@moderator - Sorry, I didn't even think about that. I just figured calibre guys would want an example.
@BetterRead - Thanks. I am not concerned about the book, since it works fine on my ereader and with other programs. I thought it must be a bug with the latest two calibre updates and was just trying make them aware of it.
The html was this:
<p class="calibre26"><span class="calibre18"><a class="calibre12" href="../Text/chapter1_1.xhtml" id="ch1"><span class="calibre25">CHAPTER ONE -THE EARTH</span></a></span></p>
I reduced it to essentials:
<p><a href="../Text/chapter1_1.xhtml" id="ch1">CHAPTER ONE -THE EARTH</a></p>
and the same behavior continued. I removed the id="ch1", which seems valid to me, and now it works fine. But I am no html wiz.
If no one else experiences this problem, I guess it is the book and it is just beyond me to see why.