Content Kindle Store Science Fiction & Fantasy Scorecard

[dugbug]

Been more than a month... updated a new spreadsheet. 6 new books have been added since:

A Canticle for Leibowitz / Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Pebble in the Sky / Isaac Asimov ($1.50!)
Blindsight / Peter Watts
In the Ocean of Night / Gregory Benford
The Last Colony / John Scalzi
Children of Dune / Frank Herbert ($1.95!)

As you recall, they added Dune in early Sept. They only want $1.95 for one of the most celebrated SF books ever written. Not bad, not bad. Dunno how readable it would be on the kindle though, given how often I flipped to the back of the book for the dictionary. Maybe they use kindle hotlinks? Anyone bought it?


I might pick up that asimov book.. its a very early work, could be interesting.

-d

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by dugbug

Been more than a month... updated a new spreadsheet. 6 new books have been added since:

A Canticle for Leibowitz / Walter M. Miller, Jr.
...

Also, I believe A Canticle for Leibowitz is often considered one of the best post-apocalyptic fictions books ever written, so it looks like their additions this month definitely have a "quality" aspect about them.

Cheers,
Marc

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Also, I believe A Canticle for Leibowitz is often considered one of the best post-apocalyptic fictions books ever written, so it looks like their additions this month definitely have a "quality" aspect about them.

Yes, Canticle is one of the classics. Miller left an unfinished manuscript for a sequel, which was completed by Terry Bisson, and published in 1997, as "Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman". Terry tells the story here

Terry is a mordantly funny writer, with a gift for short stories . A good example is "They're made out of meat", which I saw Terry perform with Jack Womack in a dramatic reading years back. Wonderful stuff.

I can't think of a better person to pick up where Miller left off.
______
Dennis

[JMikeD]

Originally Posted by dugbug

As you recall, they added Dune in early Sept. They only want $1.95 for one of the most celebrated SF books ever written. Not bad, not bad. Dunno how readable it would be on the kindle though, given how often I flipped to the back of the book for the dictionary. Maybe they use kindle hotlinks? Anyone bought it?


I might pick up that asimov book.. its a very early work, could be interesting.

-d

The Kindle Dune has no hotlinks to the appendices, etc. I bought both that and the Asimov recently. I'll get any of the early SF works at that price, if they are properly formatted.

Mike

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Yes, Canticle is one of the classics. Miller left an unfinished manuscript for a sequel, which was completed by Terry Bisson, and published in 1997, as "Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman". Terry tells the story here

Terry is a mordantly funny writer, with a gift for short stories . A good example is "They're made out of meat", which I saw Terry perform with Jack Womack in a dramatic reading years back. Wonderful stuff.

I can't think of a better person to pick up where Miller left off.

Thanks for that reference! I'll have to find a copy of Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman.

[TallMomof2]

Should have never clicked on this thread....

At least I didn't spend *that* much, what with all the bargains.

[dugbug]

This month saw four additions:

1. Carol Emshwiller's "The Mount"
2. Robert Sawyer's "Calculating God"
3. Vernor Vinge's "Marooned in Realtime"
4. C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"

All are $6-$7 except Vinge's book, which is $3.50

I snagged "A Canticle for Leibowitz" after the discussion on it. Good read, but its a large print edition. Who publishes a large print edition on a format where readers pick their own fonts? Its tolerable on the smallest font setting, which still produces a huge font.

-d

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by dugbug

I snagged "A Canticle for Leibowitz" after the discussion on it. Good read, but its a large print edition. Who publishes a large print edition on a format where readers pick their own fonts? Its tolerable on the smallest font setting, which still produces a huge font.

This is the first large print edition I have seen on the Kindle. All it does, apparently, is give you the 3 standard largest font sizes as 1-3, instead of 4-6, with fonts 3-6 being identical. So this is a worse than useless "feature".

[wallcraft]

What happened to the spreadsheet? I don't see an attachment in the 1st post.

[dugbug]

oops! my bad. Let me finish scrubbing the booklist and Ill upload it tonight.

-d

[dugbug]

This month brought 5 new books (didn't upload the spreadsheet):

"The Girl in the Glass" by Jeffrey Ford
"Cloud Atlas: A Novel" by David Mitchell
"How Few Remain" by Harry Turtledove
"Startide Rising" by David Brin ($2.84!)
"The Sword of Aldones" by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Startide Rising incidentally is being made into a movie. Have not read it but after being kindleized now I can

[pwalker8]

It's great that so many SF classics are becoming available. I've purchased The Sword of Aldones, already and will probably purchase the David Brin Startide series very soon. (rule 1, if my book reader is full, I have to read and delete enough books to make room for any that I purchase). I hope that some Zelazny (Lord of Light specifically) and L Sprague De Camp's Complete Enchanter become available soon. I have a previously purchased version of the Incomplete Enchanter, but it is in a no longer supported format.

[lilac_jive]

Ahh a Canticle for Liebowitz. Awesome book.

[pippin65]

i love scifi/fantasy... are we saying that the kindle is the one ebook to rule them all as far as fantasy/sci/fi goes?

[StanDaMan]

Originally Posted by dugbug

This effort is an attempt to rank kindle store by both quality and availability for SF and Fantasy fans. The attached excel spreadsheet has links to locate an individual book in the kindle store for you.

The score is computed as a % of total Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awarded books (winners, short-list nominations) that are found in the store. There are 437 books in the spreadsheet to date.

For the curious, I have also ranked the authors with the following formula: +2 for every win, +1 for every short-list nomination. Here are the top 15 along with their score (novels category only).

20 Lois McMaster Bujold
20 Robert A. Heinlein
19 Robert Silverberg
14 Gene Wolfe
14 Orson Scott Card
13 David Brin
13 Ursula K. Le Guin
12 Isaac Asimov
12 Joe Haldeman
12 Poul Anderson
12 Robert J. Sawyer
11 Arthur C. Clarke
11 Connie Willis
11 Frederik Pohl
11 Greg Bear


Enjoy!

Score as of Jan 24 '09:
28.6%

-d

Great job. Thank you