Attention, UK Pratchett Fans
On the urging and recommendation of John Sears of the Zombie Rights Campaign, I made some time out of my schedule to attend the North American Discworld Convention this Sunday. While I registered too late (because of my total ignorance of the fact that it was even going on at all) to get a chance to get the autographed bookplate (rats), I did get to see the new Going Postal microseries in its entirety and watched Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry hamming it up on stage and talking about the writing of Good Omens, a very influential book to my own writing style.
However, that's not what I'm going to talk to you about. As usual, I am mooching, this time for information. When Going Postal (the book this time, not the series) was released in the U.S., it had a perfectly acceptable, if bland, blue-and-white cover. At the NADWC, however, I saw a copy of the U.K. release, and it had the dramatic violet cover featuring von Lipwig in the Mercury hat -- this cover is only available in the U.S. on the stage play. I much prefer the dramatic cover, and I'm wondering, is this the standard issue in the U.K., or was that only a limited edition? I'd hate to order something from amazon.co.uk and pay international shipping just to get something I could purchase domestically.
(And by the by, I did not purchase it at the con because it was an eighty-dollar, exceptionally good condition first print, autographed by Sir Terry but to a man named Tom. I don't know under what unfortunate circumstances "Tom" had to part with it, but I feel wrong about paying $80 for someone else's book.)
Update: Happy news! The vendors at the NADWC room put out some new books today, and one of them was a somewhat battered but perfectly sound UK binding of Going Postal, obtained -- judging by the stamps -- via a library sale in Surrey. It's large-print, but I don't get terribly bothered by that sort of thing. So, success, with no international shipping fees! And the "battered" bit doesn't matter, as a too-perfect book makes me afraid to read it. Seriously, at least one of the books there was listed as "Never Been Opened", and I'm damn glad I saw the -- I should mention -- tiny little card stuck inside the book before idly leafing through it.
Seriously, what the hell, "Never Been Opened"? What's the point of even having the book? It'd just sit there all day glowering at you from the shelf.
However, that's not what I'm going to talk to you about. As usual, I am mooching, this time for information. When Going Postal (the book this time, not the series) was released in the U.S., it had a perfectly acceptable, if bland, blue-and-white cover. At the NADWC, however, I saw a copy of the U.K. release, and it had the dramatic violet cover featuring von Lipwig in the Mercury hat -- this cover is only available in the U.S. on the stage play. I much prefer the dramatic cover, and I'm wondering, is this the standard issue in the U.K., or was that only a limited edition? I'd hate to order something from amazon.co.uk and pay international shipping just to get something I could purchase domestically.
(And by the by, I did not purchase it at the con because it was an eighty-dollar, exceptionally good condition first print, autographed by Sir Terry but to a man named Tom. I don't know under what unfortunate circumstances "Tom" had to part with it, but I feel wrong about paying $80 for someone else's book.)
Update: Happy news! The vendors at the NADWC room put out some new books today, and one of them was a somewhat battered but perfectly sound UK binding of Going Postal, obtained -- judging by the stamps -- via a library sale in Surrey. It's large-print, but I don't get terribly bothered by that sort of thing. So, success, with no international shipping fees! And the "battered" bit doesn't matter, as a too-perfect book makes me afraid to read it. Seriously, at least one of the books there was listed as "Never Been Opened", and I'm damn glad I saw the -- I should mention -- tiny little card stuck inside the book before idly leafing through it.
Seriously, what the hell, "Never Been Opened"? What's the point of even having the book? It'd just sit there all day glowering at you from the shelf.