[an error occurred while processing this directive] Thicker Than Blood
(C)2005,(C)2006,(C)2007,(C)2008. Some rights reserved.
First Creative Commons, community edited, fiction novel.

Changelog

12/31/2005 It may be a little unconventional, but this is version .1 of Thicker Than Blood.

It is mostly spellchecked. It has not been checked for consistency errors. Only a few chapters have been Grammar checked. It has not been edited. I haven't even had time to read the damn thing through. (although individual chapters have been reread several times each.)

I curious to see if "release early, release often" can work for literary works as well.

So if you find errors, inconsistencies or flat out mistakes, I'll consider any contribution. I'll even accept patches so to speak, but please keep in mind you will need to relinquish copyright to me as I may publish this in the traditional fashion one day as well.

As I see it, it is in my interest to release the latest version of this book under the creative commons, since inferior copies will always be legally floating around out there.

In any case enjoy.

Matthew Newhall

1/1/2006

OK starting to reread and edit. "R" means my first pass "S" means spell checked and "G" means an editing pass was made by Giselle. I probably will release .2 and announce it when everything is at least "RS"

chapter-01.txt RSGKI2 chapter-02.txt RSGKI2 chapter-03.txt RSGK2 chapter-04.txt RSK2 chapter-05.txt RSK2 chapter-06.txt RSK2 chapter-07.txt RSK2 chapter-08.txt RSK2 chapter-09.txt RSK2 chapter-10.txt RSK2 chapter-11.txt RSK2 chapter-12.txt RSK2 chapter-13.txt RSK2 chapter-14.txt RSK2 chapter-15.txt RSK2 chapter-16.txt RSK2 chapter-17.txt RSK2 chapter-18.txt RSK2 chapter-19.txt RSK2 chapter-20.txt RSK2 chapter-21.txt RSK2 chapter-22.txt RSK2 chapter-23.txt RSK2 chapter-24.txt RSK2 chapter-25.txt RSK2 chapter-26.txt RSK2 chapter-27.txt RSK2 chapter-28.txt RSK2 chapter-29.txt RSK2 chapter-30.txt RSK2 chapter-31.txt RSK2 chapter-32.txt RSK2 chapter-33.txt RSK2 chapter-34.txt RSK2 chapter-35.txt RSK2 chapter-36.txt RSK2 chapter-37.txt RSK2 chapter-38.txt RSK2 chapter-39.txt RSK2 chapter-40.txt RSK2 chapter-41.txt RSK2 chapter-42.txt RSK2 chapter-43.txt RSK2 chapter-44.txt RSK2 chapter-45.txt RSK2 chapter-46.txt RSK2 chapter-47.txt RSK2 chapter-48.txt RSK2 chapter-49.txt RSK2 chapter-50.txt RSK2 chapter-51.txt RSK2 chapter-52.txt RSK2 chapter-53.txt RSK2 chapter-54.txt RSK2 chapter-55.txt RSK2

1/2/2006

Starting to get a little punchy, so I'm going to stop for the night. My voice is horse from reading the chapters aloud, (it seems to be a good trick for better self editing.) I've read and spellchecked through chapter 11. The writing is starting to get a little better so it's slowly getting better each chapter.

1/4/2006

Finished read through, up through chapter 14. It's getting quicker now, the writing isn't as bad. Had a couple of ideas for the Cover and it turned out better. uploading cover.png

1/9/2006

Finished read through up through chapter 31. It seems that I did a preliminary spell check and read through from about chapter 20 on. It's going pretty quick now. It's looking like I might announce the book on the 11th to everybody who was initially interested in it. Still dithering on if I should write a forward. this will be version 0.14

1/11/2006

OK this is it version .2 Output written on Thicker-Than-Blood.pdf (327 pages, 458710 bytes). After much struggling with latex and the sffms package I have generated a .pdf file that actually looks halfway respectable. While I might not send it tonight, I will probably write the fateful email now. I'll also convert this file and License.txt to html.

1/13/2006 v0.21

Regenerated the .pdf file with the courier font and novel style chapter breaks. This totally changed the page numbers. Output written on Thicker-Than-Blood.pdf (368 pages, 439854 bytes). Caught a timeline error in chapter 28. Also added my dateless calendar with the timeline of (hopefully non spoiler) events to extras.

1/15/2006 v0.22

Chris Knadle handed me a bucket of changes. Including line by line changes for the entire book, and three repeating grammatical errors. (Hey at least I'm consistent) Thanks for saving me Chris, only I could misspell a word I made up. *hangs head* I also started a feedback.html with an email of his. It's in extras right now.

1/15/2006 supplemental v0.23

Had to finish a few more CK stragglers. Looked for some style points, another spell check and a couple of specific grammar errors. Also looked a rewrite of an unclear passage in chapter 1.
$1 800 terrorist
$I used to type "Yea" all the time when I meant "Yeah" ,
"Yea" sounds like "yay", and "Yeah" sounds like "Yeaaa"
$"I'm a character saying something.", Now this isn't said.
$There are lots of instances of missing capitalization of proper nouns.
I believe it's supposed to be "Aunt Teressa"
$Did the same for dad (I think the way it works is
$Chapter 1 contraption dodge rewrite
$Check for twenties.
$Lucy thoughts chapter 4
$Number check
$1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 $0

v0.24 1/22/2006

Fixed some grammar errors submitted by Simon. Looked for some subject ownership errors document wide. Ran another pass with the spell check. I learned three grammar rules today. It's sad, but this is what happens when things like books and people are flying at your head in English class. On the bright side, I know them now. I am trainable.

There is a plan.html file now in the "book" directory. It contains the plan.

Oh I added three new letters to track progress on chapters. I for Simon, 2 for spell check #2, and K for Chris Knadle. I'm doing this partially to keep track of what chapters need to be re-spell-checked post edit.

Random Thought: I think I discovered that writing has many things in common with programming. Part way through I decided that timeline jumps were too much like unbounded string calls. In addition, I think jumping from one characters head to another in a single chapter was to much like a goto. While these are useful tools in the hands of a master, you shouldn't use them unless you really have your chops down.

v0.26 1/29/2006 So now I wield a grammar checker Moo ha ha! It seems that a program called Language Tool works with Open Office 2.0. I had to check one chapter at a time but it caught lots of errors. I have a whole edited manuscript from Bobbie Peters and some edits from Giselle I want to fold in, but I thought I release this version for now.

I also created a wordsearch.html and placed it in the extras directory. I thought it might be fun to search the book for things.

v0.50 4/3/2006 Random subset of total changes in v.5

I have finally parsed a substantial pile of edits (thousands). Made further improvements in the weaker early chapters. Set up tex to generate single spaced .pdfs. In hoping the book is in decent shape, I am announcing version .5. I have no edits pending now so feel free to share your corrections.

Dr. * looks like two spaces with that font, but it's not.

Quote to comma

Regex /\.",
/[^.?!"\}]$
/\."[^$]

examine every you're, your

look for minuets (minutes)

it's (its)

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