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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Del Rey -- You May Color Me Impressed!

Discussion in 'Literature' started by dp4m, Jul 14, 2003.

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  1. dp4m

    dp4m Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2001
    So, I was wandering through the Young Adult section of Barnes and Noble, browsing for Legacy of the Jedi.

    And what did I see...

    "Sword of Shannara: The Secret of the Sword"

    So I says to myself: "Self, what the hell is agooniegoogle?" to which I answered "..."

    So I wandered over to see what fate had befallen the Shannara book I so dearly loved (roughly at that age -- 5th grade) and lo and behold, most likely to capitalise [UK English] on Harry Potter, Del Rey has seen fit to release a SERIALIZED version of The Sword of Shannara to lure young readers into the series. I believe it was in three parts only (In The Shadow of the Warlock Lord, The Druid's Keep and The Secret of the Sword).

    THIS IS A FANTASTIC IDEA!

    And it also got me thinking -- does Del Rey have the rights to the older, Bantam SW novels? How about a serialized Thrawn Trilogy for reading to kids before bed? (Tiershon and Genghis -- sorry 'bout the heart attack!) How 'bout a serialized Darksaber?

    [Sports Guy]This needs to happen. I will not argue this.[/Sports Guy]
     
  2. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    The question Del Rey needs answered: Will it make money?

    I don't think that DR has the rights to Bantam novels. Frankly, I never really thought about it.

    -Evan
     
  3. LordShimrra

    LordShimrra Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 21, 2003
    What does the term serialized mean?
     
  4. Trell

    Trell Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 11, 2002
    Each book was cut up into a few chunks. I've seen this doen for The eye of the World though. Imagin Wheel of Tiem serialized like that? that would be well nigh 50 books I think.
     
  5. Mastadge

    Mastadge Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 4, 1999
    Yes, the same thing happened to the Eye of the World -- they split it and are selling it as a kiddie book.

    If they're going to choose fantasy novels to sell for kids, why can't they at least choose ones that don't suck as much as Sword of Shannara?
     
  6. dp4m

    dp4m Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2001
    If they're going to choose fantasy novels to sell for kids, why can't they at least choose ones that don't suck as much as Sword of Shannara?

    Because there are a lot of people out there, LIKE ME, who love the series (especially the first one)...
     
  7. clonewarseu

    clonewarseu Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2003
    According to Sue Rostoni anything to do with older books like that is up to the original publisher. So if it did happen, it would be Bantam not Delreay doing it. Might be a good idea.
     
  8. Errant_Venture

    Errant_Venture Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 21, 2002
    Why do they even bother to do that? Can't the kids just pick up the book and read it that way? Why chop it up so it appears more "young adult"?

    Can't the parents just read chapters X,Y,Z from the actual novel and then stop for the night. Then read another three chapters the next evening?
     
  9. medleyoz

    medleyoz Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 31, 2002
    Many young readers would be intimidated by a long book. So by breaking it into smaller parts it could entice young readers to read the books. I know they would be reading the same amount but in their brain it would appear easier to read.
     
  10. JediFreac

    JediFreac Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 7, 2002
    When I was little I liked reading long books. It gave me bragging rights. What they would need to do is change the layout...font size/spacing, cover design...to appeal more to the YA demographic...
     
  11. Dantana Skywalker

    Dantana Skywalker Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Apr 7, 2002
    And when in doubt, put a half naked babe in a chain mail bikini on the front . . . with a lightsaber!


    Dana
     
  12. Excellence

    Excellence Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2002
    Dp4m, did my recent question from before about Shannara and fantasy get you thinking about it? :D

    But you're right! Just two days ago, browsing through Amazon's fantasy catalogue, I saw something. I don't know what title, becasue at the moment, with little knowledge of fantasy reading, all fantasy titles are the same to me, but I know I saw a series specially reprinted and redone to make it applicable for younger readers.

    I wish I remember what trilogy it was but can't. And I thought to myself the day before, "That's interesting." Did they commission the author to redo it? How was it done? Why?
     
  13. jedishellyskywalker

    jedishellyskywalker Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2002
    That's a gr8 idea, dp4m! I'd never considered that before, but now that I have, I seriously think it might work.

    My 11yr old brother loves the NJO books, but since he isn't the best at reading, I normally end up reading them aloud to him. Also, he always wants to know what happened before the NJO, but we haven't gotten round to reading the bantam books yet.

    We for one would welcome abridged versions of the Bantam books. That way, he can read them himself, and enjoy them!

    Shelly
    :D
     
  14. Excellence

    Excellence Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2002
    Anderson would be good for this. Not to sound deriding, I'm not, but all his SW works have been done in a . . . well, simplistic fashion. The Academy Trilogy and Darksaber. Now that I just read IG-88's tale in Bounty Hunter's, that too was done the same way.

    If that's his forte, then so be it. You do what you're best at, and he's good at that. His sentence structures are descriptive enough yet straightforward for all ages. :D
     
  15. snarf5181

    snarf5181 Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2002
    Anderson has around 20 star wars young adult novels under his belt, so i agree he might be the best pick. Think of all the new cover art!
     
  16. goldbubbly

    goldbubbly Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2002
    ugh, Anderson. Well I suppose if you're going to have star wars kids books, then he'd be great for writing those. And i would like to see some star wars kids books.

     
  17. JediFreac

    JediFreac Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 7, 2002
    Yeah, except that Anderson talks down to his YA readers. It's quite sad.
     
  18. Daughter_of_Yubyub

    Daughter_of_Yubyub Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 2002
    And there such an absence of tension between the Solo kids and their parents that they felt the need to make up for it in the NJO by screwing Jaina up entirely...

    I've seen this doen for The eye of the World though. Imagin Wheel of Tiem serialized like that?

    I saw that. It's illustrated. :_| Mat doesn't look like that! He doesn't!
     
  19. Darth_Kevin

    Darth_Kevin Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 30, 2001
    According to Sue Rostoni anything to do with older books like that is up to the original publisher. So if it did happen, it would be Bantam not Delreay doing it. Might be a good idea.

    That doesn't make sense. How were they planning on doing that re-release of all EU novels in order in black faux-leather hardcover special editions then?
     
  20. Valiento

    Valiento Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 2000
    That was random house not del rey that was going to do that, actually. Random House owns both Bantam and Del Rey. Random House has control of both entities. But those only in charge of Bantam can not do anything to interfere with Del Rey's side of things.

    This is similar to how Blizzard entertainment, and Sierria Online are owned by a super company above them but neither can interfere with each other on their level of things(the only exception to this rule being Diablo Hellfire expansion, which blizzard passed onto sierra because they didn't have time to work on it).
     
  21. Darth_Kevin

    Darth_Kevin Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 30, 2001
    I knew Random House owned both, but I thought the books all had Del Rey written on the cover.
     
  22. Valiento

    Valiento Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 2000
    Nah, as I recall, the website that advertised them, was a random house website, and everything dealing with the books(covers, order form, what not) had random house written all over them nothing about del rey.

    When I got the letter stating their regrets, because they couldn't send them, that too was marked with Random House only.

    It did have the lucasbooks stamp though as I recall, but that isn't limited to just Del Rey.

     
  23. Darth_Kevin

    Darth_Kevin Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 30, 2001
    Okay, just my faulty memory then I guess. Del Rey as I recall were the ones promoting it though as I think they sent me the email.

    If they were being printed, which house would have printed it then though? I doubt it would been chosen at random ( :) pun intended ) - all the work would have probably been done by Del Rey.

    Even if they only said Random House on the cover, my guess is that Del Rey (under the orders of RH) was doing all the work and coordination without much or any input from Bantam.
     
  24. Valiento

    Valiento Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 2000
    "Okay, just my faulty memory then I guess. Del Rey as I recall were the ones promoting it though as I think they sent me the email."

    It was the random house newsletter, IIRC, actually, "books@random.com" or some such thing. I think you can check this though if you find my thread on it. I have a link to the website(which you might be able to access through wayback machine if it no longer works), as well as all the information in it too.

    Random does do it's own printing, too, and they would probably done it.

    For the record Random does print star wars books from time to time, currently they print those step into reading books, btw. Which have the picture of a house, and say Random House on the spine. Course they have lots of non-star wars books that they print under the Random House printing house, that aren't kids books.
     
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