Celli the Happy Go Lucky Celaphopod's

Minataur Tails


The Second Book
in the Award Winning
D-Bound Adventuring Series

Online
Table of Contents

Book I
TOC



Table of Contents

    Where you are.  (Oh, and just by-the-by, the first chapter is particularly good, so after you’re done reading the TOC, may I be so bold as to suggest that you start reading the story right there at the very beginning, like both I and Gra’gl intended.)



Book I - Minataur Tails

    I split each of my books into four sub-books... because I get paid by the book.  But then, all of those sub-books are included in this here omnibus.  (If you bought the omnibus, that is.  Or then, maybe you were lucky enough to get an original edition wherein all the books were printed together.  But then again, you probably didn’t, because if you did, it’s highly unlikely you’d be reading this here TOC, which was only added much-much much-much-much later).  Anyway, the point is (if there is a point, which I personally doubt), who wants to buy four books when they can get away with only buying the one?  Or buying the omnibus when they already have the original?

    Who?

    Collectors, that’s who!  (For all of it.)  Gra’gl bless them (not that Gra’gl blesses anyone, but whatever).  Man, I sure do love collectors.  Not only do I get them for the four individual books, but for the five if you include the omnibus and six if you include the rare original.  But then, who’s counting?

    Me!

    That’s who!

    All the way to the bank.

    Anyway, all those lovable collectors can’t seem to help themselves and so they buy every version of every edition that we put out (so you just know we’re going to keep on cranking them out as fast as we can).  Anyway, both the original and the omnibus as well as the first sub-book of this here book all go by the name of Minataur Tails.  And that might seem simple enough, but I’m just getting warmed up.  Truth of the matter is, I’m sort of proud about how absurdly complex I’ve managed to make my book numbering system.  It’s so complex, in fact, that a full explanation of it will have to wait until another time.  For the moment, suffice to say that even though Minataur Tails is technically the second book in the Dragon Bound (a.k.a. Ruby, a.k.a. D-B©und) Adventure Series, for marketing reasons it’s the first book that most folks read.  The rationale for that marketing decision should be easy enough to understand.  Minataur Tails is, by and far, if not the very best book in the series, certainly the most popular, so whenever we enter a new dimension, we like to sell Minataur Tails first (as a sort of advance copy).  And then, sell all the other books that come after it in chronological order (Book III being The K’fr Road: to Ve’kahn and Back Again and the second book we sell, Book IV being Crazy George Takes a Holiday and the third book we sell, and Book V being Rigor Pass 1866: The Manna Boom Years, which even though it’s the fifth book in the series is the usually the fourth book we sell).  And then, we circle around back to the start and start pushing the first book in the series (The Dragon Bound Quartet, the book that started it all), release it as a 25th Silver Anniversary Special Edition (regardless of the exact localized timeframe involved) and hope that it’s been so long since anyone’s read the others that they start reading the series all over again and buy another complete set before they realize we’ve already played this trick on them a time or two before.

    Of course, if the first book had absolutely anything at all to do with the rest of the series (or if the second, or the third, or fourth -- or any of them for that matter -- had anything to do with the rest of the series), we could never get away with such a blatant marketing scam.  But the books pretty much stand alone and are complete epics in and of themselves, so we can and we do.



Minataur
Tails
TOC
(continues)



© Copyright 2013 Brett Paufler
paufler.net@gmail.com


Brett Words


Oddly, JRRR Puffy Stuff (of The Ring fame) wrote six books (seven if you count the prequel) and marketed them as a trilogy (consisting of two books each), so not only did he leave a fair bit of money lying on the table (foolish thing that), but if you think you know which book is the second book in that there series, well, the only one you're fooling is yourself.  Even Puff Daddy doesn't know any more.  And yeah, duels have been fought over less.