Free (DRM-free) Starborne by Robert Silverberg [Sci-Fi Spaceship Exploration Mission]

ATDrake · 08-02-2017, 11:46 PM

Starborne by Robert Silverberg (ISFDB, Wikipedia, SFE), an SFWA Grand Master and inductee into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, is his standalone science fiction novel, starring a crew undergoing a deep space exploration in the hopes of discovering new worlds to colonize and thereby revitalize the human spirit, with a stagnant 23rd century Earth and the spaceship kept in contact by a pair of telepathic twins until the link breaks and the crew discovers that their assumptions about life, the universe, and everything may be very mistaken indeed, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Phoenix Pick Press.

This is their featured Free Book of the Month for August, has previously been offered free in 2013, and was originally published in 1996 by Bantam's Spectra imprint.

Currently free through the month of August directly @ the publisher's dedicated promo page (DRM-free ePub & Mobi bundle available worldwide; follow the instructions on the webpage to reset the price in the cart to $0.00)

The tie-in offer for this month is pretty nice, at the minimum suggested price of $4.75 for an additional 4 books: a recently-written entry in the Stellar Guild novella series pairing up Silverberg with a newer author, another backlist novel with a continuation by another author, and two more backlist works including a vintage 1968 Nebula Award nominee and a newer small press title from 1992. These have mostly previously been offered free or discounted, so you might already have some, but it's a good deal if you don't already and like Silverberg's work.

Description
It promises to be the greatest voyage of exploration in human history.

From the stagnant, placid society of twenty-third-century Earth comes an idea so powerful that it seizes the imagination of all humankind. A starship will be sent deep into the unknown galaxy in search of habitable worlds, with the hope that the challenge of colonization will somehow rekindle the dying human spirit.

Fifty men and women are chosen to crew the Wotan, each nursing his or her own secret dreams and fears. Their leader is the stoic year-captain, drawn to the dangerous mission by his lifelong quest for meaning.

The single most important member of the crew is the blind Noelle, whose telepathic link with her blind twin sister on Earth provides the Wotan's only contact with Earth as it speeds through the pearl-gray twilight of unfathomable nospace.

The worlds that the Wotan encounters are both strange and inhospitable, and with each disappointment its mission seems more and more hopeless. Then Noelle's mind-link with Earth is inexplicably broken, and the crew begin to despair, fearing they've been condemned to wander alone through the vastness of space forever, cut off from any contact with humankind.

But when Noelle unexpectedly senses a massive alien presence in the vast vacuum of deepest space, the crew suddenly realize that their every assumption about life and the universe may prove dead wrong.

Starborne is a thoughtful, introspective look by one of the Grand Masters of science fiction at what it means to be human and to live a life of meaning.

JSWolf · 08-03-2017, 10:55 PM

This is one hell of a crappy eBook (not the story, the formatting and how it's created). I downloaded the ePub and found it to be really bad. The ePub is made up of one HTML file that's 1.6mb and because of this, it won't work on a number of Readers.. There is no CSS. In the spoiler is a sample of the typical coding in the HTML. I don't know if I've ever seen any eBook as badly coded as this one.

Spoiler:

He gives Sylvia a handicap of only two. She is a delicate woman, fine-boned and shy. Genetic surgery is her specialty. Sylvia plays the game well, although slowly. She makes her move. At the sound of it Roy opens his eyes. He studies the board the merest fraction of a second, points, and says, “Atari,” the conventional way of calling to his opponent’s attention the fact that her move will enable him to capture several of her stones. Sylvia laughs lightly and retracts her move. After a moment she moves again. Roy nods and picks up a white stone, which he holds for nearly a minute, hefting it between the two playing fingers as though testing its weight, before he places it. Which is not at all typical of him: ordinarily he makes his moves with intimidating speed. Perhaps he is tired this morning. Or perhaps he is simply being kind.

Dr. Drib · 08-04-2017, 05:55 AM

Calibre:

1) Automatic trim on the border.
2) Remove spacing between paragraphs.

As good as new.

(Maybe the code looks like someone's intestines [sip of coffee], but the book is now readable.)

JSWolf · 08-04-2017, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Calibre:

1) Automatic trim on the border.
2) Remove spacing between paragraphs.

As good as new.

(Maybe the code looks like someone's intestines [sip of coffee], but the book is now readable.)

I found even after a Calibre conversion, the code was still a mess. Font sizes using pt many different font size changes and some other rubbish. It needs some serious working to fix it so it works as it should.

And for being as good as new with your two directions, not quite.

Dr. Drib · 08-04-2017, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I found even after a Calibre conversion, the code was still a mess. Font sizes using pt many different font size changes and some other rubbish. It needs some serious working to fix it so it works as it should.

And for being as good as new with your two directions, not quite.

I'm having no problems in reading it, although I'm only on page 15.

JSWolf · 08-04-2017, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I'm having no problems in reading it, although I'm only on page 15.

Have you tried on your Kobo and have to tried changing the line-height & font size?

Dr. Drib · 08-04-2017, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Have you tried on your Kobo and have to tried changing the line-height & font size?

No, I haven't done that yet.

I'll put it on my Kobo and report back.

Purple Lady · 08-04-2017, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is one hell of a crappy eBook. I downloaded the ePub and found it to be really bad. The ePub is made up of one HTML file that's 1.6mb. There is no CSS. In the spoiler is a sample of the typical coding in the HTML. I don't know if I've ever seen any eBook as badly coded as this one.

Spoiler:

He gives Sylvia a handicap of only two. She is a delicate woman, fine-boned and shy. Genetic surgery is her specialty. Sylvia plays the game well, although slowly. She makes her move. At the sound of it Roy opens his eyes. He studies the board the merest fraction of a second, points, and says, “Atari,” the conventional way of calling to his opponent’s attention the fact that her move will enable him to capture several of her stones. Sylvia laughs lightly and retracts her move. After a moment she moves again. Roy nods and picks up a white stone, which he holds for nearly a minute, hefting it between the two playing fingers as though testing its weight, before he places it. Which is not at all typical of him: ordinarily he makes his moves with intimidating speed. Perhaps he is tired this morning. Or perhaps he is simply being kind.

Thanks for the warning - this is exactly what I wanted to find out.

gbm · 08-04-2017, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Thanks for the warning - this is exactly what I wanted to find out.

Download the mobi and use calibre to make your own epub.

bernie

Purple Lady · 08-05-2017, 02:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gbm

Download the mobi and use calibre to make your own epub.

bernie

Yes that does sound like a good idea. Downloading the file that's the lesser format is odd though.

JSWolf · 08-05-2017, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gbm

Download the mobi and use calibre to make your own epub.

bernie

I converted the Mobi to ePub and yes, it really did come out much easier to deal with. Thanks for the advice.

koland · 08-05-2017, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is one hell of a crappy eBook. I downloaded the ePub and found it to be really bad. The ePub is made up of one HTML file that's 1.6mb.

Formatting is not a "crappy book".

Not everyone's opinion of EPUB is your, as well. I wish the moderators were as tired of your formatting comments as the rest of us.

Purple Lady · 08-05-2017, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koland

Formatting is not a "crappy book".

Not everyone's opinion of EPUB is your, as well. I wish the moderators were as tired of your formatting comments as the rest of us.

Phoenix Pick Press is known for horrible formatting and I no longer get even their free books because of it. Crappy ebook may not have been a good way of putting it, but I appreciate the warning for seriously poor formatting. A single html file does not work well with many readers and reading apps.

JSWolf may complain too much about ebook formatting, but Phoenix Pick Press formatting is especially egregious.

JSWolf · 08-05-2017, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koland

Formatting is not a "crappy book".

Not everyone's opinion of EPUB is your, as well. I wish the moderators were as tired of your formatting comments as the rest of us.

The way I worded that post may not have been quite correct so I've gone back an edited it. I was not complaining about the story. I was complaining about the extremely poor formatting in the ePub version. Even doing an ePub > ePub via Calibre did not do enough to clean it up.

Phoenix Pick Press makes many ePub that do not work properly. Problems they can have is not able to change the font size, cannot change the font, cannot change the line height, cannot change the margins, cannot use night mode, cannot change colors, and others.

The extremely poor coding makes it difficult to go into the CSS (no CSS in most cases) and tweak a few things. The same code I posted earlier in this thread is indicative of the quality of the eBooks they release.

I stopped getting the free eBooks from Phoenix Pick Press. It's been a good while, so I thought I try again and was reporting on the formatting.

The book won't work on a lot of Readers because it's a single 1.6MB HTML file.

JSWolf · 08-05-2017, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Phoenix Pick Press is known for horrible formatting and I no longer get even their free books because of it. Crappy ebook may not have been a good way of putting it, but I appreciate the warning for seriously poor formatting. A single html file does not work well with many readers and reading apps.

JSWolf may complain too much about ebook formatting, but Phoenix Pick Press formatting is especially egregious.

I have never seen any other company produce eBooks that are that badly made. I could do the job no problem and do it correctly.

08-02-2017, 11:46 PM	#1
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Free (DRM-free) Starborne by Robert Silverberg [Sci-Fi Spaceship Exploration Mission] Starborne by Robert Silverberg (ISFDB, Wikipedia, SFE), an SFWA Grand Master and inductee into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, is his standalone science fiction novel, starring a crew undergoing a deep space exploration in the hopes of discovering new worlds to colonize and thereby revitalize the human spirit, with a stagnant 23rd century Earth and the spaceship kept in contact by a pair of telepathic twins until the link breaks and the crew discovers that their assumptions about life, the universe, and everything may be very mistaken indeed, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Phoenix Pick Press. This is their featured Free Book of the Month for August, has previously been offered free in 2013, and was originally published in 1996 by Bantam's Spectra imprint. Currently free through the month of August directly @ the publisher's dedicated promo page (DRM-free ePub & Mobi bundle available worldwide; follow the instructions on the webpage to reset the price in the cart to $0.00) The tie-in offer for this month is pretty nice, at the minimum suggested price of $4.75 for an additional 4 books: a recently-written entry in the Stellar Guild novella series pairing up Silverberg with a newer author, another backlist novel with a continuation by another author, and two more backlist works including a vintage 1968 Nebula Award nominee and a newer small press title from 1992. These have mostly previously been offered free or discounted, so you might already have some, but it's a good deal if you don't already and like Silverberg's work. Description It promises to be the greatest voyage of exploration in human history. From the stagnant, placid society of twenty-third-century Earth comes an idea so powerful that it seizes the imagination of all humankind. A starship will be sent deep into the unknown galaxy in search of habitable worlds, with the hope that the challenge of colonization will somehow rekindle the dying human spirit. Fifty men and women are chosen to crew the Wotan, each nursing his or her own secret dreams and fears. Their leader is the stoic year-captain, drawn to the dangerous mission by his lifelong quest for meaning. The single most important member of the crew is the blind Noelle, whose telepathic link with her blind twin sister on Earth provides the Wotan's only contact with Earth as it speeds through the pearl-gray twilight of unfathomable nospace. The worlds that the Wotan encounters are both strange and inhospitable, and with each disappointment its mission seems more and more hopeless. Then Noelle's mind-link with Earth is inexplicably broken, and the crew begin to despair, fearing they've been condemned to wander alone through the vastness of space forever, cut off from any contact with humankind. But when Noelle unexpectedly senses a massive alien presence in the vast vacuum of deepest space, the crew suddenly realize that their every assumption about life and the universe may prove dead wrong. Starborne is a thoughtful, introspective look by one of the Grand Masters of science fiction at what it means to be human and to live a life of meaning.

08-03-2017, 10:55 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,756 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	This is one hell of a crappy eBook (not the story, the formatting and how it's created). I downloaded the ePub and found it to be really bad. The ePub is made up of one HTML file that's 1.6mb and because of this, it won't work on a number of Readers.. There is no CSS. In the spoiler is a sample of the typical coding in the HTML. I don't know if I've ever seen any eBook as badly coded as this one. Spoiler: <p class="BasicParagraph" style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:120%; text-align:justify"><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">He gives Sylvia a handicap of only two. She is a delicate woman, f</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">i</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">ne-boned and shy. Genetic surgery</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt"> is her specialty. Sylvia plays the game well, although slowly. She makes her move. At the sound of it Roy opens his eyes. He studies the board the merest fraction of a s</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">e</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">cond, points, and says, “</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt; font-style:italic">Atari</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">,”</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt"> the conventional way of calling to his opponent</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">’</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">s at</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">tention the fact that her move will enable him to capture several of her stones. Sylvia laughs lightly and retracts her move. After a moment she moves again. Roy nods and picks up a white stone, which he holds for nearly a minute, hefting it between the t</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">w</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">o playing fingers as though testing its weight, before he places it. Which is not at all typ</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">i</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">cal of him: ordinarily he makes his moves with intimidating speed. Pe</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">r</span><span style="color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11.5pt">haps he is tired this morning. Or perhaps he is simply being kind.</span></p> Last edited by JSWolf; 08-05-2017 at 03:59 PM.

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08-04-2017, 05:55 AM	#3
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 45,441 Karma: 59592133 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: KINDLE: Oasis 3, Scribe (1st), Matcha; KOBO: Libra 2, Libra Colour	Calibre: 1) Automatic trim on the border. 2) Remove spacing between paragraphs. As good as new. (Maybe the code looks like someone's intestines [sip of coffee], but the book is now readable.)