Folks, please stop posting typographical corrections here. All you’re doing is wasting your time and effort and cluttering up my web site. As I have explained many times, these snippets are taken from UNPROOFED manuscripts. Naturally, you’re finding lots of typos and grammatical errors — that’s precisely why publishers pay a fair amount of money to have manuscripts proof-read.
I’m busy. I am not keeping track of any corrections posted here and neither is anyone else. In any event, it’s too late for WARS FOR THE RHINE because I’ve already submitted my corrections to the page proofs. So has Anette as well as two professional proof-readers. That book is already at the printer.
Let’s hope that Banér manages not to appear as Báner in the final version.
Gee, whiz! I understand, Eric! Too persnickety! These snippets are like ARC’s being dribbled out a half or third chapter at a time. So what if there are typos! Do you want a sample to give you a “taste” two or three months before the official book release or do just want to wait those three months w/o a clue other than a synopsis on the Amazon site? Thank you, Eric, for sharing! Thanks also to those like Drak who help out with your site and posting the snippets. Deeply appreciate all your efforts for us the fans and readers. Even the nitpickers!
Apologies for my own transgressions in this regard, and thank you for writing these books in the first place. And posting snippets here. :-)
I understand that people are trying to be helpful, and I appreciate it. But the problem is that commercial publishing has its own mechanisms and there’s really no efficient way to incorporate volunteer help into it. It’d be like someone showing up at a warehouse and offering to help move stuff around. That would require more work than just doing it the way it’s set up to be done.
And then, once one person starts moving stuff around, other fans there for the warehouse tour will naturally think that this is just what fans are supposed to do here and will follow the example, with each one reinforcing the social herding instincts….
Yes, Stephen, and I am as guilty as anyone, but no more. I apologize and won’t continue the practice.
One point, tho, and this applies to a lot more in print than just RoF and its authors:
The proper choice of “a” vs. “an” is determined by the first sound of the next word, not by the first letter. It is a historic occasion,” not “an historic occasion.” We say “an hour” because the ‘h’ in “hour” is silent; the first sound of “hour” is a vowel sound, thus “an.” But nobody says or writes “an horse,” because the ‘h’ in “horse” is not silent, nor is the ‘h’ in “historic.”
An example from RoF: I was just rereading 1635: The Dreeson Incident and found on the first page of chapter 50 “an eulogy”. But “eulogy” is pronounced yoo-la-jee, not oil-a-jee. The initial sound is ‘y’, not ‘e’ or ‘oy.’
I’m glad something got said. Even as a reader, it was kind of annoying to have to scroll past a lengthy grammatical post just to see if anyone was actually commenting on the story itself.
Echo and Ditto
Comments on historical details or story flow and character development are always enjoyable.
Comments on punctuation or spelling cause (1) flashbacks to 5th Grade English Comp Classes and (2) reminders of dead horse discussions.
— Stewart
THANK YOU!
One small point – why didn’t this post emerge at the top (most recent) of Eric’s communications?
Graham from London