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The Slog of Slogs: Help save The Unholy Consult by R. Scott Bakker!


Bolivar

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Duty measures the distance between the animal and the divine.

Ekyannus I, 44 Epistles

As some of you may know, Bakker has finished the manuscript for the sixth installment in The Second Apocalypse, The Unholy Consult, and delivered it to Overlook Press back at the beginning of the year. We're now halfway through 2015 and his agent has heard nothing about editing, much less publication. Some of us have started emailing [email protected] and contacting his UK publisher here but so far have heard back little to nothing. The purpose of this thread is to coordinate those efforts and demonstrate the significance we all place on the series.

Many recent fan campaigns have succeeded in convincing content publishers to take a second look at their underrated properties. The key seems to be 1) synchronizing efforts for maximum impact and 2) persistence. With that in mind, let's try to pursue a different avenue of attack each week to show our support.

Week 1 - The Cants of Calling

This might be terrifying for many of us but picking up the phone to briefly inquire at Overlook is a surefire way to literally "make your voices heard." Some of us have started calling in the last week and again, since coordination is key, let's try to get some calls in when each of us get a chance. Overlook's offices are in NYC, so try calling during business hours 9am-5pm U.S. Eastern Time. Also, this will likely be the only weekly effort with a TSA-related pun.

212-673-2210

What else can I do right now?

1. Join us over at second-apocalyplse.com - one of the issues making this so hard is that Bakker's readers are spread throughout the internet. Ideally, we'd like to have one place where we could manage this sort of thing and, of course, go really in-depth with all the nuances of The Unholy Consult once it arrives. We don't bite!

2. Follow Bakkerfans on Facebook, Twitter, subscribe to the Reddit page - huge shoutouts to Andy/Mr. G for an astounding social media presence. Great posts all around, ranging from news updates, fan artwork, quotes and more!

3. Follow the man himself on Twitter and Three Pound Brain - let's face it, there's a reason why Bakker's in the position he is. He admits his social media usage likely hinders the growth of a series yet still, it helps to lend him a bit more of a following.

4. Tell a friend - again, Bakker fans are so spread out, it's impossible for any one forum post to reach a respectable number of them. I've also heard that the amount of fantasy readers who actually go online to argue about the genre is actually a very small subset. Let fans of the series know wherever you can that this is going on. We'll also try to reach some of the places mentioned in here as well.

5. BELIEVE - This is only going to work if everyone takes part, so you have to have the mindset that every little bit helps. Don't forget the secret of battle!

Indomitable conviction. Unconquerable belief.

Contact Info for Bakker's Publishers

The Overlook Press

141 Wooster Street

New York, NY 10012

Tel: (212) 673-2210

Fax: (212) 673-2296

[email protected]

Orbit Contact Us page

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Why the fuck does Goodkind's shit, Douglas's, Anderson's, "traitor" Herbert's, and all the other shit get published yet this isn't? Fuck it, self-publish and put the e-book at $12, fuckit, $50, I'll buy. He'd make a ton of money. However, I know jack shit about his contract and whether or not he can but, dammit, I, and a fuck lot of other people have been waiting for this for a long time (*cough*saying this on a Martin board *cough*).

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Why the fuck does Goodkind's shit, Douglas's, Anderson's, "traitor" Herbert's, and all the other shit get published yet this isn't? Fuck it, self-publish and put the e-book at $12, fuckit, $50, I'll buy. He'd make a ton of money. However, I know jack shit about his contract and whether or not he can but, dammit, I, and a fuck lot of other people have been waiting for this for a long time (*cough*saying this on a Martin board *cough*).

Honest and brutal answer: Their shit sells. Bakker's does not.

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Well, I think it important to be polite when someone possesses goods that you desire and want to pay for.



If you are going to contact the publisher, maybe take the time to tell them why you like/want this book. Maybe even thank them for having published the preceding books in the first place.



They are clearly not excited about it at this point.


And as DRII implies, popular fantasy fiction addresses populist social issues and uses short words.


That sells a lot better than half-crazed gothic literature that thematically explores why people suck - with a penchant for polysyllabic, archaic vocabulary and prosaic structure.


If the guys that call the shots vis a vis printing haven't read the manuscript, then that fact is the one that matters.



As fans who are excited at the prospect of reading this book, our interests can best be served by generating excitement and interest.


(Although some of the moaning, hand wringing and confabulating conspiracies I have read in the main Bakker thread have been fun. :laugh: )



Personally, I will send an email and get some reviews onto goodreads post haste.


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Why the fuck does Goodkind's shit, Douglas's, Anderson's, "traitor" Herbert's, and all the other shit get published yet this isn't? Fuck it, self-publish and put the e-book at $12, fuckit, $50, I'll buy. He'd make a ton of money. However, I know jack shit about his contract and whether or not he can but, dammit, I, and a fuck lot of other people have been waiting for this for a long time (*cough*saying this on a Martin board *cough*).

Well, it could be worse, you could be saying it on a David Gerrold board.

More seriously, I agree with the sentiment even though I haven't read anything by this particular author yet. I have yet to see any of his books in the bookstore I drop by month to month (although their shelves are getting so cluttered with urban fantasy these days, it's growing difficult to find anything of interest there); I think I may have to order his stuff online based on just what I've read here.

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Honest and brutal answer: Their shit sells. Bakker's does not.

Bakker sells decent numbers as I remember. Not big name numbers sure but solid mid-list numbers.

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Bakker sells decent numbers as I remember. Not big name numbers sure but solid mid-list numbers.

Right, that's my takeaway too. As much as I could be convinced that all of us are some insane cult, it sounds like the preponderance of evidence suggests that while it's not Martin, it's not someone self-publishing 20K copies.

So what really gives? We're going to get the Precious eventually. What matters now is the explanation which is why plying may be appropriate.

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The B&N here used to stock then regularly, then they just vanished one week. To be fair they don't really carry much of a backlog of anything, unless a current iteration is out, and even then.

Man, i miss Borders..

Anyway, brutal honest mode on, if Bakker was actually as popular as certain fans believed, we wouldn't be having thus discussion. It's the canceled TV show syndrome. If there were enough fans to sign a petition that higher ups would give two shits about, it wouldn't have gotten cancelled in The first place.

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Ha. No kidding. One of them here is slight better cause there are some SFF fans higher up, but after borders closed, b&n is the only bookstore left here, so they don't need to try.

Actually the main one here recently starting carrying Tor UK books for series that got dropped here(shadows of the apt, the chad Newton one I forget the name of) and one of the booksellers is a huge Ian banks fan, so it's not all bad.

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I could drown in all the books I see with sexy elves or wizards dressed in modern clothing on the covers over here. It's getting really hard to find some of my old favorites.



And then one day, the Lego products started moving in.


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Is there any indication that the publisher isn't going to publish the last book?



Is the agent being stonewalled? Is Bakker? Have they tried inquiring as to what's going on?



I get fans are worried, but a small publishing company may just not have editors to spare for a work that nets them comparatively less profit than other books.


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The B&N here used to stock then regularly, then they just vanished one week. To be fair they don't really carry much of a backlog of anything, unless a current iteration is out, and even then.

Man, i miss Borders..

Anyway, brutal honest mode on, if Bakker was actually as popular as certain fans believed, we wouldn't be having thus discussion. It's the canceled TV show syndrome. If there were enough fans to sign a petition that higher ups would give two shits about, it wouldn't have gotten cancelled in The first place.

That assumes we even know wtf is going on. Like, you bring up cancelled TV shows, but those get cancelled for all sorts of weird reasons, sometimes having nothing to do with profitability or ratings.

But again, the numbers I'd heard of his sales were all solid. Not blowing the charts up or anything, but certainly something a publisher would be perfectly happy with from a mid-lister.

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Is there any indication that the publisher isn't going to publish the last book?

Is the agent being stonewalled? Is Bakker? Have they tried inquiring as to what's going on?

I get fans are worried, but a small publishing company may just not have editors to spare for a work that nets them comparatively less profit than other books.

Yeah, that's my takeaway for now. It's weird but not necessarily worrying. Not yet anyway.

Nothing wrong with sending a few letters in though.

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Everybody in this thread who rationalises Overlook’s decision is part of the problem. You’re welcome to voice your opinions on the countless Bakker threads. But this is not what this thread is for. If your contribution is not constructive then please take it somewhere else.



I will send a handwritten letter to Overlook (signing as tenured full professor) explaining what I love about this series to Overlook in a few hours.


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