Subterranean Press discussion thread

[Priest]

just curios - it really said "canceled because you think the rules don't apply to you and you are a headache." in the email ?

Yup - that was on my paypal cancellation notice

don't want to blend me into that topic, but
"canceled because you think the rules don't apply to you and you are a headache."

and
"canceled because you think the rules don't apply to you and are a headache."
are two different things.

One is calling you a headache - one is calling the rules so , i was shocked by the fact that he was calling you something personally, like "you are a pain in the a**" but in this case he is not offending you.
Make sense ?

Lettered, numbered, what you can or could - i am out here, as i do not know what is common, but this little "you" made at least a difference to me.

[Kingfan24]

Hi priest - the "you" is understood from the first part of the sentence.

"Canceled because YOU think the rules don't apply to YOU"

And the next part reads "and are a headache" ARE being the keyword there. Are tells me that I am something, in this case a headache. He just used poor grammar.

[Priest]

Hej Kingfan,

i would read it
"Canceled because YOU think the rules don't apply to YOU and (the rules) are a headache" - because in the grammatical form the headache and the rules are closer together, so it connects to the rules plus (i don't know the english term) but its an enumeration
the rules 1) don't... and 2) are a...

but thats just my personal opinion as i believe that at least the offensive part might be a misunderstanding, and i wanted to point that out as it maybe would calm the situation down and build a bride for a compromise
But of course i can't speak for anybody other then me!

All the best!

[carlosdetweiller]

I read Bill's comment as implying some sort of prior history.....difficulties between this buyer and this seller before. Perhaps not but that is the first thing I thought. Sort of the last straw.

[Lurker]

I think Kingfan should have gotten the lettered.
Other people circumvent the implied one per household rule all the time - you should have called a friend or relative to order the limited for you.

[sharki69]

Yesterday was the first time that I ordered from Subpress. I was so excited that this book was avalliable again that I ordered 2 copies in separate transactions. I wasn't aware that there is a limit of one copy per person.

One of the orders was canceled this morning with this message - "We canceled one of your two copies, as customers are only eligible to buy one. "


No rules or headache mentioned .....

I think king fan should get the lettered and don't deserve this comment - mistakes happen

[Kingfan24]

I read Bill's comment as implying some sort of prior history.....difficulties between this buyer and this seller before. Perhaps not but that is the first thing I thought. Sort of the last straw.

Hi bob - I would expect that if we had had difficulties in the past, and I wouldn't harbor any ill will. However Bill went out of his way to contact me on one of my eBay auctions - I believe it was for clash of kings - and tell me that I was not allowed to hold back rights to a game of thrones. I was ignorant of the rules and had said something to the affect of "rights won't transfer" in the auction listing.

I complied willingly and that was that. So then game of thrones came out. I waited until the preorder period was over for those that had rights. I got a limited and put it on eBay.

It sold and I emailed bill the buyers info.

That was our past history regarding this series.

[Bookfriend]

Yeah.. I am confused as to why Kingfan is getting any blame here. There are a ton of people on this site who buy with the sole purchase of reselling, even at premium prices. There is nothing wrong with that. I am sure that the people at Sub Press and any small press completely understand this and are fine with this. They are not in the secondary market so it isn't their business.

Any way you look at it, regardless if Kingfan tried to buy an extra limited edition or not. To include that kind of message with the cancellation was a sour move. I dont even think cancelling the lettered edition was bad because regardless of intent, there was an attempt to circumvent the rules.

I like Bill and I like Subpress.. I think in my experiences they have been great. I will agree with Kingfan about the uncalled for message though.

I disagree with parts of your stated views here. In my opinion there is something wrong with the reselling, if the reselling is immediate and done only for with an eye for profit. Of course it is a free market and everybody is allowed to do want they want with stuff they own. Lots of us probably would not spend top dollars for fine books if we a) were not collectors and b) did not at the same hope for or, better yet, anticipate rising prices on a market. On the other hand many of us have probably had the disappointing experience of learning of the announcement of a desired book and racing to the SP site only to see the "sold out" sign and then finding numerous copies at double or triple the price on ebay the very next day. If SP publish a 100 copies of a book to a current market of a 100 collectors everybody is happy, but if you have 50 "go-betweeners" who flip the book and pump the price several times, well, then not everybody is happy. To me the SP rule of selling only to owners of the last book in a popular series makes good sense for obvious reasons. Edit: This post is only meant as a comment to the business of reselling, I am not judging Kingfan.

[Kingfan24]

That's fine and all bookfriend.

However the fact of the matter is - previous owners had their shot at buying the next book and chose not to do so.

[Br!an]

Yeah.. I am confused as to why Kingfan is getting any blame here. There are a ton of people on this site who buy with the sole purchase of reselling, even at premium prices. There is nothing wrong with that. I am sure that the people at Sub Press and any small press completely understand this and are fine with this. They are not in the secondary market so it isn't their business.

Any way you look at it, regardless if Kingfan tried to buy an extra limited edition or not. To include that kind of message with the cancellation was a sour move. I dont even think cancelling the lettered edition was bad because regardless of intent, there was an attempt to circumvent the rules.

I like Bill and I like Subpress.. I think in my experiences they have been great. I will agree with Kingfan about the uncalled for message though.

I disagree with parts of your stated views here. In my opinion there is something wrong with the reselling, if the reselling is immediate and done only for with an eye for profit. Of course it is a free market and everybody is allowed to do want they want with stuff they own. Lots of us probably would not spend top dollars for fine books if we a) were not collectors and b) did not at the same hope for or, better yet, anticipate rising prices on a market. On the other hand many of us have probably had the disappointing experience of learning of the announcement of a desired book and racing to the SP site only to see the "sold out" sign and then finding numerous copies at double or triple the price on ebay the very next day. If SP publish a 100 copies of a book to a current market of a 100 collectors everybody is happy, but if you have 50 "go-betweeners" who flip the book and pump the price several times, well, then not everybody is happy. To me the SP rule of selling only to owners of the last book in a popular series makes good sense for obvious reasons. Edit: This post is only meant as a comment to the business of reselling, I am not judging Kingfan.

There is exhaustive discussion about reselling on this thread.
Buying things specifically to sell for a profit.

[Br!an]

As far as Kingfan and Subpress goes I can see why they canceled the Limited since he tried to buy two and violated the rules.

The comment was unprofessional.

The cancellation of the Lettered was uncalled for.

The cancellation of the Limited was the consequence of the rule violation. Anything beyond that seems excessive to me.

[Bookfriend]

Br!an: Thanks for the thread, I am looking forward to reading it.
Kingfan: We agree on missed shots as being fair game

[Theli]

Hej Kingfan,

i would read it
"Canceled because YOU think the rules don't apply to YOU and (the rules) are a headache" - because in the grammatical form the headache and the rules are closer together, so it connects to the rules plus (i don't know the english term) but its an enumeration
the rules 1) don't... and 2) are a...

but thats just my personal opinion as i believe that at least the offensive part might be a misunderstanding, and i wanted to point that out as it maybe would calm the situation down and build a bride for a compromise
But of course i can't speak for anybody other then me!

All the best!

I think KF is right in his interpretation here, if it were Bill's own rules that were a headache, why would he cancel the order? Especially when buying a lettered edition had nothing to do with the rules. Just my two cents.

[Jimimck]

Kingfan, sounds like you got screwed to me. Cancel the limited, fine, but to be insulted and have the lettered cancelled too is just rude and unprofessional.

[Randall Flagg]

So far we have heard one side of the story. It would be interesting to hear the Sub Press (Bill's) side, but I wouldn't blame Bill if he publicly stayed out of the issue and let his message to KF stand as it is.

[Theli]

I don't imagine there's a lot that could be said from his side that won't come across as petty. Probably best just left alone. I got no problem with Bill, I play within the rules and he's always been good to me. The message probably should have been handled better, but everyone's entitled to a bad day. Probably just one of those straw that broke the camel's back situations.

Edit: Actually it kind of tickles me that Bill stood up for what he thought was right in this situation (no offense Kingfan, not saying he is right necessarily). I've worked retail and customer service for most of my life, and it's refreshing to see Bill not bend to pressures and platitudes as we are so often forced in this industry.

[webstar1000]

I just read all this... I run a store where customer service it JOB 1. No matter what Kingfan did or did not do... he DID NOT deserve the comment. He is a paying customer and that was unprofessional and childish of whoever (Bill?) wrote it. They are a business. They should act like they run one.

[WeDealInLead]

Pre-order for new the China Mieville collection is live: http://subterraneanpress.com/store/p...f_an_explosion

SP is killing it

[Kingfan24]

Pre-order for new the China Mieville collection is live: http://subterraneanpress.com/store/p...f_an_explosion

SP is killing it

What's the outlook on this guy? Not read much about him.

[killjoy72]

Great question.
I've only ever read Kraken by him. Not a bad story, but a had trouble getting through it. How are his short stories?

[frik]

Somebody must like him: only 8 lettereds left.
They'll be gone today!

sk

[WeDealInLead]

Pre-order for new the China Mieville collection is live: http://subterraneanpress.com/store/p...f_an_explosion

SP is killing it

What's the outlook on this guy? Not read much about him.

I think his books are great. Many people don't seem to like him because his books aren't easy reads, but I don't find him impenetrable or hard to follow. For new readers I'd suggest his YA (he doesn't like this term) books Un Lun Dun and Railsea. They have all of his characteristics (rich prose, unusual/made-up words, crazy ideas, monsters, language manipulation/wordplay) but toned down a bit. Railsea is still available as a hardcover from bookdepository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Railse.../9780230765108 That's with free shipping.

If Lucius Shepard, Gene Wolfe and Harlan Ellison's (weirder) stories are something you're familiar with, you should give him a go. If you prefer straight forward stories with lean and mean prose, give him a wide berth.

Lettered is gone, just north of 100 numbered left.

[frik]

http://subterraneanpress.com/store/p...detail/stinger

I'm really happy SubPress is having a go at Robert McCammon's earlier books, like They Thirst, The Wolf's Hour, Blue World (excellent book!)and now: Stinger.
The lettered editions are almost gone.
Love McCammon.

sk

[richardsrarebooks]

They also have three Dean Koontz books published by Charnel House for sale @ $150 each. I ordered "Relentless" which is sold out at the publisher and pretty hard to find.

[jcmanske]

They also have three Dean Koontz books published by Charnel House for sale @ $150 each. I ordered "Relentless" which is sold out at the publisher and pretty hard to find.

Thank you! I needed that one and that is a great price. Issue price was $300.00 and Charnel House only made 250 of this one. The binding of the limited edition of Relentless is a fictional book by Cullen Greenwich, the protagonist of the novel. The Greenwich autograph is blindstamped by Koontz on the front board. Pretty cool.