Looking at Nightshade's website today, I noticed that they mention that the
trade apaerback of An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat is scheduled for
July, 2010. Will it actually come out then? Hard to say, they can be slow to
release items, even their better sellers such as Cook's works. There's no
listing yet for The Wrath of Kings, which will at last include the
continuation of An Ill Fate Marshalling, so I would expect that no earlier
than a year from now, if not later. Nightshade still list the Darkwar
omnibus for December of 2009, but that's just a few weeks from now, and
you'd think (at least, I think) they would have a cover available on their
site if it really was about to be released. So we'll see how that goes.
Meanwhile, has anyone seen a copy of the recent reprint of Faded Steel Heat
in a store? Amazon has it in stock, but I've yet to see one after checking
many bookstores in Colorado, as well as several in Manhattan a few weeks
ago. I suspect it is available only as a Print on Demand title, and that it
won't find its way to brick and mortar stores, but I could be wrong. Amazon
has been indicating that a reprint of Angry Lead Skies is available to be
ordered, but will take 10-14 days to ship. This might also be POD, and they
are awaiting a stock. POD can work that Amazon orders, say, 100, and so Roc
has 100 made by a POD company and sent to Amazon's warehouse. I'm still not
sure why cheap mass market paperbacks of the Black Company books can be
ordered from Tor's website, but not from Amazon. My guess is that Amazon
wants people to order the more expensive omnibus versions, but will carry
Garrett POD titles since no omnibus editions exist (other than scarce
bookclub versions).
A trade paperback of The Tyrrany of the Knight is still listed for April 13,
2010, the same day Ian Cameron Esslemont's Return of the Crimson Guard
Malazan novel gets its US release (both from Tor). I still think Tor intends
to rebrand The Instrumentalities of the Night as a trade paperback line, so
that the upcoming new volumes will also be trade paperbacks that can go on
peoples' shelves next to the Black Company and Dread Empire omnibuses.
The Many Deaths of the Black Company is still scheduled for January 5, less
than two months from now. Early January is a priority time for publishers
these days, instead of a Christmas rush, they release important titles soon
after Christmas to capture the business of people who just received gift
cards. So they have high hopes for Many Deaths, when they schedule it on
such a date.
