Suntup Editions

[Hunchback Jack]

...from the outside, it would be hard to understand how numbered editions priced like other publishers’ lettered editions, and Roman numeral editions priced at what you could buy a small car for, could be anything but a money-grabbing scheme fueled by hype.

That's the thing about that thread - these people already understand how the small/fine press industry works. Random relatives around the holiday dinner table taking the "this is ridiculous" attitude? Logical. A bunch of fine press "connoisseurs" taking the same attitude? Silly - taking offense in the way they did required an ignorance they lack.

Fair point.

[St. Troy]

And if Suntup is the low end what do they consider high end?

A doily bearing a line of Shakespeare that has been embossed on a hand press that can trace its lineage to 17th century Bavaria.

But the whole issue boils down to this: what distinguishes me from the fools at LT (not that everyone there is a fool; I refer only to the fools among them) is that I'd have nary a negative word to say against such a doily, because I understand the value of the intersection of literature, history and craftsmanship such a product would represent, as well as why it would garner attention and appreciation, and would know better than to go all "it's a gimmick!" on them.

[St. Troy]

When I don't like something, I just don't buy it. I don't feel the desire to trash them on websites...

I have second-hand appreciation for many things I don't actually enjoy; I'm not sure why others aren't the same.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

Damn!
I knew I shouldn't have given my hand-made Shakespeare doily to Goodwill!

[BrewMeister]

Damn!
I knew I shouldn't have given my hand-made Shakespeare doily to Goodwill!

Just as my spirits were starting to drop, a ray of light in the darkness.

Well said sir, well said!

[St. Troy]

Alright: I’m going to expect everyone to start refining their guesses about tomorrow’s announcement, and since I’m plugging away at one of the things it could be (to see if I should jump on it, should that guess be correct), I’m particularly interested in which way the guesses go.

[Hunchback Jack]

Damn!
I knew I shouldn't have given my hand-made Shakespeare doily to Goodwill!

If I could give you +ive rep, I would. That made me laugh.

[Hunchback Jack]

Well, that was an exciting livestream. Bunch of books shipping. Bunch of books getting read to ship. Neuromancer #ed looking pretty great. Big announcement tomorrow. I’m stoked.

[GenericEric]

Just curious, is there a reason most seem to think tomorrow's books is Imajica?

I know the clues mention it's epic fantasy novel over 1000 pages and it's the first time they've done a book by this author. I didn't know if there was something else mentioned where people narrowed it down to Imajica.

[OldCrow88]

Just curious, is there a reason most seem to think tomorrow's books is Imajica?

I know the clues mention it's over 1000 pages and it's the first time they've done a book by this author. I didn't know if there was something else mentioned where people narrowed it down to Imajica.

I think there was no mention of an artist signature, which implies author and artist are the same person.

[GenericEric]

Just curious, is there a reason most seem to think tomorrow's books is Imajica?

I know the clues mention it's over 1000 pages and it's the first time they've done a book by this author. I didn't know if there was something else mentioned where people narrowed it down to Imajica.

I think there was no mention of an artist signature, which implies author and artist are the same person.

That's for the May book. I thought that one could be Barker, but who knows.

[OldCrow88]

Just curious, is there a reason most seem to think tomorrow's books is Imajica?

I know the clues mention it's over 1000 pages and it's the first time they've done a book by this author. I didn't know if there was something else mentioned where people narrowed it down to Imajica.

I think there was no mention of an artist signature, which implies author and artist are the same person.

That's for the May book. I thought that one could be Barker, but who knows.

Sorry, got confused. But now I'm definitely confused because I wouldn't anticipate two books in a row from the same author. To your original question I have no idea what clues point to Imajica per se for tomorrow. I suppose there are only so many 1000 page books to choose from. Honestly I prefer to be surprised so I try to ignore any clues and on Thursday stay in blackout mode till noon.

[herbertwest]

Today's facebook live was interesting
- The end of the cover collection : it's a shame but I am not surprised. I always wonder how many people order them.... I know that there are some awesome french covers I would like to be treated the same way, but
- Tomorrow's book
- Proof reading

Does that mean that the text in the Suntup book versions may be different from other editions?
I know that some books may have typos, but I always assumed that books had to be the same because contractually the author wrote XYZ and therefore, even if XYZ may be grammarticarly wrong, this was the book the way the author designed/wrote it. Different-ish subject, but I believe that for translations, in theory the translator has to agree and validate the final text (I know that because of an issue a few years ago in France), but I don't know what that means for reprints : are correcting obvious typos forbidden or not? Maybe I willl ask a friend of mine that is a translator as I always found that subject interesting

[Hunchback Jack]

Others on here can speak to this better than I can, but I think sometimes there isn’t a good digital copy of the text available, so the text is scanned in from physical copies of the book. The scanning process isn’t 100% reliable, so a lot of proofreading is needed to ensure accuracy.

Cemetery dance just went through this with Robert McCammon's Usher’s Passing. It was a right pain, apparently.

[jsweet]

Others on here can speak to this better than I can, but I think sometimes there isn’t a good digital copy of the text available, so the text is scanned in from physical copies of the book. The scanning process isn’t 100% reliable, so a lot of proofreading is needed to ensure accuracy.

Cemetery dance just went through this with Robert McCammon's Usher’s Passing. It was a right pain, apparently.

Exactly. While I can't speak to this book specifically, I do freelance copy editing for a few publishers that publish older books that have no digital version, so they are taken from scans/PDFs and have to be fixed to address those issues. For just one sometimes amusing example, quite often "rn" becomes "m" so yarn becomes yam; barn becomes bam, etc.

[St. Troy]

So...no speculation about what 1,000 page "epic fantasy" might go well with "graphical elements" the oldest of which dates to 1847? I forget what other guesses are out there, but I recall seeing Imajica (which might have been a guess based on a mistake as noted above), The Name of the Wind, and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell...and damn if Strange/Norrell don't match right up with the 19th century (of course, "graphical elements" could mean different things, and if all we're talking about is something akin to an aged map, then many fantasies are fair game (The Name of the Wind among them) - but I'm not Mr. Fantasy, and I'm sure others must have some ideas.

[Br!an]

Pillars of the Earth was mentioned.

[JeremyM]

So...no speculation about what 1,000 page "epic fantasy" might go well with "graphical elements" the oldest of which dates to 1847? I forget what other guesses are out there, but I recall seeing Imajica (which might have been a guess based on a mistake as noted above), The Name of the Wind, and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell...and damn if Strange/Norrell don't match right up with the 19th century (of course, "graphical elements" could mean different things, and if all we're talking about is something akin to an aged map, then many fantasies are fair game (The Name of the Wind among them) - but I'm not Mr. Fantasy, and I'm sure others must have some ideas.

I'm pretty sure Paul is referencing Oliver Byrne's 'Elements of Euclid', which was published in 1847. It's notable for having using colored graphical elements to illustrate the various geometric concepts. How that might fit into an 'epic fantasy' novel though - you've got me.

Edited to add: If the description didn't also say 'epic fantasy' - I'd think 'Anathem' would be a good candidate, given this graphic element.

[BrewMeister]

I am unfortunately not familiar with any of the books being guessed for tomorrow's announcement. In fact, other than the uncut version of The Stand, I don't believe I've ever owned or read a book over 1,000 pages.

One item that stood out for me from today's announcement was that the AE would have letterpress printing for the "section" pages. If this book is indeed broken up into sections, would that make any of the guesses more or less likely to be correct?

[St. Troy]

One item that stood out for me from today's announcement was that the AE would have letterpress printing for the "section" pages. If this book is indeed broken up into sections, would that make any of the guesses more or less likely to be correct?

My thoughts exactly (I just couldn’t put the work in to articulate them).

[burgerhicks80]

Jonathan Strange and mr. Norrell has been a popular guess for todays announcement but I wouldn't call it epic fantasy, if anything I think the June book description would be a more likely place for JS&MN.

[shaq]

I have seen it described often as Historical Fantasy fiction... not long to find out now, but this is the wiki description..

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the debut novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. Published in 2004, it is an alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Its premise is that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centred on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundaries between reason and unreason, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Dane, and Northern and Southern English cultural tropes/stereotypes. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history, and a historical novel. It inverts the Industrial Revolution conception of the North–South divide in England: in this book the North is romantic and magical, rather than rational and concrete.

The narrative draws on various Romantic literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners, the Gothic tale, and the Byronic hero. The novel's language is a pastiche of 19th-century writing styles, such as those of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Clarke describes the supernatural with careful detail. She supplements the text with almost 200 footnotes, outlining the backstory and an entire fictional corpus of magical scholarship.


I’m interested to see what today’s is. I loved reading this book.

[burgerhicks80]

I have seen it described often as Historical Fantasy fiction... not long to find out now, but this is the wiki description..

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the debut novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. Published in 2004, it is an alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Its premise is that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centred on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundaries between reason and unreason, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Dane, and Northern and Southern English cultural tropes/stereotypes. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history, and a historical novel. It inverts the Industrial Revolution conception of the North–South divide in England: in this book the North is romantic and magical, rather than rational and concrete.

The narrative draws on various Romantic literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners, the Gothic tale, and the Byronic hero. The novel's language is a pastiche of 19th-century writing styles, such as those of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Clarke describes the supernatural with careful detail. She supplements the text with almost 200 footnotes, outlining the backstory and an entire fictional corpus of magical scholarship.


I’m interested to see what today’s is. I loved reading this book.

When I see the term epic fantasy It conjures up thoughts of lord of the rings or game of thrones. JS&MN is often described as genre defying which I feel fits the bill for the first June title rather than todays. But as you say we'll find out very soon!

[St. Troy]

I suppose it could be one of the other many names in fantasy (Brandon Sanderson is one), although I don't know who has a thousand pager.

[shaq]

Here’s a fantasy,

It is Jonathon Strange, with Charles Vess on art, and Rich Tong of Lyra fame on board printing and binding etc....

All wrapped in a neat Suntup glow!

One can only dream of such a collaboration.