Bantam Novels Going The Way Of DelRey?

[SOCL]

Jeez, I almost BEAKed myself to death in the "Being Promoted In The Forums" thread, but I think I have time to make an intelligent thread that asks a valid question: what will become of the Bantam Star Wars novels now that DelRey has the contract?

 

Quite simply, are the Star Wars novels that were previously published by Bantam Books going to be republished/reprinted by DelRey, or will they continue to be printed by Bantam, or are they going to go out of print (like some many other Star Wars books...for instance, The Imperial Sourcebook and, apparently, Tales of the Empire, though the latter is not 100% confirmed so don't quote me on that....)? I'll get to why I wrote "republished/reprinted" in a second, but I ask because I noticed that Splinter of the Mind's Eye is out in a DelRey-printed version and not a Bantam Book version. I know, some of are saying, "So what?" Well, Splinter of the Mind's Eye was the very first Star Wars novel to ever be printed, even before Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire! This was back in the day, man, before DelRey had a contracted with LucasFilm to print novels, back even before Bantam had the Heir to the Empire-started contract! Certainly sometime inbetween then and now, Bantam printer Splinter of the Mind's Eye, but is DelRey now printing it also? I mean, really, is this a trend? Can we expect to see reprints of Heir to the Empire and the X-Wing series, but this time by DelRey? Or have these novels had their run and their day? I don't see the latter happening, of course (too much profit potential).

 

As far as the republishing comment goes, I was thinking: If DelRey starts reprinting the Bantam novels, will Lucas want the authors (or himself...shudder ) to rewrite some of the scenes to fit in and/or not conflict with what happens in the prequels (i.e. canon)? For instance, by allowing say, Timothy Zahn, go back and rewrite some of the bits and pieces in the Thrawn trilogy, it would be possible to elliminate the confusion concerning the time period in which the Clone Wars occured (since Zahn originally predicted an earlier era). This is not to say I am abvocate of changing already long-standing works, I just thought that our favourite Changer-Of-Established-Ideas-Hopes-And-Theories Lucas might want to do this to make the EU better fit his cinematic masterpieces (and, in the process, make the EU more Jar-Jared and canon).

 

Any one know anything about this?

[Evaders99]

I don't think DelRey even acknowledges some of the Bantam books...

I'm surprised they reprinted Splinter, because it makes no sense in the EU that the DelRey covers.

 

I don't see them reprinting any. Honestly, they have much to look forward to in the post-Clone Wars and post-NJO eras.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

I agree with Evaders. I don't see DelRey doing any reprints of the hold novels, and I doube Bantam will continue to do so. I think we'll see a slow decline of our favorite and not-so-favorite (damn you Black Fleet Crisis!) novels from our local books stores.

 

I don't think Lucas could order a change to any of the novels simply because, although they are property of LucasFilm, they still belong to the Authors. For the same reason he can't make any changes himself.

 

There is always the up-side that those books we have now would be worth more money in the long run.

[SOCL]

I don't see them reprinting any. Honestly, they have much to look forward to in the post-Clone Wars and post-NJO eras.

Quite true.

 

I agree with Evaders. I don't see DelRey doing any reprints of the hold novels, and I doube Bantam will continue to do so. I think we'll see a slow decline of our favorite and not-so-favorite (damn you Black Fleet Crisis!) novels from our local books stores.

That's already been happening since the NJO became popular in the early part of this decade. Still, though, the shelves at my local Borders Books and the not-so-local Barnes and Nobels are always full of ye olde Bantam novels (especially the Thrawn trilogy).

 

I don't think Lucas could order a change to any of the novels simply because, although they are property of LucasFilm, they still belong to the Authors. For the same reason he can't make any changes himself.

I hadn't stopped to realize that....

 

There is always the up-side that those books we have now would be worth more money in the long run.

Yes, that's if I would ever consider selling them...which I wouldn't. Edited March 16, 2005 by SOCL

[Mad78]

Over here books are printed by a compagnie called "Fleuve Noir".

I've never ever heard about Bantam or DelRey before

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Bantam and DelRey are probably the North American publishing companies. Another series I am reading is published by one company here, but a completely different one in England. The result is not only a variance in length (pages that is), but in some cases the title of the book.

[Mad78]

Could you give us an example please?

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

For example, I'm currently reading the Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian (the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is based on the tenth book of this series). In the UK the books are published by a company called W.W. Norton & Company. Under their banner the 15th book in the series is titled Clarissa Oakes, howver, the American version of that book is entitled The Truelove (yes, it's suppose to be truelove, don't ask me why).

 

Oddly enough my research shows that the American version and the UK version are both published by the same company, yet are titled differently, while the Canadian version is published by HarperCollins, but shares it's name with the British publication. This is, however, a good example of how novels can be published by different companies depending on where they are being sold.

 

Another example is a series of book that I read cumulatively known as the Malazan Book ofthe Fallen. It's a fantasy series (not your typical elves and dwarves mind you, this is much darker) that has been published up to the fifth book in Canada, but only to the third in the U.S. Here in Canada Bantam Press publishes the book, using cover art that seems to fit the style of writing. In the U.S., however, there is a different publishing firm, Tor Books, who forced the author to change the cover art to be more like other books of the genre, in hopes that the Dungeons and Dragons players will pick it up.

 

Basically who publishes a book depends on where they're active. Bantam and DelRey probably don't publish anything in Europe, so the only way you'll ever see their name on the side of a novel is if it's been shipped in from North America due to publication rights, or if no local publisher will pick the title up.

 

I'm interested to know if the novels you have over there have the same cover art as we on this side of "the pond".

[Mad78]

I think some of my SW books resemble the US covers.

I found a good example of title changes.

Harry potter and the Philosopher's stone became Harry Potter and Enchanter's (or something like that) stone.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

I believe it was also entitled Sorceror's Stone in the UK, though why it was changed for the North American release is quite beyond me. A Philosopher has nothing to do with magic.

[Mad78]

No it was intitles Philosopher's stone in UK. It was changed to Sorcerer for US.

Its mainly because in the book they are looking for the Philosopher's stone. Which is a myth.

[SOCL]

Dude, _Thrawn, I like the animated GIF in your signature and all, but it's driving my machine nuts, making any page you have posted in (much less posted numerous times) nearly impossible to load! Is there any chance you could down-size it or something for those of us who lack a good Internet connection?

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

It was actually suppose to be a temporary signature, but I havent't taken the time to come up with a new one. At the moment it's as small as I can get it until I can find a good .gif editing program. I'll try and come up with something non-animated for the interum.

[SOCL]

_Thrawn, you might want to talk to some of the GIF masters like Trej, LaForge, Jahled, and Scath. And thanks for taking it down! I'm sure the less-than-quick-Internet community appreciates it!

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

I'm going to go the way of a non-animated image. I'm just looking for a decent background, something very Imperial, to put my picture of Thrawn on. I'm hoping to have something working by later tonight.

[Mad78]

Just send me your old sig Thrawn and i can reduce it for you.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

I've actually found a picture of Thrawn that I like, but alas my artistic skills aren't up to the taks of creating a sig I like. This is the image if there are ny nice people out there who would help a graphically challenged Grand Admiral .

[SOCL]

I've actually found a picture of Thrawn that I like, but alas my artistic skills aren't up to the taks of creating a sig I like. This is the image if there are ny nice people out there who would help a graphically challenged Grand Admiral .

Actually, I have taken that picture (without permission, though ) and modified it a tad so as to not include the black pupils. You can see it if you follow the link to "my website" in my profile, though I take no credit for the image and give full credit to whomever made it. Well, so you won't have to go to "my website", here's a direct link to the image. Again, I take no credit for the image and give 100% credit to whomever is the original artist.

 

 

EDIT: This same guy made an image of Grand Admiral Declann and one of my favorite's Grand Admiral Grant. Here's a link to a Google page with the two images on it, plus a few of his others, too.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

I wasn't sure ifthose were from the same site, but the style had indicated as much to me. In my searching I had come across another site (I think it was another one) by a German guy who had several Grand Admiral pics, thoug hthe uniform was somewhat more ornate (the collar of the uniform was a stiff black with gold leafing on it).

[SOCL]

I wasn't sure ifthose were from the same site, but the style had indicated as much to me. In my searching I had come across another site (I think it was another one) by a German guy who had several Grand Admiral pics, thoug hthe uniform was somewhat more ornate (the collar of the uniform was a stiff black with gold leafing on it).

I think I've seen that before. Try a Google Image search for 'grand admiral'...you'll be interested by some of the cool...and strange things it'll turn up....