The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

That was a problem I had with the novel Cyberbooks* by Ben Bova. I had it as a printed paperback, and for years I looked for an ebook version but couldn't find it. I finally discovered that it was part of a collection of humorous sci-fi books under the title Laugh Lines. If you can find it it is is a good read.

*The novel was prophetic about ebooks, with the ereader in the book very similar to the ones we now have. It was released approximately 10 years before the first commercially available ereaders. The novel dealt with the issues that were trying to stop ebooks, such as: (1) the Unions didn't want them because it would reduce the number of drivers and reduce the number of Union members, and (2) the Environmentalists didn't want it because it will reduce the issues they have to protest against.

That reminds me of another issue. When a series has parts of the series published in anthologies where you don't care for any of the other stories.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Cozy mystery where the culprit is obvious from the start so you have to spent 200-300 pages watching the protagonist helplessly bumble around trying to figure it out.

That's the entire premise of Columbo. We see who did it and then watch as Columbo figures it out.

Columbo was on the Sunday Night Mysteries. We had Columbo, Macmillan & Wife, and McCloud.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Also there was a cat on the cover and no cat in the book. At the end protagonist gets a puppy.

The title was also "Murder at the Bookstore." The victim was killed when a sailboat blew up. The bookstore barely appeared.

The Dresden Files covers have mistakes. They have Harry Dresden wearing a hat when in the books he has no hat. Also, the duster he wears in the books is leather but the duster on the cover is cloth.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That's the entire premise of Columbo. We see who did it and then watch as Columbo figures it out.

Columbo was on the Sunday Night Mysteries. We had Columbo, Macmillan & Wife, and McCloud.

We didn't see the murderer at beginning. Just that the author was... not at all subtle.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Invented in 1930s and famous on TV as Inspector Colombo, though on that the viewer was told the perpetrator at the start and Colombo wasn't inept. Did US TV think audiences were stupid?

Or maybe Ireland TV think Ireland Audiences are so self centered and xenophobic that they can only present TV mysteries one way.

[MegDreamsofBooks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That reminds me of another issue. When a series has parts of the series published in anthologies where you don't care for any of the other stories.

This is exactly what I was dealing with in my previous comment.

On the upside, right after I posted the other day, I remembered that there is an Epub split plugin for Calibre. With that I was able to go yank the one series novella I needed out and fix all the metadata in the fresh book, then dump the original anthology out of my library to clean things up.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MegDreamsofBooks

This is exactly what I was dealing with in my previous comment.

On the upside, right after I posted the other day, I remembered that there is an Epub split plugin for Calibre. With that I was able to go yank the one series novella I needed out and fix all the metadata in the fresh book, then dump the original anthology out of my library to clean things up.

But you might be buying that anthology just for the one story.

[MegDreamsofBooks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But you might be buying that anthology just for the one story.

Yep, that's extra annoying, but in this case I'd already purchased it years ago so splitting was a better option than rebuying the book separately for as much as the anthology originally cost. (A whole OTHER rant!)

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That's the entire premise of Columbo. We see who did it and then watch as Columbo figures it out.

Columbo was on the Sunday Night Mysteries. We had Columbo, Macmillan & Wife, and McCloud.

That sometimes also appears in other mystery shows. In an episode of Case Closed (which features a detective named Jimmy Kudo/Conan Edogawa) we see the murder occur and it appears the Murderer was going to get away with it because there was a photograph of him at a festival that was going on at the same time as the murder and there was no tampering with the photo. As with Columbo, the Murderer made one small mistake that got him caught.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That reminds me of another issue. When a series has parts of the series published in anthologies where you don't care for any of the other stories.

I don't have a problem with anthologies as long as they are based on a certain theme. With the Laugh Lines anthology the stories are all humorous.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Invented in 1930s and famous on TV as Inspector Colombo, though on that the viewer was told the perpetrator at the start and Colombo wasn't inept. Did US TV think audiences were stupid?

The thing about Columbo is that he appears to be a fool, and he uses that misperception to lead the Murderer to make a critical mistake. See the following (this is one of the few times when Columbo becomes angry):

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

I don't have a problem with anthologies as long as they are based on a certain theme. With the Laugh Lines anthology the stories are all humorous.

Most anthologies I've seen are stories that are part of a series. So If I'm not reading most of those series, then it's not a good value.

[Sirtel]

I don't read short stories. So if a series has one, I'll just skip it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I don't read short stories. So if a series has one, I'll just skip it.

How would you know it's not important to the series?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How would you know it's not important to the series?

I don't. I just don't want to read it, even if it's important.