Libra 2 Is it possible to add [series] without number?

[WinterStilleKobo]

I just need to know.

It's 2023, it feels like it should be possible, but I cannot for the life of me find anything about this, or a solution, online. Straight up editing content.opf does nothing. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, though. But even if I update the meta data afterwards with KoboUtilities doesn't work.

For example:

<meta name="calibre:series" content="SERIES"/>
<meta name="calibre:series_index" content=""/>

Not even the series will appear by adding/editing in opf though, only when I send it to device through Calibre.

Idk my -brain really would love a series tag without #.

Possible?

[xyclonei]

I use NickelSeries for series without numbers and it works for me.

[WinterStilleKobo]

Originally Posted by xyclonei

I use NickelSeries for series without numbers and it works for me.

Yo ... Thank you, that works!!

[just_jeepin]

Just curious... why would you want series but no numbers? Don't you read them in order?

[Quoth]

It might be sort of in the series, but not. Like in the same setting/storyverse but none of the same characters. Or a sideways short story in a magazine originally, that does use the same character(s) as the numbered series. I've experimented with decimals and larger numbers outside the main sequence. Or an omnibus edition with 2 to 5 books of an 8 to 30 book series and you can't be bothered to split them.

[DNSB]

I've used this in shared universe series where the timeline jumps back and forth and there is no real series numbering. I'm going to try to avoid the timeline vs. publication order series numbering wars.

For omnibus editions, I tend to use series indexes such as 1.03 for a omnibus that contains books 1 to 3 of a series or 9.12 for an omnibus that contains books 9 to 12 in a series.

For series that have interspersed short stories/novellas, I generally use the series index from the previous full length story plus .25/.50/.75 (i.e. In Death 34.50).

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by just_jeepin

Don't you read them in order?

DNSB brings up the issue that sometimes the order is contentious. Also some series have a "floating" time-line were reading order isn't very important. Especially older novels (1920s to 1960s) for younger people.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by just_jeepin

Don't you read them in order?

Say you are reading a series such as C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia? Do I number them in publication order or in internal chronology order? Depending on which edition you read, you can find either ordering being used.

1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
2. Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)
3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
4. The Silver Chair (1953)
5. The Horse and His Boy (1954)
6. The Magician’s Nephew (1955)
7. The Last Battle (1956)

or

1. The Magician’s Nephew
2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
3. The Horse and His Boy
4. Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
6. The Silver Chair
7. The Last Battle

[Aleron Ives]

I would expect it to depend upon the series. If the author deliberately writes the prequels to be read first, then you could do that, but if the prequels are written under the assumption that you've read the other books that already exist, then you're better off reading in the publication order.

[Quoth]

On Narnia, the newer chronological order is against what Lewis wanted. He deliberately held back some books and The Magician's Nephew is part spoilers and part ret-cons. It was meant to be 6.

But Joan Aiken wrote the Wolves alternate history series between 1961 and 2004. She wrote that the last one is short because I don't want to die before it's done (see Elwin Drood etc). The "first" in her reading order was written in about 1968, published six years after the first one. She wanted later readers to read in chronological order rather than publication date.
There are a few continuity glitches, but hardly noticeable.

4. Nightbirds on Nantucket (Dido Twite) (1966)
5. The Stolen Lake (Dido Twite) (1981)
6. Limbo Lodge (U.S. title: Dangerous Games) (Dido Twite) (1999)
7. The Cuckoo Tree (Dido Twite) (1971)

Midnight Is a Place (1976) has none of the characters in the other books, yet is obviously in the same storyverse. It's hard to exactly time-line it,

Spoiler:

except that city is destroyed in another book

.

There are many other cases where we don't know what the author wanted, or the author's opinion seems crazy.

If in doubt I go by publication date, but you need to make your own decision.

By maybe 1965, two years after Lewis's death (same day as President Kennedy) the box sets had Lewis's order, which was publication order because he certainly held back the the polished "The Horse and His Boy" till after the "Silver Chair" (my favourite).

The Recluse Novels are complicated.

IMO, there isn't an issue with Dune as the later published ones are less good and he didn't write the prequels.

Make up your own mind unless you are a big fan of the author and the author clearly gave an order.

I'm reading a series at the minute out of any order except the order the ebooks have been cheap and fortunately the order isn't critical (Rabbi Small Mysteries). Same might be true of many Agatha Christie series. But the Campion detective series perhaps benefits from reading in chronological order, which may be publication order.

There is no simple answer, except the publisher of the Narnia books obviously hasn't read them properly and forgotten company history!

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Say you are reading a series such as C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia? Do I number them in publication order or in internal chronology order?

When it comes to Narnia I read them in publication order because I am not a barbarian

[ZodWallop]

I have several publisher's series that have no numbering, like Paperbacks From Hell or Dungeons and Dragons books specifically set in the Dark Sun, Dragonlance or Eberron worlds.

I just use a tag in Calibre. This has the advantage of allowing me to also add series when a publisher series has an actual series within it.

[John Hopper]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

When it comes to Narnia I read them in publication order because I am not a barbarian

I read /listen to them in chronological order as that makes most sense. Narnia is created in Magician's Nephew and ends in Last Battle. To read them in any other order seems counter intuitive to me.

I could be a complete purist and read Horse and His Boy before the last couple of pages of Lion, Witch and Wardrobe but that would be going too far.

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