Conference noted::sf

    Currently reading Iain M Banks Feerson Endjinn (sp?).  Wierd, hard to
    read, but like most of Banks' work, very good.  Anyone in DEC who has
    finished it like to say how they rate it?
    
    I suspect that the lack of activity in this conference reflects a
    general move by the Digital population away from the somewhat 'local'
    Notes conferences into the far more wide reaching world of Internet news
    groups.
    
    	Cheers,
    		/Damian

    re .1
    
    Feersum Endjiin isn't bad at all. In order of preference, I would rate
    Banks' SF as follows (favourite first):
    
    Consider Phlebas
    Use of Weapons
    Player of Games
    Feersum Enjiin
    Against a Dark Background.
    
    The problem I find today, is trying to locate good books to read. Go
    into you typical bookstore and most of the SF and Fantasy shelves are
    filled with Tolkien-derivative fantasy epics; poor-quality,
    post-Gibson/Sterling cyber-punk and TV and film novelisations. 
    
    With this in mind, I have tended to abandon SF as a genre, although I
    will still return for certain authors, primarily Iain M Banks and
    Christopher Priest. 
    
    Clive

    I've been reading Saberhagen's "Swords" books -- I keep waiting for 
    major questions to be answered -- I hope they do, in later volumes.
    
    

    re .2;
    
    I must say you've got a point there. Come to think of it, the last 3
    books I've read have been mysteries (2 vintage, 1 recent).
    
    \dave

Reading I do all the time, though I don't have as much time to
do it as I used to.  There have been a large number of TV shows
that are sf related these days, with a potential wide viewing
audience, so I don't find it too hard to believe that attention
is paid to them.

I've read Bank's "Consider Phlebas" and "Use of Weapons" and
will probably go back to him as a worthwile author.

On a recent trip downunder to DECUS Australia, I finished Alan
Steele's "The Jericho Iteration" on the plane, and was enjoying
it so much that I searched out and found his "Labyrinth of Night"
in the layover in San Francisco.  Both enjoyable reads.  Can't 
seem to find anything else of his on the shelves of the book 
stores I frequent, sigh...

While in Oz, I thought I'd try to check out a local author or
two, and picked up Greg Egan's "Permutation City" which was
pretty good.  Books did seem a bit pricey there, though, even 
with the comversion rate taken into account.

One of the better books I've read recently was "Door Into Ocean"
by Joan Sloanewski (I've butcherd that last name) sorry
Joan Slonczewski (thank you world wide web ;-) which I've actually had
sitting around the house for a number of years and finally decide to
give it a try and was very pleasantly surprised.

At the moment, I'm partway through or into, Mike Resnick's "Will the Last
Person To Leave the Planet Please Turn Off The Sun?" (short stories)
Jeffery Carver's  "The Rapture Effect", and so far just dipped into the
beginning of Lois McMaster Bujold's "The Vor Game"  (I think that's the
one, it seems to be a pastiche of some shorter works and may actually
be two books rolled into one.)

And awaiting Brin's next book, and ....

So yeah, we still read ;-)

I find the excuse "not enough quality literature" to be a pretty weak
argument.  I keep finding new authors that appeal to me,
and expect to do so for the rest of my life.  (Hoping that I'm not
like the unfortunate characters to whom the good doctor would not
reveal the results of his tests in Asimov's "Life Line" short story ;-)

PeterT

Christopher Priest??  Hmmm, could be worth checking out.
After my last note, saying I'm awaiting Brin's next book, I checked
out The Future Fantasy Book Stores Home page, and found
that his latest "Brightness Reef"  is out.  Damn!  Now I have to 
wait for the library to pick it up, or wait for the paperback.

The URL for Future Fantasy (Digital Sponsered!) is

http://futfan.com/home.html

Worth taking a look at.

PeterT

    If I'm thinking of the same "Swords" books, there are 4 trilogies.
    
    Along the way, (almost?) all the swords get destroyed, particularly
    in the last book, but they do wrap up the plot threads.

    re .0
    
    Yes, I still read books. In fact I don't watch any SF TV series
    regularly.
    
    [Admittedly I am currently reading "River God", not SF at all, and
    don't find as much time to read as I would like.]

    
    re .0	Yes I do.
    
    
    	I beleive this note arrived just in time too.  I've just finished
    the last book of a series of seven called "The death gate cycle" by
    Mageret Weis & Tracy Hickman.  So I got a question to anyone who read
    this series also "Do you think the last book makes justice to the other
    six previous one?"  I don't.  The first six were excelent but I
    beleived the ending (Last book) was poor and unrealistic to the story.
    Answers and comments are welcome.
    
    
    
    8-)   ...Marc
    

    re .9
    
    The important thing is that they stop there.
    
    The last of the series that never quite lives up to its predecessors is
    like the full stop at the end of the sentence. 
    
    (I haven't read any of the series in question.)

    
    There are certain authors whose new books I will buy on sight.
    
    Julian May's Milieu books (even though we know who Fury is);
    David Brin
    Iain M Banks
    Terry Pratchet (even though most of the classical allusions are over my 
                    head ;-)
    
    I used to rate Orson Scot Card at this level but he has disappointed of
    late.
    
    Who do you think is writing quality SF these days?

    re .12
    
>    Who do you think is writing quality SF these days?
    
    Bear is not bad.

    re .12
    
    Iain M Banks
    Christopher Priest
    William Gibson
    Bruce Sterling
    
    

    Philip Kerr's "A Philosopical Investigation" is a good murder mystery
    set in early-21st century London.  I thought the SF elements were very
    well done.
    
    -Stephen 

>> reveal the results of his tests in Asimov's "Life Line" short story ;-)
    
>    Err, the short story was by Heinlein, not Asimov.


Errr, you're right.  And I was even thinking of how the good Dr. (Pineo or
something like that) wasn't able to give Lazarus Long an answer when he
took the test.  Figured something must be wrong with the machine ;-)  Sigh...


and to someone else a few back, in regards to Julian May's books:

What do you mean we know who Fury is?  I don't remember that being 
cleared up, though there seem to be some reasonable speculations.

PeterT

I think all the response shows that reading is still very much
alive.  The rest of the readers have their noses buried in a 
book and are too busy to respond.

I would like to add an author no one has mentioned and I think 
is one of the very best, James Tiptree Jr.  I would also like
to recommend what I think is one of her best, "Brightness Falls
from the Air."

    re .0
    
    I used to read voraciously, but recently I've been trying to break into
    the illustration business, which has taken most of my free time. Now I
    watch TV shows, because I can have them on and listen to them while I
    work. More people may be watching SF TV shows because they are
    improving in both quality and quantity (IMHO anyways) these days.
    
    re .9
    
    Interestingly enough, my first job which I am in the middle of, is for
    a collectible card game based on Margaret Weis' Star of the Guardians
    books. I am painting starships for an upcoming card release.
    
    -Eric
    

    
    re .10
    
    	I undestand your point of view, but I still feel deceived.
    
    
    re .18
    
    	That's great.  Do you paint starships as a pass-time or do you do
    it as your professional job and work at DEC as a pass-time. 8-)
    Back to the subject did you read the series "Star of the guardian"?
    If yes do you think like me that it is a carbon copy of star wars?
    
    
    Stupid questions.
    
    	I haven't been long in this conferance and im not sure if this
    question should be here but here goes anyway.  When magic is involved
    in a book ex."Death gate cycle", "Dark sword trilogy" does it classify
    those book as Fantaisy even if it involves SF?   In the "Dead gate
    cycle" the story begins in an era post-nuclear war on earth where the
    dormant magic is awakened.
    
    	Another question.  Is Alternate history consider SF?  Examples
    Harry Turtledove is a great writer for those:"Guns of the south" is a
    story where people from the early years two-thousand goes back in time
    during the american civil war and give AK-47 to the south.  Or another
    of his book is when Christopher Colombus arrives on the New Land and
    instead of finding Aboriginal people he finds an ape like species with
    the mentality of men.  Is it SF or isn't it that is my question.
    
    
    
    8-)   ...Marc
    

    re .19
    
>What is SF?
    
    Start with topic 194. I don't think you're going to get a clear answer
    though.

I'd consider it SF, unless of course it was written by Newt ;-)

(Newt Gingrich has an alternative history out about a different
outcome to WWII.  Maybe it's a good read, but the man tends to 
piss me off anyway...)

PeterT

    Re .19
    
    Well, so far, I suppose I'm actually working as a professional both at
    Digital and as an illustrator (or at least I'm trying to...we'll see if
    I can land some more illustration jobs after I finish my current work
    for Star of the Guardians).
    
    I haven't read any of the Star of the Guardians books, though perhaps I
    should to get a better feel for what type of technology/feel the
    illustrations should have. I'm hoping to do other cards for them, other
    than just the top down starship views (its a little mechanical for
    me, as they need to be symmetrical, etc). I'd like to do some more
    freehanded stuff (ships flying/shooting, people in action etc), and I
    probably need to get a better understanding of the technology/look. To
    do that, I probably need to at least skim through some of the books.
    Apparently, I hit what they were looking for in terms of starship
    designs and detail. I understand that they were looking for more detail
    than was present in their limited release. I have also been making
    submissions to other game companies, but haven't had time to actively
    pursue another assignment.
    
    Interestingly enough, I first met Margaret Weis at Origins 95, we got
    to play each other at a demo booth for Star Quest, another card game.
    Only after we were done, did I actually realize who she was. Later, I
    went to their booth to give her and Don Perrin (co-author of Star of
    the Guardians books) my portfolio. I've mainly been in contact with Don
    as I'm working. Very nice people. I will try to make some time to look
    at their books. Do you have any recommendations for books in this
    series?

    
    re .20
    
    	Thanks for the info.  I've read all 273 replies in note 194 and
    found plenty of answers and comments.  Quite an interesting subject.
    But for my personal answer after reading that note I'd say that it's
    the reader decision that defines if it's fantasy or sience-fiction.
    
    
    re .22
    
    	How lucky of you to be able to meet such people as these.  It must
    be great to interact with what I would call celebrities.  The highest
    celebrity I ever met was only the Prime minister of Canada and I
    didn't even have a chance to talk to him.  I would rather have met 
    Margaret Weis than Jean Chretien but hey that's how life is.  If you
    didn't guess yet Margaret Weis is my favorit writer.  She can put
    feelings into her book characters that no other writer can.  As for
    your question about other books in the same series I can't help you
    since Star of the Guardians is the only science fiction books I've read
    from Margaret Weis.  But her best series are under the Famous Dragon
    Lance collection.
    
    
    8-)   ...Marc

Re .0 - Yes, I have been reading off and on in different order, Tom Clancy's
"Debt Of Honor" and "Submarine", "The Hot Zone" (can't remember the author),
"Aggressor Six" by Will McCarthy (the only SF of the bunch), "Computer-Related
Risks" by Peter Neumann, and a computer graphics text book. The problem is, I
have little spare time for reading, or even to get to the bookstores to browse.

I agree with some of the other complaints, not very much is tempting me to shell
out $6 or $7 for a paperback these days. I try to broaden my reading
occasionally, but I tend to prefer "hard" SF, and most of the shelves seem to be
filled with more fantasy-oriented SF.

The fact that TV SF is showing up more just shows that SF is not limited to the
written medium, and TV SF has seen a notable improvement in quality recently.
Computer graphics help a lot, because more convincing effects can be done
cheaply, and TV is a visual medium. I think the higher production values attract
better writing as well.

    Automatic books for me include anything involving a collaboration
    between Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. Both are OK individually, with
    Niven getting the nod, but together they write some great stories. If I
    can remember their better ones, they would include, "The Mote in God's
    Eye", and a more recent sequel called "The Gripping Hand" (Do NOT read
    the second before the first..... Others titles include..... 
    "Lucifer's Hammer", the first of the comet stikes earth genre - and the 
    best, 
    "The Legacy of Herot" penalty for upsetting the balance of (alien) nature
    "Footfall" - invasion by a force with a herd mentality
    and a short amusing remake of Dante's best known work, "Inferno"
    
    Niven has also written some good stories including several "Ringworld"
    books. 
    
    *****************
    
    Read another short, but intersting book called "Replay" - cannot
    remember author - interesting premise dealing what we all wanted at
    some time in our lives, to go back and do it over - memory in
    tact......
    
    Good brousing.........

re: .25  - also Oath of Fealty (sp?)

    re: last two
    
    	A new Niven/Pournelle/Barnes effort is coming out next year - I
    think it's to be name...um..... Beowulf's Children?  or something like
    that...  looking forward to it.
    
        As for there being no decent sf out there any more...
    
    	I've been waiting... and waiting... and waiting... for book 5 of
    the Chtorr series from Gerrold.  While waiting I've been prowling used
    books stores and library sales for old sf - great place to find odd
    stuff - I've been reading alot of James Blish, Harry Harrison, tons of
    old Asimov and Clarke stories, Poul Anderson, Doc Smith, etc, etc, etc.
    	Now, a lot of it is quite dated, but interesting and enthralling in
    its own right.  If you haven't read literally *every* book published,
    there's still alot of good stuff out there ( 'course, there's a lot of
    garbage to wade through as well - I just read Harrison's Planet of the
    Damned - accck!! ).  Also, check out the sf magazines.....
    
    	Cheers,
    
    	Jimbo

I pick an author, find a good whateveritscalled-ology (list of
their books in order), and spend a good vacation with 'em.  Summer
of '93, I sat by the beach reading everything Niven wrote. '94 was
'Hobbits-by-the-beach' (you can guess the author).  This year was
Heinlein.

Provides an interesting insight, seeing their style change over
time (or stay the same), find the 'grooves' (ruts?) into which they
fall easily, etc. -- and I enjoy it.  

Between vacations, it's somewhat the same though more stretched out
what with silly things that need to be done (work, for example).
Looking to get to some Poul Anderson here shortly...


re: .27 "a lot of it is quite dated, but interesting and 
         enthralling in its own right."

Hear, hear!  I find that at least 85% of my reading is of books as
old or older than I am ;-)

-StevenV

    
    	Actually I think people are! losing interest in books in  general
    	due to the volume of TV series around for sf. You only have to look
    	at the volume of repeats on the cable and TV network to get an idea
    	as to how popular it is , because if people are not watching it 
    	the programs do not get screened. I was a bit disappointed in the
    	response I got earlier to one of my notes, re:NEW FEIST SERIES,
    	a few years back when the MAgician and Lady Mara series came out
    	they were an excellent read and everybody raved about them. Now
    	people have barely realised that Feist has started a new series
    	called the Serpent war saga and nobody has even commented if it
    	is good or bad. Unfortunately indifference and or lack of time
    	seems to be the go for reading books nowadays.
    
    	AS for the the first book of the new series not a bad read but
    	obviously designed as a background piece for the later volumes.
    	The seconda volume has just been released in OZ in hardback. So
    	possibly the third volume should be close to release in the U.S.
    	has anybody seen it yet.
    
    
    								Mike N.
    
     

    I think people who developed good reading habits and skills will
    always continue to read.  It's tempting to watch a few extra TV
    shows when the networks come up with something well done in one of your
    interests.  But overall, a couple additional hours of TV watching
    won't kill a lifelong love of reading.
    
    I've noticed that all the SciFi readers I personally know have a wide
    range of interests and aren't exclusively stuck to SF/Fantasy.  I'd
    say about 40% of the books I read are SF/Fantasy. I like Card, Bujold,
    Pratchett, Weis & Hickman, odds and ends by new writers.  I also read
    classic literature (mostly 19th & 20th century Americans), biographies
    of composers/musicians/conductors, histories, and well-researched
    historical novels (and Anne Rice's truely bizarre horror tales).
    
    My 11-year-old daughters are notorious television watchers, yet they
    each read approximately 75 books during the 9 1/2 month school year,
    all at their grade level or higher.  I don't think you can use the
    'in general' umbrella in a discussion concerning this subject.  It's
    all on a personal level.  Of course, my opinion is based on maybe
    a half dozen cases, not exactly a major scientific study.
    
    Judging from the number of new and re-released SF/Fantasy books that
    hit the shelves each year, I'd say its possible that more SF on
    television spawns a larger market for SF books.  I can't possibly
    stock all the new titles at my friends' bookstore, so I carefully
    pick and choose what I think the best new books might be.  I kind of
    depend on this notesfile to help me determine that.  BTW, I believe
    I bought the first paperback of the new Feist series for the store.
    When the 2nd comes out in pb, I'll add that too.
    _Marty

    re .30
    
> 75 books in 9 1/2 months
    
    Drool. I used to dream of having enough time to read that many books in
    a year. )-:

    I've read the replies to this topic with interest. It occurred to me
    that, without the Science Fiction Book Club, I'd probably be reading a
    lot less SF. Having to decide each month whether or not I want the
    current selections is a stimulus to try new authors and read things I
    probably wouldn't pick off a bookstore shelf.
    
    What have I been reading lately?
    	"Legacy" by Greg Bear
    	"Raising Holy Hell" by Bruce Olds (about abolitionist John Brown)
    	"Finding Moon" by Tony Hillerman
    
    The best thing about a book's that you don't have to wait for it to
    air.
    
    \dave

    Well, my dad has asked me if I want his SF collection (100's of books)
    and of course I said yes! I'm going to start moving it to my house very
    soon. My sons (13 & 11) picked up a couple of books the last time they
    were at Grampa's house and now they're hooked on SF as well. 
    
    For myself, I'm going to start with the Stainless Steel Rat series as
    my father really liked them. 

    re: -1
    
    I read the Stainless Steel Rat series years ago and I recall having
    enjoyed them immensely. The "Rat" was always getting caught in a very
    tight situation but you knew , you just knew that he would make his
    escape at the very last moment. Suspenseful, exciting , filled with
    danger - I'm sure the kids will love it. Pretty imaginative too and
    would definitely stimulate their ideas.

        I read at least 1 book per week when I don't travel. When I do
        travel I read one on the plane each way. Usually I read during
        meals at a resturaunt when traveling, rude yes but better than
        staring at everyone else. This assumes I am dining alone..
        
        The biggest thing I have noticed is that a book used to cost 3.95
        or 4.95 depending on author and/or pages. Now they are 5.95 to
        7.95 or more. It's getting expensive to purchase books. My bought
        but unread pile is only 4 or 5 books currently. Maybe I will start
        re-reading already read books. 
        
        One pet peieve I have is that if a book store is going have number
        2 or 3 in a series of books they should make sure to have number
        1. I hate to find a second book in a series and then not be able
        to read it because I haven't read the first book, and can't find
        it. 
        
        Currently besides star-trek books, I am reading Weber, Moon,
        Bujould, Hawke amoung others.
        
        

>        The biggest thing I have noticed is that a book used to cost 3.95
>        or 4.95 depending on author and/or pages. Now they are 5.95 to
>        7.95 or more. It's getting expensive to purchase books. 

Don't worry about it too much.  Much like the price of gasoline, (petrol)
we have it cheaper than much of the rest of the world.  On a recent (work
related) trip Down Under, I found the prices of paperbacks in the 12 to
15 dollar range.  The conversion rate is somewhere around .75 so you 
get more Aus dollars for US, but even so, that makes the cheaper books
around 9 US dollars.  

PeterT

    Yeah, I also have noticed the rise in paperback prices; it makes 
    the SFBC hardcover prices a little easier to swallow, though.
    
    Dave

    But the paper material costs have got to be a VERY small percentage of
    the book cost. Even if it doubled, that should not add more than a few
    cents to the cost of the book.
    

    Browsing through this note -- made me stop and think about why I'm
    not reading as many SF books as I use to -- 3 a month or so.  The
    stories of so many series seemed to be nothing but 'filler' material.
    It seems to me that a really good, fast moving, interesting story that
    could be told in one book was stretched out to a 3 book minimum.
    
    The trend for 90% of the books I read were in this category.  From month
    to month it became impossible to keep track of whether or not I had
    read volume 1, or 2 or 3.   Even when a book was stretched out to
    3 volumes there just wasn't closure in many cases for any of the
    characters -- leaving openings for even more books.
    
    Then again, perhaps I just needed a break.  Overload.
    
    Carel  
    
                                                        

    re .39
    
    I agree with you. Series are a negative for me.
    
    I usually wait to see whether a single book becomes a series and if it
    does I make a decision not on whether to buy the first book but whether
    I would part with cash for the whole series (working on the theory that
    if the first book is good then I will buy more and if it's not then
    there's no need to buy/read it at all). Of course this means that when
    I am deciding on how to allocate my "scarce" money a book that forms
    part of a 5? 6? 7? book series is not likely to get chosen.
    
    Downside of this strategy is that I am always reading things years
    after other people but then I tend to hear about books in this
    conference some time before they are available down under anyway.
    
    (The "Saga of the Exiles" series has almost had enough recommendations
    from my friends for me to "buy" the series. Almost.)
                                   

I guess the library is probably the place to start for the "series minded".
Borrow the first book in the series - if you like it start buying the series.


I believe Patrick Tilley has a new book out (the title of which escapes me).  
If _this_ is a series I may well pass - I nearly died of frustration waiting 
for him to finish the Amtrak (?) series.


\C

    I agree with the complaints about series, especially new ones. You find
    a pattern emerging:
    
    1. Read volume 1; like it.
    2. Buy volume 2 a year later; go back and reread volume 1 since you've
    	forgotten the critical details.
    3. Buy volume 3 a year after that; go back and reread both 1 & 2.
    
    ...ad infinitum
    I prefer a book I can read once.
    
    \dave

re: .42
1, 12, 123, 1234 reading pattern
"I prefer a book I can read once."

Personally, a book's not worth it's paper if it's only good once.  My
favorite books are those that I can read once each year and still feel
fresh.  If an author's good enuf to do this, I say let 'em go ahead & write
a series... I'll read 1-n each summer, with n increasing each year.

I do agree with the public library suggestion -- and suggest that purchased
books that disapoint be donated for others to try.

-StevenV

    re .41
    
    Depends on how good your local library is. (I must admit that I haven't
    inspected the fiction section. If I'm in the library it's usually for
    "research" in the non-fiction section.) Do you have any recommendations
    of library?

Interesting thread, wish I'd got to it sooner.  Regarding series:  C. J.
Cherryh said some time ago that she had actually conceived of _Cyteen_ as
a single novel, but no one would publish it at that length.  So she had
to rework it into a trilogy, artificially creating ending points for each
of the first two parts.

I'd like to pass on an author's name, who was recommended to me by a
friend in the States, and of whom I have since read two novels:  C. S.
Friedman.  The two books are quite different (one is called something
like _The_Madness_Season_, and for the life of me, I can't remember the
other), the one being an interplanetary war epic, the other the story
of humanity subjugated by an alien species, its best minds exiled to
distant planets to continue their researches for the conquerors.  If
I told you anything more about that one, I'd need a dozen spoilers.
The first shock is figuring out who the protagonist is.

The interplanetary war epic, whose title has deserted me, depends on
the two very different societies in conflict.  This is my favorite sort
of SF--exploring the ramifications of social structure and politics--
and there is much less of it around than there used to be (or so it
seems).

Anyway, Friedman writes for those who read with their minds turned on,
and if that fits you, you might want to give her a try.

Steve

Re .45

> Interesting thread, wish I'd got to it sooner.  Regarding series:  C. J.
> Cherryh said some time ago that she had actually conceived of _Cyteen_ as
> a single novel, but no one would publish it at that length.  So she had
> to rework it into a trilogy, artificially creating ending points for each
> of the first two parts.

Since CYTEEN was initially published as a single volume hardcover (I have
it on my shelves at home), I wonder why Cherryh said that.  She may have
had to do some rewriting to make reasonable stopping points for the
eventual paperback volumes, but they aren't all that strong.

Another book to which this happened was MISTS OF AVALON.  Ironically,
although Marion Zimmer Bradley did major revisions so the book could be
divided into four mass market paperbacks, the book has never appeared
other than in single volume hardcover and trade paperback.

Re .45

	The other C.S.Friedman book is "In Conquest Born"

C.S. Friedman also has a trilogy out that the final book is now out in 
HC.  I haven't started it yet as I like to read series from start to
finish in one sitting not read one book, wait a year and forget everything,
then read the next one.  If her other two are any indication then it
should be good as well.

Shane

    re .45 & .46
    
    Let's see, the CYteen hardcover sells for $24.00
    The cheaper paperback would be 3 books at $6.99 each for $20.97.
    
    ... but the with paperback I get sooooo many more words!
    
    Lest I be misunderstood -- I do love triologies and the like such as
    Terry Roberts (?) Sword of Sharnarra, Lord of the Rings.  I really
    enjoy a character or set of characters that reappear in new stories.
    What really bothers me are the artifically constructed multi-volume
    books. 
    
    Carel
    
    
    

>    What really bothers me are the artifically constructed multi-volume
>    books. 

Only somewhat sarcastically, what's an example of a naturally occurring
multivolume book?

- tom]

RE: 50

>Only somewhat sarcastically, what's an example of a naturally occurring
>multivolume book?

"The Hobbit" and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  Ignoring minor considersations
like the difficulty of actually handling a single volume of 1500+ pages, the
trilogy could have been published as a single book, because it is really one
book artificially chopped into 3 volumes.  But "The Hobbit" is a standalone
work in the same universe, and as such is truly a separate book.

I think .49 was referring to the current tendency to take a single story,
which could easily have been done in 400-500 pages (ie, one book), and
consciously throwing in filler and fluff in order to make it have enough
pages to be a trilogy, and therefore publish 3 books out of 1 story.

-- Ken Moreau

and/or of taking a perfecly good book which happened to sell well,
and then force the character(s) to go through absurdly improbable
tragedies just to get a book 2, 3, etc. out of them.  Sometimes ya
just gotta say "hey, the story's been told - stop here."