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Policies & Practices > Question about series numbering

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message 1: by Random (last edited May 16, 2009 04:10PM) (new)

Random (rand0m1s) | 56 comments I was going through some of my books and I was wondering about a couple of books.

First is C.S.Friedman's Magister Trilogy.
They are referred to on the cover of the books as
Feast of Souls: Book One of the Magister Trilogy

Should these be changed to the standard
Feast of Souls (The Magister Trology, #1)

The second situation is Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind. Officially its listed as
The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicles: Day 1)

Should this be changed to
The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicles, #1)

Normally I would make these changes automatically, but with the first being used on the book's cover and the second being a someone unique phrasing, I'm not sure if I should.


This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For | 949 comments I actually would make the first one

Feast of Souls (Magister, #1)

My reasoning is that words like "trilogy" should usually be left out (in part because authors sometimes end up changing the number of books down the road). Once you leave out trilogy, the leading "The" is no longer necessary either ("The Magister, #1" doesn't make sense without "trilogy"). This also helps reduce the length of the titles, which can get pretty unwieldy at times.

For the second one, though, I could go either way on leaving the word "The" in the series name. "Kingkiller Chronicles, #1" and "The Kingkiller Chornicles, #1" both work for me.

My opinion on this is a bit loose, however, and once we have series as separate objects which are attached to books rather than being part of the title, my opinion may change. Others probably have different opinions.


message 3: by Cait (last edited May 16, 2009 04:37PM) (new)

Cait (tigercait) | 4988 comments Random wrote: "The second situation is Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind. Officially its listed as
The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicles: Day 1)"


I would leave this as "Day 1", I think. That may well have meaning beyond "#1 in the series".


message 4: by Random (last edited May 16, 2009 04:58PM) (new)

Random (rand0m1s) | 56 comments Cait wrote: "I would leave this as "Day 1", I think. That may well have meaning beyond "#1 in the series"."

In this situation, yes "Day 1", etc has a very specific meaning for the books, which is why I ask.



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