to think that nobody writes any standalone books any more?

[Arana]

Everything's always first of a trilogy.

What happened to tying all the loose ends up before you get to the last page?

By all means re-use the characters, but don't leave it on a cliffhanger, or have random (and apparently significant) characters whose backstory and characterisation takes up several pages disappear from the plot.

I know. It's the same way nobody does a complete tv series any more. Always leave the story open.

They're thinking of the cash.

It's very frustrating.

I want to get to the end of a book/tv programme/film and have the ending. Everything tied up. The conclusion. Bad guy beaten. Good guy happy. Not let out a small scream because they've left it on a cliffhanger because they're hoping to do another one and get more cash.

What, nobody?

A good standalone book at the moment is 'Gold' by Chris Cleave. Very topical as Olympic themed. No loose ends in this one!

ok, nobody is an exaggeration but it's often enough to be bloody annoying!

And it always seems to be the ones I've been reading/watching and really really want to know the ending to.

I get to a point where I just make one up myself

All my novels are stand-alones. People always ask why I don't write series, though!

Any good recommendations for standalone well-written cheap/free ebooks then? :)

If you're going for cheap/free you're either going to get airport trash/vampire/misery-lit or classics. I would therefore recommend you raise your game and go for some classics.

Now I want to know who Abra1d is...

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. Oustanding and stand alone.

There are millions and millions of novels available, only a tiny percentage are part of a series. You're massively over-generalising.

the 19th wife is outstanding. I'd love to re-read it but whoever I lent it to never gave it back.

It is annoying in a lot of genres right now. Teen sci-fi/fantasy is particularly bad for this at the moment.

What sort of books do you like and we can find some that aren't a series?

I just read the fear index by Robert Harris. Dear god, what a dire ending- as if the publisher demanded the book be printed whilst Harris was still contemplating how to conclude the plot. I feel as if I have been cheated whilst Harris contemplates an avoidable and unnessecary sequel.

*unneccesary !

I will genuinely read most books. Nothing that takes itself too seriously.
I like historical fiction (Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden, Manda Scott, Robert Harris), fantasy (David Gemmell, Robin Hobb, Joe Abercrombie, George RR Martin).

I'm not a big fan of bodice rippers, or female leads that agonise over every little thing. I love supernatural/vampire/post apocalyptic stuff, however most of this seems to be either badly written or with a pathetic female lead.

I've found some decent stuff cheap on amazon, but it does seem to be dominated by teen trash, misery lit and bodice rippers.

(and yes, I'm aware that all the books/authors I've listed are predominantly series based, but they're more standalone than other stuff I've read)

lots of crime books and thrillers are stand alones

Perhaps it's the type of book you read?

;)

I was at a book club meeting yesterday and it's always a question people ask. Something about needing to feel a connection with characters, a continuity or something. I suppose we like to feel we grow with characters as they go through life. I thought I might start sneaking minor characters from book to book to see if anyone noticed (apart from me).

One of my novels is an Amazon 89p e-book bargain at the moment, as my publisher wanted to drive sales for this particular title. But it's not really a good thing to use the boards for marketing, so I'll sit on my hands! But there are lots on Amazon for under a pound or two and many by very fine writers, so it's worth having a good look in the Kindle section.

Frances is a friend, and her beautifully-written book is an e-bargain at £2.97:

www.amazon.co.uk/Birds-Bees-Other-Secrets-ebook/dp/B003N2QUYW/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339678678&sr=1-1

(I am not her, btw!)

Whoops, link again:

www.amazon.co.uk/Birds-Bees-Other-Secrets-ebook/dp/B003N2QUYW/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339678678&sr=1-1

Feel free to pm me your book - I'd love to know!

If you read pap that is churned out with little care from either the publisher or writer with the sole intention to shift huge numbers (and I am talking about you EL James and Dan Brown) then they will keep putting out more and more sequals so long as people are daft enough to read them.

Not that there isn't often a compelling literary reason to write a trilogy. My favourite book is part of a trilogy, but it examines the same situation from the perspective of three different characters.

Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog) by Jerome k Jerome. My desert island book

Oh, don't know about e books. I'm strictly old paper and ink.

Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog) by Jerome k Jerome. My desert island book

Have you read the sequel?

If so, is it any cop?

My dessert island trilogy is 20,000 streets under the sky by Patrick Hamilton, which is both amazing and great.