I just got it confirmed that URBAN SHAMAN and THUNDERBIRD FALLS have both gone back to print. Yay! I think this is US’s 3rd print run, now, but as far as I can tell, nobody’s actually *seen* a 2nd edition copy. So!
If you can provide proof of owning a 2nd edition copy of URBAN SHAMAN, I will send you a copy of HEART OF STONE (first edition, signed!) when I get my author copies in September-ish. “Provide proof” means…well, a scan or photo of the copyright page would be actual proof, and I’ll assume if you’re taking pictures or scanning books that you *own* it, rather than are standing at a bookstore (you wouldn’t cheat me, anyway, would you?) with your cell phone. Offer is good for the first five people who own up to owning 2nd edition copies of US!
eta: er. Doh.
2nd edition – or 2nd print run?
(My copy says first edition, and no sign of being a second printing. And I’ve not had it that long.)
Oh, lord, I feel foolish now. :)
*chuckles and hugs*
I pimp your books all the time. “Here! Try this!” It is fun to do. They’re looking at Anita and sighing, remembering when it was more than pr0n and I go, “Read this, read this!”
Oh dear, I didn’t mean to embarrass you!
It’s pretty common in books published in the UK to have
First published in Great Britain in xxxx
followed by a line saying
Reprinted in yyyy, zzzz
when it’s a reprint. But I’d be totally unsurprised if US publishers did it differently.
(And if there’s anyone out there who knows anything about this, then (a) they know more than I do, and (b) I’d love a pointer to such info. So far as I can see, when you get a number sequence such as “10 9 8 7 6” on that same page, it indicates which printing (the example would be the 6th). My copy of US has no such sequence, but then, Luna/Harlequin quite possibly don’t bother with it, or only bother on a second or later.)
That number sequence does indeed denote the printing. Since it’s not a legal requirement or anything, Luna may be leaving it out; it’s also possible that they just leave it out for the first printing, although that would be semi-odd. (The biggest reason to do it is to identify first printings.)
It was that sequence that I was thinking of, yeah. I don’t have any of the second printings, or at least, not that I’m aware of, and mine don’t have the countdown. So I donno!
I love you for it, too. *beam*
I started on Anita somewhere two or three volumes ago. And the first was porn, with Vampires, and the second was hard-core porn, with Vampires.
Dear Lord, and I’d heard such good things about them.
(Not that there’s anything wrong with well written porn, but I was after fantasy of the other type at the time. Reading it on a plane seated next to a female colleague on a transatlantic red-eye was disconcerting.)
(I initially wrote ‘port’ rather than ‘porn’, which still makes sense, just a vastly different sort of sense.)
Man. I loved the first five books. They were fantastic. I loved book nine which has amazingly awesome things. It has Edward, very little sex and baby eating zombies. I loved it. After that, though… Just porn. Porn, porn, porn.
It is fun. I love doing this stuff. If I could find a way to do it professionally, I would.
Another Edward fan?
I, too, loved the first books. Read up through OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY, which I bought in hc because Edward was the focus. Decided to wait for mmpb for the later books, and heard enough about the story direction to decide that maybe I’d read them…later.
But I heard the latest one features Edward, and I’m torn.
I’m a sucker for a well written sociopath. I have no idea why. I just know it is true. They’re fascinating to me.
He hasn’t been in one recently, no fear there. There is rumor that the next one will have him in it. Apparently she’s been having trouble fitting him in recently (per her blog). That doesn’t entirely surprise me as Anita is quickly becoming one of the things he prefers to hunt.
That doesn’t entirely surprise me as Anita is quickly becoming one of the things he prefers to hunt.
Welp, that’s the story right there.
‘Course, it means one of them would have to die. But given Anita’s knack for finding new powers RIGHT IN THE NICK OF TIMEthat she didn’t realize she possessed…has she come back from the dead yet? Zombie Anita?
“Ma petite, you left this in our bed this morning.”
“My panties?”
“Non, ma petite. Your nose.”
She hasn’t come back from the dead yet but it has been close. Her dying, at this point, kills off about… Oh… 4 people right off the bat since they’re all attached to her metaphysically. And there are probably others as well.
It would be neat.
You know what story I want? I want the story where Otto comes and hunts her down. It is Anita with a gun in the woods with the scary bastard hunting her down. While that is happening all of the guys are in town, freaking out, and Edward comes through and kills a few. I could bear to lose some of them without pain. In fact, the ones I’d keep probably aren’t the ones most people would want to keep.
That’s the last one I read too, for the same reason. I *adore* Edward.
Almost all US publishers use a fairly obscure convention to identify which printing a book is.
Somewhere on the copyright page (ususally near the copyright statement itself) you will usually see a line of numbers like this
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
or like this
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
For each printing they knock off a number so a third printing would be
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
or
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4
For example I have with me today a copy of Sharpe’s Regiment
Copyright Rifleman Productions, Ltd, 1986,
Published in Penguin Books 1994,
This edition published 2001
9 10
So what I have is the ninth printing of the 2001 edition.
Otto hasn’t come after her yet? I’m surprised–that nice bit of creepiness was one of the good things about OBSIDIAN. That, and Edward. I thought the explanation of his sociopathy was a little too convenient, but I also liked that he had apparently taken his stepson-sociopath in the making under his wing. I just wasn’t sure whether he’d save him or encourage him.
Giving Edward a choice between his son and Anita? That would be another nasty, but I do think Edward would choose his son.
In fact, the ones I’d keep probably aren’t the ones most people would want to keep.
I always had a soft spot for Asher–I don’t know if he’s still around. Richard got on my nerve after a while, although I think he’s pretty much out of the picture? Jean-Claude–I liked him well enough, but I preferred Asher. I kept getting hints that Anita and Asher would get together. Maybe they did in a book I haven’t read.
He was a good character, and the implication was that he was a better hunter than Anita. Pitting them against one another would make a good story.
I’m a sucker for a well written sociopath.
I’d recommend Patricia Highsmith’s RIPLEY books, if you haven’t already read them. Start with The Talented Mr. Ripley, and go from there. The first one was written in the 50s, so some of the police procedural stuff is outdated, but it’s still a good book.
Yeah, but Anita would win, because the series isn’t Edward Forrester: Appealing Psychopath, but Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, and that would be all wrong, because Edward should kick Anita’s pansy ass up and down the Big River. :)
Anita and Asher have, in fact, gotten together. I like him and Jason and Nathaniel. Richard is getting worse and worse and I can take or leave Jean-Claude for the most part.
I will have to look at them. The movie was interesting enough.
The movie was based on the first book, but changes were made. At first, I was excited when Matt Damon was cast as Ripley, because I thought the innocent boy-next-door look fit well with the way I envisioned the character. But the reviews weren’t great.
I would say that the book is more intense than the movie. You’re inside Ripley’s head, for one thing, and Highsmith nails the sociopathy.
This is true.
Well does it! Now, I’m torn. I love Edward. He is my all time favorite character. I had given up on that series, then found the latest three on the sale rack at the bookstore and thought, why not? I feel a dedication to finishing a series once I start it and I kept hoping for a return to plot, maybe this new book will re-invigerate it (in a plotie kind of way and not a pornie kind of way, but as mentioned earlier, nothing wrong with well written porn unless, that is, you want PLOT).
My biggest complaint with the Anita Blake series is her vampires. She is transforming their actions and behaviors into that of the fae. I’m okay with character development and transformation, but it has gotten a bit over the top. It is almost like she has lost sight of which book she is working on.
And don’t even get me started on the Merry Gentry series. It had a great beginning, great characters, but is starting to suffer from plot death.
But, I love Edward…did I say how much I love Edward. I recreated him as a role-playing character in a game.
Anyway, sorry, this is a current rant of mine and as always, my opinion on books may only be worth lining the cat box with.
Otto is another one I like. I loved the part where he is keeping the police at bay so she can take the heart of the big bad. Then, that little love letter, wow! That summed it up pretty good. I think Obsidian Butterfly was the last of the good plot oriented books in that series.
Who would you keep?
I’d keep Asher, Nathaniel, Jason, and Micah.
Opps, wrote this before I read your post.
I just saw Coyote Dreams at the bookstore, does that count for anything? :)
My keepers are pretty much the ones you listed above. I’m so-so on Micah and I’d probably keep Damien (I’m not sure if I’m remember the redheaded vamp’s name correctly there.) just because he’s different.
Dude! Okay, so I’m a little nuts….but, here’s my story. I’ve been to: the B&N at the Camp Hill mall; the Borders at the Capital City mall; the Borders at the Harrisburg East mall; the stand-alone Borders; the B&N at the Colonial Park mall; the two little independent booksellers in my area, and both of the used bookstores. IF I was able to find Urban Shaman (only found in about 1/2 the stores), it said First Edition in rather cheeky letters on the copyright page. All of them. Bleah. Oh well, I tried!!!
Oh, my! I think you get an A for effort! Better send me your email address! (to cemurphyauthor at gmail dot com!)