Anyone receive their Falling Angel set yet? Would love to see pictures while waiting for mine to arrive.
Anyone receive their Falling Angel set yet? Would love to see pictures while waiting for mine to arrive.
Can’t wait to see the video, Jeff! I watch most of your videos but never comment as I’ve never created a YouTube account.
Received the Falling Angel set today and I'm quite happy with the production. Some more pictures in my non-King thread for those that want some spoilers.
Looking for Suntup Brother ARC and Suntup Seed ARC
Loved the video, Jeff! Can’t wait for mine to show up. Did you happen to receive a shipping notice or tracking number on yours? I know Jerad doesn’t usually do tracking but I thought I’d ask.
Awesome vid Jeff. Now that I know how Jared's system works I am on the list for a few. I did not know that it was the basis for Angel Heart. I love that movie. Congrats.
My Collection
https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ction-MikeDuke
My Suntup Flikr page
https://www.flickr.com/people/190710085@N03/
Well whoever was asking for a Suntup Edition of GEEK LOVE you should know you may be getting the wonderful limited treatment from Centipede instead. From Jerad’s newsletter:
And we are still trying to get rights nailed down for Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny and Geek Love by Katharine Dunn. Man, acquisitions are taking a long time!
Thread should be open
Updated release list and schedule as of Oct 18, 2020
The Revenge of the Rose (Elric volume 5) by Michael Moorcock.
$150 Now Shipping (Oct 18)
A Beastly Business and Blue Octavo by John Blackburn.
$65 each. Now up for order (Oct 18)
Masters of the Weird Tale by Ramsey Campbell.
Now shipping. (August)
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.
End of September. The binding on this is really meticulous. $495. SOLD OUT
Dune by Frank Herbert.
Hopefully Halloween. Very large book with a lot of detail work still to do. $495 probably.
Speaker for the Dead and Ender’s Way by Orson Scott Card.
December. Prices to be determined, but around $225 each.
The Punktown Trilogy by Jonathan Thomas.
January or February. Currently printing, this set of 3 books still needs slipcases. $225 for the set.
Nifft the Lean by Michael Shea.
Probably December. $95.
Live Girls by Ray Garton.
October. $65.
Dr. Futurity, The Cosmic Puppets and Vulcan’s Hammer by Philip K. Dick.
Hopefully December for all. $95 each.
The Swords of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber.
Probably February 2021. $85.
Children of the Kingdom by Ted Klein.
February 2021. Letterpress printing done. Letterpress two-color illustrations done.
Dark Star and The Director Should've Shot You by Alan Dean Foster
December for the first, May or June 2021 for the second.
The Last of Philip Banter and Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly by John Franklin Bardin
December or January. $60 each.
Waltz Into Darkness and the third volume of short stories by Cornell Woolrich.
January or February. $75 each.
A Case of Conscience by James Blish.
July 5 update: in galley stage.
I’ll See You In Hell by John McPartland.
[July 5 update: has just been submitted to the printer]
Titles contracted for and in the works, but still some time off:
Ghost Story and Shadowland by Peter Straub.
Both in development.
The Man Who Never Was (volume 6 of collected stories) by R.A. Lafferty.
February or so. We have not forgotten!
Powers of Darkness by Bram Stoker.
December 2021.
The House Next Door by Anne River Siddons.
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.
By popular demand. All six books as standalone volumes with all new artwork in each.
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance.
Ringworld by Larry Niven.
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert.
Goes to the printer here in September.
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert
The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner.
Rights just acquired.
Cold Moon Over Babylon by Michael McDowell.
The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis.
The Gas by Charles Platt.
The Swords of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber.
Weird Fiction Review #11 in December.
Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock.
Masters of Science Fiction by Robert Sheckley
Masters of Science Fiction by Jack Dann.
Library of Weird Fiction by Ambrose Bierce.
Masters of the Weird Tale by Stefan Grabinski.
Masters of the Weird Tale by Charles L. Grant.
The Thing - Studies in Horror Films
Phantasm - Studies in Horror Films
The Omen - Studies in Horror Films
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Rights just acquired.
The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
Rights just acquired.
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Working on getting rights contracted.
Geek Love by Katharine Dunn
Working on getting rights contracted.
At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft
Oversize, letterpress, and lots of extras.New artwork by Michael Whelan, Travis Louie, Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell, Brom, Bob Eggleton, and many others. Hoping for a 2022 print date.
Mark Twain
I hope the Jerad gets the rights and does this, and I hope that Paul isn't dissuaded and gets the rights and does it too! This is an excellent book - definitely among my favorites - and there is so much that could be done with it that I would be happy to see two great presses take it on. Plus I want to write more posts like the HHH comparison - it's super fun
But really - what an extraordinary list today! WOW!!
I already have one of the 32 limiteds done of Geek Love back in 1989 - it's gorgeous. Thanks for the heads-up. I look forward to seeing what Jerad can come up with. Paul, you are a class act for backing off to give Jerad the space needed to do it. This book begs for something special - I'm sure your's would have been great.
Yeah, that’s a pretty extraordinary list. I won’t be able to get all the ones I’d like, but there are a few I hope to get a copy of.
“If you don't know what you want," the doorman said, "you end up with a lot you don't.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Looking for SubPress Lettered::
Angel's Game and Prisoner of Heaven (Zafon)
Ilium (Simmons)
For those who love collecting books I recommend reading The Club Dumas, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. You probably saw the film that adapted (part of) the book: The ninth gate.
I'm really glad it'll get a limited treatment and while I don't collect other authors I might pull the trigger on this one.
Wanted list:
Ubris
sub press did an amazing edition of club dumas 10 years ago.
Big fan of both Pérez-Reverte and Murakami -- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was the first of his books I read.
Author of The Road to the Dark Tower, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences and The Dark Tower Companion. Co-editor with Stephen King of the anthology Flight or Fright.
Anyone else find it a little sad how many copies of the Falling Angel set have been up on EBay already? I guess I’d be glad about it if I had missed out on getting one. I guess I just expected that more people were buying this to keep rather than just trying to flip it.
I think some of this volume is because this is a big limitation for Centipede - he doesn't often do 500 books. Just because of that I'd expect there to be more copies than usual on eBay. The issue price is unbeatable - $225 for this set is just insane, given the production values - but I think you're right that the sheer volume of listings has kept the price low, which is great for those who missed it. Even at $400 it's a nice price for what are very pretty and well-done books (including the world first edition of Angel's Inferno)!
Just got my set. I really haven't had time to look it over, but I can tell you that mine won't be going up for sale on eBay.
My Collection
https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ction-MikeDuke
My Suntup Flikr page
https://www.flickr.com/people/190710085@N03/
Agree with all of this. It used to bother me to see people flip sold out books for a profit because it meant that those who love those books (the true fans) are now paying more than the people who are just in it to make money. But then I looked at the names of the buyers and sellers and none of those names were mine and I realized it was none of my business. And as sad as it is, it was a relief to let it go. And the above point is a great one--with all the copies available, the price is lower than what it will be--meaning people are still getting a great deal. This is easily a $500 set! Right now there are only 2 active auctions on eBay so once that supply dries up, you'll see the flippers who were waiting for the supply to dry up come in and get even bigger money.
Congrats to all who own this set. It's just fantastic.
Just a little teaser post - Yegor and I have collaborated on a long photo essay about the new Falling Angel and Angel's Inferno set that I'll be posting here probably later today
EDIT:
Testing
My Collection
https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ction-MikeDuke
My Suntup Flikr page
https://www.flickr.com/people/190710085@N03/
Alrighty everyone - book review time! Although, to be honest, this is less of a "review" and more like "two thousand words about the design of these books and also some very, very pretty pictures". It's about an amazing recent release from Centipede Press: the Falling Angel and Angel's Inferno two-book set. And, I have some very good news: a few weeks ago Yegor suggested to me that we collaborate on a post in which I write my usual words and he takes his absolutely stunning pictures, and we put them together with the idea that they will nicely complement each other. It was of course a most excellent idea and I was eager to do it! Fortunately, we have some nice overlap in our collections as I like to have the book in front of me when I write and he very obviously needs to have the book to take pictures of, and the idea of shipping valuable books back and forth just so we can produce some free content for the internet does not square well. I asked Yegor which book he wanted to do first and these were his (very good) choices. He sent me more than 30 pictures and I’m going to use almost all of them. So up front I want to say: thank you Yegor for having this awesome idea and letting me put my barrage of words next to your very, very pretty pictures! I hope you all enjoy this
Before we get into the physical book, I want to note that this is an interesting release for several reasons: first, Falling Angel was previously done by Centipede Press in 2006 (actually under the Millipede Press imprint). It was a nice book, with the same design as the other Circle Series books. And it had a Hjortsberg signature! So while it's a bit unusual for the same publisher to give it another go, this is a good candidate for a redesign that was not so constrained by the aesthetics of the Circle Series books. But what pushes it from a "good" candidate to a "great" candidate is the second interesting part of this release (for Centipede Press at least): Falling Angel is now paired with Angel's Inferno - the first worldwide release of the sequel. The vast majority of the Centipede Press catalog consists of previously published works getting some new love, some new exposure, and a nice small press treatment. This is one of only a bare handful of times that Centipede Press has published the true first edition of a book (for those waiting to read it who missed out on this one, or who would like a reading copy, a paperback version is slated for release in October by No Exit Press in the UK).
Now - onto the books! As is my preference, we'll start on the outside and work our way in.
First: the slipcase. This is a good one! It's reminiscent of the relatively recent Fafhrd slipcase, as well as the deluxe Elric cases, and continues the trend of Centipede really stepping up the slipcase game. I appreciate the extra effort that goes into a nice slipcase; too often the book gets all the attention and the slipcase can seem like a bit of an afterthought - for protection only. But really, they are a part of the whole package and it's really nice to see additional design elements incorporated into them. In this case the slipcase is of "standard" construction for Centipede, black cloth with highlights of a different color (red, here) on the top and bottom.
Where the new elements come in is the spine of the slipcase: gold stamping of the author, titles, and publisher, all in the really neat font that was chosen for the dustjackets and interiors, as well as some small inset color art, of the motif present in all the great issues of this book (first edition, first Centipede Press edition, second Centipede Press edition). This is the first introduction of the new art - it's a variation on the original first edition jacket art.
Onto: the dustjacket. The jacket art for the original is reproduced in Falling Angel, a common extra in many Centipede Press books. But it takes special significance here! The original artist, Stanislaw Zagorski, gave us an iconic image of an angel and devil squaring off above the city. Here, the new artist, Ricardo Martinez, has taken that image and re-imagined it - this time with a little more detail in the devil, and an outsized match between him and the protagonist (less directly an angel). And the colors! A wonderful warm pastel palette with lots of shading.
I think Jerad realized that he had something special with this art, because he made an unusual but very welcome choice with the dustjackets: they are double sided, and the interiors are the same art but without any darkening or text on the spines. If dustjackets without text are your bag, and for this incredible art I think it will be for a number of people, you can reverse the dustjackets and have a text-free presentation.
Next: the boards. This can slip by some folks, but Centipede always, always decorates the boards, even for books with dustjackets (which is almost all of them these days). In this case the spines are stamped in red foil - the red/black theme that started with the slipcase really catches up here and in the interior of the book. Again - love this font! Usually the fonts are noted in a rear colophon, but that's been replaced here by something else related to the signature sheets, which we'll get to in a bit.
The board decorations here are blind stamps. INCREDIBLE blind stamps. These are worth taking out and looking at in the light. The stamps here are incredibly detailed representations of the cover art. Look at the cross-hatching on the devil's knees and on his wings! These are among the most detailed blind stamps I've ever seen. It's remarkable how many small details were put on this plate and how well most of them transferred to the book. This is a highlight not just for Centipede Press but for all board stamping. And I don't want to forget the cloth! A nice black cloth, but shot through very lightly with a bit of yellow/orange. Pretty subtle, but when you take off the dustjacket to look at the back of the dustjacket and the wonderful stamping, hold the book in the right light and you'll see these threads as well.
One more stop before we open the book: the top edge. There's a ribbon marker - standard fare for Centipede Press - this one's red, of course. And a topstain. Black! I love the choice to do a black topstain with a red ribbon instead of the other way around. And lastly - solid black headbands. Again, these could have been red and black or some other combination, but I like the choice to go solid black. Combined with the topstain it's a wonderfully dark look
Onward, to the endpapers! The endpapers are still another take on the angel/devil in the city motif - printed in black on red papers. I can usually take or leave printed endpapers. Give me a nice solid color, or, even better, give me something handmade. But for printed endpapers, these are right on point with the rest of the design, and a great transition from the exterior to the interior.
To the interior! I don't want to spoil the whole thing so I'll hit some highlights and if you have these on your shelf I encourage you to open them up and check it out. Also, as usual, I'm not really going to get into the book itself or the extras, and keep this at a higher level, mostly considering just the design. Both of these books have nice color two-page spreads for the title page by the same artist as the dustjacket, continuing the motif.
What I really like about this particular set is the inclusion of some semi-creepy black and white figures, first, on the copyright page.
Then, when we get to the beginning of the book, we have a neat treat: on the verso side, the signatures of the demons, reproduced later in slightly higher fidelity on the limitation page. In both books, the chapter heading for Chapter 1 is delightfully macabre - ugly figures that I very much love. For Falling Angel, an ugly devil sits to the left of the text block (in Angel's Inferno it's an equally ugly bug). He pushes into the text, which is nicely shaped around his body and his foot-claws.
And we still get a nice big red drop cap to start the first word (the interior is printed in two colors, red and black, so there are some nice flourishes in red throughout that bring back those colors from the exterior). And the first line is in the same, or a very similar font, to the slipcase, dustjacket, and titles. Again, a very neat font! But smart that it only takes up one line. We get a hint of it but we don't have to sacrifice readability, which is always a major design point in Centipede Press books. The spacing: margins & kerning, and the font: size & type, are all chosen with an eye toward readability, and like the other books, are a success. This is eminently readable type, for those who enjoy (carefully) reading their treasured S/L books!
I didn’t write about the interior of the book but there are lots of very good extras (as to be expected with Centipede) and Yegor took some very nice pictures of them so here are some interior pictures:
Lastly, both in the book and in the essay, we get to the limitation page. All printed, of course, even the designation. On this set we have facsimile signatures from Hjortsberg in both volumes, as well as signatures from the artists and other contributors. In what I think is a splendid idea, and well executed, for these books we get some signatures from the main characters! In Falling Angel we have wonderful character- and pictographic signatures from the 7 lesser demons, while in Angel's Inferno we get Louis Cyphre, Harry Angel, Johnny Favorite, and the New Satan himself, Dominus Satanus. I don't think I've seen this before! But I love it. They're neat inclusions in and of themselves and in no way detract from the other signatures or the rest of the limitation page. And they're pretty! Nice calligraphy, and great pictographs with some of the demons. A nice treat and a fitting end to an exceptionally designed and well-executed book!
I'm going to add a small note to the end here, and it may not hold up for long because it has to do with the secondary market, which will surely change. The original price of these books was $225, which was an absolute steal for a double set of books at this level of production, one of which is a true first edition, and the very nice slipcase. Not surprisingly, it sold out very quickly, despite the extra limitation (500 copies as opposed to the more standard 200-300). There have been lots of copies available on the secondary market, and while they are certainly marked up from the list price, up to 2x or more, this is a magnificent set of books that I believe would have still sold out had the original list been closer to $450 or $500. I'm not saying run out and buy these, or make an investment or anything, but rather that if you missed the original sale, and you end up buying these on the secondary market, you are still going to experience a wonderful value for your $400-500 dollars.
And that's all, folks!