[INDEXED]The Century's Best Horror Fiction

[Martin]

Some pretty good old stories

[bsaenz24]

I totally agree that there can be future volumes.....considering it's one story per year, there are obviously so many other great stories per year!!! You could have:

Century's Best ________

Ghost Story
Suspense Fiction
Monster Stories

I'm sure those braniacs at CD can think of some good categories!!!

[bigcoffinhunter]

I can't remember whether I ordered this one in late 2003 or early 2004, but either way, I'm definitely ready for this one and sure that my patience will have paid off :-)

[srboone]

has TCBHF been in production since 2003? I feel guilty now about complaining about it being pushed from last year's production schedule to 2011...

[Brian James Freeman]

has TCBHF been in production since 2003? I feel guilty now about complaining about it being pushed from last year's production schedule to 2011...

Even longer than that. Here's my official policy on discussing delays: when the delays are OUR (CD's) fault, I will happily tell you how we've messed up. If the delays are due to someone else (an editor or an author, for example), I will not "name names" but I will tell you exactly where in production it is so you can make an informed decision about your purchase.

This is one of those cases were our mistake was being talked into announcing a project much too early because someone else wanted it announced and wanted to be able to do a panel about it at a convention -- even though it was in no shape to be announced.

That is a mistake we've made a few times over the years. It is NOT a mistake we make anymore.

As someone else has noted, if you look at our new announcements last year (Blockade Billy, Pork Pie Hat, The Painted Darkness, Shivers 6, The Secret Backs of Things, Bone Soup, Four Rode Out, and Full Dark, No Stars to name a few), all of them were published within days or months of being announced. That's because we're ONLY announcing books now when they are deep enough in production that we know exactly when they'll be published. In the past, we let our excitement about a project (or the insistence of someone else like an author/editor or his agent) get the best of us. That is no longer the case. If they want the book announced, then they have to turn the manuscript in.

Hope this info helps!

Brian

[srboone]

Thanks, Brian. I wasn't looking for names, just a way to put my situation into perspective. Sounds like you'll be as glad to get it out as I will be get it.

[Brian James Freeman]

Thanks, Brian. I wasn't looking for names, just a way to put my situation into perspective. Sounds like you'll be as glad to get it out as I will be get it.

Oh, I know! I just like to say all of that before someone asks.

This has been one of the bigger challenges on my plate for a long time... it will be very nice when it is published later this year... although I'm not sure the warehouse agrees because these books will be MASSIVE!

Brian

[divemaster]

As someone else has noted, if you look at our new announcements last year (Blockade Billy, Pork Pie Hat, The Painted Darkness, Shivers 6, The Secret Backs of Things, Bone Soup, Four Rode Out, and Full Dark, No Stars to name a few), all of them were published within days or months of being announced. That's because we're ONLY announcing books now when they are deep enough in production that we know exactly when they'll be published. In the past, we let our excitement about a project (or the insistence of someone else like an author/editor or his agent) get the best of us. That is no longer the case.

Brian

And THIS is why Cemetery Dance has gone from constantly being complained about to one of the favorite small publishers around, in my opinion. Much less frustration of "where in the hell is my book I paid for 5 years ago?"

[frik51]

So, the BIG announcement won't be re the upcoming 11/23/63.
Too far ahead.

sk

[bsaenz24]

So, the BIG announcement won't be re the upcoming 11/23/63.
Too far ahead.

sk

I think it "could" still be 11/23/63 because they would know when they'll have the manuscript, since King would be obligated to have it into Scribner by a certain date.

[bigcoffinhunter]

Even longer than that. Here's my official policy on discussing delays: when the delays are OUR (CD's) fault, I will happily tell you how we've messed up. If the delays are due to someone else (an editor or an author, for example), I will not "name names" but I will tell you exactly where in production it is so you can make an informed decision about your purchase.

This is one of those cases were our mistake was being talked into announcing a project much too early because someone else wanted it announced and wanted to be able to do a panel about it at a convention -- even though it was in no shape to be announced.

That is a mistake we've made a few times over the years. It is NOT a mistake we make anymore.

As someone else has noted, if you look at our new announcements last year (Blockade Billy, Pork Pie Hat, The Painted Darkness, Shivers 6, The Secret Backs of Things, Bone Soup, Four Rode Out, and Full Dark, No Stars to name a few), all of them were published within days or months of being announced. That's because we're ONLY announcing books now when they are deep enough in production that we know exactly when they'll be published. In the past, we let our excitement about a project (or the insistence of someone else like an author/editor or his agent) get the best of us. That is no longer the case. If they want the book announced, then they have to turn the manuscript in.

Hope this info helps!

Brian

Also to clarify, when I ordered the book back in 2003, I was fully aware of the fact that the editor had yet to secure the rights to all of the stories on the list and that the actual publication date was unknown. I still have some e-mails in my archive folders back from 2004 between John Pelan and myself discussing the difficulties involved in securing rights to stories that had been written upwards of 100 years ago and the fact that many of the contracts were still outstanding. Of course I would love to have the books on my shelf already. Nevertheless, I knew that the project was in the very early stages going in and took the attitude that whenever the books finally arrived, they would be well-worth the wait :-)

[Dan Hocker]

A lot of people may have already seen the ARC's (I know we gave out a fair number of them in the "free item" promotion), but they are definitely going to be beautiful, huge books.

[bsaenz24]

A lot of people may have already seen the ARC's (I know we gave out a fair number of them in the "free item" promotion), but they are definitely going to be beautiful, huge books.

It would be great to have a slipcase made for these two to keep them together!!

[Brian James Freeman]

So, the BIG announcement won't be re the upcoming 11/23/63.
Too far ahead.

sk

Now that we're getting "almost" done catching up on the "older" projects, we're going to get back to a normal announcement schedule like most publishers have -- less "surprise in-stock" books, etc. Books will be announced up to a year before publication depending on the type of book.

For example, we have several trade hardcovers that are meant for bookstore sales -- so those HAVE to be announced 8 to 12 months out or the booksellers won't know about them!

I'd like to aim for 4 to 6 months as the ideal window on Limited Editions so the authors and their books get properly promoted and people can actually find out about them. We had some great "surprise" books last year that most people don't even know about because they came and went so fast!

But no more 5 (or more) year waits... I simply won't accept that!

Brian

[frik51]

Thanks, Brian.
So, a limited 11/23/63 is still a possibility......
(Still hoping for a 25th anniversary IT, though.)

sk