Love silly videos! We went out with another couple last night and were talking about books and he said, "There's this reviewer on You Tube that I love. Melissa, Melinda, Matilda....Secret Sauce.." I yelled, "Of Storytelling!" and the waitress almost dropped my drink! Keep up the good work.
Read an early 70s book called “Clone” by Richard Cowper recently. It took quite a while to scroll through the other books named “Clone” (or that had “clone” in the title) before I found the right one on Goodreads.
I can relate to this one! Just yesterday I was at the bookstore and accidentally grabbed a book called “The Film Club” when I was thought I was grabbing Chuck Palahniuk’s classic little novel about making soap. I probably shouldn’t even be telling this story because the first rule of Film Club is not to talk about Film Club. Making matters more confusing is that the author’s name is David Gilmour… and he’s not even THAT David Gilmour! I have become (un)comfortably numb!
After Atlas, The Atlas Paradox, The Atlas Complex, Atlas Shrugged, Cloud Atlas, ATLAS. Ship Who Sang, The Ship Who Mourned, The Ship Who Killed, Ship of Fools. You're so much fun. Love the channel.
The 'same titled' problem is that titles aren't copyrighted, even though content is. E.g., you can legally publish a book titled _The Sirens of Titan,_ but only if it isn't a fan-fic of Kurt Vonnegut. The 'similar titles,' imo, are later books trying to ride the coat tails of earlier bestsellers - like 'mockbuster' DVDs (one of *my* personal peeves). As for the title trends...mostly same as with my second point, but I think the writers who did it first should get a pass, because they had a reason for putting those words/numbers in the titles (other than laziness, I mean). Now *my* worst 'copycat' peeve is when publishers use damn-near identical fonts and/or cover art to trick you into buying or borrowing what you think is the next in a favorite series, but isn't! It happens across all genres, but the Harry Potter lookalikes were the most egregious.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft And yes it is a fantasy novel. I guess naming your novel “Fellowship” was a perfectly normal thing to do even though there was a legendary novel (that was legendary from day one) with that phrasing. Always thought it was weird 🤦♂️
Great point on ‘children of…’. The most common theme that comes to mind that goes back before The Golden Age is titles with ‘world’ in it: The Lost World, Brave New World, Death World, The War of the Worlds, Ring World, World War Z, The Inverted World, Dune World (at least it changed). I think you could do 100 SF, and then there’s fantasy with a few. Most common word in a SF book title?
Two that I often get mixed up: 'The Player of Games' & 'The Game Players of Titan' (by Iain M. Banks and Philip K. Dick respectively). Additionally if you throw the Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut in there, you have a 3-way collision of confusingly similar titles. To add to your mentions of 'policeman' themed titles, there's also 'The Third Policeman' by Flann O'Brien. Not SF though so shouldn't be a problem in a bookshop 😆
Some I’ve found: A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, by Poul Anderson Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon The Queen of Air and Darkness, by TH White The Queen of Air and Darkness, by Poul Anderson Queen of Air and Darkness, by Cassandra Clare Starfarers, by Poul Anderson Starfarers, by Vonda McIntyre Star Wars: The Last Jedi, by Michael Reeves (EU novel) Star Wars: The Last Jedi, by Jason Fry (film novelization)
I am afraid I contributed to this. After I put out my book Star Liner, I discovered that David Drake had written Starliner (one word) and Stewart Cowley had written Starliners. Oh well . . .
I once stumbled upon Starship Troupers by Christopher Stasheff, and was quite relieved it wasn't Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. I think there was some intentional poking of the bear there, especially given their differing political leanings, and Stasheff just loves him some goofy wordplay (and acronyms, gotta have them acronyms).
I don't read much fantasy, but they have an annoying "something of something" trend. E..g A storm of Swords, A Crown of Swords, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Prince of Thorns, Empire of Storms, Season of Storms etc.
You missed an, ahem, golden opportunity by not considering colors. KSR had his Mars series, you mentioned Red Moon and ai think I saw Red Moon Blues somewhere in there. Otherwise, so sorry for your troubles with titles. In other news Permutation City is coming along, but I think he borrowed heavily from Borges's Library of Babel (which I think you'd really like and is free as a pdf online). And, do you have a Texas accent coming on?
Ooh never heard of library of babel… will have to look into it. Thanks! As for colors, you are right! There are so many trends in feel like i could probably make multiple videos on all the similarities out there…. That might be overkill tho
Ohhhh, man. I've been waiting to vent about this! For me, it's "THE GIRL ----". The Girl On The Train The Girl In Cabin 13 The Girl Next Door The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo The Girl With All The Gifts The Girl Who Was Taken The Girl On The Boat The Girl Who Survived The Girl On The Shore The Girl On The Cliff The Girl With No Name The Girl Before The list goes on and on... Just ugh.
Not silly, actually rather entertaining. Speaking of same titles, is there not a rule or at least a convention to not use a title that is already in print, like an actor can't use a stage name that is already used by someone else? If not a rule, is it done deliberately and perhaps maliciously to piggyback on the fame of another author's work? Or could it really be a coincidence, the title fit the new book perfectly and too bad it was used before.
Well, you posted this four hours ago, so it's obviously too late to be the first to make some joke about "Children of Empire", or such. Instead, I will strongly urge you to read any of David Brin's novels. I find his work highly imaginative, usually going where no one has gone before. With the exception of his Uplift books he tends to never repeat ideas so, if you don't like one book try another. In addition to the Uplift books (which I highly recommend) and "The Postman" (which you mentioned), I recommend "Earth" (a very interesting idea and, simultaneously, a neat SF writing exercise), and "The Practice Effect" (which takes a silly concept to its logical extreme).
@@secretsauceofstorycraft I also recommend that you not pass up "The Practice Effect". (It's one of my personal all-time favorite SF books.) The premise is weird: What if "practice makes perfect" is a law of nature that applies to objects? Thus, when you use a hammer, it changes to become a better hammer and a frequently-worn shirt becomes a better shirt. How would culture be different?? The book also illustrates the close kinship of SF and Fantasy. If this condition was described as being on Earth, it would be a fantasy, but since it is in a parallel dimension, it qualifies as SF.
This isn't just a problem with books. Games and movies have similar annoying trend of same or similar titles. I think it is a marketing/publisher ploy. 😅
I like your videos a lot, but I have a hard time watching them because of the audio quality. The sound of your voice consistently peaks and grates against the ears. Not saying that your voice is bad, rather that it might be an audio editing or hardware issue. Otherwise, as always great stuff. Sorry if that doesn't come off as purely constructive criticism, which is my intention.
I am always open to improving! I bought a new mic awhile back (very expensive) but it does some kind of auto gain and makes me quiet then loud then quiet again and i cant figure out how to fix it. So im stuck with my current mic and not knowing much about audio and audio quality. If u have any tutorials or specific suggestions so i could learn how to do something about it, i would LOVE to try and improve…. Let me know!
@@secretsauceofstorycraft That's so strange! I realised (UK spelling) that it was semi-literate, appallingly translated, drivel after the first couple of pages. Anyway, keep the quirky vids going. They're great fun.
Children of the Quantum Empire
Haha
"No dogs in it, which is disappointing" my cats feel the same way about To Kill a Mockingbird. ;)
Hahah good point!! thanks for that!
Love silly videos! We went out with another couple last night and were talking about books and he said, "There's this reviewer on You Tube that I love. Melissa, Melinda, Matilda....Secret Sauce.." I yelled, "Of Storytelling!" and the waitress almost dropped my drink! Keep up the good work.
Hahaha 😂 sooo awesome! 😎 its crazy to hear that story! Never woulda thought i would be that big to be discussed at dinner tables!!!! Haha crazy
Read an early 70s book called “Clone” by Richard Cowper recently. It took quite a while to scroll through the other books named “Clone” (or that had “clone” in the title) before I found the right one on Goodreads.
Maybe a case of too generic a title??
I always confuse _Old Man's War_ with _The Forever War._ Also, most anything with the world _Lost_ in it, especially if it begins with _The Lost._
Ooh that is a good one!
Oh, goodness... I guess I do too!
Me too!😂
I can relate to this one! Just yesterday I was at the bookstore and accidentally grabbed a book called “The Film Club” when I was thought I was grabbing Chuck Palahniuk’s classic little novel about making soap. I probably shouldn’t even be telling this story because the first rule of Film Club is not to talk about Film Club.
Making matters more confusing is that the author’s name is David Gilmour… and he’s not even THAT David Gilmour! I have become (un)comfortably numb!
watch for glitches
The film club is the videographers for fight clubs. If it's your first night at the film club you have to fight.
@@ginamar6218 hahahaha
At least im not alone!!
After Atlas, The Atlas Paradox, The Atlas Complex, Atlas Shrugged, Cloud Atlas, ATLAS.
Ship Who Sang, The Ship Who Mourned, The Ship Who Killed, Ship of Fools.
You're so much fun. Love the channel.
Ooooh!!! Those r goood ones!!!! Thank you!
Also Atlas is a new Jaylo scifi movie on Netflix.
The 'same titled' problem is that titles aren't copyrighted, even though content is. E.g., you can legally publish a book titled _The Sirens of Titan,_ but only if it isn't a fan-fic of Kurt Vonnegut.
The 'similar titles,' imo, are later books trying to ride the coat tails of earlier bestsellers - like 'mockbuster' DVDs (one of *my* personal peeves).
As for the title trends...mostly same as with my second point, but I think the writers who did it first should get a pass, because they had a reason for putting those words/numbers in the titles (other than laziness, I mean).
Now *my* worst 'copycat' peeve is when publishers use damn-near identical fonts and/or cover art to trick you into buying or borrowing what you think is the next in a favorite series, but isn't! It happens across all genres, but the Harry Potter lookalikes were the most egregious.
Yesss you are so right, everyone had the harry potter font! 🫥
The Fellowship of the Talisman, a real book by Clifford Simak. For some reason.
Wow 🤩
@@secretsauceofstorycraft And yes it is a fantasy novel. I guess naming your novel “Fellowship” was a perfectly normal thing to do even though there was a legendary novel (that was legendary from day one) with that phrasing. Always thought it was weird 🤦♂️
Great point on ‘children of…’. The most common theme that comes to mind that goes back before The Golden Age is titles with ‘world’ in it: The Lost World, Brave New World, Death World, The War of the Worlds, Ring World, World War Z, The Inverted World, Dune World (at least it changed). I think you could do 100 SF, and then there’s fantasy with a few. Most common word in a SF book title?
Hmmm 🤔 good question… not sure
Well done, surprisingly funny when you string them all together like that! 😂
🔥 thank you!!
Two that I often get mixed up: 'The Player of Games' & 'The Game Players of Titan' (by Iain M. Banks and Philip K. Dick respectively). Additionally if you throw the Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut in there, you have a 3-way collision of confusingly similar titles.
To add to your mentions of 'policeman' themed titles, there's also 'The Third Policeman' by Flann O'Brien. Not SF though so shouldn't be a problem in a bookshop 😆
Another policeman book!!! Nooooo. And more titans tooo
Hi! I just met your channel. Sci-Fi is one of the few genres I read (I prefer watch a series). Greetings from Spain.
Hello! Welcome
Perfect Title: Children of the Quantum Empire 2654
Exactly
I'd read that 😅
@@sorenkrane I might write that!! It would be a small story! Haha.
Some I’ve found:
A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, by Poul Anderson
Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon
The Queen of Air and Darkness, by TH White
The Queen of Air and Darkness, by Poul Anderson
Queen of Air and Darkness, by Cassandra Clare
Starfarers, by Poul Anderson
Starfarers, by Vonda McIntyre
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, by Michael Reeves (EU novel)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, by Jason Fry (film novelization)
Woah!? 🤯 where were u when i was making this vid!! Those r good!
I am afraid I contributed to this. After I put out my book Star Liner, I discovered that David Drake had written Starliner (one word) and Stewart Cowley had written Starliners. Oh well . . .
😱 at least it wasnt intentional!
I once stumbled upon Starship Troupers by Christopher Stasheff, and was quite relieved it wasn't Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. I think there was some intentional poking of the bear there, especially given their differing political leanings, and Stasheff just loves him some goofy wordplay (and acronyms, gotta have them acronyms).
Ooooh noooo
Such a fun video. I get story lines in books mixed up too. It stinks getting old lol. Thanks for the great video Whitney
👍🏻
Dang, the title of my new book is Children of the 2145 Quantum Empire! Guess , I’ll have to start all over again.
Hahah
Jonathan Mayberry has a Dogs of War too. Ben Bova has a Mars.
Grrr 😖
Greg Bear has a War Dogs too lol. Poor doggies.
I don't read much fantasy, but they have an annoying "something of something" trend. E..g A storm of Swords, A Crown of Swords, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Prince of Thorns, Empire of Storms, Season of Storms etc.
Yea!! True!!
You missed an, ahem, golden opportunity by not considering colors. KSR had his Mars series, you mentioned Red Moon and ai think I saw Red Moon Blues somewhere in there. Otherwise, so sorry for your troubles with titles. In other news Permutation City is coming along, but I think he borrowed heavily from Borges's Library of Babel (which I think you'd really like and is free as a pdf online). And, do you have a Texas accent coming on?
Ooh never heard of library of babel… will have to look into it. Thanks! As for colors, you are right! There are so many trends in feel like i could probably make multiple videos on all the similarities out there…. That might be overkill tho
Ohhhh, man. I've been waiting to vent about this! For me, it's "THE GIRL ----".
The Girl On The Train
The Girl In Cabin 13
The Girl Next Door
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Girl With All The Gifts
The Girl Who Was Taken
The Girl On The Boat
The Girl Who Survived
The Girl On The Shore
The Girl On The Cliff
The Girl With No Name
The Girl Before
The list goes on and on...
Just ugh.
!!!!!!Sooo true! Im soo excited other people also have similar complaints!
Don't forget The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo by Adam Roberts lol.
I recommend reading a book called _21776AD._
It's part of the _Children of The Quantum Empire_ series.
🤣 🤣 😂 - pretty sure i heard of that one
I'm amazed that I have read so many of these titles...No wonder my brain is mush!!!
Haha 🤣
Informative, fun and as always beautifully made 🌟
Well done!
Thank you!!! 😊
Not silly, actually rather entertaining. Speaking of same titles, is there not a rule or at least a convention to not use a title that is already in print, like an actor can't use a stage name that is already used by someone else? If not a rule, is it done deliberately and perhaps maliciously to piggyback on the fame of another author's work? Or could it really be a coincidence, the title fit the new book perfectly and too bad it was used before.
Good questions…. I bet its case by case… but some of these have to be intentional… at least to sell books
Well, you posted this four hours ago, so it's obviously too late to be the first to make some joke about "Children of Empire", or such.
Instead, I will strongly urge you to read any of David Brin's novels. I find his work highly imaginative, usually going where no one has gone before. With the exception of his Uplift books he tends to never repeat ideas so, if you don't like one book try another. In addition to the Uplift books (which I highly recommend) and "The Postman" (which you mentioned), I recommend "Earth" (a very interesting idea and, simultaneously, a neat SF writing exercise), and "The Practice Effect" (which takes a silly concept to its logical extreme).
I recently read the postman actually. And found it quite uplifting. I hope to read the uplift trilogy soon, he is on the list! 😆
Brin kinda lost the plot with the Postman, but it's a great story nonetheless. Much better than that terrible Kevin Costner movie adaptation.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft I also recommend that you not pass up "The Practice Effect". (It's one of my personal all-time favorite SF books.) The premise is weird: What if "practice makes perfect" is a law of nature that applies to objects? Thus, when you use a hammer, it changes to become a better hammer and a frequently-worn shirt becomes a better shirt. How would culture be different??
The book also illustrates the close kinship of SF and Fantasy. If this condition was described as being on Earth, it would be a fantasy, but since it is in a parallel dimension, it qualifies as SF.
This isn't just a problem with books. Games and movies have similar annoying trend of same or similar titles. I think it is a marketing/publisher ploy. 😅
You are probably right. They intentionally confuse us so we grab something different… i guess it works…
2140: Children of the trial Empire.
😅💕😵💫
I always think of The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch and The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
Havent heard of these but they do sound dangerously similar!
There is another Aurora type title that is a scifi romance YA
What…. Grr 😖
So...what if someone whose name is Empire founds their own Empire....
Empire of empires? Or Empire’s Empire??
I have a recommendation for review: "Kethani" by Eric Brown. I found it fascinating, but haven't seen any reviews of it. Thanks.
👍🏻 will look into it
Beauty by Sheri S Tepper, Beauty by Robin McKinley, Beauty by Susan Wilson
Ooooh good one! I even have all of these in my think 🤔
"Children of the children"
Haha
Empire of Children, Children's Empire:3333!
Nooooo haha
I like your videos a lot, but I have a hard time watching them because of the audio quality. The sound of your voice consistently peaks and grates against the ears. Not saying that your voice is bad, rather that it might be an audio editing or hardware issue. Otherwise, as always great stuff. Sorry if that doesn't come off as purely constructive criticism, which is my intention.
I am always open to improving! I bought a new mic awhile back (very expensive) but it does some kind of auto gain and makes me quiet then loud then quiet again and i cant figure out how to fix it. So im stuck with my current mic and not knowing much about audio and audio quality. If u have any tutorials or specific suggestions so i could learn how to do something about it, i would LOVE to try and improve…. Let me know!
i think there is a book its title is "empire, empire, empire"
😱🫠😂
I guess "Son of Empire 7" is bad. I just Finished "Son of Empire (6) 😄
😂🤯😱
Isaac Asimov: Foundation and Empire
🤯🤯 how could i have missed that one!
Don’t forget Second Foundation is the THIRD book in the series 🤬
Children of the Children
Children of the quantum children??
Your vids are fabulous. Please remove the tiresome 3 Body Problem from the prominent position on your shelf. It really doesn't deserve the exposure.
Don't let Sophon hear that.
Hahah. Thanks 🙏 i havent yet decided about 3BP
@@secretsauceofstorycraft That's so strange! I realised (UK spelling) that it was semi-literate, appallingly translated, drivel after the first couple of pages. Anyway, keep the quirky vids going. They're great fun.