Hippocampus Press is not a "they", it is a "he", and I'm pretty sure Derrick must be swamped. Wait a couple of days and then drop him another line, is my suggestion.

I pre-ordered it as soon as it was announced and it still hasn't arrived. I'm in PA. I've also written Hippocampus in the last several weeks and they have also ignored my emails.

Mike you are not alone in your frustration!

It is available via Amazon right now, which would put it in my hands today if I had not ordered via the publisher. I will be reconsidering any future pre-orders with Hippocampus. As you can tell I am also frustrated!

Take care,

Michael

Derrick only received copies at the very end of September (S.T. had only received his copies the day before the HPLFF). It has already been pointed out that Derrick is a one-man operation. I would point out that even if Derrick mailed your copy the same day that he received them from the printer, the USPS can take up to 30 days to deliver a media mail package from NY to NorCal (I'm in the Sacramento area). Yes, they will usually deliver packages much sooner than that, but that's what they tell you when you complain about non-receipt.

Simple lesson: Avoid pre-orders from small presses if your aim is to receive your merchandise as soon as possible.

Ordered mine a year and a day ago (10/19/2009) and have received no answer to the query I sent 11 days ago or the one I sent last weekend. I know Derrick has not had these in his hands for too long, but it is a bit frustrating to see on his website that most of the first 350 copies are already gone, and have no idea when your own copy will appear.

I have to second this. It's not the delay in shipping that bothers me (I get most things by media mail and know they can be delayed). It's the complete lack of response, which is both rude and unprofessional. I teach, and am swamped by emails from my students all the time -- but I answer them, because that's a facet of my job. If I send someone $100 upfront, in good faith that the book will be delivered, I expect that a polite enquiry about its status will be answered. And for precisely the reason that Jim states: this is a limited edition, and if it is lost one wants to address that before it goes out of print. Consumers are not whining; they would like to know what has happened with their substantial, up-front investment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 20 Oct 10 | 07:35PM by MTS.

mfoight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> It is available via Amazon right now, which would
> put it in my hands today if I had not ordered via
> the publisher. I will be reconsidering any future
> pre-orders with Hippocampus. As you can tell I am
> also frustrated!
>

According to Amazon it "usually ships in 1 to 2 months". I wouldn't call that "available right now".

Martinus you are correct as of 2 am on the 21st. However on the prior afternoon, the 20th, Amazon had copies in stock which were available "right now". Several folks ordered those copies and Amazon had now backordered the title, hence the 1 to 2 month message.

Still right now (5:53 October 21st) copies are available via Amazon 3d party sellers; perhaps they too will be soon sold and unavailable.

And as of 5:55 today, still no reply from Hippocampus from my order status inquiries.

I would like to echo MTS's comments about non-existent publisher communications.

Ah yes, I realised that later. *blush*

Received a nice update from Derrick early this morning apologizing for the delay and not replying sooner. Swamped with orders, and mine will be shipped this coming week. The warming on the site refers to copies "spoken for", not those shipped.

Jim

I received a similar email today, and am relieved.

It still boggles my mind that Joshi could not (or did not try to) get a university press to publish this full-scale biography of Lovecraft, instead of a small-time player such as Hippocampus. Granted, if an academic imprint had published the biography, the price would still be absurd, but at least the print run, though small, would not be "limited" . More important, there would be better than the proverbial snowball's chance in Hell that public and academic libraries would purchase the book, make it available, and preserve it. Ah, well....

Absquatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It still boggles my mind that Joshi could not (or
> did not try to) get a university press to publish
> this full-scale biography of Lovecraft, instead of
> a small-time player such as Hippocampus. Granted,
> if an academic imprint had published the
> biography, the price would still be absurd, but at
> least the print run, though small, would not be
> "limited" . More important, there would be better
> than the proverbial snowball's chance in Hell that
> public and academic libraries would purchase the
> book, make it available, and preserve it. Ah,
> well....

As you may or may not be aware, university presses do not typically pay their authors anything. Not that I imagine he will become wealthy from whatever deal he has with Hippocampus, of course---but I think that sort of thing makes a difference for people who do not have an academic job that pays them to do research. I could make additional remarks on whether it really is a good idea for scholarship of this nature to be undertaken by amateurs rather than academics, but I have found that my ideas do not go down well with pulp fandom, where a sort of anti-establishment, grass-roots attitude is cultivated. As I wish to be friends with everybody, I shall therefore leave it at that.

Yes, that's a good point, about Joshi's cut of the proceeds, which is likely to be higher via Hippocampus. On the other hand, academic publishing credits bring rewards of a less tangible, but more lasting, nature. That's Joshi's right to choose, of course, but most of us are the worse for his choice (if it truly be his choice).

Regarding the merits of fandom versus professionalism in publishing: I have, as you may recall, been quite vocal here in favor of the latter, popularity be damned. I have no popularity here, anyway, so I have nothing to lose. ;-)

Joshi has already had an academic publication of the HPL bio: H.P. LOVECRAFT: A DREAMER AND A VISIONARY, from Liverpool University Press. He has tried since the 1990s to locate an academic publisher for the unabridged product; the Hippocampus edition merely reflects the economic reality that a "mainstream" publisher thinks that it can't justify economically its publication.