Groups > sci.physics.relativity > #674628

Re: Fat books

From	The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups	alt.usage.english, sci.physics.relativity, rec.arts.sf.written
Subject	Re: Fat books
Date	2026-10-18 16:48 -0700
Organization	The Starmaker Organization
Message-ID	<6AD55AB3.5DA8@ix.netcom.com> (permalink)
References	<11amvqh$15f3n$1@dont-email.me> <6AD3C2CC.475F@ix.netcom.com> <11b1960$ot1n$1@dont-email.me> <wk2BS.563$K1P4.277@fx14.ams4> <11b3bsi$1gcuk$1@dont-email.me>

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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William Hyde wrote:
> 
> Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson wrote:
> > On 10/18/2026 9:59 AM, BobbieSellers wrote:
> >> On 10/17/26 11:47, The Starmaker wrote:
> >>> Peter Moylan wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> I've griped about this issue before, but once again I find myself
> >>>> annoyed.
> >>>>
> >>>> I was reading "Robots and Empire", by Isaac Asimov. This is possibly
> >>>> the
> >>>> worst novel Asimov ever wrote. As a story it's mostly well-told, but
> >>>> the
> >>>> padding and waffle are enough to irritate the most patient reader.
> >>>>
> >>>> Let me quote from Chapter 45. "I think you must either get to the
> >>>> point,
> >>>> Dr Mandamus, or leave." This is not the only such case. Many of the
> >>>> characters in the book are incapable of getting to the point. They take
> >>>> half a dozen pages to say something that could be put in one chort
> >>>> paragraph. Get to the point, Dr Asimov. It's so bad that even the
> >>>> characters in the story are complaining about the padding.
> >>>>
> >>>> A competent editor could have made this a much better book by
> >>>> cutting it
> >>>> to about one third of its length.
> >>>>
> >>>> I wonder whether this hurt Asimov's reputation. I've certainly seen
> >>>> comments that his later (thick) books are not as good as his earlier
> >>>> writing.
> >>>>
> >>>> It's not all his fault. Many other authors are as bad. They're used to
> >>>> being paid by the page, and publishers are letting them get away with
> >>>> it. Maybe publishers don't employ editors any more, and have given up
> >>>> any attempt at quality control. There are some authors that I refuse to
> >>>> read because their books are too thick.
> >>>>
> >>>> But surely, I tell myself, the publishers must have noticed that books
> >>>> don't sell as well as they used to. Or do they? Am I the only person to
> >>>> complain about this?
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Peter MoylanÂ Â Â Â Â Â  peter@pmoylan.orgÂ Â Â  http://www.pmoylan.org
> >>>> Newcastle, NSW
> >>
> >> Â Â Â Â Â Actually Peter Moylan is incorrect. Authors were paid
> >> usually by the word from SF magazines back in the 1940s.Â  The
> >> best author were not necessarily prolix.
> >> Â Â Â Â Â In the case of JRR Tolkien the published cut the
> >> Lord of the Rings from one big fat book to a Trilogy due
> >> to the difficulty of getting so much paper from the factory
> >> to the bookshelves of the stores.
> >
> > Which in turn created the /fantasy trilogy/, in both readers' and pub-
> > lishers' minds.Â  It's not really worth mentioning, other than some peo-
> > ple attribute this to Tolkien himself, rather than his publisher.
> 
> According to Samuel Delaney one of Wilde's less well known quips is
> something like:
> 
> "The only thing necessary to write a trilogy is a total lack of  taste".
> 
> which implies that trilogies existed in the 1890s.  But I can't seem to
> find any.


books were expensive in those days..so they divided it into 3 season
episodes..

tripple feature, "three decker"...

Season 4 canceled.


> 
> William Hyde




-- 
The Starmaker -- To question the unquestionable, ask the unaskable,
to think the unthinkable, mention the unmentionable, say the unsayable, 
and challenge the unchallengeable.

Thread

Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-17 11:47 -0700
  Re: Fat books Blaine <cactus_DAC@yahoo.com> - 2026-10-17 12:54 -0600
    Re: Fat books Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> - 2026-10-18 09:40 +1300
    Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-17 22:33 -0700
      Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-17 22:38 -0700
        Re: Fat books BobbieSellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.invalid> - 2026-10-17 23:07 -0700
          Re: Fat books Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> - 2026-10-18 21:02 +1300
            Re: Fat books BobbieSellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.invalid> - 2026-10-18 07:42 -0700
              Re: Fat books William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> - 2026-10-18 16:42 -0400
                Re: Fat books Blaine <cactus_DAC@yahoo.com> - 2026-10-18 14:48 -0600
              Re: Fat books kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) - 2026-10-18 20:48 -0400
                Re: Fat books BobbieSellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.invalid> - 2026-10-18 18:56 -0700
                Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-18 19:53 -0700
                Re: Fat books Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-10-18 23:39 -0400
                Re: Fat books BobbieSellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.invalid> - 2026-10-18 21:51 -0700
          Re: Fat books Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-10-18 11:28 +0100
            Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-18 19:33 +0800
              Re: Fat books Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-10-18 13:45 +0100
                Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-20 20:35 +0800
                Re: Fat books Torbjorn Lindgren <tl@none.invalid> - 2026-10-20 14:19 +0000
            Re: Fat books Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2026-10-18 09:04 -0700
              Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-18 13:02 -0700
                Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-18 17:25 -0700
            Re: Fat books nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-10-18 21:39 +0200
              Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-18 17:06 -0700
              Re: Fat books Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-10-19 14:00 +0100
                Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-19 21:04 +0800
                Re: Fat books Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net> - 2026-10-19 18:31 +0100
                Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-20 05:55 +0800
                Re: Fat books Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> - 2026-10-20 10:37 +0100
                Re: Fat books Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-10-20 05:39 +0200
                Re: Fat books Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-10-20 07:01 +0100
                Re: Fat books Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net> - 2026-10-20 08:57 +0100
                Re: Fat books Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> - 2026-10-20 10:42 +0100
                Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-20 20:51 +0800
                Re: Fat books nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-10-19 21:40 +0200
                Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-20 05:58 +0800
                Re: Fat books nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-10-20 13:09 +0200
                Re: Fat books Charles Hope <clh@candehope.me.uk> - 2026-10-20 14:00 +0000
                Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-20 22:06 +0800
                Re: Fat books Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-10-21 01:01 +0100
                Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-21 10:38 +0800
                Re: Fat books Ross Finlayson <ross.a.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2026-10-20 07:18 -0700
                Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-20 23:02 +0800
                Re: Fat books Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> - 2026-10-20 15:15 +0100
                Re: Fat books Ross Finlayson <ross.a.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2026-10-20 08:05 -0700
                Re: Fat books Ross Finlayson <ross.a.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2026-10-20 08:28 -0700
                Re: Fat books kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) - 2026-10-20 12:14 -0400
                Re: Fat books Charles Hope <clh@candehope.me.uk> - 2026-10-20 19:15 +0000
                Re: Fat books Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2026-10-20 12:43 -0700
                Re: Fat books Ross Finlayson <ross.a.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2026-10-20 15:29 -0700
                Re: Fat books Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2026-10-20 18:32 -0700
                Re: Fat books Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> - 2026-10-22 12:02 +1300
                Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-21 20:35 -0700
                Re: Fat books Ross Finlayson <ross.a.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2026-10-21 10:28 -0700
                Re: Fat books Ross Finlayson <ross.a.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2026-10-21 10:44 -0700
                Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-22 01:49 +0800
                Re: Fat books Ross Finlayson <ross.a.finlayson@gmail.com> - 2026-10-21 10:59 -0700
                Re: Fat books kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) - 2026-10-20 12:13 -0400
                Re: Fat books Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2026-10-20 09:13 -0700
                Re: Fat books Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2026-10-20 09:53 -0700
          Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-18 19:50 -0700
  Re: Fat books BobbieSellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.invalid> - 2026-10-17 18:59 -0700
    Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-18 19:46 +0800
      Re: Fat books William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> - 2026-10-18 16:57 -0400
        Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-18 16:48 -0700
        Re: Fat books The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2026-10-18 16:57 -0700
        Re: Fat books Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> - 2026-10-20 21:04 +0800
          Re: Fat books William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> - 2026-10-20 15:09 -0400

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