Post Your Latest Purchase

[TacomaDiver]

Sweet! Always nice to cross off one of those super old pre-orders! I believe The Stand might be my oldest pre-order as well. I was super bummed to see the latest update by CD as they previously indicated that they hoped to have it done by Winter 2023, and now it looks like it won't even begin being printed until Winter 2024, which I'm guessing means that they haven't started the slipcase which I'm sure will push this to a late 2025/early 2026 release. God I hope I'm wrong about that.

Sadly you're probably accurate with those ETAs.

[Dave1442397]

Sweet! Always nice to cross off one of those super old pre-orders! I believe The Stand might be my oldest pre-order as well. I was super bummed to see the latest update by CD as they previously indicated that they hoped to have it done by Winter 2023, and now it looks like it won't even begin being printed until Winter 2024, which I'm guessing means that they haven't started the slipcase which I'm sure will push this to a late 2025/early 2026 release. God I hope I'm wrong about that.

According to a recent Facebook thread, Mindy has been telling people that it will ship this winter, meaning it should be ready by March 19th (official end of winter 2023-2024).

The Stand by Stephen King:
We are finalizing the last pieces of design. Due to the recent closure of our preferred slipcase manufacturer for the Doubleday series, it may experience some small delays. We are anticipating to start printing this winter. (1/4/2024)

I hope it shows up soon! I ordered it in 2015, and only have one preorder older than that.

[sholloman81]

According to a recent Facebook thread, Mindy has been telling people that it will ship this winter, meaning it should be ready by March 19th (official end of winter 2023-2024).

The Stand by Stephen King:
We are finalizing the last pieces of design. Due to the recent closure of our preferred slipcase manufacturer for the Doubleday series, it may experience some small delays. We are anticipating to start printing this winter. (1/4/2024)

I hope it shows up soon! I ordered it in 2015, and only have one preorder older than that.

That's good to hear. Hope it ends up being true. I never would have heard that info as I don't do Facebook or other social media sites. Wish all publishers would post that sort of info on their own sites as well as their social media for people like me.

[Ben Staad]

I'm going more of a budget route these days. Picked up a signed copy of Tyler Jones Enter Softly from his website and will be getting a signed copy Brian A. Hopkins The Woman of Color's Tale: Buchanan's Curse.

Looking forward to reading both.

[Sock Monkey]

Books Photo.JPG

So not signed editions or anything, but I figured I'd post some recent purchases. As usual, for Christmas I received some gift cards for Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Since most of my book money goes to limited hardcovers from primarily the horror genre, I like to use these gift cards to pick up some stuff that I normally wouldn't. Whether that's some horror authors that I haven't had the chance to read in the limited edition format or stuff outside of the horror genre. So here's the list from left to right starting at the top:

• LEECH by Hiron Ennes: I don't put too much stock in cover blurbs, but Gillian Flynn's statement that the book is a mixture of THE THING and THE ALIENIST sounded intriguing. I'd also never heard of the author, so I figured why not give it a shot. Interestingly, this was in the horror section of the Barnes & Noble I bought it from, but was nominated for "Best Science Fiction" by Goodreads in 2022. I guess, we'll see where it lands.
• THE BOOK OF ACCIDENTS by Chuck Wendig: I really wanted WANDERERS, but the B&N didn't have it in stock, so I settled for this one. Haunted houses are my jam, so this sounded like a good place to start with Wendig, even if readers are little divided on this one.
• GARDENS OF THE MOON by Steven Erikson: By all accounts, I am not a big fan of fantasy. I've tried, but it mostly doesn't work for me. Yet, I still occasionally give the a book a try. People seem to go crazy for these Mazalan books, so I figured I'd give the first book a shot. I've heard this series is super-dense, so let's see if I make it past book one.
• BATMAN YEAR ONE: Okay so I've been dipping my toe back into the comic book waters a little more lately. Mostly, I've been looking to read through the stuff that I've always meant to get around to, but haven't (like the Giffen/DeMatties Justice League that I bought shelled out dough to finish my collection so that I could sit down and read it all, yet still haven't even started. But I digress...) Anyways. I've always wanted to read Frank Miller's YEAR ONE, but never got around to it. Amazon was having a "Buy One, Get One 50% Off" sale, so I figured at $5, but I could probably do a lot worse.
• CALICO by Lee Goldberg was a purchase brought on by recommendations on this forum. CROWN VIC sounded more up my alley, but it wasn't part of that 50% off deal and CALICO was...so CALICO for the win! I am looking forward to digging to this one.
• THE L.A. QUARTET by James Ellroy: I've been trying to read more crime fiction lately and I've been meaning to read L.A. CONFIDENTIAL since the first time I saw the movie adaptation in the 90s, so I figured why not get the whole series. This is a pretty big commitment since I've never read anything by Ellroy before. I'm hoping that I'll enjoy it as much as I did the adaptation of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and not how miserable the viewing experience was for THE BLACK DHALIA, which my wife still claims is the worst movie she's ever seen.

[TacomaDiver]

I bought a sweet 6-foot fiberglass ladder this weekend. It's orange. I think you all know what a ladder looks like.

Yes, this is my life now. Ladders.

[Ben Staad]

Welcome to home ownership! LOL

I bought a sweet 6-foot fiberglass ladder this weekend. It's orange. I think you all know what a ladder looks like.

Yes, this is my life now. Ladders.

 

[Sock Monkey]

After a six year wait, my lettered edition of VanderMeer's THE SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY arrived! Below are some pictures and thoughts:

First up is the traycase, which is quite different than the traditional Cemetery Dance traycase. The traycases that CD usually have are more akin to flip-top cigar boxes, if that makes sense, but this traycase is more like a clamshell. I'm not quite sure of the material, but it is quite thicker, smoother, and softer than CD's typical traycase material. The graphics that adorn the front and back catch the light very well and look very nice. The spine is very simple, almost bordering on plain, but still very nice and clean looking. Overall, it's a nice upgrade from CD's standard traycase and I like it much more than I did the slipcase for the limited edition.

Southern Reach Traycase Spine.jpeg

Southern Reach Traycase Front.jpeg
Southern Reach Open Traycase.jpeg
Southern Reach Rear Traycase.jpeg

[Sock Monkey]

SOUTHERN REACH Lettered Post II:

Next up is the book itself. The dustjacket is the same as the limited and is shown in the first post, so not much to discuss there. The images on the boards mirror that of the traycase but with a lot more blue and I believe are similar to those on the limited edition. However, while the limited was bound in a red cloth (if I remember correctly), the lettered is bound in leather and these graphics look so much nicer in this contrast. The spine is still on the simple side, but the title in blue is very nice. I kinda wish that CD had foregone the dustjacket on this one and just thrown on some spine hubs to "spice" it up a bit as it's pretty sharp looking without it.

Southern Reach Front Boards.jpeg

Southern Reach Rear Boards.jpeg
Southern Reach Spine.jpeg

[saginawhorror]

Nice!

[Sock Monkey]

SOUTHERN REACH Lettered Post III:

Finally, we get to the interior of the book and I'll mostly be focusing on the signature page and endsheets. For the former, I think that it's very nice and enjoy the sparse use of graphics on the page, which allows the signature to "breathe" a bit on the page. As for the latter, the endsheets to me are the one slight disappointment in the production as they are just a rather plain yellow sheet, which look even more so after how nice the boards are. A nice marbled endsheet would have pulled the production together just a tad bit more, but that is a minor quibble.

Overall, I think that it's a very nice step up from the limited edition and I'm glad to finally see it in person.

Southern Reach Signature Page.jpg
Southern Reach End Sheets.jpeg

[sholloman81]

SOUTHERN REACH Lettered Post III:

Finally, we get to the interior of the book and I'll mostly be focusing on the signature page and endsheets. For the former, I think that it's very nice and enjoy the sparse use of graphics on the page, which allows the signature to "breathe" a bit on the page. As for the latter, the endsheets to me are the one slight disappointment in the production as they are just a rather plain yellow sheet, which look even more so after how nice the boards are. A nice marbled endsheet would have pulled the production together just a tad bit more, but that is a minor quibble.

Overall, I think that it's a very nice step up from the limited edition and I'm glad to finally see it in person.

Southern Reach Signature Page.jpg
Southern Reach End Sheets.jpeg

Wow, this is very nice! Wish I would have sprung for this version instead of the limited.