The Sword and Laser discussion

A few people have commented on the apparent lack of an ebook of Bridge of Birds. However, Subterranean Press has done an ebook of this work and it's available at least in the States. See their page here for links to BN, Amazon and Kobo. http://subterraneanpress.com/store/pr...

This doesn't appear to be available outside the US so it might leave international folks high and dry still but...

Thank you for this Rick. It's a shame it's not available outside the US.

They are DRM free though so if you have a friend in the US they could buy it for you and send you the file.

You think that is bad? I can't get an The Martian Chronicles e-book! Now that is bordering on criminal.

I hope this book is worth the price, but I'm dubious.

$10 for 3 books is a pretty good price in my opinion. I can't speak to the last two, but I really enjoyed Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was

Adrian wrote: "I find it funny (read annoying) that Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was isn't available in ebook form outside the US, but the next two books are."

What is even more 'funny' is that book three on Amazon.ca 21.99 for the ebook.

I'm probably not going to miss out on this one then. My library doesn't have any copy of it either.

oh my goodness! I have been "requesting" this on Amazon every few months for a few years now. thanks for letting us know its available!

It's also available in the iBooks store.

Nice! I've been looking all over for this book. Shipping the paper back wasn't worth it. Thanks for posting!

I'm keeping my new years resolution to not buy any new physical books. $10 for an e-book of which I only want to read 1/3 is not happening either. Therefore I will be skipping this one unless the free audio reading works out.

2nd and 3rd are available for Sony eReaders. Interesting ebook publication date for Eight Skilled Gentlemen... January 17th, 1900

I almost persuaded the Barnes & Noble site to sell me the ebook last night but at the last minute they noticed my UK address and bailed. Very frustrating! It'd be one thing if there was no ebook at all but knowing it's out there and no-one wants to take my money!

So I've bought a copy of BoB paperback for £0.01 plus postage. Looking for the sequels on ebay shows I'd have to pay a bit more £12-20. Which I'd pay but I'd rather have the ebook.

Then there's this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Chronicle...

Anyway I'm resisting temptation to download it illegally and have clicked the "Tell the publisher I want this on Kindle" button on Amazon (has anyone known that work?)

A quick reminder for those of you not in the US that the file is DRM free so if you do have someone in the US who can buy it for you and download the file then send it to you that should work. Not sure about what Amazon does but BN and Kobo both do ebooks in .epub format and let you download the file from the product page.

Rick wrote: "Not sure about what Amazon does but BN and Kobo both do ebooks in .epub format and let you download the file from the product page."

That is good to know. I will have to try B&N sometime but, so far, the only one that never gave me any trouble because I'm outside USA was Amazon. Fictionwise, where I used to buy ebooks in the past, is all but impossible for me right now (I gave up on them).

Amazon uses a modified mobi format that is exclusive to Kindle (azw, azw3 etc). However, you can use the PC version of Kindle also and, from there, if it is DRM free, you should be able to convert it using softwares available on the net.

I think Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/download) wil convert to Kindle format (http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq.h...) is the FAQ with format info.

Rick wrote: "A quick reminder for those of you not in the US that the file is DRM free so if you do have someone in the US who can buy it for you and download the file then send it to you that should work..."

I personally volunteer for this duty if someone needs it. I am not excusing anybody from this book read.

Rick wrote: "I think Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/download) wil convert to Kindle format (http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq.h...) is the FAQ with format i..."

It does. That's what I use.

I think this subject has come up before and I think the conclusion was that different countries have different distribution and publishing rights. Not sure of the legality of buying it and sending it to someone in a different country. It's the continuing case of the law falling way behind current technology.

What happens if you use the 'Give as Gift' option on Amazon. Does that work with Kindle books? If it does than that probably confuses the issue even more :)

Andrew,

We're not parties to the contracts between retailers, distributors and publishers so I don't see any legal issue. You are, I think, correct here about why it's US only - Sub Press only has those rights probably because their business is mostly US based.

Gifting a Kindle version is the same thing effectively. For that matter, so is sending someone a physical book that they can't get in their market. And I don't see an ethical issue either as long as the sender bought a copy for the recipient and isn't merely sending their copy to whoever asks for it. The author gets paid, the reader gets to read the book. The local distribution chain isn't hurt since they're not making it available in that format.

I'm confused... Is "The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox" a collection of stories that includes Bridge of Birds? I skimmed the text on the linked page http://subterraneanpress.com/store/pr..., but it only mentions BoB in passing.

BoB is the first book in a trilogy. The ebook contains it AND the others, i.e. the whole trilogy.

Hooray! Thanks for clarifying, Rick. Now off to buy it from my local independent book store's kobo store.

Thanks so much for finding this ebook. I was going to just skip it :) yeah for community ;)

I am so excited that there is a reasonably-priced ebook version of this book (the whole trilogy for the price of just the first book in paper!). I am trying to cut down the number of physical books that I own, so I was disinclined to purchase the book. If my library doesn't get the book for me by the end of the month, I know where I can get a copy now. :)

I'm guessing the reason the ebook isn't available in other countries is because the paper book isn't available either, unless you are getting it second-hand. Bridge of Birds doesn't seem to have the greatest distribution. But thank goodness for the free audio. I am a little jealous of those able to get the ebook, but I can't afford it now anyway.

Uhm, i Dont know Where you guys live, but im from spain and i had no trouble at all finding the ebook, as for the paper version i Dont know, i didnt bother with it, but should be available at any english library.
So i cannot complain about intenational readers being left out.

Carmen wrote: "Uhm, i Dont know Where you guys live, but im from spain and i had no trouble at all finding the ebook, as for the paper version i Dont know, i didnt bother with it, but should be available at any e..."

I'm from the UK. I found the paper book easily. I found an illegal download of the ebook easily. I found a US-only legal ebook easily. I didn't find a legal ebook.

Where did you get it?

Hey there, I finished my german paperbook and if there is someone inerested I would send it via "Deutsche Post" for small money or something in change. If you're interested send me a message.