Kevin's Watch

SRD News:

The GAP books (UK)

My 5-volume science fiction epic (collectively known as the GAP books), long out of print in the UK, has been picked up for re-publication by Orion/Gollancz. Publication dates have not yet been announced. Orion/Gollancz now has a substantial Donaldson backlist, including "Mordant's Need," my four mystery novels, and the GAP books--as well as, of course, "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant".

9/26/07

Hoorah for Orion/Gollancz!

Cool!

Sweet! I need new copies of Mordant's need and the Gap Cycle. They're both overdue for a read through and I don't have the books. (I originally read my dad's, and I don't live there any more)

Good news, indeed. Man, I wish they'd do something to market this well. The Gap series could have been one of the most successful s.f. series of all time (it was certainly one of the best). Personally, I think it was that lackluster cover of The Real Story which hurt sales right from the beginning. I remember looking at it and thinking that if I weren't already a big Donaldson fan, there's no way I would have bought it. Boor--ring. Put a hot chick on there! Put Angus on there! Hell, put the entire triangle of victim/victimizer/rescuer on there! You could even have some artistic rendition of how they all three trade places.

Also, it didn't help that The Real Story itself wasn't the best intro to this masterpiece. Perhaps they should publish the first two volumes as one, and forget that it was a standalone book.

I don't get peoples dislike of TRS myself. I thought it was pretty damn good, even long before I managed to get my hands on Bk 2.

*shrug* I've just read it again, and still enjoyed it. I think it was written in an unusual style that while partly maintained, was softened across the subsequent volumes.

--A

Avatar, I agree. I actually really liked TRS. I thought it was very striking and often brutal, but I did enjoy it. I certainly agree though that it feels very different than the rest of the cycle, much more focused, much smaller scale, but I kinda dug it. Still do.

I liked the Real Story..I read it a few times before I ever decided to start the Gap.

Without it, we'd never see Angus for the monster that he was. And we wouldn't get the clues that Nick was in with UMCP

Plus it's really cool they was it tells the story three different times, each more detailed than the last.

Imust admit that before I started reading the rest of the series, I figured the four books were going to be a REALLY detailed description of the same events.

Malik23 wrote:Man, I wish they'd do something to market this well. The Gap series could have been one of the most successful s.f. series of all time (it was certainly one of the best). Personally, I think it was that lackluster cover of The Real Story which hurt sales right from the beginning. I remember looking at it and thinking that if I weren't already a big Donaldson fan, there's no way I would have bought it. Boor--ring. Put a hot chick on there! Put Angus on there! Hell, put the entire triangle of victim/victimizer/rescuer on there! You could even have some artistic rendition of how they all three trade places.

Also, it didn't help that The Real Story itself wasn't the best intro to this masterpiece. Perhaps they should publish the first two volumes as one, and forget that it was a standalone book.

I wonder if this ties in at all with the Gap being optioned for a movie... there could be some synchronicity here. Though obviously not much has happened on the movie front yet, and I doubt a publisher would be moved to spend their money at this point based on that.

It's funny, I had a roommate who came home w/ TRS when it was published and my first reaction was "SRD doing sci-fi? Eh." But he told me it was short and I should read it anyway, being a fan (although at that time I wasn't into SRD anymore <ducks head>). I'm glad he persisted

I like TRS as an intro, but I also like the idea of publishing the first 2 together too, if only because, as SRD put it "at the end of TRS you really have no idea of the larger world and conflicts..." Non-SRD fans might not care enough to stick around.

Don't get me wrong, guys, I love TRS. While it wasn't up to the scale and power of the later books, I thought it was an excellent novel. I was only thinking of this from a marketing perspective.

[quote="Malik23"] The Gap series could have been one of the most successful s.f. series of all time (it was certainly one of the best). quote]

I so agree with you on that

NO posts here in a while, but I am trying to find hardbacks of the original six books, NEW ones. (pipe dream; all are used) Who can I threaten/beg/plead with to get these republished as hardbacks instead of MMP's? The pb's are poor quality; mine fell apart years ago and I literally pick each book up a few pages at a time to read them in order to carefully keep the separate sheets in the correct order. I don't want to keep buying paperbacks; I read the entire series at least once a year, so I want something more robust. I can hardly believe that those of us who are such huge fans would not JUMP at the chance to own these in hardback form. Come on, who's with me, and who can we beg?? BTW, I'm speaking specifically of the TC series, but I do also own the Gap series in paperback.

Seareach wrote:SRD News:

The GAP books (UK)

My 5-volume science fiction epic (collectively known as the GAP books), long out of print in the UK, has been picked up for re-publication by Orion/Gollancz. Publication dates have not yet been announced. Orion/Gollancz now has a substantial Donaldson backlist, including "Mordant's Need," my four mystery novels, and the GAP books--as well as, of course, "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant".

9/26/07

Hoorah for Orion/Gollancz!

I second this!

From SRD official website, news section:

...Gollancz (UK) plans to begin releasing "The GAP Sequence" in four mass market paperback volumes, beginning this month.

9/6/08