Thunderstorm Books

[Sock Monkey]

Just received my copy of Edward Lee's "The Television". As usual, Thunderstorm's production values are top-notch. The cover-art is a little plain (though I'm sure it fits the story), but the interior features more than make up for it. Love the endpapers, and I was very happy to see multiple pieces of interior art for the novel which I was not expecting. Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase and can't wait to dig into the story sometime soon.

I've heard rumors about interior art in Thunderstorm titles, but have yet to see one.  I am very scattershot with my Black Voltage purchases so that may be the reason why I haven't seen any.

I'm very curious as to your thoughts when you get done reading it.  I have not read much of Lee.  Only one story and that was enough for me.  I'm not into ultra-hardcore gross-out horror and Lee's work seems to live there. 

[sholloman81]

Just received my copy of Edward Lee's "The Television". As usual, Thunderstorm's production values are top-notch. The cover-art is a little plain (though I'm sure it fits the story), but the interior features more than make up for it. Love the endpapers, and I was very happy to see multiple pieces of interior art for the novel which I was not expecting. Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase and can't wait to dig into the story sometime soon.

[saginawhorror]

Already getting the lividian as I upped up my patreon pledge. I think I'm only getting one this month.

[Ben Staad]

I had to pass as I knew there was an LP edition I needed to buy.

[Sock Monkey]

Always a good day when Paul posts new books! Am very happy with this month's offerings and, after apologizing to my wallet, purchased two or three. Also interested to eventually hear what's going on with his Drive-In book as it sounds like there might be some weirdness going on behind the scenes, but that's pure conjecture on my end.

I'm in for two of the three.  I'm still trying to figure out if I splurge and get I DIED TOO, HEAVY OCEANS, and THE BEDMAKERS.  I might be able to only swing one or two of those in addition to the new announcements, if that.  Where's that "unlimited book budget" button again?

[sholloman81]

Always a good day when Paul posts new books! Am very happy with this month's offerings and, after apologizing to my wallet, purchased two or three. Also interested to eventually hear what's going on with his Drive-In book as it sounds like there might be some weirdness going on behind the scenes, but that's pure conjecture on my end.

[Sock Monkey]

No problem and glad to help!

[TacomaDiver]

Thanks for helping me make sure I wasn't going crazy.

My list of pre-orders has gotten quite a bit smaller so it's just something I was more aware of recently.

[Sock Monkey]

Did the Drive-in Multiplex ever get released?

I've only ordered from Thunderstorm a time or two, and always remembered the books were pretty quick to arrive. The listing says estimated to come out Fall of 2023 - https://thunderstormbooks.com/thunde...-in-multiplex/ - my order is from April of 2023.

Not worried - just curious.

It has not. I think the signature pages were part of the issue.

I don’t think it’s been formally announced, but Paul now has a production update page for previously announced books. It’s under the “Pre-Order” tab at the top of the Thunderstorm homepage. Currently there’s only the Lansdale anthology and one of Keene’s Labyrinth books listed, but still a good resource.

[TacomaDiver]

Did the Drive-in Multiplex ever get released?

I've only ordered from Thunderstorm a time or two, and always remembered the books were pretty quick to arrive. The listing says estimated to come out Fall of 2023 - https://thunderstormbooks.com/thunde...-in-multiplex/ - my order is from April of 2023.

Not worried - just curious.

[Ben Staad]

Nice looking books. Thank you very much for sharing. Simply gorgeous.

[saginawhorror]

Nice! I think I'm going to have to be happy with the one screaming cacti pc I own and my black voltage collection.

[Sock Monkey]

Very Jealous! The Thunderstorm LE's of both books might be my favorite things that I read last year. They were amazing collections. Do you know if the interiors of the lettered editions differ from the LE editions at all, in terms of content, materials used, art, etc.; or is the traycase the only difference? May be a dumb question, but I've never purchased a lettered edition from Thunderstorm (or really any publishers due to price).


Another dorky question, but looking at your photos, do you sort your bookcases by Publisher? Looks really nice and I'm wondering if I should do that. I'm always torn, but usually end up sorting mine by author with a few exceptions here and there. 

Hey, sholloman.  You must have caught my initial post before I deleted it and reposted!  I was battling the process to upload the pictures and had to get back to doing some actual work.  I have two new posts up showing the traycase and the book itself, which will answer some of those questions.  (And no such thing as a dumb question!)   In short, the contents are the same but different endpapers, signature page, binding, etc.  Some publishers use different paper between editions as well (like Lividian), but as far as I'm aware, Thunderstorm does not.

As far as my bookcase organization, yes, I organize by publisher.  I have three bookcases as of now.  The first has Cemetery Dance, Subterranean Press, Gauntlet, and misc. publishers.  The second one is entirely Centipede Press.  The third has the top three dedicated to Thunderstorm, the next two to SST and Earthling, then I have two more shelves of Centipede Press overflow.   I know a lot of people organize their books by author, which honestly makes a lot of sense.  If you want to show off your King collection, you'd want them all together to be more impressive and easier to locate.  However, for me, there is something that looks so nice with a bunch of uniformed SST or Centipede Press logos lined up in a row on a shelf.  I also go a step further and organize each publisher's books by trim size because it also is aesthetically pleasing to my eye.
 

[Sock Monkey]

2. The Books

So the books, in comparison to the limited editions which are bound in bonded leather, are actually bound in real leather and I can definitely tell by both the look and feel of the books. The standard Black Voltage titles never feel bad in my hands or to my eye, but the genuine leather on these is just on another level. I'm a sucker for a leather-bound book, so this hit the mark for me. The stamping on the book mirrors that of the traycase and is very understated and simple. Each book has different endpapers from the limited edition and are very nice and thick. Each book has the cover art as a frontispiece and then, of course, the lettered limitation page with signature. The page blocks look to be the same as the limited edition and there is no additional material or illustrations in the books.


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3. Final Thoughts

I didn't know what to expect since these are the first ones from this line of books, but I was pleasantly surprised. There was a marked difference in the prices between the limited and lettered editions (PALE SKY was $100 for the limited and $275 for the lettered with VOID's editions being $110 versus $350), so I could see how someone might have maybe wanted more bells and whistles in the design, but I think there's a beauty in the simplicity, maybe even an elegance. Whether these choices scratch the itch enough to warrant the additional price point is obviously a personal choice, but this hits my sweet spot.
 

[Sock Monkey]

Today I received the lettered editions of both BEHOLD THE VOID and BENEATH A PALE SKY from Thunderstorm. Splync did a very nice unboxing of the the limited editions over on Youtube that you can watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV8YXVl4JXA if you are so inclined. Since I haven't seen any of these out in the wild yet and these are the first traycased lettered editions in Thunderstorm's Screaming Cacti line of books, I thought I'd post some pictures and my thoughts in comparison to what Thunderstorm normally does in their limited editions.

First, a warning: I am not a great photographer like Cyberghostface and these were taken with my phone, so please forgive my overall lack of skill. I also only included single photos of PALE SKY in a good portion of photos since the design elements are the same in both books.

1. The Traycase

I'll start with the traycases. The construction of the cases are actually very nice and feel sturdy and substantial in your hands. The material for the traycases are a bonded leather that's very similar to what the Black Voltage books themselves are bound in and, in fact, the stamping on the front of the traycase is the style as is used on the Black Voltage books as well. The back of the traycase has "Thunderstorm Books" stamped on them. What I thought was interesting was that the spine of the traycase only has the title and author's name, omitting any reference to the publisher. While this looks very simple in hand, I think it looks really sharp on the shelf, especially as a pair.

I don't have a large swath of lettered traycases to compare to, but these are a significant step up from, say, CD's standard lettered traycase. My closest comparison would be the traycase for OFF SEASON from Dark Regions, but the traycases for the Thunderstorm books, I'd say, are nicer than those as well. I can't speak to something like CD's King lettereds or Suntup's lettereds, but these are also a fraction of the cost of those editions, so they might not be a good comparison anyways.

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