Diamonds in the Sky: anthology of astronomy SF Stories

[starrigger]

A new collection of science fiction stories, each related to a specific theme in astronomy, has gone live for free public viewing. Edited by Michael Brotherton and sponsored by a National Science Foundation grant, it can be found at http://www.mikebrotherton.com/diamonds/.

Authors include Jerry Oltion, Wil McCarthy, Geoff Landis, Jerry Weinberg, Mike Brotherton, and me--among others. (It's my first short story in many years, actually.)

The purpose of the NSF grant, by the way, was to try to make astronomical concepts more accessible through entertaining stories, via a free collection that would be up on the web for as long as people wanted it.

Enjoy!

Oh--by the way--I, um, told Mike that we could undoubtedly gain the services of some folk from mobileread to pull all these html stories into a variety of ebook formats for more convenient download. He even has a placeholder page up for ebook downloads to come. If any of you would like to help, please drop me a line. (You'll be able to take the stories right off the site, but first we should allow a little time for problems to shake out.)

I hope you like them.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by starrigger

The purpose of the NSF grant, by the way, was to try to make astronomical concepts more accessible through entertaining stories, via a free collection that would be up on the web for as long as people wanted it.

Enjoy!

Great initiative, it looks like a nice collection

[Gaurnim]

Thanks for the info !
I enjoyed Star Dragon from Mike Brotherton, so I'll have a look at this.

[Nate the great]

I have a copy of the stories in HTML. This will be my first attempt with calibre to produce pro quality work in MOBI, LRF, and EPUB.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I have a copy of the stories in HTML. This will be my first attempt with calibre to produce pro quality work in MOBI, LRF, and EPUB.

Excellent! Two points:

One, I'd wait to do a final until the stories have been up for at least a week. As of yesterday, they were still fixing a bunch of little glitches, and I'd give them time to let it all settle down.

Two, part of the thing here will be to draw them together into a single volume with a good table of contents. That's outside my area of expertise, anyway, but I'm sure you or others can do it. I figured that probably only needed to be done once, by somebody, to produce a source file that others could use for different formats. Again, I don't know the procedures, but it would be good for those who do to maybe give each other some feedback, yes?

Thanks. I knew I could count on you guys.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Excellent! Two points:

One, I'd wait to do a final until the stories have been up for at least a week. As of yesterday, they were still fixing a bunch of little glitches, and I'd give them time to let it all settle down.

Two, part of the thing here will be to draw them together into a single volume with a good table of contents. That's outside my area of expertise, anyway, but I'm sure you or others can do it. I figured that probably only needed to be done once, by somebody, to produce a source file that others could use for different formats. Again, I don't know the procedures, but it would be good for those who do to maybe give each other some feedback, yes?

Thanks. I knew I could count on you guys.

A TOC is a must, and calibre can do it (I think). I'm not sure how, yet. But I do know how to create one in Mobipocket Creator. I think I'll just make it there, and then import the Mobi file.

BTW, I'm also waiting on a cover image.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

A TOC is a must, and calibre can do it (I think). I'm not sure how, yet. But I do know how to create one in Mobipocket Creator. I think I'll just make it there, and then import the Mobi file.

BTW, I'm also waiting on a cover image.

When you say waiting, do you mean you contacted Mike and he's going to send you an image?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by starrigger

When you say waiting, do you mean you contacted Mike and he's going to send you an image?

I had assumed a cover image would be forthcoming. After all, he did plan to release as an ebook.

I couldn't find any contact info, so I posted a comment on his blog. If you'd let him know, I'd appreciate it.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

A TOC is a must, and calibre can do it (I think). I'm not sure how, yet. But I do know how to create one in Mobipocket Creator.

You can also make a TOC in a master HTML file. That will save you the work in Mobi. I never make a TOC with Mobi Creator.

Another advantage is that you can import HTML in about everything. Keep HTML as the source and you don't have to cross convert

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Ortep

You can also make a TOC in a master HTML file. That will save you the work in Mobi. I never make a TOC with Mobi Creator.

Another advantage is that you can import HTML in about everything. Keep HTML as the source and you don't have to cross convert

I prefer to use Mobi Creator for this becuase otherwise the "Go to TOC" menu option usually doesn't work.

[DixieGal]

How soon do you suppose the LRF version will be ready? Large font, please?

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I had assumed a cover image would be forthcoming. After all, he did plan to release as an ebook.

I couldn't find any contact info, so I posted a comment on his blog. If you'd let him know, I'd appreciate it.

The ebook idea was an afterthought, I think. Spurred ahead by my suggestion that he enlist this community to help him put it together. I doubt there is a cover image beyond the image on the web site--which, unfortunately, is the wrong shape.

I'll email Mike and see if he can rework the image and type.

[starrigger]

Ai caramba. I just got an email from someone who's already pasted up part of the book as a .prc file, with the beginning of a TOC that includes the descriptive blurbs from the website's contents page. It looks like very good work so far.

I didn't mean to become an arbitrator of competing layout experts! I'm not sure of the best way to handle this.

Thoughts, anyone?

[starrigger]

Whoever does this, copyright notices need to be included. The website just says individual stories are copyright by their authors. But for an ebook, I think there should be individual notices, either after each story or compiled into a page at the top.

As for when individual formats like LRF will be ready, I can only speculate. But imagine this won't take too long.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Whoever does this, copyright notices need to be included. The website just says individual stories are copyright by their authors. But for an ebook, I think there should be individual notices, either after each story or compiled into a page at the top.

As for when individual formats like LRF will be ready, I can only speculate. But imagine this won't take too long.

Brotherton will need to post the copyright info. It's not on his site.