# Have you ever read the serial before reading the book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776 "2018-02-28T20:41:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/1 "2018-02-28T20:41:57Z")
When I was a teen back in 1970 one of my favorite magazines was _Galaxy_, and from July to December of that year they serialized Heinlein’s “I Will Fear No Evil” before it was published in hardback in December of that year. Have any of you read a novel in serial form before reading it in hard(or paper)back? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/2 "2018-02-28T20:53:26Z")
I have read plenty of serialized novels but don’t always encounter the book form later. The science fiction magazines did this often. Lathe of Heaven of was serialized in one of them (Analog?). I also read Falling Angel (the movie Angel Heart was based on it) in serial form in Playboy. I ran across the book years later, not sure I finished the re-read. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/3 "2018-02-28T21:16:45Z")
In the 90s Stephen King released The Green Mile in serial form which spawned a mini trend. One copy cat was Star Trek. I read a lot of Star Trek books at the time (still do but not as many) and they released a few Novels in the form of serial where one chapter would be in the back of another book. Eventually they would combine them into a single Novel and release that too. One such story was Star Fleet Year One which ended up getting over written with Enterprise when that came out. I think they did one more before giving up. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/4 "2018-02-28T21:22:29Z")
Do webcomics count? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/5 "2018-02-28T21:27:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Do webcomics count? In what way? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/6 "2018-02-28T21:56:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > When I was a teen back in 1970 one of my favorite magazines was _Galaxy_, and from July to December of that year they serialized Heinlein’s “I Will Fear No Evil” before it was published in hardback in December of that year. > Have any of you read a novel in serial form before reading it in hard(or paper)back? I read “Count Zero” in Asimovs in serial form, and then later in paperback; I’ve done that with a few other novels too (“Triggers” by Sawyer and “Moonstruck” by Lerner, at least). I read “Vacuum Flowers” in serial in Asimovs a long time back, and may reread it this year, since I picked it up in a ebook bundle last year. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/7 "2018-02-28T22:06:31Z")
Webcomics are a form of serial, and they sometimes get compiled into books. If you read the strips online, then buy the book and re-read them on paper, does that count as “reading a serial and then the book”? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/8 "2018-02-28T22:16:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Webcomics are a form of serial, and they sometimes get compiled into books. If you read the strips online, then buy the book and re-read them on paper, does that count as “reading a serial and then the book”? I think not. A serialized book is intended to promote the book itself, which is almost always published soon after, and is usually a complete story(albeit often abridged) story. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/9 "2018-02-28T23:07:51Z")
I ready _Emphyrio_ by Jack Vance in serial form. Haven’t reread it, but since I’m going through Vance’s novels, I might read it again. Note: The final installment came out in June, just before the English Regents Exam.\* I finished it, so when I took the test, I was able to write an analysis of the book as part of the exam. I was amused that I was writing about a book that the teacher had never heard of, but which I could produce if I had to. \*NYS has a system of statewide exams. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/10 "2018-02-28T23:40:16Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > In the 90s Stephen King released The Green Mile in serial form which spawned a mini trend. I read the Green Mile in serial form. I never bought it as a book(I see they did eventually release it that way). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/11 "2018-02-28T23:45:35Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I read the Green Mile in serial form. I never bought it as a book(I see they did eventually release it that way). I bought the Green Mile in serial form, too. I believe it was released in six monthly installments, if I recall correctly. I don’t remember buying the entire novel when that was released. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/12 "2018-02-28T23:54:22Z")
Yes. I have been reading novellas by Ilona Andrews that she releases serially in pieces every Friday. She then assembles, edits, and releases as a book. I read the book forms too. They are usually slightly different. Grace Draven did something similar, but she has stopped. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/13 "2018-03-01T00:54:57Z")
I read Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities” as a serial in “Rolling Stone,” and later as a novel. But the novel was quite different from the serial, as it turned out. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/14 "2018-03-01T03:42:54Z")
_Analog_ used to do this all the time. It was a regular section. Three examples off the top of my head: Vernor Vinge’s _The Peace War_ Jerry Pournelle’s \* A Spaceship for the King\* (released in a slightly different version as a book, _King David’s Spaceship_) Larry Niven’s _The Smoke Ring_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/15 "2018-03-01T03:59:18Z")
The first novel by Lois McMaster Bujold’s that I read was _Falling Free_ when it was serialized in _Analog_. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/16 "2018-03-01T12:38:54Z")
I read the 1st two installments of **Rudy Rucker** ’s _Spacetime Donuts_ in the short-lived Unearth magazine, but it folded before the final part appeared. Bah! Had to wait two years before it came out in paperback and I could finish it! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/17 "2018-03-01T13:15:07Z")
I read Frank Herbert’s _Children of Dune_ as it was being serialized in _Analog_ I, too, read _Falling Angel_ in _Playboy_ – but it wasn’t serialized, only an excerpt (They similarly excerpted Herbert’s _God-Emperor of Dune_, which I read there before I read the whole novel). Years later, when I saw the movie _Angel Heart_ I was struck with a sudden sense of _deja vu_. It was some time before I realized it was because I’d already read the story, under a different title. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/18 "2018-03-01T13:41:55Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I read Frank Herbert’s _Children of Dune_ as it was being serialized in _Analog_ > I, too, read _Falling Angel_ in _Playboy_ – but it wasn’t serialized, only an excerpt (They similarly excerpted Herbert’s _God-Emperor of Dune_, which I read there before I read the whole novel). Years later, when I saw the movie _Angel Heart_ I was struck with a sudden sense of _deja vu_. It was some time before I realized it was because I’d already read the story, under a different title. Something like that happened to me - I read “Which Way to the Ends of Time?” in an issue of Analog I happened to get a copy of, and about a year later when I read “A Greater Infinity” the story started to feel very familiar, because “Which Way” is the last portion of “A Greater Infinity” (not explicitly a serial; “A Greater Infinity” is composed of three connected stories though). ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/19 "2018-03-01T14:05:21Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I read Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities” as a serial in “Rolling Stone,” and later as a novel. > > But the novel was quite different from the serial, as it turned out. Same thing with Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972.” Both were serialized in “Rolling Stone,” and I read them there first. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776/20 "2018-03-01T14:56:52Z")
I’ve only ever read the serialized versions of _The Stars My Destination_ and _Wolfbane_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-read-the-serial-before-reading-the-book/809776.md?page=2)