Midworld Press...

[Ben Staad]

Yea. I noticed the font and paper color right away. Paper was bright and font was unusual. I did not try to read this one yet.

I cracked open my copy of BLACKTOP WASTELAND tonight to start reading, and immediately discovered an issue (for me) with the font used. Stylized, bold, and narrow, it’s almost unreadable and creates strain on my middle/aged eyes. I’m only a few pages in and my eyes are already tired. Kinda disappointing and certainly surprising…I may have to save this for the shelf and grab a used tpb to read.

[RonClinton]

Yea. I noticed the font and paper color right away. Paper was bright and font was unusual. I did not try to read this one yet.

Yes, the very bright white paper didn’t help matters ( Martin might want to be aware of this). Between the font and paper, my eyes are almost straining to trim each narrow letter from the dense and bold word blocks. I made it a half-dozen pages and then had to give it a break. I’ll try again tonight when it won’t come as such a surprise.

[Martin]

Yes, the very bright white paper didn’t help matters ( Martin might want to be aware of this). Between the font and paper, my eyes are almost straining to trim each narrow letter from the dense and bold word blocks. I made it a half-dozen pages and then had to give it a break. I’ll try again tonight when it won’t come as such a surprise.

The only book I have from this publisher is 'Those Across The River'. The bright white paper and odd choice of font will probably prevent me from reading the book. To be honest the odds are against me ordering anything form this publisher. As I get older reading books printed like this one are getting tougher for me to read and I am finding it is just not worth the effort.

[RonClinton]

Yes, the very bright white paper didn’t help matters ( Martin might want to be aware of this). Between the font and paper, my eyes are almost straining to trim each narrow letter from the dense and bold word blocks. I made it a half-dozen pages and then had to give it a break. I’ll try again tonight when it won’t come as such a surprise.

So I finished BLACKTOP WASTLELAND a few days ago; this serves as a brief review of the book. I won't speak to the novel itself -- its conflicts in character motivation and sensibility, some melodramatic coincidences that strain credulity -- but rather about the production of the book itself, since that's the primary intention of this thread. As mentioned earlier, I found the odd choice of the narrow, bold, stylized font throughout nearly unreadable, which was not helped by the bright white paper stock. The endpapers are white, presumably more of the white paper stock used in the rest of the book, rather than alternatively colored or designed...even simple black -- to play off the book's title -- would have been an improvement. The cover art that's garnered a number of critical comments in this thread would have been better swapped with the more pleasing rear art. On a positive note, the editing appeared to be clean...I didn't pick up any errors in that regard, and since I was having to focus rather diligently because of the font I have to assume I would have caught a rash of editing misses.

Midworld Press seems to be a very interesting new player on the scene and I plan to keep abreast of their new releases, even though I must admit my first experience with them was less than satisfying, if for no other reason than the chosen font that was a major misstep...it creates an obstacle between the author and the reader, rather than be an effective and inconspicuous delivery system to submerging the reader into the story.

I expect this will be headed to eBay for sale, so if anyone here is interested, feel free to ward me off at the pass with a reasonable offer and it can be yours.

[Ben Staad]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the novel and production.

So I finished BLACKTOP WASTLELAND a few days ago; this serves as a brief review of the book. I won't speak to the novel itself -- its conflicts in character motivation and sensibility, some melodramatic coincidences that strain credulity -- but rather about the production of the book itself, since that's the primary intention of this thread. As mentioned earlier, I found the odd choice of the narrow, bold, stylized font throughout nearly unreadable, which was not helped by the bright white paper stock. The endpapers are white, presumably more of the white paper stock used in the rest of the book, rather than alternatively colored or designed...even simple black -- to play off the book's title -- would have been an improvement. The cover art that's garnered a number of critical comments in this thread would have been better swapped with the more pleasing rear art. On a positive note, the editing appeared to be clean...I didn't pick up any errors in that regard, and since I was having to focus rather diligently because of the font I have to assume I would have caught a rash of editing misses.

Midworld Press seems to be a very interesting new player on the scene and I plan to keep abreast of their new releases, even though I must admit my first experience with them was less than satisfying, if for no other reason than the chosen font that was a major misstep...it creates an obstacle between the author and the reader, rather than be an effective and inconspicuous delivery system to submerging the reader into the story.

I expect this will be headed to eBay for sale, so if anyone here is interested, feel free to ward me off at the pass with a reasonable offer and it can be yours.

[Ben Staad]

I see Ring Shout was in and I believe shipping. They noted a few copies inspected were missing a tipped in illustration so check your copy.

[sholloman81]

I see Ring Shout was in and I believe shipping. They noted a few copies inspected were missing a tipped in illustration so check your copy.

Yep, just got my shipping notice. Did see their newsletter and will definitely be checking my copy to insure all of the tip-ins are there. Am hoping their inspections didn't let any incomplete copies slip through, but, you never know. Am very excited to receive this book as I loved the novella when I first read it. Am hoping that Midworld has done it justice. This is actually my first purchase of a Midworld book; so, I'm hoping that it meets my expectations.

[Ben Staad]

I didn't purchase this but certainly have thought about it over the months. Hope your copy is perfect.

Yep, just got my shipping notice. Did see their newsletter and will definitely be checking my copy to insure all of the tip-ins are there. Am hoping their inspections didn't let any incomplete copies slip through, but, you never know. Am very excited to receive this book as I loved the novella when I first read it. Am hoping that Midworld has done it justice. This is actually my first purchase of a Midworld book; so, I'm hoping that it meets my expectations.

[Erich]

Forgive me for the necro, but has there been any more information for the John Dies at the End release?

[Ben Staad]

I don't think I heard any updates on this one. By the way what is "necro"?

Forgive me for the necro, but has there been any more information for the John Dies at the End release?

[Erich]

I don't think I heard any updates on this one.

Ah well. Thank you I'll keep my ears open though. JDatE is my favourite novel, so a new pressing will always pique my interest.

By the way what is "necro"?

Oh, haha, it's an old forum term. I guess you guys don't use it here. Anyway, it means when you post in a dead thread, bringing it back to life. Like a necromancer. So, you necro the thread.

This thread may not have been as dead as I thought, since the post before me was less than a month. Ah well, maybe I used the wrong term!

Some forums don't like it when you top or boost old threads that haven't had people in them in a while.

[Erich]

So, I contacted Midworld inquiring about the JDatE release, and they said that they're aiming for Q1 '23, hopefully March. Signed and limited, cover art by M. K. Komins. They also have a contract for Spiders. I signed up for their newsletter, and I hope to hear more from them

[Ben Staad]

Cool. Thanks for the update and explanation on Necro.

So, I contacted Midworld inquiring about the JDatE release, and they said that they're aiming for Q1 '23, hopefully March. Signed and limited, cover art by M. K. Komins. They also have a contract for Spiders. I signed up for their newsletter, and I hope to hear more from them

[slayn666]

Based on comments/hints on Facebook, I'm pretty sure The Girl with All the Gifts is an upcoming announcement from Midworld.

[Sock Monkey]

Based on comments/hints on Facebook, I'm pretty sure The Girl with All the Gifts is an upcoming announcement from Midworld.

If that comes to pass, I’ll finally have to pull the trigger on one of their books. That’s a great book and I’m a big fan of Carey’s work.