The Sword and Laser discussion

Wondering if anybody else has this book in Kindle edition. Mod Rob seems to, based on his comment on my GR status update, but his seems very different from mine, based on what he found at the location in question.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anybody else has a copy of it on Kindle, and if what I'm seeing is unique to my copies (it's the same on my Paperwhite as on my phone). In my edition, between locations 1093 and 1106, the text seems to be missing a section.

The final paragraph before the switch reads, "The letter read as follows, although this version lacks the candle-wax, blots, crossings-out and damp patches of the original."

The next paragraph starts, "'He has t-these little f-fancies,' he muttered, 'bbbut he's not a bad person.'
Bewildered, Esk looked down at the yellowed pages open in front of the boy."

I've contacted Kindle support but was wondering...

Yup, mine's like that too.

I've had issues like that when you have an image that doesn't translate to the Kindle in some weird way.

Have you tried looking at it via the Kindle Cloud Reader? Sometimes viewing through the browser can make a difference?

I get those sometimes and change the text size to ultrasmall, then I can read it. It's some odd jumpiness in the way kindle renders the text.

Just tried it on the Cloud Reader and the PC version, and no matter what version I try it acts like there's an invisible something in there. I'm betting David's right and there's an image there.

I don't know if this affects anyone here, but it looks like there are other issues with Equal Rites on the Kindle, according to someone on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/books/comment...

Interesting. There should be an image, but also more text to take us to the university, I should think, and introduce the stuttering boy.

Well, Kindle support contacted me and said that they are looking into it and have made the book unavailable to purchase until they resolve the issue.

So, if you want to read it before Wyrd Sisters, Kindle is not the way to go.

Ugh. Mine seems even more screwed up. I don't even have either sentence you mentioned. So I'm wondering if I'm somehow missing even more of the book than you are. I searched both on my tablet and on the PC. Nothing.

It's going to be a few weeks before I start this book, I hope they have these issues sorted out by then. If not I may have to see about borrowing a copy from the library or something.

Please keep us apprised Kristin.

I'm trying to remember if I noticed issues in Equal Rites when I read it. It's possible. But I'm not certain.

Wow..so I'm an idiot (what else is new?)..I was searching Wyrd Sisters. Not Equal Rites..

So anyways, Sentence 1 is at page 86/location 1026 and sentence 2 is on page 170/location 2106 for me.

I have the contents of the letter which is formatted differently from the surrounding text.

So that looks to be a nearly 100 page gap. I do recall reading that letter on my read a few weeks ago, so I'm going to guess my copy of the book is actually OK.

It helps to you know...look at the right book..

Rob - Have you been checking out Equal Rites or Wyrd Sisters?

Rob wrote: "So anyways, Sentence 1 is at page 86/location 1026 and sentence 2 is on page 170/location 2106 for me."

Jealous that your version seems ok! Also kind of surprised by how big the gap is. Luckily (for me...I guess), I was able to pick up a copy of the physical book at a local used shop. So I can get close to where I'm supposed to be this month.

Should be interesting to see how quickly they can resolve the issue. Rob, did you buy your Kindle edition recently? Or is it something you did awhile ago?

I bought it in 2013. Lol.

I tried to buy Equal Rites for Kindle on Friday but Amazon said due to formatting it was unavailable. Ended up getting it through Kobo instead.

Rob wrote: "I bought it in 2013. Lol."

Weird that it would have changed between then and now!

Hopefully they can fix it soon. And hopefully Wyrd Sisters doesn't have the same issue for me. :)

My two year old Kindle Fire often refuses to charge unless I do a reboot, and is iffy on downloads. I still love it, but it's a persnickety device.

That's unfortunate, John! In this case, I think it was something in their file that changed, as it was the same for me on 2 devices (Paperwhite and iPhone), and others have reported the same (and similar) issues.

But I gotta say, Kindles have really transformed my reading in ways I never expected when I first got one. I've been using ebooks since ereader.com days, when I would read on my Palm Tungsten C or Dell Axim. But having the Kindles, such an easy way to keep books with me (and more, in the case of my original Kindle Fire) has really made a difference.

terpkristin, one of my fave things to do is read on our back porch in the pitch dark. I use the white text / black background for that, with the brightness turned way down. I could never do that with a physical book. It gives me a sense of reading in the heavens.

I blogged recently about how Ray Bradbury didn't like e-books and only grudgingly allowed e-copies of his works. And yet I can have a library at my fingertips, like the libraries of old that Bradbury loved. I can read anywhere and look up any word, research any subject directly from my device. This is not the dehumanizing technology Bradbury feared. It is liberation.

terpkristin wrote: "Rob wrote: "I bought it in 2013. Lol."

Weird that it would have changed between then and now!

Hopefully they can fix it soon. And hopefully Wyrd Sisters doesn't have the same issue for me. :)"

Well I probably only downloaded it last month though. Not sure why it would work for me and be so buggy for you. I hope they fix it soon. It's a good book.

John (Taloni) wrote: "And yet I can have a library at my fingertips, like the libraries of old that Bradbury loved. "

Jo Walton came to a similar conclusion.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/03/how-...

terpkristin wrote: "Wondering if anybody else has this book in Kindle edition. Mod Rob seems to, based on his comment on my GR status update, but his seems very different from mine, based on what he found at the locat..."

I bought Equal Rites on Kindle a couple weeks ago and noticed the "gap issue" while reading. Same issue on Kindle for PC, Mac, iPhone, and on a Kindle Paper White- seems to be a publisher error.

My local bookstore didn't have a physical copy of the book, so I searched the internet and found a site with the full text- I was able to collect the missing chunk and send it as a text file to my Kindle, then resumed with the "real" book once I got through the missing section.

Then I got to the "end" of the book and found the missing section was bolted on at that location (the "gap text" starts at about Kindle location 2734).

FWIW, I don't think the additional text has been there the whole time. I did a search for phrases in the missing text and didn't get matches until today. Maybe I typo'd something, or maybe the publisher did an update. For other books I've received notifications from Amazon when Kindle editions are 'updated by the publisher', inviting me to download the revised edition. I haven't seen such a notification in this case.

It's odd that this is an issue at all. You can re-upload a book within minutes. It can't take more than an hour for the publisher to investigate the complaint, realize it's true, make a change to the file and reupload the book.

Joanna wrote: "Jo Walton came to a similar conclusion. "

Nice blog! Thanks for the link.

I sent Amazon an email about the issue last night. This morning I received a reply, the publisher had fixed the issue since the time I had purchased the book and a new version was available.

After backing up my highlights (just to be safe), I removed the book from my device and re-downloaded it.

Since this is technically a "new" book my highlights and bookmarks aren't there, but the backups of those are good enough.

All the sections are appearing in the correct spot. All is well in the (Disc) world.

Interesting. They were supposed to notify me that there was a new version available...but they didn't. So I'll have to check my Kindle. I got a paper copy so stopped...