"Don't talk to me about spoilers. Winter has been coming for -- "Oh, well maybe I shouldn't go quoting the Axis of Awesome. Not on a family blog, eh? The point is that after thirty-one years The Walls of Spyte, fifth and final book in the Blood Sword series, is back in print thanks to two hundred and fifty stalwart Kickstarter backers. (You know who you are, and thank you.)
A by-blow of the campaign was the Blood Sword Battle Boards, a large-format book collecting all the combat encounters from the series. Fat? It makes Jamie look like Ebony Maw. (By the way don't you think that sounds like the name of a '70s Motown singer? Not Jamie, I mean. The other one.)
All those unstintingly beneficent backers whose pledges funded the re-editing of the book have now got their exclusive, full-colour, hardcover, collector's-edition copies of The Walls of Spyte, but if you missed the campaign don't go pledging your soul to the nethermost darkness just yet. A paperback edition is available and it's every bit as good as the hardcover except for little details like colour, durability, signatures, things like that. But you do still get Russ's matchlessly brilliant art and the opportunity to complete the epic Blood Sword quest there in the steaming, sulphurous heart of the Cauldron on the last day of Creation.
Just ordered the paperback. Should be getting it Sunday or Monday. BTW, is something wrong with FL store? It listed the series titles but didn't give any way of buying the books.
ReplyDeleteThat's strange. The links are working fine for me -- they take me straight through to Amazon. Can anybody else confirm whether it is/isn't working?
DeleteI've noticed this too. If I access the store on my desktop computer the little Amazon widgets load for a second, give an error and then disappear. They do work when I access the store on my mobile however. If it's useful I can take a screenshot.
DeleteNope, even after clearing my cache, etc it still just lists the series titles and not even the individual book titles. Just "Blood Swrd" "Fabled Lands" etc. I ordered the book from Amazon but I couldn't do it here.
DeleteI have tried in any way to purchase these books (I already own - legally - the French version) but I have heard that Amazon is leading a war against some book companies and "omits" to display the "purchase button" for its own strategy of smothering them.
ReplyDeleteIt's a mystery to me. I've tried looking at the page on several different PCs and on a iPad for good measure. I see a tab with the book title, cover image, and price, and when I click (or tap) on that I get taken to Amazon.
ReplyDeleteIs anybody out there a web coder who can explain why it's not working for some folks?
Solved. It was Adblock deciding that Amazon links are adverts and should be blocked. I have whitelisted the site and all widgets are working correctly. The links were working on my mobile phone because I do not use an adblocker on phone.
DeleteIf there are others who are having issues with store widgets not appearing, and you are using an adblocker with your browser, whitelist the site!
Phew. Thanks for solving that. I'll add a note to the store page
DeleteHey Dave. I ordered the book from amazon.co.uk (following the link provided on your blog). One thing that I find weird is that the ordering page says "Usually dispatched within 1 to 2 months". I would not have expected such a long delay for a new book. Do you know if this is mistake from Amazon ?
ReplyDeleteIt's deliberate on the part of Amazon. The book is print on demand, supplied by Ingram Spark who are a rival POD company to Amazon's own KDP. Consequently Amazon present a worst-case scenario in order (presumably) to dissuade customers from buying POD books from Ingram Spark and thus incentivize publishers to set their books up on KDP instead. In fact you'll probably get your book within a few days (Ingram Spark are prompt, and their print quality is better than KDP's) but I'm aware it is putting people off buying the book so I've now had to give in and set it up on KDP. Anyone ordering from Amazon in future will get the KDP edition; anyone ordering from another bookstore will get the Ingram Spark edition.
DeleteThank you for your prompt reply Dave. Just for your information, I had an email from amazon this morning saying that my order would be sent earlier than previously expected and that it would probably be delivered by the end of the week. I was not deterred from ordering from Amazon in the first place as I thought that it had to be a mistake (and I would have ordered from them anyway whatever the delivery time), but I understand how it could put off potential customers.
ReplyDeleteJust got my copy Tuesday. Also, disabling the Adblock let the store show up fine for me as well so all is good here.
ReplyDelete