Two Scalzi Short Works, Now in E-Book Form
Posted on September 27, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 25 Comments
If you follow this link, you will see news from Subterranean Press that Nook and Kindle editions of “Questions For a Soldier” and “The Sagan Diary,” two short works set in the Old Man’s War universe (“Questions” takes place between Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades; “Sagan” takes place between Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony). “Questions” is 99 cents; “Sagan,” $2.99. Worth every penny, if you ask me. Anyway, if you’ve been wanting e-book versions of these stories, now you’ve got ’em.
(Yawn!)
Old news, John. That’s what you get for being away from the ‘net all day.
P.S. Bought them about a half hour ago.
Thank you for feeding my hobbyhorse.
FYI, the Nook versions are DRM-Free. My compliments to both you and the publisher for that.
Trying to buy Questions for a Soldier. Wanted it for years. On my PC it says “Not currently available”. When I try the link on my Android Kindle app, it says “Due to copyright restrictions, the Kindle title you’re trying to purchase is not available in your country (Canada)”. That’s so stupid. I hate copyright restrictions. I hate hate hate. Now I’ll need to be creative I want to read Questions for a Soldier!
Will either of these be available on the Kindle in the UK? If not is there a way to spoof the system so I can buy them at all?
Just a technical content on the Nook versions. They read fine in Bluefire on the iPhone, but I had to run them through calibre to get them to work with Stanza on the iPhone. Any contact at Subterranean where this sort of feedback can be sent?
I loved “Questions”. Captain Perry’s colonial tour has certainly made him an eloquent speaker.
benjamin@5:00pm
I’ve also been stymied by that. Very very annoying…
Especially when I’ve bought the first book in a series (I read them using the Kindle app on my iTouch) and the 2nd is not available in Canada.
I’d buy them if they were available on iBooks. I read the first 3 books of the series in iBooks on iPad, and I’m in the middle of “Zoe’s Tale” now. :-\
@ged, Nook and Kindle both exist for the iPad. But the Nook version of Questions… is non DRMed, so you can toss it in iTunes and sync it over to the iPad and read it in iBooks.
In re: the international versions discussed above–I’ve asked Subterranean about this, and they say they don’t have the rights to international ebook releases. Can I ask, Scalzi-san, or do you know who DOES have those rights? I thought the publisher (in this case Subterranean) would, but do those rights lie with the original publisher (TOR, maybe?)? Or you? Or….
As a fan in Japan, these questions keep me up, man.
Geoffrey Kidd:
http://www.subterraneanpress.com/feedback has a couple of emails, one for general feedback, and on for tech problems with their website. :)
Dumb question: I have a Kobo. Will either of those versions work on it?
– Jeff
Slightly off-topic, in that it doesn’t relate to ebook versions … has “Sagan” ever been released in paperback, or have you any news/rumors about a proposal for such? Amazon Cda. offers it only in hardcover, and their handy box with links to alternate formats is totally blank for paperback, not even anything “from these sellers”. I’d love to get it, but alas …
Most recent cost on Whatever for an e-book copy of “Questions for a Soldier”: $0.99
Most recent cost on Whatever for a paper copy of “Questions for a Soldier”: $7,000.00
And they say e-books aren’t sold at a sufficient discount!
@jeffo – If the Kobo reads epub format files the Nook versions should work since they’re non-DRMed epubs. Just download them from your account page on B&N and then move them to the Kobo.
Bought! Thanks for the links.
jeffo: Or you could just install a Nook or Kindle app on your computer and read it like that. You won’t have the books on your Kobo, but they’re short enough that you can gulp them both in one sitting. :)
Major kudos to Subterranean Press for doing this! This just made my weekend. (I have a strange schedule at work, so this is my Saturday.) “Questions for a Soldier” was amazing – it’s great to finally get a chance to read it…
John, quick question for you: Were worm-like monsters in SGU’s “Cloverdale” episode your idea? They resemble giant intelligent worms from “Questions” a great deal.
I figured “what the heck, it’s only .99 cents” and downloaded “Questions” from Barnes and Noble. It is an epub, and worked fine on the Kobo, so now Scalzi is almost a dollar richer.
Hopefully Subterranean does a bit more of these ebook offerings. I’ve been hankering to read Alastair Reynold’s Troika
– Jeff
another frustrated at copyright restrictions Canadian fan here…
Thank you so much for the ebook of “Questions.” My only complaint about the story is that there isn’t more of it. I love the Old Man’s War universe, especially John Perry.
Yeah, no UK version. *sadface* I might make a B&N account using my mom’s US address and use the Nook for PC though, if it lets me.
Thanks, John. Loved Questions for a Soldier.
I bought Questions, I’ve already read the Diary. I’ve bought almost a dozen of the Subterranean titles on Kindle and I pretty much discovered there were putting out ebook editions by accident while browsing the Amazon site. I wish one of two things would happen:
– Subterranean puts up a page with a list of all the titles they have available in ebook format. I have to search Amazon for “Subterranean Press” and I’m unconvinced that’s going to give me a complete list since I’m not thrilled with Amazon searching anyway.
– Someone points me to the page Subterranean already has for that purpose that I’m unable to find myself…
Your subordinate clause no verb.
(Now do I find out what a Scalzi No-Prize looks like?)