getting care packages and then sharing the wealth.
I think the main reason I liked the Wheel of Time books is one would fit in a cargo pocket, but still be enough to keep me reading most of a fieldex. It’s also where I picked up the habit of finishing a book and then starting it all over again.
The rate at which I read I found I’d need three of four books in a two week AT.
I did get in the habit of using a Cordura paperback book cover. I really, really wish I could find another. The one I have is now 25+ years old, and it will eventually die.
It was made for a military/ paramilitary/ police goods company, but only for a time… then they “got serious” and dropped non-mission-essential stuff. They no longer even exist, having sold their name to some other company.
The corners of the cover are curved, the flaps inside for the book’s covers are parachute weight, it has a zipper around three sides, a pencil pocket on the spine, and a nylon ribbon sewn to the top edge for a bookmark.
Pop it open, flip of the wrist to move the bookmark out of the way. Read until done, flip of the wrist to drop the bookmark back in place, close and slide into pocket. Zip first if dust/ rain expected.
For the first time in a very, very long time, I’ve picked up a book and am (in spurts) reading through it. My boss recommended the book to me 10 months ago, I bought it, and early in January I finally started reading.
Awesome. I read pretty quick, but I was also in support platoon, so I was running beans and bullets everywhere, not a ton of solid down time. But a 1000 page book was pretty handy to have in a pocket when the CO I was driving for ended up spending multiple hours in one location I was told we’d just be visiting.
And a custom paperback book cover like that sounds like a great etsy project.