J-Sun
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- Oct 23, 2008
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I got a "Cosmos Books" edition of The Engineer Reconditioned (©2006, $6.99 mass-market paperback) back in February and read it (as best I could) awhile ago. Just bothering to post this now, however.
The proper table of contents is:
Introduction
The Engineer
Snairls
Spatterjay
Jable Sharks
The Thrake
Proctors
The Owner
The Torbeast's Prison
Tiger Tiger
The Gurnard
Of these, parts of all the stories are present but my ToC lists only Introduction, Engineer, Spatterjay, Owner, Torbeast, Tiger (6 out of 11 is too bad.).
Each story is supposed to have a preface. The preface to "The Engineer" is printed twice, both at the end of the introduction to the whole volume without a break, and then again at its proper place. The prefaces to "Snairls", "Jable Sharks", and "The Thrake" are missing altogether and those stories are run on with the previous stories with no break. I had a horrible moment in which I thought the excellent "The Engineer" had become suddenly incoherent and awful before I realized I had slid into another story. And that in turn made it very hard to appreciate "Snairls", though it's pretty good, too.
Could someone with a proper book tell me if I have the right demarcation points and if the only thing I'm missing is the prefaces?
Highlight to better see problem text, if necessary, which may contain SPOILERS
I believe "The Engineer" ends in my volume on p.114 with:
"There was not much Diana feared. She feared this."
"Snairls" begins on the same page with:
"The other passengers went to their cabins and cowered there like the limp city dwellers they were.
I believe "Spatterjay" ends on p.151 with:
"...though Ambel had told her she had a pretty blue-white circle in the middle of her back."
"Jable Sharks" begins on the same page with:
"The ship: three masts stitched across the horizon..."
That, in turn, ends on p.164 with:
"He wonders what the captain read that frightened him so badly, and if he ever read any more."
and that actually has the "* * *" separator at the end of the page and "The Thrake" begins on p.165 with:
"To Mark, the runcible was the altar to some cybernetic god of technology..."
End of possible SPOILERS
After that, while the ToC still doesn't reflect it, the rest of the text seems to be fine.
I have never, in all my years and hundreds (thousands?) of books of reading, encountered such a pathetically incompetent and humiliating example of book making. I searched the web and can find no errata from Cosmos (whose responsibility it is) nor from the author (though it's not his responsibility).
Anyway, "Snairls" is the one that, while it begins fine, seems the most likely to be missing something but I was just wondering if my perceptions of how it ought to be were correct and the text is otherwise intact. (Except for the missing prefaces, which would also be nice to have.)
Despite the technical difficulties, I managed to enjoy the stories and I highly recommend the collection - in any edition that is not this Cosmos Books edition.
The proper table of contents is:
Introduction
The Engineer
Snairls
Spatterjay
Jable Sharks
The Thrake
Proctors
The Owner
The Torbeast's Prison
Tiger Tiger
The Gurnard
Of these, parts of all the stories are present but my ToC lists only Introduction, Engineer, Spatterjay, Owner, Torbeast, Tiger (6 out of 11 is too bad.).
Each story is supposed to have a preface. The preface to "The Engineer" is printed twice, both at the end of the introduction to the whole volume without a break, and then again at its proper place. The prefaces to "Snairls", "Jable Sharks", and "The Thrake" are missing altogether and those stories are run on with the previous stories with no break. I had a horrible moment in which I thought the excellent "The Engineer" had become suddenly incoherent and awful before I realized I had slid into another story. And that in turn made it very hard to appreciate "Snairls", though it's pretty good, too.
Could someone with a proper book tell me if I have the right demarcation points and if the only thing I'm missing is the prefaces?
Highlight to better see problem text, if necessary, which may contain SPOILERS
I believe "The Engineer" ends in my volume on p.114 with:
"There was not much Diana feared. She feared this."
"Snairls" begins on the same page with:
"The other passengers went to their cabins and cowered there like the limp city dwellers they were.
I believe "Spatterjay" ends on p.151 with:
"...though Ambel had told her she had a pretty blue-white circle in the middle of her back."
"Jable Sharks" begins on the same page with:
"The ship: three masts stitched across the horizon..."
That, in turn, ends on p.164 with:
"He wonders what the captain read that frightened him so badly, and if he ever read any more."
and that actually has the "* * *" separator at the end of the page and "The Thrake" begins on p.165 with:
"To Mark, the runcible was the altar to some cybernetic god of technology..."
End of possible SPOILERS
After that, while the ToC still doesn't reflect it, the rest of the text seems to be fine.
I have never, in all my years and hundreds (thousands?) of books of reading, encountered such a pathetically incompetent and humiliating example of book making. I searched the web and can find no errata from Cosmos (whose responsibility it is) nor from the author (though it's not his responsibility).
Anyway, "Snairls" is the one that, while it begins fine, seems the most likely to be missing something but I was just wondering if my perceptions of how it ought to be were correct and the text is otherwise intact. (Except for the missing prefaces, which would also be nice to have.)
Despite the technical difficulties, I managed to enjoy the stories and I highly recommend the collection - in any edition that is not this Cosmos Books edition.
