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Oct. 7th, 2003 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sethrakGrrr...
I'm trying to get my hands on a paperback edition of Athyra, the one book in Steven Brust's Draegara series that I have never owned nor even read. It hasn't been an easy task.
It's been out a few years, and by the time I had read all the preceding books, it was impossible to find. I held off on reading Orca for a while as a result; finally I said "The heck with this" and bought Orca anyway. It was worth it, although I was a trifle lost on some key plot events that referred to events in Orca.
Dragging back to the point, I have read all the books written before and after Athyra. And I want it badly. It's no longer in print as an individual item. Brust's publisher has been packaging his older novels two and three at a time in "Trade paperback" editions. I hate trade paperbacks passionately, with the sole exception of Cordelia's Honor. Shards of Honor and Barrayar really do work better as one book. They flow together so seamlessly, since the events of Barrayar begin very shortly after the end of Shards. But this is not true of most books bundled together for trade editions.
Nitpicking rant, feel free to skip if you never read the books:
(The one good thing that can be said about the Dragaera TP editions is that their cover drawings don't seem to have those dreadful attempts at Vlad that were on some of the individual novel covers. For example, Brust makes a deliberate point of mentioning that Vlad grows a mustache to differentiate himself from Dragaerans, who make up the overwhelming majority of the local population, make a hobby of oppressing mere humans like Vlad, and are unable to grow any sort of facial hair. He mentions this quite a lot. One of the derogatory names for humans is "Whiskers", for example. When Brust brings something up as often as this, you need to pay attention. So, what does the cover artist keep doing? Drawing Vlad with a clean-shaven face. ::grump::)
End rant
I'm looking on Barnes & Noble.com as I write this, and while they don't have it in stock they have links to several online used bookstores who do.
What gets me is the prices some of these places want for it.
We're talking about a slender little paperback which sold for maybe 8 bucks including tax when it was still in print. A book which has it's entire contents currently in print with two other books. Not a totally out of print book, nor a book that was expensive when first printed. It's not a particularly valuable book either.
One place wants $18.90 for it. For a paperback less than a decade old! Another wants $26.25; granted, this one's for a first edition paperback in "fine" condition. The last two places on the list want over $60 for it - and this is still paperback, not the original hardcover editions.
Crazy, I tell you.
Luckily for me the first two places on the list have much more reasonable prices.
Cross-checking used prices for Jhereg, the first book, which was printed all the way back in 1984.... Starting prices are at $1.06, for a book in "Very Good" condition. >_< Why is Athyra so much more?
I also intend to get a copy of Cetaganda, by Lois McMaster Bujold. I've read it, but it's the only Vorkosigan book I still don't own. I got it from a library back in the day. ^_^ It's still in print, and therefore is available at the regular price. Finding it still in print, when Bujold's publisher has been doing the same thing to her older stuff as Brust's, makes me feel downright bouncy.
They even ship in one to two business days, so I can get them before I leave NE. Very cool.
I'm trying to get my hands on a paperback edition of Athyra, the one book in Steven Brust's Draegara series that I have never owned nor even read. It hasn't been an easy task.
It's been out a few years, and by the time I had read all the preceding books, it was impossible to find. I held off on reading Orca for a while as a result; finally I said "The heck with this" and bought Orca anyway. It was worth it, although I was a trifle lost on some key plot events that referred to events in Orca.
Dragging back to the point, I have read all the books written before and after Athyra. And I want it badly. It's no longer in print as an individual item. Brust's publisher has been packaging his older novels two and three at a time in "Trade paperback" editions. I hate trade paperbacks passionately, with the sole exception of Cordelia's Honor. Shards of Honor and Barrayar really do work better as one book. They flow together so seamlessly, since the events of Barrayar begin very shortly after the end of Shards. But this is not true of most books bundled together for trade editions.
Nitpicking rant, feel free to skip if you never read the books:
(The one good thing that can be said about the Dragaera TP editions is that their cover drawings don't seem to have those dreadful attempts at Vlad that were on some of the individual novel covers. For example, Brust makes a deliberate point of mentioning that Vlad grows a mustache to differentiate himself from Dragaerans, who make up the overwhelming majority of the local population, make a hobby of oppressing mere humans like Vlad, and are unable to grow any sort of facial hair. He mentions this quite a lot. One of the derogatory names for humans is "Whiskers", for example. When Brust brings something up as often as this, you need to pay attention. So, what does the cover artist keep doing? Drawing Vlad with a clean-shaven face. ::grump::)
End rant
I'm looking on Barnes & Noble.com as I write this, and while they don't have it in stock they have links to several online used bookstores who do.
What gets me is the prices some of these places want for it.
We're talking about a slender little paperback which sold for maybe 8 bucks including tax when it was still in print. A book which has it's entire contents currently in print with two other books. Not a totally out of print book, nor a book that was expensive when first printed. It's not a particularly valuable book either.
One place wants $18.90 for it. For a paperback less than a decade old! Another wants $26.25; granted, this one's for a first edition paperback in "fine" condition. The last two places on the list want over $60 for it - and this is still paperback, not the original hardcover editions.
Crazy, I tell you.
Luckily for me the first two places on the list have much more reasonable prices.
Cross-checking used prices for Jhereg, the first book, which was printed all the way back in 1984.... Starting prices are at $1.06, for a book in "Very Good" condition. >_< Why is Athyra so much more?
I also intend to get a copy of Cetaganda, by Lois McMaster Bujold. I've read it, but it's the only Vorkosigan book I still don't own. I got it from a library back in the day. ^_^ It's still in print, and therefore is available at the regular price. Finding it still in print, when Bujold's publisher has been doing the same thing to her older stuff as Brust's, makes me feel downright bouncy.
They even ship in one to two business days, so I can get them before I leave NE. Very cool.
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no subject
Date: 2003-10-07 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-07 12:42 pm (UTC)You suck cabblit
Date: 2003-10-07 02:17 pm (UTC)Also, your offer, while kindly meant, wouldn't do me any good. Mail from the Isle of Britain would arrive even slower than mail from wherever B&N keeps it in a warehouse.
Thanks anyway cabblit