droogie
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 97
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Post by droogie on Feb 9, 2016 12:38:55 GMT
I have a Sphere "paperback cover proof" with the withdrawn ISBN number that has been posted here. The cover art is completely different as well (an awesome graphic painting by Steve Crisp). I do not know if the finished product was published (and quickly recalled) with this cover though, since I have never seen a copy.
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Post by Dr Strange on Feb 9, 2016 14:30:38 GMT
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droogie
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 97
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Post by droogie on Feb 9, 2016 17:20:02 GMT
YES, that is indeed the cover art. I have no idea how / if it relates to any of the stories, though.
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Post by bobby on Feb 11, 2016 1:46:38 GMT
That cover painting references the ending of the Robert R. McCammon story. The protagonist hitches a ride in a VW van trying to escape his fate, but it comes to life and devours him. (Though I would imagine the author had an earlier model VW van in mind, not one from the 1980's.)
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Post by ramseycampbell on Apr 30, 2016 10:07:40 GMT
I love the idea of this freelance editor overstepping the mark ("Well, that's a shit ending. Let me improve it"), though would not be the least surprised if some of our authors tell me it's no big deal, happens all the time. No indeed! Thankfully, it's rare, and Nick Webb was so appalled by the behaviour of "this miscreant" (as he put it) that he ordered the edition destroyed. My tale was eight pages long and the unnamed culprit made over a hundred changes. |
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Post by ramseycampbell on Apr 30, 2016 10:12:03 GMT
Well, that's an even rarer edition. My author copies of the rogue printing have the skull cover. |
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Post by goathunter on Jun 19, 2016 21:40:09 GMT
I have never seen the "van" copy of the book, though I own all of the other editions (I run Robert McCammon's website and collect all of the editions I can find). I'd love to get a copy, obviously, but in all the years I've been collecting, I've never seen one. I do know that the bit about the stories being rewritten is true (as Ramsey has said). Somewhere, I have a document of the changes that were made to the McCammon story, done by someone who compared the Sphere paperback to the U.S. edition. I'm pretty sure he was working from the "skull" cover, but that was a long time ago. I'll have to compare them sometime.... Funny. I see now that left pretty much that same comment on Marty Halpern's blog back in 2011.  I had forgotten all about having done that. Hunter |
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Post by goathunter on Jun 20, 2016 17:17:55 GMT
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Post by johnnymains on Oct 28, 2020 11:27:37 GMT
I love the idea of this freelance editor overstepping the mark ("Well, that's a shit ending. Let me improve it"), though would not be the least surprised if some of our authors tell me it's no big deal, happens all the time. Strangely enough this has happened to me this very morning with a story that's due to be reprinted. Asked to check on the pdf before it goes to print - the copy editor has removed complete sentences added stuff of his own, unitalicised bits, italicised others which throws the whole story out for a loop. Luckily in these digital days the publisher was able to undo copy editor's damage, but for fucks sake, but that was one and a half hours this morning spent going through the story line for line. |
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 28, 2020 12:03:52 GMT
I love the idea of this freelance editor overstepping the mark ("Well, that's a shit ending. Let me improve it"), though would not be the least surprised if some of our authors tell me it's no big deal, happens all the time. Strangely enough this has happened to me this very morning with a story that's due to be reprinted. Asked to check on the pdf before it goes to print - the copy editor has removed complete sentences added stuff of his own, unitalicised bits, italicised others which throws the whole story out for a loop. Luckily in these digital days the publisher was able to undo copy editor's damage, but for fucks sake, but that was one and a half hours this morning spent going through the story line for line. Reminds me of a row I had a couple of years back with an American publisher who was using a story I had written set in a North of England council estate in a declining Industrial town. The copy editor decided that words like pavement would not be understood by an American audience so changed all references to "sidewalks". There were a lot of other Americanisations too, plus the editor felt the need to add a paragraph of their own about the history of "teddy boys" because one of the characters looked like one. In the end the actual editors complied with my complaints and the story was restored to its original form. |
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Post by johnnymains on Oct 28, 2020 13:37:14 GMT
Holy shit! That's even worse!
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 28, 2020 15:06:03 GMT
Reminds me of a row I had a couple of years back with an American publisher who was using a story I had written set in a North of England council estate in a declining Industrial town. The copy editor decided that words like pavement would not be understood by an American audience so changed all references to "sidewalks". I wouldn't condone anyone messing with your story, but the editor may have been right that "pavement" would have confused US readers - since in the US "pavement" refers to the road itself. So someone stepping off the pavement in the US would be stepping onto the sidewalk. You quite often see "Pavement Ends" signs in US films when a "paved" road changes to a dirt track or gravel road -  |
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 28, 2020 15:15:27 GMT
Oh, I agree. This was explained to me at the time, but as the anthology was being sold worldwide, including the UK, I couldn't go along with their suggestions since to any British reader the reference to sidewalks in a council estate in a north west of England industrial town would have looked preposterous. It's surprising how many words have such different meanings in the US and UK. It's almost as if someone was being deliberately perverse. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 28, 2020 15:35:05 GMT
Oh, I agree. This was explained to me at the time, but as the anthology was being sold worldwide, including the UK, I couldn't go along with their suggestions since to any British reader the reference to sidewalks in a council estate in a north west of England industrial town would have looked preposterous. It's surprising how many words have such different meanings in the US and UK. It's almost as if someone was being deliberately perverse. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Oct 28, 2020 15:35:39 GMT
It's surprising how many words have such different meanings in the US and UK. It's almost as if someone was being deliberately perverse. As Jack Vance learned when he titled a novel Servants of the Wankh... |
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I had forgotten all about having done that.
