I first asked Mr. Grant himself for such a book back in the 1980s, and I am sure Ron must be even more frustrated over the books continued delay than I am.

Is there ANYthing we can do to convince those currently running operations at this publishing house to move this project forward? 'Zounds! Smith's glaciers move with greater celerity!

Jim

We're working on it, Jim. Like the mentats say on Dune, "plans within plans." :) Best, Scott

Thank you, Scott. The reply I just received from Kellee Larson after writing DG again this week looked encouraging. In the past I have either received no reply, or a noncommittal, "We are working on it."

Jim

It might be a good idea if more people wrote DG and asked about THE AVEROIGNE CHRONICLES. It would let them know that CAS does have a sizeable audience out there.
Best,
Scott.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 7 Feb 04 | 08:09PM by .

Scott,
I've done my part in the war effort and fired off a polite e-mail expressing my enthusiasm for the volume. Though the Averoigne stories are not among my favorites, I do enjoy them and it is exciting to see someone finally setting about collecting them.
-Daniel Harris

Many thanks to Jim and Daniel for supporting the Averoigne collection and for making Grant Publishers aware of this support. After reading your posts last week, I phoned Robert Wiener and learned there is both good and bad news. The basic situation is that Grant's main focus has been on Stephen King, in particular his "Dark Tower" series, and everytime it looked as though things would move forward with the CAS book King would spew forth another installment. Now it appears that this series is wrapping up; Grant has a contract with Scribner for the final three books, the first of which was published late last year. They plan to publish the other two this year and then the Averoigne book will finally move up to priority level.
I must confess that after so many years of disappointment (the MS was prepared in 1990, and accepted in 1991) I've become rather immune to getting my hopes up. However, I've pointed out to Robert Wiener (who is the real authority since health issues have sidelined Donald Grant) that interest in CAS has increased dramatically in the last few years as illustrated by the many new editions of his work recently published. He understands this, and promised to address the long deferred collection as soon as his current obligations are fulfilled.
Thanks again for your interest and support, it really means alot!
-Ron

You are welcome, Ron. I have been conscious of every month that has gone by since this book was announced.
What a pity it is to see the Donald Grant imprint focusing almost exclusively on Stephen King considering the variety of fine books it used to produce every year.
-Jim