Martinus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The English Assassin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hmmmm... I wonder what a reasonably priced book
> by
> > CP will cost? I'm guessing it'll still be
> > approximately $100 or more... which equates to
> > £75+ this side of the pond once shipping is
> > accounted for... Maybe less if it's available
> via
> > amazon, but that's not always the case with the
> > small presses...
>
> Their ed. of the Wandrei novels will be $75, I
> think, and their ed. of Leiber's Our Lady of
> Darkness will be $65. They also have preorder
> deals fairly often.

Well, that's not sooooo bad, I suppose... I don't know who I'm kidding - it's not as if I'm not going to buy it...

EDIT: My copy of Misc. Writtings has just arrived... First impressions are: that cover just puts a big smile on my face...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 25 Nov 11 | 07:27AM by The English Assassin.

asshurbanipal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amazon have theirs? Then all advance orders from
> Night Shade Books should be with us before
> Christmas. Yes? No? Yes?

NSB sez that they will start shipping preorders the first week of December.

I'm amazed that Amazon have the cover art for CAS plus a release date of December 6th. The Night Shade site has nothing about the book at all, not even a thumbnail of the cover. I've tried dropping them a line, but it's like sending a message to the wireless operator on board RMS Titanic and getting only an eerie silence.

asshurbanipal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm amazed that Amazon have the cover art for CAS
> plus a release date of December 6th. The Night
> Shade site has nothing about the book at all, not
> even a thumbnail of the cover. I've tried dropping
> them a line, but it's like sending a message to
> the wireless operator on board RMS Titanic and
> getting only an eerie silence.

I got a reply to my query. See above.

Hi Martinus
Thanks for the info. Sigh, guess NSB just don't like me. Maybe that crack about tea got to them. Merry Christmas to all.

Festive greetings to one and all. I just wondered if anybody has received Miscellaneous Writings from Night Shade Books direct, as opposed to via Amazon.

No. And I cannot honestly say that I am very excited about the book either. I am not particularly interested in what Smith, or indeed anyone else, wrote at the age of 10.

Jojo Lapin X Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No. And I cannot honestly say that I am very
> excited about the book either. I am not
> particularly interested in what Smith, or indeed
> anyone else, wrote at the age of 10.

Then you will be happy to know that no such text is included.

No one I know who ordered the book directly from Night Shade, whether through the initial subscription offer or a later order, has yet seen their copy.

At a glance, the earliest things included were from when he was 17 or so, and by that time he was already writing some amazing verse and very well constructed -- if not particularly fantastic -- prose.

As for the question about receiving it... I am one of those who subscribed to the original series and no, I haven't received it at this point; but they generally get to me within a month or so of release and, it being this time of year....

I received mine from Amazon today. I wonder why they didn't have the dust jacket match the five volume set. Looks pretty nice at any rate.

How different does this volume look compared to the set?

I asked NSB again, and due to a manpower issue the delivery of the book to subscribers has been delayed till January. :(

That's really rubbish that those who subscribed get their copy a month or so after the rest of us have put it on the shelf after reading it. I thnk NSB have treated subscribers terribly!

If this vol doesn't excite, then it shouldn't be bought, it's as simple as that - unless you are a completest... So stop moaning. It's there if you want it, if not...

Personally, I loved it. No, it's probably not all essential, but the inclusion of Infernal Star and the Dead will Cuckold You, along with his 'ironic' tales make it a great buy. Maybe if I'd already read Infernal and Cuckold I might feel differently, as I can take of leave his 'Indian' tales (bar one). The alt version of 'Hashish Eater' is also a nice inclusion. Also, although I've read it before, it is always a pleasure to re-read the 'Sorcerer Departs.' A truly beautiful essay.

My only complaint would be that I'd argue that both Infernal and Cuckold are so good that they really deserve to be included in the Collected Fantasies rather than sidelined into this companion edition. Okay, one's incomplete and the other is a play, but to my mind both represent CAS at his very best! Certainly any 'greatest hits' or 'selected works' worth its salt has to include both (along with the best of his verse).

I do have a question for Scott & Ron or any other CAS scholar here who knows: is their any clue as to how Infernal Star might have ended?

Also, has no one been tempted to have a go at completing the tale themselves? And if so, just for fun, which author does anyone think could achieve the best results? Gene Wolff, maybe? Jack Vance might have been good...

Also, at the risk of appearing a little foolish, why are his 'ironic' tales called so? Is it because they are ironic in their rhetoric technique or because there is a certain poetic irony to the just deserts dished out in the narrative or is it a reference to romantic irony: that CAS's attitude to them and the genre was ironic as he considered the genre to be in inferior? Or a mix of all three? As I think they all could apply... Did CAS Christen them 'tales of irony' or did that come later?

January? Figures.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 15 Dec 11 | 05:28AM by asshurbanipal.