Please include include instructions such as whether you’d like a plain signature, a signature with date, or the copy personalized to you or someone else. We can mail to you or to a specified individual.

The sneaky truth is, an epub file is exactly that, a bunch of folders in a . . . → Read More: Problems with downloaded epub files solved!]]> We’ve had several of our readers download our epub files and unzip them. We were wondering why, since the direct epub  download (as opposed to mini or full) is not a zipped file per se, but an epub file.

The sneaky truth is, an epub file is exactly that, a bunch of folders in a very special order zipped into a file with a .epub extension. But if you unzip that file, the reader can’t read it.

Turns out that Internet Explorer’s most recent downloader is arbitrarily changing the file extension from .epub to .zip before saving it. So…bottom line, if you’re using IE and order an epub, please make certain the extension on the file you’re saving is .epub.  If by accident it gets past you and IE changes it to “.zip”, you should be able to just right click on the file and change the extension back to “.epub”  Windows explorer will gripe about it, but tell it to do it anyway!

Jane has notified Microsoft, who was very polite and responsive, and actually made a case file on it, so hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.

As always, if you have any problems, please let us know!

If you want to read it on your computer, first install (for ePub) Calibre (a free download), and assign Calibre to open any ePub file; or, for mobi, get Kindle Previewer (a free . . . → Read More: Do not attempt to unzip an EPUB or MOBI file—they’re ready to use!]]> If you buy an ePub or mobi file, they come to you already unzipped. Move it right on over to your device.

If you want to read it on your computer, first install (for ePub) Calibre (a free download), and assign Calibre to open any ePub file; or, for mobi, get Kindle Previewer (a free download from Amazon) for your computer, and assign Kindle Previewer to open the mobi file type. After you have one of those two softwares on your computer, and once you have ‘assigned’ a file type to be read by THAT program, it will always ‘read’ immediately after you click on the file.

TO ASSIGN a program to read a particular file type, go to the Control Panel on your Start menu (icon at extreme left of your bottom toolbar on Win 7) and click on the option “DEFAULT PROGRAMS”. That lets you set which program automatically comes up to handle a particular file. Once you have ‘assigned’ a program to open a particular file type, click on the file, and that program will automatically come handle it.

We had a couple of issues with Deliberations. We had a small continuity problem, which . . . → Read More: New and improved Deliberations—and Rusalka]]> Rusalka…and all the other books with new covers and better formatting…will be available soon. I’m working on it as fast as I can and we need to get the New Link generator working before we open them up for re-download.

We had a couple of issues with Deliberations. We had a small continuity problem, which we fixed…only to discover the fix added a new problem. If you have mysterious questionmarks showing up after the dialogue close-quotes…that’s because there was a mysterious, invisible character that snuck in with a conversion from html to WordPerfect. We tracked down the pesky thing after the reports of these strangely out-of-place questionmarks and have fixed it along with the annoying tendency of the file not to group with the other CJ Cherryh books. (Meta problem that I thought I’d fixed and forgot to save after making the changes…ah, well.)

The upshot is, there’s a new and improved version up as of 10/29/12. If you’d like to request a link for the new and improved version, just enter the email addy you used in your order into the blank below. Theoretically, this will generate an email with links to all the books you’ve purchased, including the new version of Deliberations. Some people have had issues with this generator. We don’t know yet if anyone is being successful. If you do get a link, could you please just mention it on one of our blogs or FB pages? Thanks for bearing with us.

First: CJ Cherryh’s Yvgenie:

Third in the rewritten Rusalka Series. It’s a love story, a ghost story, and what it’s like to grow up as a wizard.

Next up: Deliberations

A brand new Foreigner short story from the pre-Bren era—JUST pre-Bren. Barely.

 And last . . . → Read More: It’s Jane Fancher’s Birthday, she has a gift for you—And Closed Circle has 3 new items!]]> Closed Circle has 3 new items!

First: CJ Cherryh’s Yvgenie:

Third in the rewritten Rusalka Series. It’s a love story, a ghost story, and what it’s like to grow up as a wizard.

Next up: Deliberations

A brand new Foreigner short story from the pre-Bren era—JUST pre-Bren. Barely.

 And last but not least, the long-awaited (and all-important) prequel to Jane’s GroundTies:

From CJ Cherryh: “I have something to say about this one. First, I have serious book envy here—this is a story I wish I had written. Secondly, I love these people—except, obviously, the bad ones. And thirdly—this is the first of a set: First read the ‘Netwalker duology. THEN the NEW Groundties duology, which is massively changed from the old one; THEN the Uplink duology, again, massively changed; and third, the NEW Harmonies of the ‘Net duology, again, yes, massively changed. You’re dealing with a more mature author, and all the second thoughts that a long delay in publication can bring you.

“These books have been through hell AND high water—she doesn’t even mention the flood. First, the editor left them in mid-production, and he was gone. Then the line crashed. THEN a second editor really wanted them, talking about submitting for awards, and HE was out. His legacy: a ‘you must keep and publish these books’ order. The next editor came in: and SHE wanted only to publish writers SHE had discovered, meaning that note, and the books, went in the drawer—she wouldn’t violate the order, but she wouldn’t publish, either. It took Jane years to get those books free of that house.

“The next publisher wanted them—but the previous house had created, yes, a screwed-up record in the distributing system, which meant that the next publisher couldn’t get them past those bollixed-up numbers—
“So. Finally. Closed Circle has the honor of bringing these to you…and you’ve got a treat coming. These are as special as several editors have known—and here they are. She is working on Homecoming Games—which brings all the birds of prey home to roost.”

‘NetWalkers will be available two ways: As two individual books, or in the combined Omnibus, which will save you a couple of dollars.

But there’s more!

Come visit us on Super Wednesday, and you’ll be able to snap up Part One: Partners for FREE! This is a one-day special offer in honor of the day Jane began writing all those years ago, the day ‘NetWalkers was born.

October 24th Special Sneak Peek! FREE DOWNLOAD DAY IS OVER Thanks to all of you who came and supported us yesterday. It was a fabulous response. We hope you enjoy all your books and come back for more!  ’NetWalkers, a book Robert Sawyer called “A big, meaty book that’s everything science fiction should be.” We hope you love it as much as we do.

The UK Cyteen audiobook: http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/?source_code=ASUDisc1Bk0001WS041112&asin=B007IVZ9HS

The Cyteen set is professionally produced, beautifully read, unabridged—it’s the one I’ve had a chance to listen to at least the start of—there are 5 sections, averaging about 7 and a half hours per section, so you get a lot of car-trip listening. And if . . . → Read More: Audiobooks: Cyteen, Chanur, Foreigner, and others]]> The US Cyteen audiobook: http://www.audible.com/pd/?source_code=ASRDG0001WS041112&asin=B007IJQ6U4

The UK Cyteen audiobook: http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/?source_code=ASUDisc1Bk0001WS041112&asin=B007IVZ9HS

The Cyteen set is professionally produced, beautifully read, unabridged—it’s the one I’ve had a chance to listen to at least the start of—there are 5 sections, averaging about 7 and a half hours per section, so you get a lot of car-trip listening. And if you buy through these links, I get a dollar, besides the contract.

To find the audible books, go to audible.com and search ‘cherryh’ in the provided blank.  All are unabridged. Read the accompanying text closely and pay attention to the set and sequence information: Foreigner has a lot of volumes.

The question was about the way we package our files here at Closed Circle.  I’m sure that Jane and CJ have answered this before, but the suggestion was made that we add a definition or two to our “Techno” topic.

For . . . → Read More: Mini, Sample — What’s what in the Closed Circle Downloads…]]> Sometimes you don’t realize what you’re taking for granted until someone asks a question. 

The question was about the way we package our files here at Closed Circle.  I’m sure that Jane and CJ have answered this before, but the suggestion was made that we add a definition or two to our “Techno” topic.

For starters, we don’t encrypt or apply other DRM strategies to our books.  We believe that if we make our books available at reasonable prices and in a variety of formats, then piracy–while it won’t disappear–will remain at a tolerable level.  Since our files don’t employ DRM, you can always use a program like Calibre to convert, say, one of our .mobi files to the .epub format.  But you don’t have to, because the three of us are dedicated to providing our readers with what they want from the git-go.

Most of our digital products are available in four “flavors:” Full, Mini, Mobi, and Epub. (There’s a drop-down menu in each product sales box from which you can choose your preferred flavor.) Our newest books will be available in: .epub, .mobi, and .pdf.

We’ve heard that Epub is supposed to be the “vanilla” flavor for ebooks.  When Jane and I are prepping our products, the Epub version is the first version we create.  Our Epubs tend to be our cleanest formats and they conform most closely to what we, the authors, think they should look like as they’re being read.  They’re also (usually) the smallest downloads.  There seem to be quite a few Epub readers/devices around, of which the Nook probably has the greatest penetration.

Of course, Amazon’s Kindle is the 800-lb gorilla of the ebook world and it doesn’t support Epub; it supports Mobi, which it owns outright.  Amazon provides us with software that will take a  perfect Epub files and convert it into an adequate Mobi file…or files.  Because since the arrival of the Kindle Fire, Amazon’s decided that there shall be many sub-flavors of Mobi.  The software we use to create a Mobi file bundles all known flavors of Mobi together and lets the device determine which flavor works best.  The current version of Calibre will convert files into the simplest Mobi flavor.  The Mobi files we’re now generating about three times bigger than they used to be.  If you’ve got a Kindle Touch or Kindle Fire, you want to purchase our Mobi files rather than relying on Calibre to convert an Epub.

PDF is the old-standby of platform-independent text formats.  They look great on desktops and laptops, but dedicated devices have problems with them…but they come closest to capturing the “feel” of a traditional printed page.

Our MINIs are zipped bundles that contain Epub, Mobi, and PDF versions of whatever book you’re buying.

We are dropping the more exotic file formats on our newest books, since we have not had a call for them in a long time. If you have Calibre on your computer, you can easily take the .epub file into whatever other format you wish. If this poses a problem for you, write to us and let us know and we will help you get what you need.