Best way to handle books that can be part of more than one series?

DMcCunney · 05-24-2018, 01:01 AM

My problem child at the moment is David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Calibre can define a series books are part of, and my eBook viewer (FBReader for Android) can use Calibre's metadata to show me books in a series, and present the series in the order defined in Calibre.

That's all well and good, but Weber's Honor Harrington universe has expanded, and now includes an assortment of series. Aside from the main Honorverse series, there are now also the Shadow of Saganami series, the Crown of Slaves sequence, and a few others.

All take place in the Honor Harrington universe, and share many of the same characters, but some take place in different places in the universe, at the same time (relatively speaking) as books in the main sequence, and point back to things in the main sequence.

I'm adding books to a new Android device, and I'd like to have them presented to me in internal chronology order, which will intersperse books in the Saganami and Slaves series with books in the Honorverse series.

I could go into Calibre and renumber the Honorverse series to place the other books in the internal chronology order, but that loses their series information. Another option might be duplicate copies of every book, one with the separate series data, and a second set in the internal chronology order, just called HHUniverse or the like, and tell Calibre to send those to the device. (I have the disk space to devote to it, but I prefer multiple pointers to the same file instead of duplicate files.) I also thought of adding a custom tag to all such books, and FBReader will present all books with that tag, but won't present them in the desired order.

The ideal solution would be if Calibre could have a book in more than one series and let me pick the series metadata I wanted to send to the viewer device. (It's possible it can and I just don't know about it.)

I doubt I'm the only one with issues like this. Suggestions on the best way to proceed are welcome.
______
Dennis

kovidgoyal · 05-24-2018, 01:23 AM

Use calibre companion on your android device or the calibre content server then you can browse by any series field you use in calibre.

DMcCunney · 05-24-2018, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Use calibre companion on your android device or the calibre content server then you can browse by any series field you use in calibre.

Can the same book be part of more than one series in Calibre? That's my basic issue. If it can, I missed the feature. (Won't be the first time.)

I want to place books that are in several series in Calibre interspersed in one series on device and read them in the internal chronology order.

And I have Calibre Companion here, but it only sees stuff that comes in over a network connection. I use a direct cable connection, and have too much already on the device placed that way. If I had started putting books on device over the air in the first place, CC might be a solution, but it's not worth the effort to redo from scratch.

EDIT: And I think I just answered my own question. Currently experimenting with a custom column called Series2 which looks like it might be what I need.

I'll pop up again if it doesn't work.

Thanks!
_____
Dennis

BetterRed · 05-24-2018, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

[ . . . ]

EDIT: And I think I just answered my own question. Currently experimenting with a custom column called Series2 which looks like it might be what I need.

In which case you might also want to take a look at the Grouped Search feature (not as an alternative, but as an adjunct to additional Series columns) - see Preferences->Interface->Searching->Grouped Searches

Quote:

For example, if you create a grouped search term allseries with the value series, #myseries, #myseries2, then the query allseries:adhoc will find 'adhoc' in any of the columns series, #myseries, and #myseries2.

BR

Terisa de morgan · 05-24-2018, 04:47 AM

I agree with @BetterRed. I have the standard series columns and two additional ones, and I use the grouped search if I want to see all the sequence.

theducks · 05-24-2018, 12:22 PM

I also have a second Series-like column and a Grouped search
BUT
If the series is a child of the original. I use hierarchical

Honor Harrington.Honorverse

The downside is there is only 1 index value (I use the placement in the sub-series)
If the book spans more than two: I simply set the second series to: <Mix of Series> and use my Fav for the primary

05-24-2018, 01:01 AM	#1
DMcCunney New York Editor Posts: 6,384 Karma: 16540415 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7	Best way to handle books that can be part of more than one series? My problem child at the moment is David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Calibre can define a series books are part of, and my eBook viewer (FBReader for Android) can use Calibre's metadata to show me books in a series, and present the series in the order defined in Calibre. That's all well and good, but Weber's Honor Harrington universe has expanded, and now includes an assortment of series. Aside from the main Honorverse series, there are now also the Shadow of Saganami series, the Crown of Slaves sequence, and a few others. All take place in the Honor Harrington universe, and share many of the same characters, but some take place in different places in the universe, at the same time (relatively speaking) as books in the main sequence, and point back to things in the main sequence. I'm adding books to a new Android device, and I'd like to have them presented to me in internal chronology order, which will intersperse books in the Saganami and Slaves series with books in the Honorverse series. I could go into Calibre and renumber the Honorverse series to place the other books in the internal chronology order, but that loses their series information. Another option might be duplicate copies of every book, one with the separate series data, and a second set in the internal chronology order, just called HHUniverse or the like, and tell Calibre to send those to the device. (I have the disk space to devote to it, but I prefer multiple pointers to the same file instead of duplicate files.) I also thought of adding a custom tag to all such books, and FBReader will present all books with that tag, but won't present them in the desired order. The ideal solution would be if Calibre could have a book in more than one series and let me pick the series metadata I wanted to send to the viewer device. (It's possible it can and I just don't know about it.) I doubt I'm the only one with issues like this. Suggestions on the best way to proceed are welcome. ______ Dennis

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05-24-2018, 01:23 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,252 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Use calibre companion on your android device or the calibre content server then you can browse by any series field you use in calibre.

05-24-2018, 04:47 AM	#5
Terisa de morgan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,609 Karma: 12595249 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madrid, Spain Device: Kobo Clara/Aura One/Forma,XiaoMI 5, iPad, Huawei MediaPad, YotaPhone 2	I agree with @BetterRed. I have the standard series columns and two additional ones, and I use the grouped search if I want to see all the sequence.

05-24-2018, 12:22 PM	#6
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,942 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	I also have a second Series-like column and a Grouped search BUT If the series is a child of the original. I use hierarchical Honor Harrington.Honorverse The downside is there is only 1 index value (I use the placement in the sub-series) If the book spans more than two: I simply set the second series to: <Mix of Series> and use my Fav for the primary

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