Comments on: Check It Out

By: Elio M. García, Jr.

Elio M. García, Jr. — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:04:31 +0000

Great! Except, Melinda, I think there’s maybe been a mistake. This pdf is twice the length of what’s said on the website. Obviously, I haven’t read it, but the end makes me think it might be … well, the end of the whole book.

Also, nice to see the Ensigns of Command script. Was that up earlier? I’ve been remiss!

By: Melinda

Melinda — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:15:53 +0000

Thanks, Elio, for the heads up. I forwarded a .pdf to my web manager never thinking that she can’t mess with that. I just sent her a version that was embedded in an email. The book may come down and go back up again. I don’t think Tor would be real happy if I posted the entire thing. I know Cory does that, but he’s Cory.

I put the script up some time ago, but you might have missed me announcing it on the blog. This is my CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER experience where my script got trashed. I wanted people to see the script that I wrote.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:34:24 +0000

My brilliant and amazing web manager has extracted the relevant pages and is uploading this new, smaller version of the book.

Now my publisher won’t come after me with torches and pitchforks. Just the Fundies are going to come after me with torches and pitchforks.

By: Elio M. García, Jr.

Elio M. García, Jr. — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:39:17 +0000

I do hope the half-length version goes up.

I’ve personally always thought that more authors should try that rather than Doctorow’s whole-hog approach — not throwing up the whole thing, but giving people a substantial slice. If you can’t decide whether you want to read the rest of a novel after having tried half of it, you’re hopeless.

By: S.C. Butler

S.C. Butler — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:29:06 +0000

No Tums. Champagne!

By: Melinda

Melinda — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:57:38 +0000

Thanks, Sam. The problem is that I think the second book is better on some levels and I’m afraid people will never get to the second book. Well, my fingers are crossed.

As to Elio’s comment — I don’t know which is better, Cory’s approach or mine. We’re in really uncharted territory here as new media change people’s habits. It’s really happening on the Hollywood side of my career, and I feel like print authors are feeling are way, trying to find the right balance.

I think a book in your hand is still more pleasant than sitting in front of a screen, but that might be a function of my age. Kids might find the screen very normal and comfortable. How is the Kindle? Has anyone tried one?

By: Christine Valada

Christine Valada — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:26:57 +0000

The book is available for pre-order from Amazon. As I recall, books usually ship about two weeks before release date, so it is not uncommon to find them on shelves earlier, Harry Potter notwithstanding. Are you coming out for Book Expo or the L.A. Times Festival of Books?

By: Melinda

Melinda — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:48:43 +0000

My terrific publicist, Dot Lin, at Tor says the book Expo is not very useful unless you’re a Big Name Writer! There are so many people and you just get lost in the shuffle. She’s focussing on making me a presence at ComiCon.

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:31:58 +0000

I’m with Sam on this– break out the champagne!

By: Victor Milán

Victor Milán — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:04:03 +0000

About dang time! Yay! Great job, Melinda!

Now, a couple requests:

Please put some chapters up as html pages for quick perusal online.

Please give us a handy link to the section in your post.

… because I’m greedy, and fond of instant gratification….

By: Elio M. García, Jr.

Elio M. García, Jr. — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:44:59 +0000

The Kindle has had mixed reviews (in large part because of what’s felt to be bad aesthetics — it certainly does look like something out of Kubrick’s 2001), but most people seem to think the E-ink display is great and promising.

I’ve bought a number of works as e-texts, and have read quite a lot of short stories and so on published for free by the magazines, over the years. I read them on the computer screen or on my PDA (I prefer the latter — the freedom to lie in bed or read on the train, etc. can’t be beat), and it works fine. But I’m just shy of 30, and am quite comfortable with reading on screens. LCD screens today are much less eye-straining than the old CRTs, and E-ink would strain eyes even less I think.

I’m waiting for an E-ink device that supports handwriting recognition for annotations and searching and the like. Currently that sort of thing depends on the tiny keyboards they cram into devices. Being able to just “write” text into the virtual margins would be very usful.