FREE/BARGAIN — Science Fiction & Fantasy

[Fbone]

The Red Knight (The Traitor Son Cycle Book 1) by Miles Cameron is 99 cents.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ZFPUL2...v_ov_lig_dp_it

[Fbone]

The Robots Of Gotham by Todd McAulty is $1.99

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074FDN6RX...v_ov_lig_dp_it

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by SomeSteve

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham is $1.99

One Amazon reviewer indicates that this version has been "trimmed down". Has anyone who's familiar with the story compared it to an older edition to see if anything is missing?

[SomeSteve]

Originally Posted by SomeSteve

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham is $1.99

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

One Amazon reviewer indicates that this version has been "trimmed down". Has anyone who's familiar with the story compared it to an older edition to see if anything is missing?

I don't have anything to compare it to, but I don't see any indication, either on Amazon, Kobo, or the publisher's website, that this Modern Library edition is abridged. I certainly hope not.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by SomeSteve

I don't have anything to compare it to, but I don't see any indication, either on Amazon, Kobo, or the publisher's website, that this Modern Library edition is abridged. I certainly hope not.

There was an abridgement in The Day of the Triffids - the US Rosetta(?) Books to film edition was not the same as the UK edition. I don't recall there being a similar situation with The Midwich Cuckoos. Checking Wikipedia, it seems not. There might have been some tampering to make the book tie in with the TV series.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by maddz

There was an abridgement in The Day of the Triffids - the US Rosetta(?) Books to film edition was not the same as the UK edition.

This edition? That's the one I have Where can I read about the differences?
https://www.rosettaebooks.com/ebook/...-the-triffids/

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Interesting that the Table of Contents links betray that this was compiled in calibre, e.g.:

https://www.rudyrucker.com/mirrorsha...alibre_link-24

So I take it I could simply curl this into an EPUB if I wanted to try reading it on an ereader?

There are now epub and mobi downloads available from that site if you don't want to read it online.

ETA: Mirrorshades anthology edited by Bruce Sterling

[maddz]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

This edition? That's the one I have Where can I read about the differences?
https://www.rosettaebooks.com/ebook/...-the-triffids/

Here: https://triffids.guidesite.co.uk/ver...%20chapter%202).

The version of The Midwich Cuckoos I have is the UK Penguin edition which runs to 241 pages. According to Amazon.com, that edition is 222 pages.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by maddz

Here: https://triffids.guidesite.co.uk/ver...%20chapter%202).

The version of The Midwich Cuckoos I have is the UK Penguin edition which runs to 241 pages. According to Amazon.com, that edition is 222 pages.

Looks like I have the "abridged" American version, and judging by the Amazon preview, it's the same in the latest edition from Modern Library with introduction by Jeff VanderMeer.

[SomeSteve]

As I write this, the Penguin edition of John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos is £0.99 at Amazon UK and Kobo UK. (The one I posted yesterday from the US sites was the Modern Library edition.)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Midwich-Cuc.../dp/B002RI9CIO

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-midwich-cuckoos-1

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by SomeSteve

As I write this, the Penguin edition of John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos is £0.99 at Amazon UK and Kobo UK.

But is there confirmation it's a different text?

[SomeSteve]

Originally Posted by SomeSteve

As I write this, the Penguin edition of John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos is £0.99 at Amazon UK and Kobo UK.

Originally Posted by salty-horse

But is there confirmation it's a different text?

I wish I knew.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

But is there confirmation it's a different text?

Reading this https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/serve...387f54/content suggests there are textual differences between the 2 editions. Based on the pagination of the 2 editions, it's most likely to be editorial differences between the two markets rather than an abridgement per se. Also, remember differences in font and layout will also cause length to change.

I do own both the US and UK editions of The Day of the Triffids, and the differences are significant between the two editions there (the US edition is 12% shorter according to the SF Encyclopedia). I can't say if this is the same with The Midwich Cuckoos; I've only ever owned and read a UK edition (Wyndham was one of the few SF authors my local branch library held, and I read the hardback editions in my teens).

Checking here https://www.readinglength.com/book/isbn-0141033010 vs https://www.readinglength.com/book/isbn-0718102363 suggest the US edition was longer, but that is comparing a current Penguin edition to what looks like the Ballantine hardcover edition. However, checking the word count of my Penguin edition in Calibre has 66K words vs the 56K words suggested by readinglength.com, so your guess is as good as mine. I really couldn't say for sure.

According to Kobo, the US Modern Library version is 253 pages/68K words, and the UK Penguin edition is 249 pages/67K words. It's likely there is additional advertorial material in the US edition; my version doesn't have any of that.

[DrNefario]

I was just thinking "I read Midwich Cuckoos recently", and I checked back, and back, and eventually found it in 2015. The UK paperback I read then was 220 pages. I don't think I kept it, but it was an old pre-owned copy. I think they like to make modern editions look fatter by spacing them out more.

[Aleron Ives]

I read the Modern Library version of 'Trouble With Lichen', and I didn't notice anything amiss with it. 'The Midwich Cuckoos' is only $2, so I bought it. Here's a word count breakdown by chapter:

Chapter 01: 1987
Chapter 02: 2644
Chapter 03: 1004
Chapter 04: 4226
Chapter 05: 944
Chapter 06: 2963
Chapter 07: 1759
Chapter 08: 1598
Chapter 09: 2443
Chapter 10: 3138
Chapter 11: 2208
Chapter 12: 1212
Chapter 13: 2690
Chapter 14: 4056
Chapter 15: 3493
Chapter 16: 8212
Chapter 17: 2932
Chapter 18: 7479
Chapter 19: 5560
Chapter 20: 2867
Chapter 21: 3167
Total: 66582

Perhaps some brave soul will compare with the UK EPUB?