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SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc. 
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PITA Bred
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Post SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
That's sourly amusing - I am having a parallel discussion about the complete edition of Burton. (Literally; a half-finished email glares at me in the other monitor.) Many of the same questions arise, although there are few legal/copyright/ownershp issues to cloud the decision-making.

All I can say is that the travails of the VE, public and private, known and unknown, have been immensely valuable in helping me shape this larger project... and avoid the pit- and pratfalls. I'd like to avoid another case of WhatMight'veBeen.

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Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:07 am
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Post Re: Stories: Citizen of the Galaxy (Opus 128/G.134) (Nov. 1956)
Thanks, guys! A Variorum Heinlein edition -- what fun that would be.

I doubt if I could manage myself a dual close reading in the foreseeable future. But when I next reread Citizen of the Galaxy I'll do it from the Astounding issues, and glance across at the Scribner edition as the spirit moves me. It's been a while since I looked at all the van Dongen illustrations, anyway.

Speaking of illustrations: did Scribner just lose interest in illustrating Heinlein's last, great novels for them?

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Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:39 pm
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Post Re: Stories: Citizen of the Galaxy (Opus 128/G.134) (Nov. 1956)
The original plan, long ago, was a full scholarly standard edition, with variorum and close editing and corrections per original mss and notes. It devolved repeatedly into, well, the Virginia Edition. I don't think many people have an idea of what a crippled clusterf*ck that project has become. I'd bet that it never sees completion.

Unfortunately I think Bill's ten-year hiatus is too short by... well, a lot. The problem with doing a huge project half-assed is that it spoils the market and the motivations for doing it right. If a true standard edition of RAH is ever done, it won't be for 25 years or more. There will be no significant interest from the potential market, and none from the rights holders, before the VE is forgotten.

And there was so little standing in the way of doing it right.

:cry:

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Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:39 pm
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Post Re: Stories: Citizen of the Galaxy (Opus 128/G.134) (Nov. 1956)
Don't get me wrong - it's a very good collection, and Bill has put in a massive amount of work to see it through properly from a weak position. (The vast amount of it gratis, or next thing to it, as far as I understand.) It may well wheeze through to completion, as there are contractual obligations to meet, but I would be unsurprised if it is only completed in some technical, letter-of-the-law manner and not in some more realistic sense. But it is, and will be, worth having. (Just don't ever think about how you could have 99% of the contents in decent hardcovers for 1/10 the price.)

So many poor decisions were made in shaping, launching and managing the project that it would take a book to detail them all. A very, very poor choice of publisher was one of the most significant - one that had zero expertise with the material or with multivolume sets, no capacity to wrangle such a large project and was financially shaky to start with. Aiming the set at such a platinum-plated sales level was another - it was sheer moonshine through the 'shroom smoke that there would be that many buyers for such a set. As the Centennial showed, RAH fans tend to talk lots'n'lots bigger than they do.

Sorry; this is all leaking out from a rather sour postmortem on my Heinlein years that will likely never be seen by any eyes but mine. It's vastly depressing when the wishful thinking is brushed away and the cold realities emerge. (The purpose of the PM isn't to diss anyone; it's to help me keep from getting similarly misled in future projects.)

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Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:16 am
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Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:47 am
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Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:12 am
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Post Re: Stories: Citizen of the Galaxy (Opus 128/G.134) (Nov. 1956)
I'm at least a non-collector, and ceased being an accumulator at about age twenty when I began losing track of what I had. I do like to own what I like to re-read, in hopefully attractive but at least durable form.

Getting back to my question on the lack of illustrations in the Scribner Citizen of the Galaxy.

Has anyone considered a general collection of illustrations for Heinlein works, rather like Kelly Freas' and other artists' collections? I'll bet the vast majority of fans who have stacks of Heinlein paperbacks have never seen the 1940s Astoundings with Hubert Rogers etc., or even the 1950s Clifford Geary illos for the Scribners.

I think such a collection could sell well, and boost Heinlein generally.

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Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:16 pm
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Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:38 pm
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Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:52 am
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Post Re: Stories: Citizen of the Galaxy (Opus 128/G.134) (Nov. 1956)
Upon perusing my shelves of RAH novels that, while they do qualify as a "collection" per se, they enbody a collection of thoughts rather than "firsts" or "signed" editions. I recall thinking, at one time, that a complete set of signed first edition hardcovers would be something to behold. After recognizing the "sticker shock " of such a collection, I lowered the bar and sought to have only a complete collection of first edition paperbacks.

Strangely, I discovered that I had collected multiple copies of many many individual novels- each by a different publisher. Why? Sheesh by accident for some but for many others I was drawn to make the purchase by the forementioned cover art ! As was mentioned a volume collecting this art may not be commecially viable, but it still would be something of great interest to some (like myself). I see it tracing the evolution of said art through the years and through many levels of complexity. Each publisher put a different face on their edition with each trying to appeal to a very different generation of tastes. Fronm simplistic renditions of rocket ships to abstracts and so on, each tried to sell the same novel but in a different way- some editions simply plastered Heinlein's name in letters as big as possible to engage potential buyers.

Perhaps we can see these covers as the generational progression of RAH readers. Each generation a bit different in what it was searching for both on the cover and inside each RAH novel.


Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:49 am
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Sun Sep 07, 2008 8:35 am
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Sun Sep 07, 2008 8:42 am
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Post SPLIT THREAD: Centennial, Virginia Edition etc.
This is turning into a very interesting thread, although off subject. Citizen could support wider discussion.
I would love to see (and yes, would buy) a collection of the cover art, but a good web site, well organized, would do. The one listed in this thread is good but I've seen another I liked better -- consecutive covers and foreign editions for each book where available, and visible on one page rather than links, so you can compare more easily how the handling changed through time. I will search for it and post it if I find it again.
I have most of the books in hardback purchased used online -- all but two, I think -- that was a birthday present to myself two years ago. Amazingly inexpensive -- under $100.00. Most of that was shipping.
I continue to buy the paperbacks as I find them, to distribute at random.
I'm very sorry to hear about the VE problems. I couldn't afford to sign up for it at the Centennial but didn't give up on 'someday.' Must admit I was and still am more excited about the upcoming biography. And works such as the Stranger study. I estimate I will reread that about every two to three years for the rest of my life (just like Stranger).
I would also be very interested in purchasing the recordings from the Centennial, but I'm afraid I don't know of any way to help forward the prep process. Can't reasonably expect you to set aside other projects for that. Suppose we'll have to wait till waiting is filled.

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Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:41 am
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
I think the likeliest possibility for a "general illustrated" set of Heinlein would be Baen Books, and likeliest as trade paperbacks, since the permissions seem to cycle through them at least once each -- and you only have one person to convince. I was surprised to find Scribner's letting go permissions for the Clifford Geary illustrations for the VE.


Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:50 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Without commenting one way or the other on what the VE could/should have been (and how it was originally positioned in the market by MM), I've recently received the first 7 volumes in the series, and I'm generally quite happy with them. I was particularly worried as to whether Mr. Patterson's introductions would survive the transition to the new publishing venture; of course, they have.

I've also publicly suggested that the full 2-volume version of the bio be made available as matching, for-fee optional extra volumes in the set. I believe I read somewhere (on this forum, probably) that the idea is probably a non-starter, giving publishing realities. Still, one can hope.

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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
When I read the online ad for the Virginia edition, I thought wow, great. If I hit the lottery, I'll buy that. But I already have a complete collection of Heinlein novels in hard cover.
I blame the guy who got me started back in 1976. He looked at the convention book I had stood in line for 15 minutes for him to sign and said " I will not sign something I didn't write". I RAN to the dealers room and bought a first edition, third printing of "Time Enough For Love". Most of my collection comes from library sales and second-hand book stores, with a few coming from Ebay. But until his death, I bought every single thing I could new, out of respect.
The only other items I might say I "collected" is a magazine on space travel from the 50's with an article signed by the author, Werner Von Braun and a book co-written and signed by Buzz Aldrin.


Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:16 am
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
I received a welcome email today from Transcontinental, printers of the Virginia Edition. "Your order has been shipped." That would be shipment #2 of the VE, which should include volumes 8 through 23. If there's any interest, I'll update this post in a few weeks when I receive the shipment.

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Fri Feb 13, 2009 5:12 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
You bet.

I have been putting off signing up not because I was nervous, but because I had other bills to pay first... but if the big batch arrives in good shape, that will make me a lot happier, certainly...


Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:54 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Got my new VE shipment yesterday; has anyone else? What do you think? (These are the first volumes produced entirely without Meisha Merlin's involvement.)


Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:10 am
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Baylink, the big batch (volumes 8 -21) arrived in good shape. 8-)

JJGarsch, here are first impressions: this shipment meets the high standard of the first 7 volumes shipped by the HPT. The volumes are physically attractive, sewn, bound in burgundy leather, with gold stamped text and graphic on the front and spine. The pages are 50# paper, and the typeface is easy on the eye. I miss the slipcases from the MM volumes, but having actual books in my hand / on my shelves seems a good trade-off. ;)

Regarding the texts, I'm pleased to see the extended editions of Red Planet and SiaSL, and the full text of "How to be a Politician." Flipping to the back of each book yields a "Note on the Texts." Reading through these notes, I see that the source texts have been compared to the original manuscripts, and corrections made where needed.

The prefatory materials -- introductions by Mr. Patterson and Dr. James, and photos of RAH & Ginny, are the icing on this cake. And I've now found my favorite RAH photo: the one printed in the Red Planet volume. The longer I look, the funnier it gets.

So I"m pleased. YMMV, of course.

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Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:12 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
The 5/20/09 posts about the dormancy of the Heinlein Society got me to thinking that perhaps the (unrelated) Virginia Edition has once again foundered. There have been no new blog postings since January 13 from the Heinlein Prize Trust employee who's the putative manager of the effort, and the blog of the owner of Windhaven Press (which took over the actual production work from Meisha Merlin in late 2007) has likewise mentioned nothing since January about the production of the next batch of volumes, although there's been much discussion of other issues that would seem to be preventing her from working (health problems, primarily).

The VE's own website (http://virginiaedition.com) remains an embarrassment: No photos of the interior or exterior of any volumes, as well as amateurish text (e.g., "To ensure each volume is a [sic] close to Heinlein's intent as possible, the text will be taken from the last volume in whiche [sic] Heinlein had a hand in the preparation of the test [sic] for printing"). Nor, as far as I know, has the Trust made any effort to publicize the existence of the VE, not even a mention in Locus Online (where I first saw the announcement of Meisha Merlin's intent to publish, back in April 2005).

Although I'm reasonably happy with the 21 volumes received so far, I am beginning to think (for all of the above reasons) that perhaps there's no more to come, and that even if all the volumes are eventually produced, the Trust will have spent a great deal of money to place the set in the hands of perhaps a few hundred subscribers, with many more hundreds of sets left over (supposedly 2000 sets are to be printed, down from 5000 in the Meisha Merlin offering).


Thu May 21, 2009 12:06 am
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
The VE is only unrelated to THS, BTW, because the HPT had the brass to tell THS to get lost when they tried to appropriate the project. As muxed-up as the VE is now, I sincerely shudder at what would have happened if the SoSoSociety had gotten their hooks into it.

Not that I don't give a little shiver now and then looking at the actual history of the set. Not wishing to offend too many, all I can say is there's a good reason that a lot of people are involved with making a movie. You can have the best candidate in every chair but one and have no hope of turning out anything but a limping B-flick. The VE has several "bests" in its crew. It also has a couple of empty chairs in key spots. The strained history is no surprise.

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Thu May 21, 2009 7:12 am
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
The most recent email I got from Sean Thompson was dated May 6, 2009:

Hello All,
As the ether foretold, I present to you our schedule and plan for the remainder of the Virginia Edition:
We will be printing the remaining books in two tranches. The first will go to the printer at the end of August and the second will go to print about mid to late January. At the start of July and December, I will confirm mailing addresses and instructions for each of you. We've decided to rearrange the print order somewhat as well. Volumes 22-47 will be as follows:

The Future History of Robert Heinlein Vol. I
The Future History of Robert Heinlein Vol. II
The Number of the Beast
Friday
Job: A Comedy of Justice
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
To Sail Beyond the Sunset
Creating a Genre (Fiction compilation)
Sixth Column
Podkayne of Mars
Expanded Universe
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
New Worlds to Conquer
Glory Road
The Puppet Masters
Farnham's Freehold
Tramp Royale
Requiem
Heinlein Century
Nonfiction #1
Nonfiction #2
Letters 1 (Heinlein - Campbell Correspondence)
Letters 2
Letters 3
Screenplay #1
Screenplay #2


The nonfiction, letters, and screenplay volumes are all shaping up to be fairly hefty volumes and we felt it would be more aesthetically and functionally pleasing to collect these volumes towards the end rather than have them sandwiching the smaller volumes. At the same time, this allows the volumes to transition from the fiction volumes to the autobiographical Tramp Royale to the collections Heinlein Century and the nonfiction and letters at the end in a manner similar to reference papers.

Below follows the schedule we have at present for the completion of the of the next tranche of books. This is intended to leave a fair amount of wiggle room and we believe it not unreasonable that we will be able to move somewhat faster than this. I will be posting this and updated information to the blog/website tomorrow and from here in, I'm going to update at the dates listed below to keep everybody abreast of how well we're adhering to the schedule on this and on any other associated projects.

6/12 - The Number of the Beast
6/25 - Friday
7/21 - Job
7/23 - Sixth Column
7/24 - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
7/29 - To Sail Beyond the Sunset
8/3 - Future History, volume 1
8/7 - Podkayne of Mars
8/12 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
8/14 - Expanded Universe
8/18 - Creating a Genre
8/18 - New Worlds to Conquer
8/20 - Glory Road
8/31 - Farnham's Freehold

Sincerely,
Sean Thompson

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Thu May 21, 2009 8:24 am
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
That's interesting; I got no such e-mail - however, I have learned that what Sean writes and what eventually happens are often widely at variance. The early blog entries are full of examples. I think what you received, sorry to say, is likely just another fantasy schedule like others that have been offered since the Trust took over nearly 2 years ago. And I remain concerned that no effort is being made to attract new subscribers, and that the Trust will either complete the set and vitiate itself in the process, or stop midway to cut its losses despite all protestations to the contrary.


Thu May 21, 2009 9:43 am
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Thu May 21, 2009 7:31 pm
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While it would be neat to have the VE on my shelf, I am put off by the fact that the spines of the volumes are numbered, yet the numbering order makes about zero sense to me. It seems any collector's edition of an author's works should be chronological (or at the VERY minimum, alphabetical like an encyclopedia collection). Or simply not ordered, so we can organize our books the way we wish. The blog at http://virginiaedition.blogspot.com/ discusses the reasons behind this unfortunate fact. To me it comes down to this: I won't buy a beautiful, leather-bound set of Heinlein's works that begins with I Will Fear No Evil as volume #1. Sorry. How Meisha Merlin thought this was a good idea is beyond me.


Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:32 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Alex, what you say is true. I can understand how one could be put off, as you say, by the non-rational numbering schema on the spines.

For me, it's just not much of an issue. I rather quickly reordered the books received-to-date, by my preferred schema, and ... that was that.

The books are beautiful objects, carefully edited from what I gather, and feature prefaces by some rather authoritative authors ;) The series is projected to feature several volumes of Heinlein's letters, and other unpublished or hard-to-find material.

The net of it, for me: I don't see a better Heinlein collection, here or on the horizon. FWIW.

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Sun Jul 26, 2009 6:09 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
If Mr. Patterson has a moment, perhaps he could shed some light on the "Why begin with I Will Fear No Evil?" question, given that he was the sole writer of the introductions for the Meisha Merlin-produced volumes. The blog posting referred to by AlexHergensheimer is really rather unconvincing; perhaps Meisha Merlin is not to blame for the decision to lead with IWFNE.

The weirdness of this decision, whoever made it, was noted by Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing when the series was announced (http://www.boingboing.net/2005/04/08/46 ... inlei.html). Nonetheless, someone in early 2005 came up with what they considered a good reason to begin the VE this way...


Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:15 am
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My understanding - and understand that I have only tentative and secondary connections to the juggernaut that is the VE - is that it was a matter of going with material that was ready for press. IWFNE was ready to go, thus it went.

As the books can be rearranged any way the purchaser likes, spine numbers aside, I can't see that it matters all that much as long as the complete plan is fulfilled.

Of all the choices, it does make some sense to keep turning them out as each book's worth of material is ready and thus keep the pipeline full rather than publish in some internally sensible order where individual volumes may be overly rushed to fit a publishing slot or hold up the overall process unduly. This lets the complex books like the correspondence and other edited collections take their time while the works that are easier to get to press do so.

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Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:02 am
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Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:51 pm
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Re collecting and such: Perhaps 30 years ago I purchased from a patient of mine several autographed Heinlein novels in greatly varying condition, some beaten up library editions of juvies, including Citizen of the Galaxy, and some in perfect condition (Stranger, Job, Friday) and have a couple personal letters to me from Heinlein and one from Virginia. Didn't purchase the with idea of collecting any more, but because a patient of mine badly needed the money for medication. Have never thought of selling; perhaps pass on to a child who has appreciated Heinlein. Having noted some of the posts here, I am confused about possessing these artifacts. Is this something disparaged and to be avoided?


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The only thing you might want to do is make pdfs' of the letters and pass them on to Bill Patterson and the Heinlein Archives, to make sure they have copies :)


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Although I am merely an interested bystander, I always hope for good news with respect to the Virginia Edition. Hope begins to fade when the spots of good news come amid so many setbacks... or turn out to be false cheer.

Publishing is not for amateurs. Even in - or perhaps especially not in - this era where a stoned chimpanzee can hammer out something in Word and have a PoD press return something that looks a lot like a book. It ain't that easy, folks. It ain't that easy.

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Bill,

As one of the relatively new purchasers, please be aware that I appreciate the effort. And I certainly recognize the pipeline for this process is fairly constricted, so I'm not all that torqued up about it taking longer than desired. In time, all things.

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I love reading descriptions about creative processes. Fascinating what goes into this. Thanks, Bill.


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It is a bit esoteric.

Call it the Virginia Werking. :D


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This space is the lack of a honk -> _____.

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As of today it's 6 months since the last Virginia Edition Updates blog post. But who's counting?


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I am.

I was thankful for Dan's earlier post here describing the difficulties, as I certainly didn't receive an email with the same information in it, although I'm a fairly new "subscriber".

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Thanks; I'm glad it was helpful. I haven't heard anything more.

Dan

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Wasn't Sean about to move on to law school or something? Is there anyone competent assigned to pick up his administrative tasks?

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If I were to use the term "handling," overall, here, I'd use it as a euphemism.

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Forgot to mention, got a final last-pass query on To Sail Beyond the Sunset today, so that shows where the production has gotten to.


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I lived in Houston or within a 2-hour drive the first 31 of my 53 years. Pappadeaux is one of several Pappa's restraurants in Houston, and they're all excellent (or at least they still were as of a few years ago). Pappa's Seafood is the original, then there is Pappasito's mexican which is wildly popular there, and of course Pappadeaux. Probably others by now.

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The Mexican version is Pappasito's, and that and Pappadeaux are my two favorites. In Dallas they have Pappas Barbeque and the highly-regarded Pappas Steak House. In Houston there used to be an Italian variety they called PappaMia, but I don't think that one exists any more. I *always* make time for at least one Pappas meal every time I'm in Texas. Unfortunately, the furthest west they've come is Denver, in spite of my repeated pleadings to their corporate office.

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As time passes (12 months now since the shipment of volumes 7-21) and nothing changes, I'm reminded of the unending transaction at the front of the long ticket line in which Ragle waits at the Nonpareil bus station in Philip K. Dick's Time Out of Joint.

I think the VE is increasingly likely to simply and quietly come to a halt, unfinished, despite past promises and despite the work that's gone into unpublished volumes. Only a handful of people would even notice if this (again) occurred, given the Prize Trust's nonexistent effort to promote the set. Although I can't claim to know for certain, I have reason to believe the number of subscribers never exceeded 200. At some point, those who stuck it out (i.e., who didn't return their Meisha Merlin volumes and receive a refund from the Trust in 2007), as well as any post-2007 subscribers, will be refunded their payments; the Trust will eat the costs incurred so far (and consequently perhaps wait a bit longer to award its second $500K Heinlein Prize, assuming that future awards will occur); and that will be that - except for boxes of unsold copies of volumes 1-21 and the remaining slipcased MM volumes 1-6.

This isn't a matter of hope or patience; facts are facts, and deep skepticism rather than self-delusion is in order. The chances seem quite low that the Trust will find a competent and affordable successor to Windhaven or will make the effort necessary to increase its subscriber pool. If someone here believes the contrary - that Heinlein's literary executor and the other two trustees will somehow fulfill the responsibility they chose to undertake, thereby ensuring that the VE will be completed in a blaze of glory - kindly speak up.


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Quick aside: one of the downsides attached to changing production companies from Windhaven is that we would have to retrain the personnel in the editorial and production peculiarities of this set. This was not an inconsiderable obstacle, and we've already had to do it two and a half times (once for Meisha Merlin, once for Nancy at Windhaven, and then a partial retrain when Nancy became ill and Andrew assumed the lead in the production work). The thought of having these books subjected to the same kind of assault the copyediting and typesetting of the biography has endured makes me shudder.

Although there is an economic dimension in this, there are more than economic considerations involved, and I believe the decision to accommodate Windhaven's slowdown was the best under the circumstances.

I'm not privy to the decision-making process for the VE, but changing production companies is something I would regard as a very-last-option. I would pretty much have to be forced to it.


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With all due respect to Mr. Patterson and his accomplishment, I was hoping for other views from subscribers or onlookers who don't have a unique personal investment in time and effort put into the VE, as he does.

The question at hand, now that it's been raised by Sean himself in his e-mail reproduced upthread, isn't so much whether another vendor than Windhaven has to be chosen (which seems self-evident; see any of the last dozen entries at editrx.livejournal.com), nor whether vendors exist that can quickly take over the project (they do); it's whether the trustees, given their demonstrated history of decision-making, have learned anything about how to search for one.


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"Next Industry FOAF on the list" has worked great so far, why change the plan? :D

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Jim -- undoubtedly you are correct on all points. And just as undoubtedly I don't want to have to spend the short time and effort -- two or three volumes to get the memo would be three or four days on the Platonic ideal production end and might be a week or more on my end -- retraining the proofreaders (if I can avoid it). It's more tedious than effortful.

Also, though, my most recent experience with Tor and Baen suggests that competent production professionals might be in shorter supply now than you remember.

And in any case, what Im suggesting is that there are pragmatic considerations that went into the making of rational decisions -- that might not be apparent from the outside. The fact that the production work is continuing (I just finished the last-pass proof queries on TSBTS two days ago) leads me to question Mr. Garsch's speculations. That's really all there is to this. I don't think the available evidence supports the speculations at quite the level they are being issued.


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A few process questions for Bill, if you a moment for a reply, and if you're involved in these details.

You mentioned that you've finished your "last pass proof of TSBTS." I'm using that statement, along with Sean's November list, to construct a list of books either at the printer, or ready-to-go. Is it accurate to infer that Vol. 22 - 28 are now at the printer? [Future History I & II, Friday, Beast, Job, Cat, Sunset]

Is TSBTS the volume that will trigger the next shipment of books from the printer? If not, what triggers the shipment of the next tranche?


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I'm glad this discussion has gotten this far; the more data, the less cause for speculation. But plenty of reasons for speculation about the future of the set, unrelated to the vendor difficulties, remain. Here's one: Even if the set is successfully completed, who will know about its existence, much less actually ever see or read a copy?

The VE's current website is about as amateurish as can be - Meisha Merlin's was even more pitiful - and only recently did a photo of the set (edge on) appear. Any subscriber with wits intact would want to see examples of typography and page design before spending $1500, but no such photos have been posted. Nor do web searches reveal any efforts at all to publicize the existence of the VE, beyond the website itself. It's reasonable to conclude that there have been no more than a handful of new subscribers since the Trust decided to act as its own publisher. Please, anyone who knows otherwise, speak up. Likewise, if anyone has reason to believe Meisha Merlin (which apparently did have a vendor table at one or two big SF conventions in 2006) ever obtained full or partial payments for more than 150 to 200 subscriptions, please say something here. "Get the facts!"

I understand that WHPJr.'s interpretation of where things stand (i.e., as an indication that all is well) might be correct. Ya know, Olimy's self-induced stasis in James Schmitz's The Witches of Karres was also preferable to the alternative. The fact that work has been done on volumes that haven't yet appeared is meaningless by itself. Plenty of work (including WHP's) went unused at the time MM went out of business, including the printer-ready volume 7, Beyond This Horizon (100% ready to roll since the beginning of 2007, two full years before shipment).

But back to the question of subscribers: What's the point of all the headaches and financial peril involved in the VE for the past 5 years, if not to put forth into the world the results of the work involved? Yet apparently an electronic edition has never been considered and indeed may have been prohibited by the terms under which the VE was first formalized. That leaves probably no more than a few hundred sets of the VE (whether eventually completed or not) as the legacy of this effort.


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Mr. Garsch -- your criticisms are cogent. I'm sure the Prize Trust would welcome help marketing the VE. It particularly needs to get into research libraries.

Oh, and one small correction: I didn't mean to imply "all is well" with the VE -- merely that it wasn't as dire as you (Mr. Garsch) seemed to be suggesting.


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I have lost count of the companies who came out of their cozy back rooms, where everything was going just fine and dandy, to find the world had declared them out of business. This tends to happen mostly in the software biz, where nebbishy tech-heads can bury themselves in development work and forget the rest of the game exists, but what are books but simple software? :P

I agree with JJG that the marketing and presentation of the VE has been dismal.

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I don't grok the library market at all. I can't imagine any library with such a collection being willing to loan out individual copies, the risk of loss or damage to a single copy would be too great given that the cost would be irreparable harm to an irreplaceable collection. So the only application would be for in-house inspection? How many libraries in the world would be interested in such a proposition? I don't geddit.


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You put them in special collections, and make them available for use by scholars and those with permission. Standard practice, I'm afraid. Although oddly enough, the Orange County Public Library has at least one branch that loans them out -- I recently read Erle Stanley Gardner's personal first edition copies of three or four early Perry Masons. Quite a thrill, that.


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At the risk of disagreeing with my distinguished colleague, I think he and the Trustees are caught in an archaic thought process. While libraries will always be an important final repository for published works, I don't believe that they are individually key to modern research. Electronic availability (direct or scanned) and, as RJ points out, interlibrary lending from a few key sites serves the former need to have every major library equally well stocked.

It was probably a strategic error to ever consider library sets a major portion of sales. Even before the downturn, few libraries would commit that much capital to a niche reference set.

I also note a shift in concept being batted about. The VE was supposed to be a reader's collection, with a true standard edition to come later and (likely) be smothered in the anti-readerly scholarly trappings. There seemed to be a sea change at some point and the set is being slowed up by, and perhaps burdened by, an attempt to move the scholastic quality up the scale and make it a formal "standard edition." I can see that being a case of necessary coping with reality, but I think it further hampers all aspects, and all markets for, this collection. It's neither fish nor fowl nor good red meat... and the only market left for it is the uncritical compleatist collector (with a deep pocket). And (as discussed in other places) that calls for a level of commitment far above armchair cheerleader - a rare level.

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Received today from Leah McCarrick, the new PM of the Virginia Edition (Sean is off to law school): "I am working on getting access to the blog today. Sean left some instructions, but so far no success. I am going to send him an email as well hoping that I will get to the blog this week. As you are in on some of the other Heinlein... blogs and forums - We are very close to printing the next 10 books: Future Histories 1 & 2, Friday, Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, Sixth Column, Job: A Comedy of Justice, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Expanded Universe, and Podkayne of Mars."

Feel free to distribute (and move if this isn't the right spot for such things).

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Great news, Geo. Thanks for posting.


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Thanks as well. Positive sign that they're trying to get access to the blog!

I wonder what "very close" means.

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The today got this update:

Greetings to all those following the Virginia Edition Updates.

My name is Leah and I have taken over most of the Virginia Edition concerns while the previous fearless leader, Sean, has moved on to bigger, better, and more torturous things - namely law school.

I have heard some whispers about the project and finally figured out how to log into and update this blog that was started by my predecessor.

Let me bring you all up to speed on what has happened since July, 2009.

I began working for the Virginia Edition in October and we are just about to go to print with the next ten books. Four of these books were prepared and edited by Sean as is reflected in his last entry. The other six were my first foray into the world of RAH. The list of books shortly to be printed are:

1. The Future History of Robert Heinlein, Volume 1
2. The Future History of Robert Heinlein, Volume 2
3. Friday
4. The Number of the Beast
5. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (my very first Heinlein)
6. Sixth Column
7. Job: A Comedy of Justice
8. To Sail Beyond the Sunset
9. Expanded Universe
10. Podkayne of Mars

The hand-off of responsibility and health issues with our editors have contributed to the silence on the VE front. Today I found out just how much it costs to print just one chunk of this collection. I was a bit staggered (which as I write that phrase seems mistaken somehow, but fitting). But finding out the prices means we are very close to actually printing them - hopefully within the next week the files should head to the printer (as long as we get some copyright issues resolved).

I'm off to write some reminder emails that were brought to my mind as I let you know what we were up to over here. I hope this give you an insight into the project for the time being. I'll write again soon.

The New Sean - Leah

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Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:48 pm
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It bothers me to strike an unrelentingly negative tone in this thread, as I admire both the concept and (in very general) the execution of the VE, not to mention boundless personal and professional admiration for its chief editor. But it's been a front-seat row at a demolition derby for - what? - seven years now.

Such a project really needs ONE person that knows what he or she is doing in a position to make and execute decisions. I don't believe that person has ever existed. Sean: very nice guy. I bet he was a helluva law clerk or paralegal or whatever function he performed. But knew next to nothing about Heinlein and even less about publishing. Sean leaves in July; bye, Sean!

Leah shows up in October. Hi, Leah. Leah finally figures out how to log into the only public face the VE has, the blog, some four months later, and communicate with the people who matter most here, the subscribers. She then professes to bring no knowledge of Heinlein with her... and then strongly implies she knows nothing about publishing.

(Nor, from my limited but not entirely outsider viewpoint, have Sean or Leah have anything like high-level decision-making authority; I guess someone, somewhere is making choices based on their input.)

To adequately convey my dismay, I have to reach outside my own culture for the only words that seem to do the situation justice... the same words Einstein is reputed to have said when he heard about Hiroshima.

Oy vey.

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Wed Jan 27, 2010 4:47 pm
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Geo - you're correct, there is a (low-res) text photo of the first page of a WHP introduction; unfortunately, scrolling up and down using those little arrowheads is extremely slow, at least when using Safari or Firefox. A high-res left-right page spread of a sample of Heinlein's work, showing the running heads, would be a useful addition. But if the VE is really going to try to attract subscribers through this site, priority should be given to easier scrolling and other tech issues, as well as a proper edit of the text, which (as noted earlier) remains amusingly amateurish (e.g., the page describing the quality control process, http://www.virginiaedition.com/quality.aspx).

Sean's blog entries allowed comments too. Whether Leah will be more responsive than Sean to comments remains to be seen. (I and others have commented more than once during the past year about the evident need for an erratum list to conclude the set, with no response from Sean.)


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Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:27 pm
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Btw, JJ --I've got the right guy, don't I? You and I spent some quality time together at Toronto WC?

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Fri Jan 29, 2010 7:29 pm
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Nope, sorry - I'm sure we've never met. What was the "Toronto WC"?


Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:22 pm
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Torcon3, Toronto Worldcon in 2003.

Sorry for the misidentification then. I thought you were a Heinleiner friend I made at that convention. A gentleman who was a prosecutor in the south and then not too long after was called up to serve with the National Guard.

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Huh. According to my archived emails, JJ, you are that guy. . .or share his handle. That latter happens on the internet --Sam Kramer?. Or perhaps my retiring personality, forgettable physique, and 6.5 years explain it . . .

Best. Geo

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I chose my handle semi-randomly (having first encountered James J. Garsch in his Washington, DC offices, just down the street from the Replica Lincoln Memorial, in my junior high school library circa 1968-69). It's just a coincidence, honest.


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Ah, well it happens on the internet. Sorry for the confusion.

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What was "Heinlein Century"?


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I presume (or at least hope) that the miscellanea will include not only the introduction to Sturgeon's Godbody, but also the postscript to Revolt in 2100, "Concerning Stories Never Written" (1953), as well as the preface to Tomorrow, the Stars (1952).

I wonder whether very small items, such as the four-sentence preface to " 'All You Zombies--' " in Robert P. Mills' anthology The Worlds of Science Fiction (1963), are to be included in the story volumes. This would have been easy to do, following the pattern of the five-volume Philip K. Dick complete stories collection (i.e., any material he might have written about a particular story was included in the endnotes concerning first publication of each story).

On another topic, I do hope that the final set of books includes an erratum list for the Windhaven-produced books (as I and others had requested in comments at the VE blog over the past year) for the more glaring errors such as "Sit Isaac Newton" in Between Planets.


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What is a motelight letter?

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Butler Public Library reports receiving their 10 volumes from this tranche yesterday.

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A mini-review: VE volumes 22 - 31

Received this 3rd shipment yesterday. All of the current volumes maintain the high standards of the series. Leather, paper, typography: this set is indistinguishable from prior books.

As before, the highlights are the introduction by Mr. Patterson and Dr. James, and the photos of RAH, and sometimes Ginny. Pertinent information is frequently also found in the “Notes on the Text” section that concludes each volume. In the regard, the two-volume Future History books are a gem, having both introductions to the volumes as well as individual story notes. Expanded Universe, otoh, has no introduction by Patterson/James, but leaves Heinlein’s own introduction and individual story notes.

While lovely as objects, these books invite future readings and re-readings.


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Ditto to everything Fred said.

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I don't think anyone truly able has been associated with any critical (editorial, marketing, publishing or print production) facet of the VE. Management of the project has been relegated to legal office staffers as a time-filling job, and everything else to whoever was handy or expedient.

Were it not for the inherent value of the material and Bill's unending labors, I think the set would fall into the category of books English lords used to buy their sons for use in the loo - read a few pages to broaden the mind, then put those pages to use... elsewhere.

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Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:59 pm
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I've always considered Bill as part of "editorial", tho I readily grant you far too big a part. And I have seen some Windhaven interaction from time to time that would also suggest that while the general thrust of your point re how more dedicated professional resources would have been very helpful is well-taken, it isn't literally true.


Last edited by georule on Mon Jul 19, 2010 2:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.



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I suppose I'm one of those "uncritical compleatist [sic] collector"s James Gifford refers to.

Here's my take on the VE:

While the waits between news from the VE (not to mention actual book shipments) is excruciating, I am always overjoyed to receive my boxes of books. It's like getting a surprise gift in the mail from a relative you've forgotten about.

I would have designed and typeset them differently, but they are valuable to me nonetheless; certainly more so with their new contextual notes. I have been quite satisfied with the physical quality of the actual books. While, like I said, I would have done a few things differently, the set is quite nice. Um, so far as it goes.

I agree that the publicity of the VE has been abysmal, and that the communication with subscribers, who have shelled out a lot of dough, is amateurish at best.

I sincerely hope that those who conjecture that the VE will not reach its final installment are wrong.


Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:36 pm
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Earlier I was among those who were skeptical that the VE would be completed. I'm not skeptical any longer, although I do believe that it could take another year or two, and that (unfortunately) only the few hundred people who subscribed long ago will care. (If anyone thinks it's much more than a few hundred, please chime in.) I consider it very unlikely that more than a handful of subscribers have been accrued since the Heinlein Prize Trust took direct control of the project three years ago this summer, given the nearly nonexistent effort to publicize the VE.

Periodically I do a Google search to see who is even mentioning the VE - and, outside of mentions at the various sites where you'd expect it to be (Heinlein Society, Heinlein Prize, etc.), I have found exactly one such mention anywhere in the past year. And - wait for it - it's an actual publicity effort!: a note from the current VE "intern" to the proprietor of a blog I'd not heard of (http://heinleinblog.blogpeoria.com/2010 ... the-public), accompanied by several publicity images that you can judge for yourself. The blog posting has so far elicited zero comments. (Also: The intern's note says the VE "will soon be published" as if it weren't already under way...)

Whatever else one might think of the Meisha Merlin VE era (2005-07), at least the VE was talked about online then, at a variety of different sources starting with Locus Online (spring 2005 before publication began).


Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:47 am
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HPT recently approved a substantial advertising budget for VE (Leah's most recent blog entry obliquely references this in her mentioning a major meeting re VE "financials" recently), so I think you'll start to see that change at some point. I know the budget number that was approved, but it is not my place to share it publicly. I can just tell you I thought it was a substantial number when I heard it, that I personally thought it adequate to the task, and that if I was free to share it, I think most other subscribers would think so too.

I'm not entirely convinced now is the right time, myself. I personally have no doubt the project will be completed, but I tend towards the belief that maybe a few months before the final batch goes to the printer would be the time to get the advertising effort into high gear.

But that's not my role, and I don't have a lot of the details --I can just tell you that I recently saw the number approved for advertising and thought it substantial and appropriate.

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Funding is only half the battle with advertising. You have to have a plan and suitable venues. Not to mention someone who knows what they're doing. Otherwise it's all money down a rat hole.

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Quite. And not a few of us have been wondering which tunnel the Heinlein cheese has been moved down for a few years now, without coming up with a decent answer, so I rather doubt that anyone else has a stunning insight in that area.


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Pretty rough investing environment the last three years. And practically impossible to make any money in no/low-risk for most of that time.

That's a general observation, however --I have zero visibility on that re HPT in particular.

Presumably they'd like to get that fund to a point where the Heinlein Prize can be self-sustaining financially. Right now the math on that with t-bill yields is pretty ugly.

Tho apparently some of it is here: http://www.heinleinprize.com/news/sealaunch.html

Edit: Oh, and the Butler library foundation Ginny set up has the revenues for several titles dedicated to it, and had a substantial initial endowment to provide ongoing revenue.

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I have posted a counter-suggestion at .


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IMVHO, the retro-Hugos don't count for much. Like baseball, achievements have to be evaluated in their time, not by later standards. They are interesting, and I was privileged to be there when they were awarded, but still... they're just curiosities.

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That's an odd assertion. Awards are subjective to begin with. I don't see why a retro-Hugo shouldn't mean just as much as a contemporary Hugo, whatever one of those means anyway. They're both the product of subjective voting.


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Not really. Giving awards to works that have stood the test of time and whose author/creator has had time to gain stature over decades becomes far less meaningful than giving those awards amid open consideration of the work, its competitors, and the contemporary milieu. Of course Heinlein or one of the "all time greats" is going to win over some now-minor work that really excited readers in the day but is now forgotten. The award simply isn't for the same thing or for the same reasons or of the same quality as the contemporary ones. (By 'quality' I mean same overall level, not necessary worser or betterer.)

A good example are the literature Nobels. Look over the list sometime - for every recognizable Great Name, there are two Who The Hell Is That?s... and the list of NOW great names who didn't get one is even longer. Sure, a retro-Nobel would go to Faulkner instead of Harmii Mikkkonneennnenn... NOW. But what would it mean?

See Loewen's discussion of the sasha and the zamani in historical interpretation and you'll get the idea.

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I don't get it. Surely the retro Hugos are more meaningful then? The contemporary ones don't have the luxury of hindsight to tell what's going to be enduring and endearing through the ages. Too much temptation to vote for the flavor of the month.


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I think you have it exactly backwards. Hugos aren't Nobels or another prize for "lifetime achievement" or a body of work - they are for a limited number of contenders judged within their year of creation (more or less). Awards given on a Nobel or other "grand achievements" basis are one thing; awards given on a Hugo, Nebula, Newbery, Edgar etc. basis for "best/aka/most popular" works within that short genesis time frame are another.

Had the Hugos existed in these years, it's by no means certain that the works being judged 50+ years later are those which would have won in the day. Certainly most retro-Hugo winners are worthy on some basis, but not the basis that the Hugos are judged and handed out. They should have called them something else, at least.

In any case, it's not proper or right (IMVHO) to say Heinlein won 7 Hugos. He won 4 Hugos and 3 Retro-Hugos... different awards.

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That they don't mean the same thing doesn't mean they mean nothing. . . just that they mean something else, and (IMHO) something broader than just "career", or even more Heinlein works would have won Retros.

But one does wonder if a novel published as a Scribner's juvenile at the time would have had the right audience exposure to get on the Hugo radar, for instance.

But it does cut both ways. . .there could be Heinlein works that read more dated now, or the themes have been so mined by others in the years since, or cultural values have changed, that a modern voter who isn't as steeped in the history of the field as this audience is, might not give them the consideration that they might have gotten at the time, if there had been an award to give them.

You can't know that one either.

So it means something. . .but not the same thing. . .

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Good point, Geo.


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I'd agree with that.

I feel relatively confident that he would have have more Hugos (of the non-Retro variety) if they started no later than for 1940 work. . . but I would not care to hazard a guess on just which ones.

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More books
from Virginia Edition Updates by LemonPi
Hello All,

I hope those celebrating the North American tradition of Thanksgiving had a very nice one.
On behalf of the VE, we are welcoming in the holiday season with another shipment of books.
This is a smaller shipment, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew we are still here and still making progress (albeit slowly). There will be 5 books in this shipment:

1. Creating a Genre
2. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
3. New Worlds to Conquer
4. Glory Road
5. Puppet Masters

We had a little hold up with some of the icons on the covers - the files the printer had could not be expanded, but kept small they just made gold blocks on the front of the book. We were able to resolve this and the proofs I have seen look good! Hopefully you will be seeing tracking information soon.

We are making progress on the remaining books. I now get to try my hand at transcription since the source file for one of the upcoming screenplays is a scan of a scan of a typewritten manuscript and transcribing software doesn't like it. (10 pages done about 200 to go.)

If you have not received at posted letter from VE recently please email me (leahmccarrick @ virginiaedition . com). The goal was to provide each of our current subscribers with a statement of account and to verify that no one is missing any books (and also to confirm mailing addresses and contact information).

That is all for now.
Let me know when you get your books.

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"and all the ships at sea"?

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Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:25 am
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So I figured out what happened
from Virginia Edition Updates by LemonPi


There has been a lot of confusion in the last 3 weeks or so as to the arrival of the next 5 books.

I now have some information for you all which should clear up the situation.

Volumes 32 through 36 have been printed and are at the shipping facility.

However, they have not been shipped to you yet due to a staffing change at the printer/distribution center. Instructions were lost in the shuffle and our new agent at the distribution center and I were apparently talking about two different things.

I was inquiring on behalf of several subscribers regarding their tracking information for this latest shipment (for those travelling: as they wanted to be sure their box wouldn't sit outside for too long, and for those concerned that the promised books hadn't reached them yet). As a result a very small portion of the subscribers' books have been shipped already. Most of them haven't.

It turns out none of your books have been lost in the mail - in fact most of them haven't made it to the mail yet. Myself and Andre, our sales representative from the printer, are very apologetic. This seemed to be a pure miscommunication.

The resultant is that they have pick-ups scheduled for today (Dec 23) and tomorrow (Dec 24), but, due to the heavy volume of shipping this time of year, the books will not arrive by Christmas.

Once again sorry for the anxiety this may have caused some of you. The books are printed and should be on your way soon (for real this time).

Your slightly less confused and vaguely comforted Project Manager

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Today I received volumes 32-36.

Dan

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Finally received my shipment last night. I note that the person in Italy received his before mine made it all the way to California.

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I see no comments or reactions from any of the people who received their sets. I immediately looked over all except The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, which I left in its shrink wrap to ship off to my introduction collaborator Brad Linaweaver for his temporary use).

I'm particularly pleased with the way the two volumes of miscellaneous (non Future History) fiction turned out. Writing the story notes for the Future History stories were a bit of a chore, but these turned out nicely, I think.

On of the recurring criticisms of the biography is that there isn't enough story commentary (they say "critical," but they don't really want critical-analytical material, so far as I can tell), and I always want to point these people to the introduction and item-by-item notes in the Virginia Edition (but, of course, one doesn't reply to reviews, so no opportunity has risen to make that point.)


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As for me, I would buy a mass-market edition of the intros, and possibly would buy a mini-Ginny depending on what was offered and the price.

The $1500 price tag on the VE was too much to justify concidering my finances(ie) one child in college and the other about to start.

You do what you can not nessasarily what you want. :oops: :P :oops:


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Latest blog post (minus the scan of a page of screenplay 2 she included):

Yes, I realize it is April.
by LemonPi
I have had updating this blog on my list of things to do since a week or two after I last updated it.
Now for the follow through.

As you are all well aware we have 10 books left to go in this long lived collection of 46.

Here is the current standing:

1. Nonfiction 1 - through 3 proof reads including mine. (If you are not familiar with the origin of The Door Into Summer, it is found in this volume and I really liked it.)
2. Nonfiction 2 - I got this volume last week and just reached the halfway point before I finally started this long awaited update.
3. Letters 1 - Sean Thompson is back part-time and is do our 3 proof on this volume. (He thinks he will be done with it by the end of this week.)
4. Letters 2 - I am waiting for a call back from Andrew and Nancy at Windhaven at to when I can see this book. (Actually, it probably will go to Sean.)
5. Letters 3 - this one had a little trouble at the first proofreader, but may be back at WH (see comment above).
6. Farnham's Freehold - Already through all three passes and back at WH for final edits to be applied.
7. Tramp Royale - is working through some last typesetting issues - like discussions on including the map tracing the Heinleins' journeys around the world.
8. Screenplay 1 - transcribed, still needs typesetting.
9. Screenplay 2 - this one is still on my to do list for transcribing since some of the pages are almost impossible - see image below.
10. Requiem - We have decided to add a table of contents for the whole collection here - so until we are almost finished this one sits on the side lines.


I would like to poll you all on several questions (if you would like to respond):
[I will also send this out in email to all subscribers. Please suggest questions you think may be helpful towards a goal of understanding the demographics of the Heinlein community.]

1. Age
2. In which country do you reside?
3. If USA, which state, if not skip?
4. Gender
5. What industry do you work in?
6. How did you hear about the Virginia Edition Collection?
a. Internet
b. Print advertisement
c. Word of mouth
d. Heinlein Centennial
e. Other – please specify

Sean and I were also asked to work on a travelling Heinlein exhibit to be used both in more traditional museum installments, but also for trade fairs and the like. I would appreciate some ideas for exhibits. Here are some I have come up with so far:

1. The poem “Dance Session,” Virginia Heinlein’s skates, a letter from RAH to VG with a doodle of her ice skating
2. Manuscript of article: “Appointment in Space”/ “All Aboard the Gemini,” Popular Mechanics May 1963 (turned to page 112 or after)
3. Photograph(s) from the archives of the V2 launch, Article “Journey of Death”
4. Heinlein’s computer with a MS or letters or something
5. Heinlein’s camera with original photos and blow-ups thereof
6. Props and photos from Destination Moon - specifically the picture of Ginny and RAH on set (although I think we only have a newspaper clipping), include the article “Shooting Destination Moon”
7. The Rolling Stones TV script for Star Trek: “The Trouble with Tribbles.” (Opus #92?), props or shots from the episode
8. Heinlein’s Hugo’s along with copies of MS or paperback or hardcover of the winners and a description/background of the Hugos

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Just changed my shipping address (moved to San Francisco) with Leah at VE, got a notice that 5 more books are at the printers now.

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Tue Jul 05, 2011 11:47 am
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Here's the notice from the blog, posted this morning:

by LemonPi

We have NEWS!

Today I will finally send in the last of the permission forms, which means 5 more books will begin printing. I know this has taken quite a long time, but these are some of the larger volumes and most of the material has never been published before.

A lot of time consuming double checking, while necessary, delayed the release of these volumes. For example, do you know what a mustache trainer is? or do you think he meant mustache strainer? While most of the original letters were typed (on a typewriter), some of them were hand written. The deciphering of both is complicated by the fact that the archives are not necessarily in chronological order or necessarily arranged by name and that the scanning process leaves much to be desired. Maybe there will be an effort to stream-line the collection more, albeit a daunting task.

For those of you who are not aware yet - Sean is back at the office helping with the proof reading, etc. His presence means we should be able to move double time on the last 5 books. That is right - THE LAST 5 BOOKS. We are almost done for real.

In appreciation of your patience and belated acknowledgement of Heinlein's birthday, we will be sending everyone some posters based on Heinlein's novels. There are 6 different posters. Blow is the one of Glory Road. The poster layout was done by Eric Gignac and the original paintings were done by Steven Hickman.

()

We will get started on mailing these out after the current 5 books are fully turned over to the printer.

The status of the last 5 books is a follows:
Volume 41 - Letters 3 -- is here and I am just about finished with checking potential errors against the archived sources.
Volume 43 - Tramp Royale -- is here and Sean is just about finished with it.
Volume 44 - Screenplay 1 -- should be ready for its first proof read.
Volume 45 - Screenplay 2 -- should be typeset this week.
Volume 46 - Requiem -- is waiting on the index for the collection.

We hope to get these 5 turned over to the printer by the end of August. In order to do so I had best get back to work.

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I got this email today:

Virginia Edition Update and Gift
From: Leah Ott <lemonpi2186@gmail.com>
To: Leah McCarrick Ott <leahmccarrick@virginiaedition.com>

Dear Virginia Edition Subscribers,

We writing to make sure everyone is aware of the current status of the collection. You should currently have volumes 1 through 36. There are another 5 books at the printer now, volumes 37-40 and 42. We are still working on getting the covers finalized before they begin printing, but the material is turned in. They estimate that the books will be finished printing on September 6th and will be on their way to all current subscribers by September 16th. If you have moved, or have had trouble receiving shipments before, please respond with your updated shipping address.

The last five books–that's right, The Last Five Books–are at various stages of completion.

Volume 41 – The Heinlein Letters: Volume III
Volume 43 – Tramp Royale
Volume 44 – The Screenplays of Robert Heinlein: Volume 1
Volume 45 – The Screenplays of Robert Heinlein: Volume 2
Volume 46 – Requiem: The Heinlein Century Edition [Tentative Full Title]

I have just finished proofreading Letters III and turned my list of changes in yesterday. Tramp Royale is just about finished. Work still to be done on it relates to an index generated by the Heinlein Society that needs to be reviewed. Screenplays 1 was mailed to the first proofreader yesterday with typesetting work continuing on the second volume. Requiem is next on the docket and should be smooth sailing; most of the work to be done on Requiem relates to an index of the complete collection prepared by Bill Patterson.

As a gift honoring Robert Heinlein's birthday, we would like to send each of you a set of commemorative posters of paintings commissioned by the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust based on Mr. Heinlein's work. We also have a number of copies of Variable Star which, while not part of the scope of the Virginia Edition project, we would be happy to provide to each of you. If you would like the posters, Variable Star, or both, please email HeinleinPrize@dula.com by Monday, August 1st. These are provided free of charge to Virginia Edition subscribers as a token of our gratitude for your patience as we complete the project.

In order to help market the remaining sets please complete the following questionnaire:

Age
In which country do you reside?
If USA, which state, if not skip.
Gender
What industry do you work in?
How did you hear about the Virginia Edition Collection?
Internet
Print advertisement
Word of mouth
Heinlein Centennial
Other – please specify

Thank you,
--
Leah Ott
Project Manager
Virginia Edition Publishing Company

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Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:49 am
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This post appeared in the on September 7. It included some graphics that won't reproduce here:

Greetings,

After much difficulty with the latest batch of covers, an issue with a graphic, and a small issue regarding wire transfer fees, we are just about ready to ship the next 5 volumes! Once the payment is transferred for the second half of the current 5 books, they will be sent to the warehouse/shipping department at Transcontinental and shipped out to you.

The cover of Letters 1 was a hassle. The digital version of the icon looked like this:

[missing graphic]

The black area is where the gold foil is stamped. However, the stamping process tends to spread or bleed, leading to :

[missing graphic]

Which is mostly a gold blob. I spent several hours trying to clean up the digital so that the negative space was increased such that the gold wouldn't over run too much of it leading to distortion.

Clearer right? Well, the gold stamping was resilient so the printing company just decided to invert the image:

[missing graphic]

And hurrah! you can tell it is a face, but it is supposed to match:

[missing graphic]

So I had to half invert the image so that the scalloped edge was gold not the space around it:

[missing graphic]

This is the final icon, it just took us days to get there.

So as it stands these books are finished printing and should ship from the warehouse to you around the 16th of September.

The remaining 5 books are as follows:
Vol 41 - Letters 3 - final edits to be applied, followed by quality check, then to printer
Vol 43 - Tramp Royale - final edits to be applied, followed by quality check, then to printer
Vol 44 - ScreenPlay 1 - undergoing 2nd proofread here, then same as above
Vol 45 - ScreenPlay 2 - undergoing 1st proofread with some work being done on the last pages at Windhaven, edits to be applied,
Vol 46 - Requiem - to be set (but it should be fast)

Order of events:
Right now SP 1 and SP 2 are in proofreaders hands and WH is working on the end of SP 2.
Following that WH will apply the edits to L 3 and send is here for a control check, it goes back to WH for polish then off to the printer.
While we have L 3 WH will set Req and send it out to its 1st proofreader.
Then WH will apply they last round of edits to Tramp and send it here.
(During this time both SPs should be turned back into WH with comments, at which point I will try and schedule the remaining 3 for the next set of passing back and forth.)

Publishing is a chaotic business.

*****

I got my shipping notice for the current batch today (Sept 16).

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Last Thursday, I received the posters they offered. Several weeks ago, I got the copy of Spider Robinson's "collaboration" they sent as well. Having received the shipping notification, I'm now trying to find a website by which I can track it. I seem to recall last time they shipped, I was able to do so. This time, I'm still looking. Mostly because I've moved in the interim, and a mild amount of paranoia.

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Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:09 am
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The shipping notice I got on Sept. 16 wasn't for books; it was the posters. I received them yesterday. They look nice, but I'm not inclined to invest in framing any of them.

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Ok, my mileage is varying.

1. Dan, I received posters about a week ago. Never received a shipping notice. Posters are fun, btw. The Donato posters gives a good idea of what would have been had the MM books been published.

2. Bruce, I received a shipping notice for the next tranche of books a few days ago. I've been trying to track the shipment use the tracking numbers on the shipping notice, to no avail so far. FedEx is listed as the shipper.

Edit: if you've moved and paranoid about receiving the books at the proper address, you could write to "LemonPi" at the Heinlein Trust and found out your address of record. An email address is given at the blog: http://virginiaedition.blogspot.com/201 ... oming.html


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Fred,

Thanks...I'm assuming since the shipping document has the correct address, it'll get to me here, just like the posters did. That being said, since it's a semi-secure building, I'd sure love to know exactly when it will be delivered, so I can keep my eyes open at the unattended front desk. The posters were left outside our door, despite the fact that there's someone inside our office from 8AM to 9PM daily.

And looking more closely at the shipping .pdf, I do see that it claims to be via FedEx, which is counter to my memory of the last shipment. However, FedEx claims no knowledge on their web page of the Ref/Tracking number. Ah, well. I'll wait a week, and see what happens.

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Tue Sep 20, 2011 12:27 pm
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I got my latest set of books yesterday.

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Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:56 am
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Thanks, Dan, mine just showed up as well.

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Tue Sep 27, 2011 11:21 am
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Today's blog post:

Don't worry you aren't missing vol. 41
by LemonPi

This edition of the blog is to reassure everyone that you are not missing volume 41.
Volume 41 was not ready to go to print with the preceding 4, while volume 42 (Farnham's Freehold) was.
It will be printed and shipped with the last set of books.
You read correctly, the last set of books!

On our current schedule, updated this week, we should have all material turned over to the printer by mid to late October. This means the books should ship in November and be in your hands for the holidays.

Volume 41 - Letters 3 is undergoing a quality control check, and will be turned back to WH for final corrections tomorrow.
Volume 43 - Tramp Royale is at WH to have proofreading edits applied, then it will come here for a quality control check.
Volume 44 - Screenplay 1 just got turned back to WH after its 2nd proofread and needs those edits applied. We are also working on getting some pictures from the set of Destination Moon to include in this volume.
Volume 45 - Screenplay 2 was also just turned in to WH, but from its 1st proofreader, and will come here next.
Volume 46 - Requiem is going out this week for its 1st proofread.

On another note here is an interesting Heinlein mention:

AUGUST 15, 2011
BARACK OBAMA MUST BE A ROBERT HEINLEIN FAN!

Robert Heinlein:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as “bad luck.”

Barack Obama:

“We had reversed the recession, avoided a depression, gotten the economy moving again,” Obama told a crowd in Decorah, Iowa. “But over the last six months we’ve had a run of bad luck.”

Fan, instantiation, whatever.
Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 10:00 pm


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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
For what it's worth, I received the last shipment yesterday. Now to find time to read the parts I haven't already read in other forums. :)

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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
So... eight years, start to finish? Or did I drop a circumsolar orbit or two?


Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:36 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Given the size of the program, and the economies of scale involved in the people actually working on it, I don't think eight years is that much out of line.

Where are the equivalents of The Virginia Edition for the other two of the Big Three, Asimov and Clarke [or any other two that you might nominate in their places]?

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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Closer to seven years, if you date the project from the Locus Online announcement in April 2005. The originally announced one-volume-per-month schedule would have resulted in a complete series by fall 2009, more or less, if Meisha Merlin had been competent (or if the Heinlein Prize Trust had contracted with a competent publisher in the first place).

The whole effort will have been worth it if, and only if, the edition becomes available in e-book format, in separate volumes. Which I think it will be, eventually: The number of potential buyers of complete $1500 sets (i.e., people who haven't already subscribed) will dwindle to zero, if it hasn't already; X number of printed sets will remain unsold;* and then there'll be no further incentive to release the edition only to people who've got the $1500.

Some aspects of the project will always be enigmatic, such as the decision to lead off with I Will Fear No Evil and later, after the restart of the project, an absurd fixation on the design and production of the pictorial cover stamping for each volume - a feature that need not have been included in the first place and caused a number of production delays (according to the VE Publishing Co. blog).

*Even Meisha Merlin knew enough to pay its printer to produce only 500 copies of each of its six volumes, and I assume VEPC did likewise, in both cases irrespective of the maximum number advertised - 5000 copies for MM, 2000 copies for VEPC.


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Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:20 am
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
James - thanks for your insight into these problems; at my age I'll likely never become an e-reader myself. Seems like such a waste, though, for only a few hundred people to see the results of the VE effort (although, of course, all of the non-fiction material such as letters can be viewed as part of the online Archives).

Edit:
I just now noticed in a different forum, in the "introduce yourself" thread, someone who has purchased the entire VE and writes as follows:

"I was lucky not to have to wait seven years. I ordered on the spot and VE #285 was on my bookshelf on June 10th."

So that would seem to be the total number of subscriptions (or now, complete sets) of the VE sold since 2005 when the Meisha Merlin phase of the effort began: Two hundred eighty-five.


Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:27 am
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Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:25 am
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Sorry, James; "economies of scale involved in the people actually working on it" was my euphemism for clusterfuck. I guess I shoulda used Chinese fire drill, another favorite from my long past Jarhead days. Sigh.

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Gotcha. I only speak Jarhead when I have my translator set to Mauldin. :D


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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Deb Rule has posted a nice "sample" of the VE at

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Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:00 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
The first image at the "Virginia Edition sample" link is the first of four "murals" that were to have been created by Donato Giancola for the Meisha Merlin version of the series. The edges of the slipcases of the six MM-produced volumes constitute about 45% (the left half) of this image. This first mural would have covered the first 13 or 14? volumes; I assume that he never began work on the other three.

[As has been mentioned: One reason for Meisha Merlin's failure was that it cost them more to have the slipcases produced (along with the dust jackets, which had the same edge artwork) than it cost to have the books printed, in part because of a failure to account for the need for two sizes of slipcase for each volume, one for cloth-bound and another for leather-bound (both were offered). Hiring Donato was surely a good idea in and of itself, but I wonder whether the decision to offer slipcases preceded or followed the idea of using him.]


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Slipcases are ass-bustingly expensive to produce because it's all hand work. I've priced them out many times for publishing projects and have yet to move forward with a slipped product. They are indeed often more expensive than even finely-made hardcovers.

You'd think a midlist fantasy publisher would know that all too well.


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Huh. The VE project is finished, the product is sitting in a warehouse, by most accounts only about 20% of the run has been sold*...

...and they're going to raise the price 25%?

Okay, then.


*Does ANYONE have a set numbered over 300?


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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Be happy Dan - you got one.

Not sure of the contractual agreements made to get the VE into existence, (forgive my scanty command of details, but) I was under the impression that RAH's legacy was controlled by a multiplicity of publishers (all no doubt interested only in the dough they can make from it) and the VE was a one-off.

Now the $ have been spent, the Limited Number of VEs exist, and it should be an ever-appreciating commodity as the number of availables can only decrease.

I've always thought the man's work and the changes it wrought in my mindset were a gift of Great Value; to such an extent I recommend to many a would-be raconteur: "Read Heinlein".

I've enjoyed many a passionate exchange about values, liberties, attitudes to Big Questions, and answers to same, with many and varied a partner-in-conversation and am regularly complimented for rational, frank and just-damned-sensible attitudes. Thank you RAH. I may have run with the ball, but you passed it to me and you taught me some of my most basic and dearly-held principles.

A VE on your shelves will either become an heirloom or a target for book-burners, maybe both. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd buy another 1500 sets. I'd bequeath them to schools and Universities, dole them out to institutions that nurture the creative human fire of their charges, and gift them to places where people can read them, over and over. Try and make sure they get to where they do as much good as possible.

IMHO Whatever you paid, if you've got one, you're already lucky.


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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Occasionally I check eBay on a whim, to see whether anyone has listed a Virginia Edition for sale. Just now I came across an active auction for "Robert Heinlein Virginia Edition, Leatherbound complete set" with one bid so far, $850, which matched the starting bid (shipping extra). There's a photo.

With respect to Dominic's post: It's unclear how many sets currently exist; the VE Publishing Co. may or may not have printed all 2000 copies of each volume. They may have printed, for example, only 500, as Meisha Merlin did during the first attempt to produce the VE in 2005-07 (which lasted six volumes); that set was to have been limited to 5000 copies. If 2000 sets of 46 volumes each were indeed printed and bound, that's an awful lot of books in storage somewhere if ~1700 sets remain (see upthread).


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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
That eBay listing has disappeared, which I assume to mean that the auction was withdrawn rather than concluding. Perhaps the bidder who met the $850 starting bid was simply the seller under another name (or someone analogous) who bid merely to start the ball rolling, which failed to happen. Just a guess, of course.

I do wonder how long the X number of printed but unsold 46-volume sets will sit in storage before an attempt is made to sell them at a lower price - or donate them to libraries for a tax benefit.

Moreover, the Heinlein Prize Trust presumably had planned to use profits from sales of the sets to help fund the Prize itself, which is very large ($500K) and has only been awarded twice (2006 and 2011). What will make up for the missing huge chunk of the $3 million in sales that would have been generated if all 2000 planned sets had been printed and sold?

I know, not my problem... but as a case study it's fascinating despite (or because of?) the gaps in knowledge of how it all went down.

(Note: a few posts on this thread in August had indicated a price increase, but it's still given as $1500 at the VE site.)


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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
My mistake - checking from my home computer shows that the auction ended earlier today and there was a second, winning, bid for $860. Plus shipping, of course.


Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:36 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Evidently (as of current listings) the VE Publishing Co. is itself selling and auctioning VE sets on eBay. Interesting.


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Fri Dec 07, 2012 12:44 pm
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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
No implication, just reporting. Response to an inquiry at the auction page was as follows:

"As you guessed I work for the Virginia Edition publishing company. I was authorized by my boss to sell a few sets on eBay at a $100 discount on auction or Buy It Now at regular price. I offer the same guarantee, return policy, etc. that the regular website offers. So if you bid on the auction listing you may save $100 off the regular price with free shipping. Thanks!"


Fri Dec 07, 2012 1:28 pm
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You must not have noticed my tongue firmly wedged in cheek. :)

I've used eBay as a loss-leader/advertising source, too - it's a good way to promote things like books. But isn't that $860 a pretty fair ways from '$100 off'?


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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
The earlier auction ($860) was from someone in Vancouver, WA. The current offerings are from an address in League City, TX (suburb of Houston).


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Ad astra per aspera!

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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Ad astra, indeed. This Lazaro fellow is the present eBay seller. Reminds me of one of the lines in The Freshman that always makes me laugh: "We are the same - Leo and Big Leo."

(I didn't get his e-mail message myself.)


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Post Re: SPLIT THREAD: The Virginia Edition etc.
Among the offerings at Amazon's Robert A. Heinlein Kindle Store, as I just noticed today, are at least two Virginia Edition texts - Double Star and The Door into Summer. Small editing variations between these and non-VE versions are clearly evident in the sample opening chapters of each: Dr. "Capek" (instead of "Scortia") in Double Star, and non-italicized Hired Girl, et al., in The Door into Summer.


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