SF for the Sony?

Djehuty · 03-23-2009, 10:09 AM

At the moment, there's only one thing holding me back from buying a PRS-505, and that's what appears to be a distinct lack of science fiction books which can be read on it. There seem to be about as many best-sellers available for the Sony as for Mobipocket readers, but I'm having trouble finding a good source of science fiction.

What I've been able to find so far has been a collection mostly composed of fantasy (which, in spite of bookstore shelf-labels, is not science fiction); Star Trek, Star Wars, and less well-known series (not really what I'm looking for); and vanity-published books by complete unknowns.

Is there a source I'm missing? Or is it really a Mobipocket world out there?

AnemicOak · 03-23-2009, 10:12 AM

Baen offers all their books DRM free for the Sony (webscription.net)

AbFabGab · 03-23-2009, 10:40 AM

http://www.scifriguy.com/scifi.html
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/200...ke-a-stick-at/
http://www.suvudu.com/freelibrary/
http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/category/FIC028001/Science-Fiction-ebooks.html
http://craphound.com/novels.php
http://www.sc2.com/e-books/
http://www.ebookmall.com/categories/CATID35.htm

HTH

slayda · 03-23-2009, 11:06 AM

As the Marine's say, you have to learn to "Improvise, Adapt and Overcome". Of course we can't tell you how to do that here on MR but once you learn, there are some good SF on Fictionwise, usually in Mobipocket or Ereader and mostly with DRM.

Another place to look is Abintrapress.com. It is Ed Howdershelt's web page where he self publishes. Some unusual SF (most with some erotica included, but Ansen has no erotica. He uses himself as his own main character. I found the 3rd World series quite interesting. You will have to do a format change for the Sony but his books do not have DRM and if you buy the bundle, they are very reasonably priced. You can also buy his work at Fictionwise but not his bundle. To quickly change the format, buy the HTML - open in MS Word - save as .RTF. Sony can read the .RTF. If you don't have MS Word, you can DL Open Office free & do the same with it.

Djehuty · 03-23-2009, 11:56 AM

Thank you very much for the links. Unfortunately, they only confirm what I'd found so far. They all have the same eight or ten new books, several metric cart-loads of series books based on movies or video games, and a small mountain of vanity publications. Some have reasonably good selections of old SF books, but I grew up with a collection of a few thousand SF paperbacks dating from 1940 to 1970-something.

Regarding Baen books, I checked there but was rather disappointed. Many of their selections weren't actually available, and they seem dedicated to this "webscriptions" format, in which you get a few serials of their choosing every month.

I guess it really is a Mobipocket world. And while I appreciate the advice to improvise, adapt, and overcome, I come from a military family, and I've known enough Marines to know you stop improvising some time before the MPs come clobber you and cart you away.

Regardless of how one may feel about it, DRM has the law behind it.

ficbot · 03-23-2009, 12:10 PM

Slayda, how does the HTML converted files from Abintra look on the Sony? I tried a sample one in my eBookwise days, and it required a lot of manual labour to be readable. Is it better on the Sony? Can I just buy, download, open in Open Office, save as RTF and go? Or will there be a lot of extra line breaks/manual breaks I'll have to remove manually?

Xenophon · 03-23-2009, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djehuty

Regarding Baen books, I checked there but was rather disappointed. Many of their selections weren't actually available, and they seem dedicated to this "webscriptions" format, in which you get a few serials of their choosing every month.

I agree that their web page could explain things better, but the Webscriptions format only matters for material that is not yet fully released. All past webscriptions are available in full. The partial release is only a teaser for upcoming books. So, at the moment, everything dated up to and including April 2009 is up in full (that's 9 years of Baen's output!), the May 2009 books are at 3/4s, and the June 2009 books are at 1/2.

Everything up in full is also available as individual books. But note that the various bundles give much better per-book pricing.

You can see individual books by searching on titles, by clicking on the author links in the left-hand column, or by looking through the per-publisher lists. Note that Webscriptions began as a Baen-only outlet, and has only recently been adding books from other publishers. This means that most of the available content is books published by Baen. But the addition of Subterranean Press, E-Reads, and Nightshade has broadened their selection moderately.

Xenophon

Kosst Amojan · 03-23-2009, 04:21 PM

I read mostly scifi also and I have a Sony Reader (a 500 actually).

My biggest problem is that a lot of the books I like are older but still copyrighted so there isn't that much incentive to convert them to ebooks. Still others aren't converted just because the publisher doesn't want to. (for instance i'm still looking for a copy of Stephen Baxter's Resplendent).

Now that I think about it though there really hasn't been anything I've wanted in an ebook format that I couldn't find for the reader or easily convert to a format that I can use.

Djehuty · 03-23-2009, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kosst Amojan

Now that I think about it though there really hasn't been anything I've wanted in an ebook format that I couldn't find for the reader or easily convert to a format that I can use.

Now that is the sort of good news I've been hoping to hear.

AnemicOak · 03-23-2009, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djehuty

Regarding Baen books, I checked there but was rather disappointed. Many of their selections weren't actually available, and they seem dedicated to this "webscriptions" format, in which you get a few serials of their choosing every month.

Not sure I understand. Yes, they sell Webscriptions, but they also sell every book separately too. The only books listed that can't actually be purchased as far as I remember are the dozen or so Tor titles (due to Tor's parent Co. pulling them) and some eArcs that have been replaced by their respective standard editions. Not to mention 112 of the titles are available free.

Renaldo · 03-23-2009, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djehuty

Thank you very much for the links. Unfortunately, they only confirm what I'd found so far. They all have the same eight or ten new books, several metric cart-loads of series books based on movies or video games, and a small mountain of vanity publications.

What exactly are you looking for? Specifics like author names might help us find you a source.

Djehuty · 03-23-2009, 11:54 PM

AnemicOak -- you're right, I mistakenly extrapolated from a few missing titles. Sorry about that.

Renaldo -- It's difficult for me to give a list of authors, because I'm not always sure what I'm looking for until I find it.

But I'm somewhat more hopeful now.

I do appreciate the assistance, advice, and opinions. I think I will buy the Sony after all.

wallcraft · 03-24-2009, 12:19 AM

With perhaps a few exceptions, whatever is available for the Kindle is also available for the Sony. This is particularly true if you are willing to strip DRM for your own personal use. So Kindle Store Science Fiction & Fantasy Scorecard may be of interest. It indicates that even significant back-list titles are still not available as ebooks, but the score keeps creeping up.

logley · 03-24-2009, 01:37 AM

I currently have around 800 SF books on my 505. With around another 2000 on the PC ready for transfer at any time. I would say that 95% of the 800 book are SF and not Fantasy.

ahintz · 03-24-2009, 01:38 AM

I read primarily Science Fiction and Fantasy books, and have found a steady selection of ebooks for years now - if anything, I'd say the SF/F genre is better represented them some others (though I almost wish I was into romances given how much Harlequin has gotten into the ebook game). That said, the older, still-in-copyright books you will probably have a hard time finding - but that is true of almost any genre. I'd definitely give Baen a chance - you can download a ton of free books that they have made available at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/, as well as the free library section of www.webscriptions.net.

03-23-2009, 10:09 AM	#1
Djehuty Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: none	SF for the Sony? At the moment, there's only one thing holding me back from buying a PRS-505, and that's what appears to be a distinct lack of science fiction books which can be read on it. There seem to be about as many best-sellers available for the Sony as for Mobipocket readers, but I'm having trouble finding a good source of science fiction. What I've been able to find so far has been a collection mostly composed of fantasy (which, in spite of bookstore shelf-labels, is not science fiction); Star Trek, Star Wars, and less well-known series (not really what I'm looking for); and vanity-published books by complete unknowns. Is there a source I'm missing? Or is it really a Mobipocket world out there?

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03-23-2009, 10:12 AM	#2
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	Baen offers all their books DRM free for the Sony (webscription.net)

03-23-2009, 10:40 AM	#3
AbFabGab Gadget-Luster Posts: 330 Karma: 2157280 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: NY - USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Samsung Galaxy Tab S2	http://www.scifriguy.com/scifi.html http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/200...ke-a-stick-at/ http://www.suvudu.com/freelibrary/ http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/category/FIC028001/Science-Fiction-ebooks.html http://craphound.com/novels.php http://www.sc2.com/e-books/ http://www.ebookmall.com/categories/CATID35.htm HTH

03-23-2009, 11:06 AM	#4
slayda Retired & reading more! Posts: 2,764 Karma: 1884247 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Alabama, USA Device: Kindle 1, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6S+, Kobo Aura One	As the Marine's say, you have to learn to "Improvise, Adapt and Overcome". Of course we can't tell you how to do that here on MR but once you learn, there are some good SF on Fictionwise, usually in Mobipocket or Ereader and mostly with DRM. Another place to look is Abintrapress.com. It is Ed Howdershelt's web page where he self publishes. Some unusual SF (most with some erotica included, but *Ansen* has no erotica. He uses himself as his own main character. I found the *3rd World* series quite interesting. You will have to do a format change for the Sony but his books do not have DRM and if you buy the bundle, they are very reasonably priced. You can also buy his work at Fictionwise but not his bundle. To quickly change the format, buy the HTML - open in MS Word - save as .RTF. Sony can read the .RTF. If you don't have MS Word, you can DL Open Office free & do the same with it.

03-23-2009, 11:56 AM	#5
Djehuty Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: none	Thank you very much for the links. Unfortunately, they only confirm what I'd found so far. They all have the same eight or ten new books, several metric cart-loads of series books based on movies or video games, and a small mountain of vanity publications. Some have reasonably good selections of old SF books, but I grew up with a collection of a few thousand SF paperbacks dating from 1940 to 1970-something. Regarding Baen books, I checked there but was rather disappointed. Many of their selections weren't actually available, and they seem dedicated to this "webscriptions" format, in which you get a few serials of their choosing every month. I guess it really is a Mobipocket world. And while I appreciate the advice to improvise, adapt, and overcome, I come from a military family, and I've known enough Marines to know you stop improvising some time before the MPs come clobber you and cart you away. Regardless of how one may feel about it, DRM has the law behind it.

03-23-2009, 12:10 PM	#6
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	Slayda, how does the HTML converted files from Abintra look on the Sony? I tried a sample one in my eBookwise days, and it required a lot of manual labour to be readable. Is it better on the Sony? Can I just buy, download, open in Open Office, save as RTF and go? Or will there be a lot of extra line breaks/manual breaks I'll have to remove manually?

03-23-2009, 04:21 PM	#8
Kosst Amojan Addict Posts: 207 Karma: 19597 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Northern Virginia Device: Nook Glowlight Plus	I read mostly scifi also and I have a Sony Reader (a 500 actually). My biggest problem is that a lot of the books I like are older but still copyrighted so there isn't that much incentive to convert them to ebooks. Still others aren't converted just because the publisher doesn't want to. (for instance i'm still looking for a copy of Stephen Baxter's Resplendent). Now that I think about it though there really hasn't been anything I've wanted in an ebook format that I couldn't find for the reader or easily convert to a format that I can use.

03-23-2009, 11:54 PM	#12
Djehuty Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: none	AnemicOak -- you're right, I mistakenly extrapolated from a few missing titles. Sorry about that. Renaldo -- It's difficult for me to give a list of authors, because I'm not always sure what I'm looking for until I find it. But I'm somewhat more hopeful now. I do appreciate the assistance, advice, and opinions. I think I will buy the Sony after all.

03-24-2009, 12:19 AM	#13
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,977 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	With perhaps a few exceptions, whatever is available for the Kindle is also available for the Sony. This is particularly true if you are willing to strip DRM for your own personal use. So Kindle Store Science Fiction & Fantasy Scorecard may be of interest. It indicates that even significant back-list titles are still not available as ebooks, but the score keeps creeping up.

03-24-2009, 01:37 AM	#14
logley Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	I currently have around 800 SF books on my 505. With around another 2000 on the PC ready for transfer at any time. I would say that 95% of the 800 book are SF and not Fantasy.

03-24-2009, 01:38 AM	#15
ahintz Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 322 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Device: Kindle PW/iPhone5/iPad (3)/Nook ST	I read primarily Science Fiction and Fantasy books, and have found a steady selection of ebooks for years now - if anything, I'd say the SF/F genre is better represented them some others (though I almost wish I was into romances given how much Harlequin has gotten into the ebook game). That said, the older, still-in-copyright books you will probably have a hard time finding - but that is true of almost any genre. I'd definitely give Baen a chance - you can download a ton of free books that they have made available at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/, as well as the free library section of www.webscriptions.net.

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