04-23-2010, 08:19 AM | #16 | |
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Also loved Cook's Wizardry books. Fun romps. ("First thing, we've got to save the dragon from my wife!") Wonder why he hasn't gone back there... <sigh> Too many books, too little time... I need Prolong. |
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04-23-2010, 05:32 PM | #17 | |
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Last edited by HorridRedDog; 04-23-2010 at 05:45 PM. |
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04-24-2010, 02:21 PM | #18 | |
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Take the November 2010 Webscriptions. I was counting _Hammers Slammers_, _Live Free Or Die_ and _One Good Soldier_. Did I get it wrong--are they not military SF? I agree that _Hominids_ is a very good book, and I don't count it as military SF either. When you talk about the impossibility of filtering out everything with SOME mention of the military you are arguing against a position much more extreme than the one I took. I don't mind some Vampire books; I don't mind some Urban Fantasy books, I don't mind some Military SF books I don't mind some High Elven books, whatever. But when any of these minor subgenres are half of the books a publisher offers, it's perfectly reasonable to see that publisher as offering "mainly" that subgenre. And let's face it, if you're not into football, one touchdown is very like another. If you're not into cat shows, one Siamese is very like another. And if you're not into military SF, one ravening space-beam is very like another. So naturally some people would like to see other publishers, with other balances of subgenres and genres, take up e-books in the same way Baen has. If Baen fills all your e-book needs, and you don't care if any other publisher joins them, that's cool. |
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04-24-2010, 02:47 PM | #19 | |
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Baen offers a few mysteries (the Lord Darcy books were suggested, and that was helpful) but a mystery-lover is naturally going to be somewhat disappointed by the thin selection of mysteries on the Baen website. And Baen, while doubtless well-intentioned, doesn't even have a "Mysteries" tag, (the way they have a "Non-Fiction" tag and a "Fantasy" tag) which would make it slow going to pick them out. So let's face it, for a reader of mysteries, Baen does leave a little something to be desired, and hoping for a publisher who concentrates on mysteries to have taken to e-books in the way Baen has seems perfectly reasonable. This seems to have gotten a bit personal. Nobody has called you a...um... "militoid" for enjoying military fiction. I don't see why it is necessary or appropriate to try to put down people who don't share your taste in reading material, and who are looking for something else. Last edited by catsittingstill; 04-24-2010 at 03:28 PM. Reason: misremembered name of series |
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04-24-2010, 03:26 PM | #20 | |
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[QUOTE=fjtorres;882243] As a whole, the RCN series gets classified as military SF (fair enough as far as that goes) but an individual story like the FAR SIDE OF THE STARS most definitely is not, even if it does feature a space battle climax. But the only way to appreciate this is to actually read the thing. Easier to say all the RCN stories are military SF and move on, right? [QUOTE]
Life is short and there are many books. If the original poster read everything that *seemed* like military SF in order to make sure it actually *was* military SF, zie would spend all zir reading time reading a genre zie doesn't like to make sure zie wasn't missing anything. This doesn't strike me as a good use of reading time. Quote:
And plenty of excellent SF is not military SF. I recommend Sherri S. Tepper to your attention. C.J. Cherryh's "Foreigner" series. Connie Willis. Charles Stross. David Brin. Wen Spencer. Most of Heinlein. Military SF (by which I mean the military is the setting, the majority of the characters, and most of the plot--not just that a few uniformed soldiers are seen in the background as three resourceful teens race across the city on their bikes to rescue Spots the Beagle from invading space aliens) is a subgenre of Science Fiction. |
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04-24-2010, 06:01 PM | #21 |
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"This seems to have gotten a bit personal. Nobody has called you a...um... "militoid" for enjoying military fiction."
What I enjoy is reading stories where I end up careing for the characters. Belive it or not but that can happen in exceptionaly good "militay" books like "The Corps" or books with very slighty anti-US government, anti-military books like "Hominids". I have both the corps series and the Neanderthal series and have read them twice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- When I lived in Minneapolis I worked with a person who would go on a rabid tear whenever the military was mentioned. He worked in the hospital with me, and in most ways was very nice. He, his wife and two girls lived out in the country. They had no tv because they didn't want the children exposed to guns or violence. The most recent person is one that I work with now. I NEVER mention the M word to him. I really, really mean irrational on that subject. So when I say that some people don't want to see any military references I do mean that. I started to grow up at the end of the "beatniks" in the 50s. And went through school as a "hippy". I can't say that I'm that much smarter now, so much as I can say I gradually gained a little more knowledge. You do need police and the military. There are some very bad people out there. When people emote rather than think, like I too did in the 60s, I think "just grow up". Lets just say that I'm sorry for offending anyone. And if someone wants to devote their lives to peace, I encourage you to do so. Really. But think a little too. Last edited by HorridRedDog; 04-24-2010 at 06:12 PM. |
04-24-2010, 06:10 PM | #22 |
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Back to the original question. There isn't a mystery equivalent to Baen's. Harlequin is doing some Baen-like stuff in romances (so I've heard), but that's about it.
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04-24-2010, 07:23 PM | #23 |
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I really wish a mystery publisher would do the same. I'll admit, my secret weakness is mysteries. The problem is, I generally only read them once (a few like the Brother Cadfael books being the exception) and they start piling up on the shelves. I don't want to get rid of them, so they continue filing up my shelf space. *sigh* I'd love to be able to buy them as ebooks for five or six bucks a pop, like Baen SF, and have them storied tidily away on an SD card, not filling up my cubic footage.
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04-24-2010, 07:37 PM | #24 | |
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On the other hand, the May 2010 Webscription features: http://www.webscription.net/p-1173-w...scription.aspx Much Fall of Blood - A Fantasy by Mercedes Lackey at al Migration - A post apocalypse hard SF adventure by James P. Hogan The darkling fields of Arvon - A fantasy by James G, Anderson and Mark Sebanc Storm from the Shadows - David Weber's Honorverse, yup! Military SF Grand Central Arena - by Ryk Spoor, looks to be old fashioned action/adventure The Rolling Stones - Heinlein's classic June features two Liaden Universe volumes, two Military fiction titles (Ringo and Drake), an Andre Norton Omnibus, a solid hard SF adventure from Flint and Spoor (I bought the eARC and don't regret it), and an action adventure (I think) volume from Mark L. Van Name. March and April have similar mixes. Personally, I'm looking forward to the October package (MYTH, Inc!) and november (a new Vorkosigan volume). I'm not singling anybody out or looking for an argument, just pointing out that yes, BAEN features a lot of Military SF but that is hardly the extent of their catalog. And that is is possible to overgeneralize on the basic of factual data. Nor was I advocating reading every book to weed out the non-SF; BAEN does offer free online sample chapters, after all. So it *is* possible to weed out non-combat fiction if the author isn't familiar. And finally, BAEN's catalog is not wedded solely to the Webscriptions packages; they do offer up single book sales at the baseline US$6 price. Me, I favor webscriptions simply because I find it a cheap way to explore authors I'm not familiar with. I agree with the recommendation of Tepper, Cherryh, Brin, et all; good writers all. I'm particularly fond of Brin's UPLIFT and Cherryh's Morgain sagas. I'd also offer up Tanya Huff, Elizabeth Scarborough, and for humor, John Moore (let's say; BAD PRINCE CHARLIE and HEROICS FOR BEGINNERS). And no, BAEN isn't my sole source of fiction (much less the other 50% of my reading material), although for the next year or so I *will* be boycotting all content from the Agency-Model 5 (e- and p-) but that is a whole 'nother discussion. Have fun, folks! Last edited by fjtorres; 04-24-2010 at 07:53 PM. |
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04-24-2010, 10:30 PM | #25 | |
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I then checked The Philadelphia Free Library for anything from "Edith Pargeter". No luck. I then checked the web and came up with this "Edith Pargeter: Ellis Peters". "An introductory biography of the life and work of Edith Pargeter, author of sixty books, but internationally known as Ellis Peters, author of the popular Cadfael Chronicles...." So I searched The Philadelphia Free Library for anything "Ellis Peters". They have two audiobooks "Dead Man's Ransom" and "The Hermit of Eyton Forest". Although you may not want audiobooks you might want to redo you search using "Ellis Peters". Good luck. PS I downloaded "The Hermit of Eyton Forest", and another search found the pbook "The Hertic's Apprentice". |
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04-24-2010, 11:26 PM | #26 |
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Okay, I'm not understanding something here. I complain about the lack of a mystery publisher with the same business model (free samples, no DRM, reasonable prices) as Baen Books, and you think I'm trying to find out the name of the author of books that I have on my shelves, and specifically ones that I said I've read more than once? Either one of us is speaking Martian, or I need more caffeine than I thought I did.
And, unfortunately, I'm not sure how knowing that a library hundreds of miles away from me has audiobooks of novels which I already own in paperback will solve the problem of there being no mystery publisher selling the ebooks I want in a form that meets my needs and a price that fits my budget. I'm not interested in borrowing audiobooks (even if I was a patron of the relevant library); I want to buy ebooks. But in any event, Baen Books is doing quite well for themselves despite giving away numerous books, and not only giving them away, but encouraging the recipients to give them to everyone else, too. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a Calibre tag for separating the free from the paid, so I don't inadvertently give away the wrong ones. Given that mysteries share with SF a very strong series orientation, I'm really surprised that someone isn't doing the same in that genre. I can think of three different series that I started buying because I picked up one volume for a buck off the charity book table at my local supermarket, two more that I read some random volume of at my mother-in-law's place, and several others I found via short stories included in big shovelware collections (mostly the "Mammoth Book of..."). I'd think that "give them the first one or two, and they'll buy all the rest" would be as effective a business model for mysteries as it is for SF/fantasy and narcotics dealing. Of course, that is contingent on selling them for a reasonable price, which the big publishers seem to be unable or unwilling to understand. In another thread, it was revealed that publishers make about 90 cents on a $26 hardcover, once everything from printing costs to returns has been accounted for. Let's say that for ebooks, they're paying 25% of cover in royalties, and $1 for overhead. Let's also assume, for the sake of discussion, that they're selling through a retailer with a 100% markup, just as they do for pbooks, so that they actually gross 50% of cover. And, further, let's assign that book a $6 cover price. So, from that $6 cover price, after the $1.50 in royalties and $1 of overhead has been accounted for, they're making 50 cents. That's a loss, right? Only if you assume that the demand for books is totally inelastic. That is, of course, not the case. Books compete with other forms of entertainment, and if the cost to the buyer drops, the demand will increase. Few people spend all of their leisure hours reading. They have more time to read if reading becomes more attractive than, say, going to movies. So if the price of books drops, sales will increase. Now back to our 50-cent-profit ebook. For the list price of one HC, I could buy 3 ebooks (and have enough left over for a bagel). So instead of 90 cents (the profit on one HC), the publisher has made $1.50 from me (the profit on 3 ebooks). The author, instead of the $3.90 he would have gotten from the 15% royalty on that one HC, has cleared $4.50 from me. The publisher wins. The author wins. The retailer loses very slightly, because of that $2 left over that I bought a bagel with. If we re-price that pbook to $24, so that it's equal to the price of the three ebooks, they break even. The printing plants, the trucking companies, and the warehouse landlords all lose, of course, but such is life. Maybe they can get work building, storing, and shipping ebook readers. |
04-25-2010, 11:05 AM | #27 | |
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04-25-2010, 02:52 PM | #28 |
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Well, that's the problem: the only one who can help me is a publisher.
Specifically a publisher getting a rush of brains to the head and saying "hey, that little nobody house Baen became a major player by inventing that business model; let's try it with our mystery line." Well, that or Baen opening a mystery division and luring my favorite authors away from their current publishers. Also, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny may show up at my front door lugging a basket of books. That's probably the most likely option. By the way, the Brother Cadfael books I own all say "Ellis Peters" on the covers; it wasn't until I'd read a fair number of them that I found out the author's real name ... and, oddly, that I didn't much like her other books. My local library system isn't far past the stage of stone tablets and baked slabs of clay. Paper books are enough of a modern miracle for them. |
04-25-2010, 03:48 PM | #29 |
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Are there publishers like Baen but for other genres?
Which begs the question - Has anyone written to them? info@baen.com Also - "PS. One final note. Users of the Library are welcome — encouraged, in fact — to send in their comments and questions, on any subject which is relevant to the Library and its contents. Write to me at: Librarian@baen. com" just askin' |
04-26-2010, 10:06 PM | #30 | ||||
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David Weber & John Ringo's "March Upcountry": Quote:
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