The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

There was an analysis of the ‘Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy’ which showed dramatic reduction of new content by the 5th book.

IMO the actual original first series broadcast far better than the book and #4 and #5 were not worth buying and reading. I was working shifts in the BBC then (first job) so had to listen to some episodes on BBC recorded cassette at the time.

The other extreme is the ‘Wheel of Time’ series which has loads of volumes with loads of words, but not much happening / getting resolved.

On the Gripping Hand, there is the Chalet School Series, which unlike many young people series like Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, or Famous Five (floating time line), goes for 62 books and maybe about 40 years of internal near contemporaneous time (published 1925 -1970*). Gladys Eleanor May Dyer, writing as Elinor Brent-Dyer 1894 - 1969 (aged 75). They are still popular, though reprints have been abridged in some cases.

IMO some series deteriorate, such as Dune (quickly) or Pern (slowly). Or IMO get a bit daft (Asimov revisiting Foundation series over 25 years later).

Also there are series where much stays the same and stories are fairly standalone (many classic mystery, some Fantasy like Recluse) and ones with either overall character development or over-arching plot elements with standalone stories, or both.

[* Some people not content with death of an author so continue series!]

All it takes is one sentence to make a book in a series not stand alobne. If it references any other recurring characters other then the main character(s), then it's not stand alone.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

All it takes is one sentence to make a book in a series not stand alobne. If it references any other recurring characters other then the main character(s), then it's not stand alone.

I don't think that is totally true.

IIRC 'Standalone' does not require you to KNOW any of the backstory for the book to really make sense or hold together.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

I don't think that is totally true.

IIRC 'Standalone' does not require you to KNOW any of the backstory for the book to really make sense or hold together.

Standalone means it has ZERO to do with any of the other books in the series. That means you cannot have anything referencing anything in the other books. Also, none of the other books can reference anything to do with that book.

Can you find any books in a series like this?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Standalone means it has ZERO to do with any of the other books in the series. That means you cannot have anything referencing anything in the other books. Also, none of the other books can reference anything to do with that book.

Can you find any books in a series like this?

IN YOUR OPINION.

It's not what most authors and publishers mean. Your definition of Standalone means it has ZERO to do with any of the other books in the series wouldn't be a novel in a series at all.

That means you cannot have anything referencing anything in the other books. Also, none of the other books can reference anything to do with that book
This also is too restrictive. It's like claiming a book can't reference events in real life or mention another book by someone else.

It depends how dependent the story is on the mention.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by theducks

I don't think that is totally true.

IIRC 'Standalone' does not require you to KNOW any of the backstory for the book to really make sense or hold together.

Exactly!

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Quoth

IN YOUR OPINION.

It's not what most authors and publishers mean. Your definition of Standalone means it has ZERO to do with any of the other books in the series wouldn't be a novel in a series at all.

That means you cannot have anything referencing anything in the other books. Also, none of the other books can reference anything to do with that book
This also is too restrictive. It's like claiming a book can't reference events in real life or mention another book by someone else.

It depends how dependent the story is on the mention.

An example of a standalone story that features elements from other series/books are books/anime in the Bubblegum Crisis Franchise. There have been many manga and anime that are set in the same world but each story is standalone. Among them are A.D. Police (the manga), A.D. Police (the anime), and Parasite Dolls.

Another one is the novelization of Infinite Crisis (the DC Comics crossover event). Even though the event includes elements from a massive number of comic books, the Novelization tells you everything you need to know for the story so you don't have to read anything else.

[nana77]

If I may add one thing (though even I did said this on the reading thread too - but while reading others books, this impression still remains..), imho on older books even the preface, written by a publisher, seems (at least to me) to have more complexity, more references to other's classic literature; sometimes I have to read so slow those pages because not easy too.
In more recent publishing to me it appears more easier (but imho).