Dancing to Dirges

Depressing and happy things Tim says, sometimes while drunk

Thursday, August 27, 2009

So rare it's purple

First, the good news. If you have a copy of the UK version of Heart of Veridon, you have a rare. The bad news is that it's rare because hardly any of the buyers for the various UK chains picked the book up. So...not many copies on the ground over there. The numbers are dismal.

It's not so bad inside my head, really. Every since I found out Solaris was putting itself up for sale, I was pretty sure the book was fucked. That those predictions are coming out true is disheartening, but I've been mentally bracing for this for a while. It hurts to have something you threw so much of your life into go down like this, but that's how life goes. You move on.

This doesn't bode well for the US release, btw. We're probably going to be in the same situation of bookstore buyers just not picking up the book, and therefore the book not appearing on shelves. Not many shelves. So if you see a copy, yay, but I'm not expecting it.

For the longest time I expected Veridon to be my make or break narrative. Not necessary this book, but maybe the second or third book of the promised series. That's not going to be the case. Now my success is utterly invested in Eva Forge. I love my Veridon, but I have to put it away.

So, yeah. Farm those rare drops. Get your copy now, cuz there aren't going to be many more. And when the Forge series does super-well and I'm famous, that book's going to be worth something.

7 Comments:

At 2:33 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Really sorry to hear that...

If it helps in the slightest, I own the book and have read it... and absolutely loved it.
The story is as good as your very best short stories only far more in depth (as you'd expect)... Fantastic characters I cared about, a rollicking good adventure... and, most importantly for me, a world I wanted to see more of, hear more about, spend longer in.
Like I say, probably doesn't help at this stage but I wanted to let you know anyway.

 
At 7:30 AM , Blogger Daryl Gregory said...

Well, damn.

You seem to be taking this a lot better than I would. First novels are baked from the fever dreams of the unpublished writer and marinated in in blood from the vein you opened to get the damned thing out. Or maybe that's just me. I really shouldn't have seen that Julia Child movie. But my condolences. And I wouldn't give up on the US edition yet. The fact that Solaris was dying as it came out is all that's needed to explain the book's failure to get out to the shelves. Once your Pyr books come out, Viridon is ripe for expansion.

 
At 8:45 AM , Blogger Tim Akers said...

I'm only taking it well because I've been expecting this since early March. If you'd given me these numbers raw, well. You know me.

It's a little late to hope for much from the US release. Orders will have been placed, print runs will have been curtailed to match estimates from the UK numbers. The rails are already set, it's just a matter of driving the train.

 
At 5:28 PM , Blogger Splitcoil said...

It sucks, but something like this cannot hold back the Jahleel Brenton of science fiction. Keep on movin', big man.

 
At 11:01 PM , Anonymous Nicole said...

Well Shit! So will Amazon in the US carry it or can I only get a copy through Amazon.UK?

 
At 4:32 AM , Blogger Tim Akers said...

It'll be available thru Amazon.com, just not until Sept 29th.

 
At 7:12 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Heart of Veridon" was an awesome read, thoroughly enjoyable and captivating from start to end.
I'd had my copy pre-ordered from Amazon UK for about four months before it was released (and it didn't disappoint).
Its a damn shame to hear that it hasn't done as well as it deserved, and that there is a possibility that Veridon might be shelved.
All I can say is that I hope you keep on writing the same kind of thrilling material that you have done so to date, and hopefully we will be seeing much much more of Veridon and Tim Akers in the future.

 

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