Tor.com Short Fiction

[maddz]

Tor.com are setting up a new newsletter for short fiction. You can sign up here: https://www.tor.com/2020/06/25/sign-...on-newsletter/

[Dr. Drib]

Got it.

Thank you!

[Dr. Drib]

^ I mean, when I posted above, that I joined.

TODAY: Just got the email for the free ebook. About 19 mb for epub / 38 mb for mobi. Now downloaded.

Looks like some great reading.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

^ I mean, when I posted above, that I joined.

TODAY: Just got the email for the free ebook. About 19 mb for epub / 38 mb for mobi. Now downloaded.

Looks like some great reading.

I wasn't expecting them to do it like that, nor quite that much each time. That's pretty awesome!

But wow, the PDF version is 340MB.

[pdurrant]

Note that this is not a USA/Canada only deal. I've just signed up from the UK.

[kyrilson]

Originally Posted by Manabi

I wasn't expecting them to do it like that, nor quite that much each time. That's pretty awesome!

But wow, the PDF version is 340MB.

You know there are epub and mobi versions too, right?

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

You know there are epub and mobi versions too, right?

Yeah, that's the ones I downloaded. I was just commenting on how bulked up the PDF was.

[maddz]

The Epub version is bulky too - I ran it through an epub to epub conversion in Calibre and got it from the original download size of 20.4 Mb to 2.65 Mb. I suspect graphics and different style sheets.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by maddz

The Epub version is bulky too - I ran it through an epub to epub conversion in Calibre and got it from the original download size of 20.4 Mb to 2.65 Mb. I suspect graphics and different style sheets.

There are some problems with the ePub. One of them is the graphics have some duplicates. And Charis SIL is embedded.

I've losslessly compressed the graphics at a compression rate of 70. I've removed the duplicate graphics and fixed HTML (search/replace). I've removed the embedded fonts. I've combined all the CSS and removed all the @media for Kindles. I've managed to so far get the ePub down to 1695KB. No conversion needed.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've losslessly compressed the graphics at a compression rate of 70.

I am skeptical that the compression you did was lossless. What was the original image format and what type of compression did you apply?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I am skeptical that the compression you did was lossless. What was the original image format and what type of compression did you apply?

It wasn't lossless. It was a recompression of the JPG images. But it also got rid of the garbage in the JPG making them even smaller. You won't notice any difference in the original or the newly compressed images especially with eInk.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It wasn't lossless. It was a recompression of the JPG images. But it also got rid of the garbage in the JPG making them even smaller. You won't notice any difference in the original or the newly compressed images especially with eInk.

Then why did you write that you losslessly compressed them? JPEG compression itself is lossy and JPEG recompression results in additional loss. There is not necessarily anything wrong with that, but it is wrong to call it lossless.

Also, when I come to an illustration that merits it, I open the book on a tablet to view that illustration, so I probably would notice.

It is possible to make lossless transformations of JPEG images, such as cropping and rotations that are integer multiples of 90 degrees. But cropping and/or rotating and saving as JPEG does not necessarily do so losslessly.

The meanings of words matter.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Then why did you write that you losslessly compressed them? JPEG compression itself is lossy and JPEG recompression results in additional loss. There is not necessarily anything wrong with that, but it is wrong to call it lossless.

Also, when I come to an illustration that merits it, I open the book on a tablet to view that illustration, so I probably would notice.

It is possible to make lossless transformations of JPEG images, such as cropping and rotations that are integer multiples of 90 degrees. But cropping and/or rotating and saving as JPEG does not necessarily do so losslessly.

The meanings of words matter.

Because that's the name of the feature in the Calibre editor. When done, the graphics are losslessly compressed or recompressed.