9-30-2020-news.html

In This Issue:	September 30, 2020
What? News? • THE COMPLETE IVY FROST is imminent! • "Frost" by Donald Wandrei Gets Two More Chapters • Hedges Capers joins THE COMPLETE JOHN THE BALLADEER • Five Sample Tim Kirk Interiors from THE COMPLETE JOHN THE BALLADEER • Final Contents List for THE COMPLETE JOHN THE BALLADEER • Another COVID-19 Update or "When is xxxxxxx" Coming Out?
Greetings, fellow travelers of stellar voids—as well as wicked streets, haunted hills, and magic mountains!! This newsletter is a L-O-N-G one, so stick with it to the end. It's a brave new world we're operating in, and we'll do our best to prosper in it. While it's a certainty that we'll only have one title released in 2020, next year looks to be a big year. Big enough, that we're going to be opening a new wing here at the Secret Moon Base to make room for all the inventory we've been marketing, along with some new titles we'll announce early next year. So, getting to it . . . Hot off the press (or at least the vendor's email server), we received the following message today: "...I spoke with the customer service team and they believe we could finish up by the end of next week." So, allowing for final approvals and complete delivery and sorting, we could be shipping Donald Wandrei's THE COMPLETE IVY FROST (all 720 ever-luvin' pages of it) near the end of October. As many of you are aware, we first solicited this title waaaaay back in 2011 and we'll be filling orders on a first-ordered-first-shipped basis. If you have moved since you placed your original preorder, please contact us ASAP with your current Postal Mailing Address. Many of you have been waiting a long time for these stories and we want you to have your copy as soon as possible. Also, we have added Chapters Two and Three to the first story, "FROST" from *Clues Detective Stories* Sep '34 HERE. We will add Chapter Four this weekend with the final chapter in a week or two. So this is the best time to sample the first adventure of Ivy Frost and his companion, Jean Moray, as they take on all manner of freaky and queasy cases in 1930s New York City. Between now and release day, we are offering $5.00 off the $50.00 retail price AND your copy will ship with an *exclusive* postcard reproducing the portrait of author Donald Wandrei by Minnesota artist Clem Haupers.
Dustjacket Cover Sample Endsheet Sample Chapter Spread Sample Chapter Spread Sample Chapter Spread	THE COMPLETE IVY FROST Donald Wandrei Introduction by D. H. Olson Cover by Raymond Swanland Decorated Endsheets 18 Chris Kalb-designed Chapterheads 720-page Smythe-sewn Hardcover Pre-Order price: $45 Pre-Order Bonus!! Place your order for THE COMPLETE IVY FROST before publication and receive an exclusive* postcard reproducing this portrait of author Donald Wandrei by Minnesota artist Clem Haupers. Conten*ts of THE COMPLETE IVY FROST: Introduction by D. H. Olson "Frost," Clues Detective Stories* Sep '34 "Green Man—Creeping," Clues Detective Stories Nov '34 "They Could Not Kill Him," Clues Detective Stories Feb '35 "Bride of the Rats," Clues Detective Stories Apr '35 "The Artist of Death," Clues Detective Stories Jun '35 "Death Descending," Clues Detective Stories Aug '35 "Impossible," Clues Detective Stories Oct '35 "Merry-Go-Round," Clues Detective Stories Dec '35 "Giants in the Valley," Clues Detective Stories Feb '36 "Bone Crusher," Clues Detective Stories Apr '36 "Panda," Clues Detective Stories Jul '36 "The Lunatic Plague," Clues Detective Stories Aug '36 "Killer’s Bait," Clues Detective Stories Nov '36 "Stolen from the Morgue," Clues Detective Stories Jan '37 "Blood in the Golden Crystal," Clues Detective Stories Mar '37 "A Beetle or a Fox," Clues Detective Stories Jun '37 "Skeletons, Inc," Clues Detective Stories Aug '37 "Electric Devils," Clues Detective Stories Sep '37 * Those who have already preordered their copies of THE COMPLETE IVY FROST are already enrolled to receive this exclusive postcard. By arrangement** with the Minnesota Historical Society.
Manly Wade Wellman's THE COMPLETE JOHN THE BALLADEER is 99% complete! Since our last newsletter, we took receipt of the Afterword to Volume One by folksinger Hedges Capers. For those that may not know, Mr. Capers portrayed John in the 1970s film, Who Fears the Devil? (aka The Legend of Hillbilly John). While few would argue that the film is an entirely successful adaptation of Wellman's work, we're pleased to have Hedges comments on making the film and we also have several heretofore unseen pics of the production of the film, some featuring Manly Wade Wellman and Karl Edward Wagner on location! Currently, the preorder offer (with an exclusive chapbook with the unpublished story, "Not All a Dream") is set at $100. The final price is not set, but may climb as high as $120 or $125 for both volumes. We've added five images below of page-spreads featuring the work of artist Tim Kirk. Let us know what you think! In a future newsletter, we'll share the pricing and contents of the slipcased edition(s?) of THE COMPLETE JOHN THE BALLADEER. If you want to get in early, go ahead and preorder a set and drop us a line that you want to apply your preorder to a purchase of the slipcased edition. Customers who ordered the slipcased edition of THE COMPLETE JOHN THUNSTONE will have their number reserved, so you loyal--and lucky!--folks are covered. Finally, after much digital juggling, we have set the contents of both volumes (see below); we are using the "Wagner Chronology" which features the stories in order of creation/publication.
Tim Kirk Interior Images (click to biggify)	THE COMPLETE JOHN THE BALLADEER Manly Wade Wellman Introductions by Stephen Jones and Pat LoBrutto Afterword by Hedges Capers Wellman Interview by Karl Edward Wagner Covers by Raymond Swanland Interior art by Tim Kirk Decorated Endsheets Two Volumes, each a 500+ page Smythe-sewn Hardcover Pre-Order price: $100 Pre-Order Bonus!! Shipping with exclusive 32-page chapbook featuring the unpublished short story, “Not All a Dream”! CONTENTS Volume One: "Manly Wade Wellman: The Voice of the Mountains" by Stephen Jones "O Ugly Bird!" "The Desrick on Yandro" "Vandy, Vandy" "One Other" "Call Me from the Valley" "The Little Black Train" "Shiver in the Pines" "Walk Like a Mountain" "On the Hills and Everywhere" "Old Devlins Was A-Waiting" "Nine Yards of Other Cloth" "Then I Wasn't Alone" "You Know the Tale of Hoph" "Blue Monkey" "The Stars Down There" "Find the Place Yourself" "I Can't Claim That" "Who Else Could I Count On" "John's My Name" "Why They're Named That" "None Wiser for the Trip" "Nary Spell" "Trill Coster's Burden" "The Spring" The Old Gods Waken (1979) "Owls Hoot in the Daytime" After Dark (1980) Afterword by Hedges Capers Volume Two: “They Say He Walks the Mountains Even Now” by Patrick J. LoBrutto "Can These Bones Live?" "Nobody Ever Goes There" The Lost and the Lurking (1981) The Hanging Stones (1982) The Voice of the Mountain (1984) "Where Did She Wander?" "Interview: Manly Wade Wellman" by Karl Edward Wagner
Another COVID-19 Update or "When is "xxxxxxx" Coming Out? As we reported in our last newsletter, the COVID-19 Pandemic gripping the world means that while we may (or with some titles, may not) be "camera-ready" with a publication, there are fewer and fewer domestic binderies that make books that way we do (offset-printing, smythe-sewn bindings, full-cloth boards, you know . . . "the works") that we find reliable. Complicating this was the closure of one of the larger book printers. While we don't use this particular printer, their scrambling customers have overwhelmed the remaining printers and our print-runs will be have to "fit-in" between larger jobs. Quality-wise, this is not a bad thing, but it makes lead-times a) unknowable, and b) longer than ever. An unforeseen complication: some of the components (book cloth, specifically) produced offshore which were normally mere weeks away, are virtually unavailable to us now. This has caused some re-design issues, but nothing insurmountable. Today, for example, we were given the following expectation for lead-times from our printer: "Our offset capacity has continued to fill rapidly and lead times have become quite extended, especially for hardcover work. The most recent update received from our scheduling team shows that adhesive bound hardcover titles are currently being scheduled with an anticipated completion date of 2/05/2021, sewn hardcover work will be placed in 2/19/2021...I know these schedules are a bit shocking but, with all the changes happening within the industry combined with the challenges Covid has presented to all of us, we expect that we will continue to stay busy and fill schedules throughout early 2021." So, as you can see, we're looking at a four-month lead time (up from 6-8 weeks!) for a particular title. Now, as you may imagine, our 600+ page books are very complex and it's rare to have a title sail through preflight without glitches; not to mention that 1000+ copies of these massive tomes takes up a LOT of storage space. That said, we are expanding for the increased inventory we will generate next year. So, please know that we will release all the titles (and more!) that we have previously announced. But the best source for reliable news on the status of any title is these newsletters. In the meantime, wear a mask, practice social distancing, stay informed, and, if you're an American citizen, register to vote and cast that ballot via mail or at the polls on November 3rd.
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