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Typo Hunt: The Labyrinth Index

So, it has come to my attention that there are a few typos in "The Labyrinth Index". Can you help me track them down so I can get them fixed in future editions?

Reporting requirements: it's not useful to tell me "you misspelled 'Bob' somewhere". I need to know:

  • If a paper edition, then which publisher and which page and paragraph (the US hardcover is published by Tor, the UK hardcover by Orbit, and the page numbers don't match because they use different paper and typeface sizes).

  • If an ebook edition, then the ebook platform you're using (Kindle, Kobo, iBooks), the publisher (Tor, Orbit), and ideally the Kindle file location or equivalent and a text string containing the typo: e.g. "fly anohter 3000 fly another 3000" (which is the blooper in chapter 11 that everyone is telling me about).

Typos I know about:

US kindle edition, Location 5534, "fly anohter 3000" should be deleted

US hardcover, Page 245 (footnote 8): "dick picks" should be "dick pics"

US hardcover, Page 362: "I his paydirt" should be "I hit paydirt"

Stuff I want confirmation of:

US kindle edition, location 2115, "Slide 9"contains the string "In excess of 109 directed human sacrifices". This is rendered correctly (10^9, 10 superscript 9) in the Kindle app on iOS, but I've heard reports of it being rendered as "109" (no superscript) on other ebook platforms. If you noticed this, please report (including the type and software version of your reader).

(Please don't re-report mis-spellings already reported on other platforms; if it's mis-spelled on paper in one country it'll be misspelled in the other, and in the ebooks too.)

Can you find anything else?

114 Comments

1:

Your wish is my command

10^9 is rendered as 109 on my Android Kindle App. v 8.12.0.59 Android v 8.0.0 OPP27.91-143

It also appears as 109 in the Kindle Cloud Reader in Chrome (Version 69.0.3497.100 ) under Linux (Mint 19)

2:

UK Kindle edition, Loc 1892, "in excess of 109 human sacrifices" renders as "...109 human sacrifices" on my Kindle Paperwhite.

3:

NB the UK Kindle edition renders 109 as 109 on the iOS Kindle app as well. Kindle 6.12.1/iOS 12.1

4:

OK, looks like the 109/109 issue might be a file conversion issue with Orbit's kindle release rather than Tor's. Sigh: this is going to make tracking it down hard.

5:

To clarify:

Laundry books (since "The Delirium Brief") are edited, copy-edited, typeset, and proofread by Tor.com. Typesetting is, as usual, handled by an external bureau; copy-editing and proofreading by external contractors. (The CE is Marty Halpern, who acquired and edited the first two books in the series and has copy-edited every novel since—I managed to retain him despite changing publisher twice; sometimes using freelancers is actively helpful.) The typesetting uses Adobe InDesign, which outputs a fully imposed PDF file suitable for sending direct to a printing press. InDesign also generates an epub output file. Somewhere along the line, the source file is also fed to Amazon's Kindlegen to produce a Kindle file for that platform. (This is internal at Tor.)

The British edition happens because Orbit (the UK publisher) pays the typesetting agency for the right to use their InDesign file. They modify the front matter, design their own cover and marketing material, and reflow the source file to fit UK paper sizes, then go through pretty much the same process to produce PDF, epub, and Kindle files—separately!

Spot the potential in this workflow for subtle errors to creep in.

6:

Renders correctly as 10^9 (9 in superscript,no carat) in Kindle Android. US user (so further evidence for the Tor/Orbit theory). Kindle app 8.12.0.59, Android 8.0.0.

7:

For what it's worth, my ancient Kindle Paperwhite 2, running v5.4.0, sees the superscript 9 correctly in the US Kindle version. Good luck!

8:

The UK audiobook has two brief silences in Chapter Four, which have remained after deleting and downloading a fresh copy, and which are mentioned in the reviews.

9:

Google Play Books has '109' in chapter 4.. Orbit.

10:

The "fly anohter 3000" is also in the UK / Orbit hardcover, page 306, paragraph 5.

11:

I have zero input on the audiobooks. And it's vanishingly unlikely they'll be re-cut, because that's expensive (it means paying a voice actor and a studio engineer at union rates, and there's a minimum bound on billable working hours).

12:

10^9 is also correct in Kindle Cloud Reader (again, US user).

13:

FYI the "dick picks" typo also exists in the Kindle edition, location 6474, published by Tor.

14:

From @meyerweb (who was having issues logging into the blog): "The "anohter/another" tracked-change fail is also in the US hardcover, p. 316."

15:

See additional note about not re-reporting mis-spellings already reported on another platform.

Ebook conversion artifacts are noteworthy because they may have crept in through diverse paths, but mis-spellings are universal.

16:

UK Kindle (6" Display, 8th Gen 2016) Orbit; location 838 "At the front of the room sets a podium and an A/V desk." The 109 superscript error also appears in this edition as does the "fly anohter" error.

17:

Orbit ebook edition (bought through Kobo): In the slides in Chapter 4 (Awakenings), Slide 11 has "Launching Project GODMAKER: Requirements" All the other slides say GODWAKER.

All other misspellings are present: 109, dick picks, anohter.

18:

109 sans ^ on the UK iBooks store version too. On both the iPad and iPhone, both running the most up to date versions of iOS (12.1) and books. I've got all the other typos already mentioned too.

There are some that might be stylistic choice but I'd send back if I was proofreading a presentation. e.g. in Slide 11 there is GODWAKER Surface Installation (est. weight: 1000 tons) - I'd put 1,000 tons with a comma. There's a 2000 tons with no comma in the next bullet point so I'm thinking it's a conscious choice.

Also in Slide 11, Deployment of >1Gw of photovoltaic panels to power... should definitely be 1GW with a capital W for the units of power. Sorry, but I was proofreading a Master's thesis when I read this, I was really picky on units.

19:

Confirming lost superscript in Orbit EPUB via Apple. The source has plain "109" with no tags on the "9".

The package file contains <meta name="generator" content="GeeThik"/>, which tells you exactly whither the conversion was outsourced.

20:

Happily these issues don't detract from the audible edition.

Though A Colder War did contain a wrong name.

I loved that story so much I nearly killed myself, but thought it would be a pointless gesture.

As a matter of interest do you choose your readers, or do the publishers do that?

21:

Which is to say, not so much pointless as overly optimistic.

22:

Off-topic, dude. Please desist! This thread is for typos in the current book ONLY.

23:

The 10^9 human sacrifices shows up correctly when I read it on my iPhone and on my PC Kindle App, for what it's worth.

24:

Now that I've dug my old Kindle paperwhite out and opened it up, it shows up as 109 on this version. Guess Amazon's on the hook for this, since they can show superscript letters on the Paperwhite.

25:

It would help if, when checking for the 109 typographical error on Kindle, you could identify whether it's a US or UK purchase of the ebook.

(So far it sounds like it's down to reduced functionality in older Kindle software.)

26:

109 from Orbit on a Kindle Paperwhite 2nd gen running Firmware 5.10.1.1

27:

Well, I found an error. Not so much a typo but a misnomer. In the CLASSIFIED: SECRET NOFORN OPA GODWALKER document pages 124 - 128 in the U.S. edition. The phrase "(Approved unanimously by Congress and the Senate)" appears a few times. In our reality, no U.S. Government document would say that phrase because the Senate is part of Congress. Congress being comprised of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The proper phrase would be "(Approved unanimously by the House and Senate)", although "(Approved unanimously by Congress)" would work just as well.

28:

I’m not certain if this is a typo or a plot element, but at US Kindle location 2160, there are 3 uses of the phrase “Congress and Senate” which would normally be “House and Senate” since the Senate is part of Congress.

29:

Para 2 - The use or otherwise of thousands separators is likely generational and possibly regional. I'm about the same age as OGH and was taught to not use them at school. I've since started to type things like 3000 using "" as the separator, because programming languages. NB, this does reflect a bit on how much of my programming uses significant numbers of digits, like 5 or more on one or both sides of a decimal point in a float.

30:

I would kinda suck to do 109 sacrifices and then the deity one is trying to raise goes: "Well, where is the rest of order!?" /run

31:

US Kindle edition, location 2344: "busy building His nest and incubating His eggs. It's." Should be possessive "Its" instead, no?

32:

Sorry, can't find the page but I recall thinking you'd mixed up MI5 and MI6.

33:

Yes, they are mixed up. MI6 - the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) - is the FCO's intelligence service. MI5 is the Home Secretary's Security Service, and does UK domestic counter-intelligence.

"In the UK, SIS, the Secret Intelligence Service, does the spying stuff; MI6, the Security Service, sticks to counter-espionage and anti-terrorism duty."

Stross, Charles. The Labyrinth Index: A Laundry Files Novel (p. 225). Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition.

34:

Ten to the ninth is in correct numerical format in Apple Books on an iPad (tor edition).

35:

Charlie, Love to help, but Labyrinth Index hasn’t made it to Melbourne yet. Do you have an Australian release date?

36:

UK edition, 1st printing (w/signature from you via Transreal):

p.17, line 12: "haut cuisine" should be "haute cuisine".

p.91: (this might be an intentional thing, though): "Reagan International" does not exist, as Reagan National Airport (DCA) only serves US-destinations (or destinations with US pre-clearance facilities), international flights to Washington DC go either into Dulles International (DCA) or Baltimore-Washington International (BWI). This is for political reasons that are so deeply ingrained in US politics that I doubt an elder God could change them...

I haven't gotten further in the book yet - it's great so far!

37:

UK edition, 1st printing: p.117, middle:

1Gw should be >1GW

(since the symbol for Watt is W, G is just a prefix which does not change the capitalization of the unit symbol)

And if you allow me to put my astronomer's hat on and to be my hyper-anally retentive self, then the proper abbreviation for the Lagrange points is using suffix notation (so the 1 should be a subscript). This is often enough ignored, though, even by people flying space missions to L2...

38:

In Slide 13 of the same presentation, "Enabling Act to permit conscription of any necessary resources" appears twice!

BTW, 10^9 shows correctly on my Kobo Aura One.

39:

UK edition, p. 279, 6th line from the bottom: is "Wictory" Jon's accent or a typo?

40:

UK Kindle version, location 1888: 10^9 displays as 109 on both my Android Kindle reader and Kindle Paperwhite, firmware 5.9.7.

Both copies downloaded today.

41:

The use or otherwise of thousands separators is likely generational and possibly regional...

To make things even more difficult, it can be conditional. I still try to follow the guideline (from some forgotten style manual) that separators become useful at five figures, so that one should write 3000 and 30,000.

I've seen spaces used instead of commas, which strikes me as confusing ("Is that 27 and 381 or 27,381?"), but it's common to see four digit numbers written both with or without commas.

Back to the tyop hnut, yes?

42:

Location 2434 of the US Kindle Edition: "Bolt Bus." I had to look that one up, because I've never seen one of these things. According to Wikipedia, they don't go to or from the destination listed. I'd suggest substituting Greyhound, which does go everywhere and is well known as the lowest price (and status) commercial transportation system.

43:

"hire car" (position 2908 of US Kindle edition): In the US, that would be a rental car.

44:

Australian reader, I don't know if the Australian Kindle store is using the US or UK version sorry, but using the Kindle Reader app for Windows (version 1.24.3) the 109 instead of 10^9 error occurs and it's listed at location 1890, not 2115

45:

Do you have an Australian release date?

I thought it was already out there? (It's in Orbit's territorial rights.)

Is the Kindle ebook edition available in AUS yet? If so, and if paper copies are unavailable, it's possible that they're in a shipping container somewhere on the high seas. (I don't think sales are likely to be high enough to justify a local hardcover print run so they'd be importing UK copies.)

46:

Yes: Jon actually says "wictory!" (Cartoon speech.)

47:

Joern Wilms @ 36: p.91: (this might be an intentional thing, though): "Reagan International" does not exist, as Reagan National Airport (DCA) only serves US-destinations (or destinations with US pre-clearance facilities), international flights to Washington DC go either into Dulles International (DCA) or Baltimore-Washington International (BWI). This is for political reasons that are so deeply ingrained in US politics that I doubt an elder God could change them...

I took that to mean that in the Laundry Universe Congress re-named Dulles instead of Washington National.

48:

Hello Charlie,

I bought the Orbit ebook release in EPUB format from ebooks.com. It says "109 human sacrtifices" regardless of the reader application, the error seems to be in the EPUB file itself.

49:

(Of course, I made a typo myself; that's "sacrifices", the actual error is only with the superscript in 10^9.)

50:

Also not exactly a typo, but there are at least two instances of missing space after a period:

  • at 91% (page 40 of 44), in Chapter 2 (Morning in America): He cleared his throat diplomatically."Problematic. To say the least." - There's no space between "diplomatically." and "Problematic", quite affecting the justification of the paragraph;

  • at 93% (page 41 of 44), same chapter: He took a deep breath, then another, chest rising and falling so fast I began to worry that he was starting to hyperventilate."America. Right. I've never been to America." - There's no space between "hyperventilate." and "America".

51:

I'm sorry if I'm veering off-topic, but just noticed that in Chapter 3, when Mhari and Derek go to Camp Tolkien, Captain Perceval says he'll be outside (20% into the Chapter, page 11 of 49), turns and leaves, locking the door... but continues to take part in the conversation between Mhari, Derek and Yarisol.

I guess just taking out the paragraph that starts ' "I'll be outside," ' up to the sentence 'The door locks behind us and' solves this little conundrum.

Should have remarked earlier that I have the Tor (US) EPUB edition, bought through Kobo.

52:

I guess just taking out the paragraph that starts

Nope, that level of change isn't feasible at this point. (Hint: coordination between multiple publishers in different countries, knock-on effects on typesetting and layout in the eventual paperback release …)

53:

Well, it's certainly normal English (language, including Australian and USian) usage that "$Name International Airport" denotes an airport with its own customs and immigration facilities.

54:

Not a typo, but for some reason, I keep misremembering Arthur Savage as Adam Savage. Was there any authorial intention in that direction, or is just my twisted imagination acting up?

55:

Two items in the Kindle edition (not sure if US or UK - purchased from amazon.com.au):

  • Location 337: "..civil servants who run the most powerful human executive office on the planet. (Ahem: the most powerful human office on the planet.)" Reads like the first 'human' shouldn't be there.
  • Location 979" "emerald-anddiamond" is missing a hyphen.

56:

Interesting, I have no missing hifens in my Tor copy. Both instances of the description of the engagement ring are ok, although the last one reads "diamond-and-emerald".

57:

I reject your reality, and substitute my own!

Or possibly "yes", but only because we're both Mythbusters fans.

58:

s/hifens/hyphens, sorry about my multilingual autocorrect!

59:

The President's name was brainstormed in-process with my editors to avoid triggering any sub-group of my US readers: couldn't go for an African-American or Female POTUS without risking negging reviews from Trumpists, couldn't go with a clear Republican douchebag president without encountering different blowback. So I wrote the manuscript using "George Clooney" when I needed the POTUS's name or appearance, was careful not to specify party allegiance, and finally pinned the tail on the donkey right before copy-edits.

(So no, no "Adam Savage" overtones.)

I will note that writing a novel set in a variant parallel USA during 2017 was a whole lot more … fraught … than it was circa 2001-2008, when I was doing the original Merchant Princes series!

60:

On pp. 48 et seq. of the US print edition, radio station WOCZ was surprising to a reader from Colorado. (Almost every radio station west of the Mississippi river starts with a K, not W. There are a few exceptions, for historical reasons, but it's extremely rare.)

On page 170 of the US print edition, "The metal buckle is blunt-edged so she can't saw at the zip ties with it, and her wrists are pinioned behind her, but if this is a hire car the door latches may still work—" (Gaby seems to be an American, so would think "...if this is a rental..." instead of "...if this is a hire car...".)

On page 225 of the US print edition, "...MI6, the Security Service, sticks to counter-espionage and anti-terrorism duty." (Typo: it should say MI5)

61:

Joe, all those nits have already been identified. (Please check prior comments before adding new bugs?)

62:

Oh well. I liked the idea of a Mythbuster in office, especially with the way the blowoff worked.

In any case, given Reagan, Schwarznegger, and Eastwood (movie stars turned to politics), I'd say that the general correlation is Republican, not that it matters in the story.

63:

I hesitated to point out the W- vs K- radio station call letters problem because I thought it might be caused by history changing.

64:

It's caused by me not wanting to risk being shouted at by lawyers employed by a radio station. (It's a variant on the "X has a really tiny penis" libel defense.)

65:

Somewhat subjective nits, UK 4th gen Kindle Location 273 of 5662: favor vs favour in "doing them a favor"

Location 298: Previously referred to as "Peers' dining room" referred to as "Lords' dining room"

Both of these are subjective and can be blamed on the narrator.

66:

My books are edited in American English, so no changes to spelling for o/ou. British readers can cope with American spelling (unless they're schoolkids reading an official English curriculum text, or as a class assignment, in which case English spelling is important). I get about one complaint about US spelling per 5-10,000 (adult) UK book sales: I'm not about to create an additional rod for my back and ask for an extra round of copy editing/proofreading!

67:

The 109 instead of 10^9 typo is present in the audiobook (Recorded Books via Audible, narrated by Bianca Amato, at the 4:31:26 mark). It did seem a bit peculiar that 109 directed human sacrifices are considered "costly".

68:

I'd guess that this means that the typo was present in whatever source text Bianca had. If I saw 10^9 in a text I was reading aloud I'd (personally) say "10 billion", or ask what was meant.

69:

10^9 just looks like 109 on my Kobo Aura One, book purchased and downloaded from Kobo store. So hmm.

70:

my kobo aura one has software 4.10.11655. uk kobo store used

71:

Good (checks clock) evening! Yes, still! Just finished 'The L-Index', just smashing! Won't bore you with accolades (I left a long review on goodreads) so here's what I noted in terms of 'errors': Downloaded via Google Play app, published by Hachette UK, ISBN 9780356511078 NOTE: I have screen-captured each of these so if need be, I can forward same to an address of your choosing:

  • p.65 "I'm wearing an antique Tiffany emerald-anddiamond engagement ring..." No hyphen between 'and' and 'diamond'.
  • p. 140 "...just a higher-thanbackground level of decay..." Again, lack of hyphen between 'than' and 'background' (assuming this is not just English English vs. my own dialect).
  • p. 317 "I've got you what you need, bitch"... ok, it's a rape scene but is that right? (I would delete the first 'you')
  • p.366 "... but I his paydirt with number five, another Minervois.' HIT instead of HIS.

Sorry for any repeats. Really though, compared to most books that cross my screen, very little to note or correct! Cheers!

72:

U.S. hardcover page 86 top line:

"The elven waifu with fangs looks at me properly for the first time"

I assume you meant elven WAIF. On the off chance waifu might be hentai comics slang I checked a Chinese dictionary that said waifu means grain husk or ointment application, so it's got to be a typo.

73:

typo on US hardcover page 100 just below mid-page:

"the heads of a maintenance crew member just visible in the flight deck"

could have been intended as "the head of a maintenance crew member" or "the heads of maintenance crew members", but I'm sure an explanation would have been offered if literally meant as printed. Like, "introducing our mutant squad of doubly observant workers, code name BEEEBLEBROX."

74:

The elven waifu with fangs

Oh, waifu has a meaning just not one that makes sense in that context from what I can tell. "but I love aaargh..."

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Waifu

75:

Likewise : Orbit, Android 8, Kindle 8.12.0.59 has 109. Found 109 as a search string, so more likely a content than rendering issue

76:

page numbers of UK hardcover edition. I reported these on the earlier post but am repeating the ones here which seem small enough to count as "typos" and which nobody has already mentioned, so they're in one place.

p. 118: Slide 13 has a duplicated bullet point (Enabling Act).

p. 70 vs p. 137: There's some confusion over the location of Camp Tolkein: Dartmoor (page 70) or Salisbury Plain (page 137). The two are in different counties and over 100 miles apart.

p. 154, opening para of chapter 6, we're in Gilbert's POV but he thinks of the OPA as "Nazgûl". Seems wrong: should be "the OPA"?

pp 320-321: 302 Heavy turns northwest after the pickup. But then "in just twenty minutes they've flown halfway to New York ... up the eastern seaboard". Not flying northwest then. Should be "northeast"?

p. 342: "with Brains, [...] Jon, [...]and Janice. Those two I can feel but not control.". Should be "three", not "two"?

77:

I can't work out page numbering in the ebook edition. When I read the book in Calibre I get totally different numbers from when I read the same book on my ebook reader (a PocketBook). So which one is correct?

Anyway, instead of giving numbers I've copied the relevant paragraphs in toto, so you can search for them:

So I recount my meeting with His Darkness to Fuckboy. And then I tell him, “He wants me to lead the new agency, and I kind of get why. But it feels like I’m being set up to fail. Leading a team of politically unreliable agents—his term for them, not mine—and the secondary goal, that’s a suicide mission, isn’t it?” He sighs heavily. “It’s bloody ambitious, at a minimum.” He falls silent for a few seconds, processing. “And I don’t get why he should want you to go out, on-site. Unless there’s some elaborate double-bluff in train whereby he’s setting you up to be compromised and leak information all over the oppo . . .” He hugs me, as if he can hold fate at bay. “This is why cops shouldn’t play spy games,” he adds. “I like working within a chain of command that gets held to account if it plays fast and loose with the rules. At least, in theory.” A pause. “Should you be telling me this?”

Usually Mhari capitalizes the personal pronoun when she talks or writes about the PM. I have marked the instances in the above paragraph where the capitalization is missing. Two of the three instances, though, are from the mouth of 'Fuckboy' who may have different habits. However, throughout the book capitalization seems to be the norm, so I suppose all non-capitalized instances are typos.

“You’re welcome.” He continued: “But they’re nothing if not persistent, and now they’re trying again. This time, they plan to use a computational brute-force attack. They’re preparing to build a gigantic swarm of orbital solar-powered processors so huge it’ll eventually eclipse the sun: a thing called a Matrioshka brain. Brute forcing the solution is inefficient, so their hypercomputer has to be really big to run cthulhu.exe. When I say big, they’re planning to dismantle entire asteroids and planets for construction materials. Eventually they may dismantle the Earth, although I suppose Blue Hades and Deep Six might express reservations on that account.”

I wonder why nobody seems to have noticed this glaring error yet, which stood out to me like a sore thumb. It's DEEP SEVEN, not Six. Also, usually I'd expect the code names for the deep ones to be in all-caps. Thus it should be BLUE HADES and DEEP SEVEN.

78:

U.S.hardcover p.197 halfway down, "the prospect of a Tupolev 160 dropping round for poutine is less preposterous than the truth." Unclear if you meant for routine or for Putin, either might fit.

79:

I read that as relating to poutine, though I suppose I was scratching my head as (by memory) this is referring to DC rather than Montreal. Specifically it had me wondering whether Washington is known for that, too.

80:

Not exactly a typo, but a linguistic issue. In the American hardback edition, bottom of page 58, one of the Secret Service agents says, "Let's get this lot stored."

That's not the way an American would phrase things. We'd say, "Let's put this stuff away."

81:

@78: IMHO they're "dropping round for a snack" (google poutine).

82:

Sorry, that's the second-to-last paragraph on the page.

83:

Several issues, not exactly typos, but stuff that made me take notice. I gather you can make any change that doesn't alter the layout, so perhaps some of these can be patched:

Page 347, line 7.

"...there are a couple explanations missing from this account. One is the minor detail that when Derek said "east" Jim told the pilots to fly west."

This is never actually explained. I did understand the Mhari changed the directions, but this is explained on page 292 if the reader is paying attention.

Page 166, line 19.

"Can you point me towards the exit? I'm lost.

This doesn't work after the explanation about Derek's weird map reading abilities on line 149. And for the same reason, it isn't funny. Perhaps Derek can ask for something else?

Lastly, and I can't find the page after several minutes of searching, but you'll find it easily by searching for "395" in your manuscript, but there is both and "Interstate 395" and a "U.S. Route 395." The Interstate is on the east coast, the U.S. Route is on the west coast. Either way, as a reader on the U.S. West coast, the numbering threw me out of the book, so if you can find an appropriate-length street name to substitute for "Interstate 395" you'll definitely improve the book.

84:

UK hardback, page 85, end of top paragraph: right quotes at end of second-last sentence should be left quotes at start of last sentence.

I nudge Jim: “They're PHANGs-but not ours. Don't make eye contact,” I hiss. They're scanning the crowd, looking for a certain type of trouble.” Let's get out of here. Don't run, and don't, whatever you do, power up.”

85:

UK hardback, page 85, end of top paragraph: right quotes at end of second-last sentence should be left quotes at start of last sentence.

I nudge Jim: “They're PHANGs-but not ours. Don't make eye contact,” I hiss. They're scanning the crowd, looking for a certain type of trouble.” Let's get out of here. Don't run, and don't, whatever you do, power up.”

86:

I purchased the EPUB 2 from Kobo, imprint Orbit, and opened it with calibre 3.33.1:

This ebook has a proper sup(erscript) definition in the stylesheet.css, but the tags are missing for the number of human sacrifices in chapter 4. All footnote indices, on the other hand, are tagged properly and show in superscript.

Thus I'd say this isn't a conversion, meaning software related problem. Rather someone suspected an error and helpfully edited the text.

87:

So you probably have the UK (Orbit) edition, right? I have the Tor (US) edition.

As OGH explained in #5, the book is first edited by Tor and an EPUB generated; afterwards the EPUB from Orbit is generated separately. Guess that explains the difference.

Interestingly, searching for "109" in the e-reader does find the 10^9, but the superscript formatting is clearly visible.

88:

109 versus 10⁹... fight!

89:

Keith: waifu is a term of art in Japanese manga, not Chinese media.

Also, how do you not know of poutine?!?

90:

I suspect this is deliberate rather than a typo. I think "dice" is used as a singular several times. If this was not deliberate, I can provide page refs.

91:

Well, it's technically wrong in that "dice" is formally a plural (singular die, but you knew that), but it's also common (mis)usage.

92:

Poutine are chili-cheese fries, compiled using the Canadian values for chili.

93:

US hardback edition, page 227: Dr. Armstrong mentions "Deep Six", seeming to refer to DEEP SEVEN. His references to BLUE HADES in this chapter are also mixed-case, dunno if any of this is deliberate or not.

94:

@81 posts a link showing it, seemed kind of heavy on the grease. I suspect that within ten minutes I'd be 'poutine' to beat the band, not that that's necessarily a deal breaker if it tastes decent. Certainly the rice/corn/bean/spinach/onion/chicken broth/meatball combination I fixed an hour ago also looked disgusting but made a satisfying meal nonetheless. And remarkably free of side effects. Can't remember which character in what book or movie said it, but they claimed the best food and drink always looks the worst, citing beer and chocolate as examples.

96:

Not really a typo, but a nitpick.

Mhari chooses Tawny port when benefiting from the cellars of the Lord's dining room. I think she would more likely choose Vintage. Tawny is produced in larger quantities, and matured at the warehouse. Vintage is only made in good years (perhaps 1 in 3), is very long lived, and takes years to mature - the 1963 vintage is supposed to be still improving. As a result, few places can offer vintage port at its peak.

97:

I'm rereading the book now, and have found a couple more typos which I'll disgorge when the book is not in my car. However, my impression is that the (U.S. edition at least) was horribly copy-edited.

98:

I think you may be assuming more of the Westminster cellars than they can provide. A look at the HoC stock indicates that LBV is an option, but old vintages not. As for the HoL: this PDF shows a single port, a non vintage at £30 per bottle.

Having (once) experienced the HoL wine list, I'd expect the actual wines to be well chosen and well kept, but far less exclusive than at a top restaurant (such as at Cliveden — that wine list was breathtaking and very, very scary). The dining room is in a way their equivalent of the works canteen.

You're probably better off at my old college, whose cellars do (or did, the time I had a chance to go round them) hold wonderfully ancient ports and such, complete with tags saying from where and for how much the bottles were bought. You could get a lot for 10 bob back in 1960.

There's also the issue that a tawny port is less ... sanguinous ... than a vintage style. This may be of some importance to a PHANG.

99:

Page 360, US hardcover: Wedgwood China is spelled without a middle E (as we are reminded in my grandfather’s lamentably obscure work Wedgwood ABC - But Not Middle E).

Wedgewood stoves are spelled with the middle E.

100:

Not so much a typo as a physics glitch - TOR hardback, page 127:

[Slide 11]

Lunar space elevator (Project Moonstalk) goes from the lunar south pole to L1.

The Lunar South Pole is ~88 degrees away from the closest point on the lunar surface to L1.

I'm not sure what crater is at 0.0 degrees of latitude+longitude on the moon, but that would be the base of a moonstalk held up by tension rather than an enormous tower.

101:

Agreed, with the note that my issue is about the LaGrange point. Polar (for pole of rotation) beanstalks work as well as equatorial ones, subject to resolving issues about down-well climate, which I think we've done with an airless satellite!

Also, I'm not sure why you feel there is a constraint to place the down-well terminal at 0.0 Longitude?

102:

I'm unsure how a polar beanstalk could ever work. Beanstalks do after all rely on having a counterweight so far away that wants to fly away. Or are you thinking of a beanstalk that starts out horizontally at its base?

If you're looking at a lunar beanstalk that extends from the surface out through L1, then you probably want to start on the equator below the L1 point. I suspect that the lunar prime meridian is directly below that. So, 0/0, yes?

103:

US Kindle first edition, Tor.com.

At location 4898, there's an extra space after a hyphen: "Ahead of us, stop- lights suddenly turn".

At location 6255, this sentence could really use a comma before "then": "My diplomatic passport helped cool things down then Iris arrived, led us […]".

104:

After considerable thought:- 1) A "polar beanstalk" is technically a tower rather than a cable, since it has to support its mass out to a 0g range. 2) A Lagrange Point is a fixed point relative to the centres of two bodies where the gravitational perturbation of both is 0. Beanstalks are normally discussed in terms of top station being geostationary relative to the body served. 3) Which leads me to the realisation that you actually could build a beanstalk with top station at L1 for the system, and indeed, in the case of the Earth-Moon system, bottom stations in both gravity wells! 4) This does not apply to L2 through L5.

101 is withdrawn.
105:

For the moon, you can (allowing for suitable materials) hang down from L1, as the Moon doesn't rotate relative to it1. For the Earth endpoint, that's going to be tricker as the planet does rotate.

Which means that you want the Earth end mounted on tracks3. It'll be doing about Mach 1.4, but I'm sure that's doable2. It could be self-powered, since it's being dragged along by the Moon, so you could extract power from the Earth's rotation.

Hmm.

1 The Moon's Prime Meridian is indeed directly below L1

2 I wouldn't want to live anywhere near, mind. The sonic boom from the cable and ground station would be audible for a very very long way

3 If you leave that station in the stratosphere the boom wouldn't be so bad, and you'd save on the tracks.4

4 Oh crap - there's about 40,000 km orbital eccentricity to soak up too.

106:

Late to the party as usual. I see Tian @84/85 already posted what I spotted last night, except they got the page wrong, it’s on pg.95

107:

Crap, just spotted they said UK hardback, I’m talking about the US one.

108:

I see Tian @84/85 already posted what I spotted last night, except they got the page wrong, it’s on pg.95

I saw the same thing, messed up quotation marks, American Edition, page 95.

109:

US Kobo edition, chapter 11:

"I speak eloquently if painfully (Old Enochian was not designed for human vocal chords), uttering words the Prime Minister embedded in my mind during our last meeting"

"Vocal chords" (sounds made by close harmony singing groups, at least up until King Brian the Wild gets hold of them) should be "vocal cords" (flappy buzzy things in your neck).

110:

I’m guessing that the UK edition pagination starts with pg.1, but it and the US editions are printed from the same file, so otherwise the same.

Meanwhile, PP slide 1 has me wondering what happened in 1929 to cause the creation of the OPA? Or am I forgetting something from an earlier book (or haven’t gotten to it yet).

111:

The US Hardcover Tor edition, page 46: "Gilbert slumps.... [italic:]Stayed home and offered to take Mrs. Parker's pug for walkies."

As a current resident of the US, I recognize "for walkies" as predominantly a British term for what most American-dialect speakers phrase as "for his/her/their walk."

It is certainly a smooth, worthy sentence as is, with its tiny element for confusing some Yanks.

[Perhaps Gilbert is 'North Atlantic' in his background, family, or usage-persuasion, or perhaps Mrs. Parker hails from the Isles and is gracefully accommodating even under pressure.]

112:

RE: page 46, US hardcover Tor edition

my own typo!

[Perhaps Gilbert is 'North Atlantic' in his background, family, or usage-persuasion, or perhaps Mrs. Parker hails from the Isles and Parker is gracefully accommodating even under pressure.]

113:

"...fly anohter 3000 fly another 3000..." has been noted in the US Kindle edition. This also appears in the US hardcover, page 317, 12th line from the bottom.

114:

Not a typo per se, but a beanstalk from L1 to the South Pole? Centre of the hemisphere in line with Earth Moon axis, surely?

I don't think this is a spoiler, it is incidental.

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