418 replies to this topic

[Samalander]

Shryke, on 11 July 2012 - 09:05 PM, said:

I buy the UK Hardcovers of his books for a reason.

And the yellowing pages and lack of stiching don't bother you at all?

[Calibandar]

Yellowing pages? I see your point about the binding, and no doubt the US hardcovers and trade paperbacks have a much nicer feel and quality to them than UK versions, but I haven't had a problem with yellowing pages. The UK hardcovers for Abercrombie's books actually feel better than regular, they have a great cover feel, apart from the much better look of the cover, and the whole book feels nicely solid.

[john]

How solid do you need a book to be?  The cover art on american SF hardbacks is generally bad.  The better binding quality doen't make up for it.

[beniowa]

i don't know.  The binding on UK hardcovers truly sucks donkey balls.  My copy of Red Seas Under Red Skies (bought for the UK art) was literally falling apart after one reading and I ended up tossing it.  That's why, with rare exceptions, when I now buy UK books, I buy the trade paperbacks.  I get the cover art I want with better quality than you get with mass market, and I don't have to deal with the binding issues of the hardcovers.

Edited by beniowa, 12 July 2012 - 06:18 PM.

[TheDanish]

Oh man, I took one look at the Backstreet Boys on the US Heroes cover and ordered the UK version.  The US version for Red Country isn't too bad but once again the UK one blows it out of the water.

Edited by TheDanish, 12 July 2012 - 06:49 PM.

[Shryke]

My versions of BSC and The Heroes are holding up just fine.

[Samalander]

I don't see why they couldn't come to some understanding and use the same covers in the US as in the UK.

Edited by Samalander, 14 July 2012 - 12:39 AM.

[mormont]

beniowa, on 12 July 2012 - 06:17 PM, said:

i don't know.  The binding on UK hardcovers truly sucks donkey balls.  My copy of Red Seas Under Red Skies (bought for the UK art) was literally falling apart after one reading and I ended up tossing it.

What the heck were you doing to it? I've read that book three times and loaned it to my brother, and the binding is fine. Totally undamaged, to all appearances.

[john]

Actually, it might depend on the print run, but my copy of Red Seas Under Red Skies is the one UK hardback I own (and i don't own too many, not a big fan of hardbacks) that I'm unhappy with.

It's not just the binding though, there's a lot of print and text errors in there.  And I found the cover art pretty crappy too in this instance.  And in general it's not as good as Lies of Lockes Lamora.  Still love Scott Lynch though.

[Rhom]

October 23rd huh?  Well I'll need to be sure to clear my calendar for Halloween!

[beniowa]

mormont, on 13 July 2012 - 05:37 AM, said:

What the heck were you doing to it? I've read that book three times and loaned it to my brother, and the binding is fine. Totally undamaged, to all appearances.

.
Honestly, nothing.  I was as careful with it as with all my books.  I think I just had the bad luck to get a real shoddy copy.  However, it did royally piss me off, not to mention really turning me off UK hardcovers.

[Reposado]

Abercrombie put up the map to Red Country today

http://www.joeabercr...ry-artwork-map/

kinda interesting description of the process as well

[Crazydog7]

So Nicomo Casca is back for this one two questions for Joe

1.  Any way you can make that dude immortal?
2.  Is it October yet?

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

Wait, Starikland is on the same continent as the Old Empire? I guess I never realized that before.

I'd like to see more of the Old Empire. The description in the books felt a bit off to me, as there were armies fighting across it as though it were normal, settled country, but aside from the Magus I don't think the group ever saw another living thing, as though the land were completely depopulated. But if that were the case, where did the armies come from and what were they fighting over?

[Rhom]

WrathOfNederlandsVoetbal, on 25 July 2012 - 11:53 AM, said:

Wait, Starikland is on the same continent as the Old Empire? I guess I never realized that before.

My head is spinning somehow.  I'm trying to remember the orientation of everything.  Wasn't somehow the main country from First Law (which I am totally drawing a blank on) somehow an island surrounded by a giant landmass or something?

[Shryke]

The basic understanding is that Midderland (where the Union started) is an "island" smack in the middle.

To the south is ... The South, which is a seperate very large continent.
To the north is .... The North. This is connected in the West to Starikland and then further West/South of that to the Old Empire. It makes some sort of arc cause the Old Empire is West and the North is north.
To the East is Styria and then Suljuk (?) and a few other smaller islands I think.

Edited by Shryke, 25 July 2012 - 01:55 PM.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

Yes. Someone posted a large world map not too long ago - speculative but as accurate as possible. Apparently Starikland, the Old Empire, and the North are all on the same continent, and also Gurkhul is effin huge, like 5 times or more the size of Midderland. Oh and IIRC Styria was comparatively tiny, despite it being fairly large in real terms (based on the evidence from Best Served Cold), so that gives one some idea of scale.

Still, on that map I thought I remembered the Old Empire being a separate continent.

Also the other issue I mentioned is still bugging me

[RedEyedGhost]

WrathOfNederlandsVoetbal, on 25 July 2012 - 05:26 PM, said:

Yes. Someone posted a large world map not too long ago

link

[Rhom]

RedEyedGhost, on 25 July 2012 - 08:21 PM, said:

link

Thanks REG.  I assume that was fan-made at some point and it seems to have been rendered outdated by this latest map.  That one seems to show Starikland more to the north while the Red Country jacket displays it to the east of the Old Empire.

Its always so hard for me to visualize where everything falls.  I'm glad Joe has relented on his "No Maps" stance.

[TheDanish]

That map looks roughly accurate, though obviously we now know that Starikland is east of the Old Empire, not north, and that Gurkhul is a lot bigger.

Oh man, I can't freaking wait.