Tuesday, February 28th, 2012...


Today has been a slow morning while waiting for the last of the hard copy text proofs to be delivered.
I received an automated call from FedEx telling me it would be here by 10:30 and to make sure someone would be here to sign for it, unless I completely spaced and they were telling me it would be here on Wednesday, but I am pretty sure the automated lady voice said Tuesday.  Either way it is noon here in Houston and it still isn't here.  There was one false alarm a couple of minutes ago, but it was just the regular mail, with a package that did not require a signature, and was not for me, but that our lovely mail deliverer always rings the bell when something will not fit in the box.  


Other than the above, we are quite close to beginning actual printing.  Most of the other texts are in their final form and through Transcontinental's pre-press department, which shines them up even more than when Windhaven sent them in before hitting the presses.  Specifically as follows:


TEXT
Letters 3 - good to go
Tramp Royale - good to go (hard proof reviewed for surprise picture)
Screenwriting 1 - this is the one I am waiting for
Screenwriting 2 - good to go
Requiem - good to go


COVER
Letters 3 - ready for hard proof (this one may cause trouble, I already redesigned it once)
Tramp Royale - ready for hard proof (also may cause trouble, but not as much)
Screenwritting 1 - ready for hard proof

Screenwritting 2 - ready for hard proof
Requiem - ready for hard proof


Usually we do not do hard proofs and have stuck with soft proofs, but given the trouble with JWC's face in the last set (and RAH's as well, but which wasn't pointed out to me) and the time and money spent on redoing all the covers for L1 we are taking extra precautions with the stamping.  Also there are more graphics and pictures in these last ones and some of them didn't measure up to Trans' standards and had to be altered (since we had to open them all up I also cleaned a lot of them up).  


AND NOW THE MAIN POINT OF THIS POST!!!!


PROPHETS OF SCIENCE FICTION on DISCOVERY'S SCIENCE channel

About the Show

Executive Producer Ridley Scott presentsProphets of Science Fiction.

The "Science Fiction" of the past has now simply become "Science". And the science of the future was strangely prophesied by a group of visionaries whose dreams once may have deemed them renegades and "mad scientists," have become reality!

TOMORROW IS ROBERT ANSON HEINLEIN!!!!

Robert Heinlein 
Premiere: Wednesday, February 29 at 10PM e/p 
Sci-fi legend Robert Heinlein is a walking contradiction. His stories address themes of patriotism, and duty while stressing the importance of personal freedom and expression. His groundbreaking stories like Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Landcontinue to challenge readers with a steadfast theme: what is freedom?

It is February!

I know, I know, I skipped January, but only because I was hoping to have the best update I could give - that we were finished.  It turned out we weren't so my procrastinating has slipped into the next month.
However, I do have good news - we will be doing no more read-throughs of the books!
In turn this means that all we have left to do is to review layout and previously submitted lists of edits.
Depending on the speed with which Windhaven applies the last two lists (or so) of edits we have going, we should sign off on the text by close of business Monday.

These are some of the unique things included in this last set (which in a large part are also the reasons it has taken longer):
The last volume of correspondence - which some of you may be anxiously awaiting - and is 648 pages long
The two volumes of screenplays - which have never been printed in this arrangement before (there is a Subterranean Press edition that contains some of them) - totaling 1166 pages
Tramp Royale - has been out of print since the mid 1990s and includes an awesome picture, which I am refusing to tell you about b/c it will ruin the surprise - @ 336 pages
A updated version of Requiem - which includes new tributes - 384 pages

As you can see there is still a lot to read and some of it is probably brand new (unless you have been thoroughly trolling the archives).

On a side note - in first reading through The Rolling Stones and information about it, it was pointed out that Star Trek's "Trouble with Tribbles" episode gave a nod to Heinlein for using something very similar to Martian flatcats.  Earlier this week in reading through one of the tributes in Requiem, someone remembered Heinlein saying that he didn't invent them either so it was ok from his perspective.

Does anyone know where RAH got the idea from?  (I do have the recollected answer, but I want to know if anyone else knows.)