Bantam City of Saints Reprinted
Jeff VanderMeer • February 6th, 2008 @ 5:08 pm • Uncategorized
Bantam emailed me today to let me know that City of Saints has sold out and they’re doing a significant reprint. I’m not quite sure what printing it’s on, but it continues to sell well, even after having been out for so long.
And, in other news, I got Io’d. Lovely repro of the limited Shriek art.
February 6, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Still reading it. Love the Martin Lake story.
February 6, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I think you should get Eastman to do dazzling collector-quality hardcovers like they did with Gene Wolfe.
Too bad you can’t actually include “New Art” in the cover, complete with mushrooms and birds.
February 6, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I own the Bantam edition with the same cover as above. However, the reason I ever first picked up (and read, and dearly loved) a VanderMeer book was the cover art on the UK Tor edition (the back cover compounds its beauty). Had I not been browsing that London library, I wouldn’t be commenting here now.
For me, that cover art set the tone and continued to reflect the world within, and merited repeated examination. It’s one of the best covers I’ve ever seen in genre fiction, and if it were my book I’d beg, cajole, and threaten in order to get it used in the US :)
February 6, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Thanks–that’s awfully kind of you to say!
Re the cover–it was the Prime cover, but once you get into chain stores, alas, the stranger it is…not the better. I do love that cover, though, especially since it was my idea. :)
JV
February 6, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Ah, the persistence of business insistence: different denominators for different venues, and rightly so. Regardless, it won you a reader, and will sell you two books (I’ll shell out for the UK version eventually, to have that cover).
February 6, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Speaking of the Prime hardcover, do you still have copies of that floating around? I’ve been wanting another one, but I’d just as soon get it straight from you if possible.
February 7, 2008 at 12:06 am
I thought the guy on the front of the limited edition was Duncan rather than a grey cap. Does anyone other than the artist know (not that it really matters)?
February 7, 2008 at 1:12 am
Gonna add something new for the Bantam reprint? Aren’t you required by Ambergris law or something to make each reprinting of City of Saints and Madmen different than the previous? ;)
February 7, 2008 at 7:21 am
Interesting considering this in light of your earlier post about book covers. I’ve always thought the cover of the Prime edition was great but I can imagine the kind of arguments that would go on trying to get that through a major publisher. The solution with a CD would be to shrinkwrap and sticker it but that’s not an option with books.
I still wonder what they were playing at with the PB though, it seems a poor reflection of the book which gives little idea of the variety of contents. I’d be curious to see what people who didn’t know the book thought about it (as with the earlier post) if you kept the lettering style and layout but changed title, author and blurb.
February 7, 2008 at 8:00 am
John:
To be perfectly honest, the pb cover has helped the book extremely. It doesn’t look like straight fantasy this way, and I always do best when I can pick up a mix of mainstream and genre readers.
Glen–Re the cover Templesmith did–it’s kind of a psychological portrait of Duncan, not supposed to show a gray cap. I thought it was funny they said that, though.
I do in fact have a couple of the Prime edition left for sale, if you’re interested, James.
Jeff
February 7, 2008 at 8:47 am
Excellent news! That is a very good collection. I wish I could find my original Dradin In Love I had bought from Buzzcity press- I have a feeling it got lost forever in the move :(
But still, it is an excellent collection and deserves to thrive. It’s been sold out at my local borders for awhile. Also- when is Shriek coming out in Paperback? They have no copies of that, either.
February 7, 2008 at 9:17 am
Shriek is out in trade paper already.
February 7, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Hmm. Then it must be sold out there. I’ll just order it on amazon. But there is something nice about buying a book in a store. Damn them.
February 7, 2008 at 5:11 pm
There is something nice about buying in an actual store. And there’s something especially nice about buying in an actual independent, locally-owned store. I don’t know where you live, Paul, but I’ll bet there’s one of those relatively close to you that will get Shriek for you in a matter of a few days. If not, I know of a <a href=”http://www.mercerislandbooks.com/”place near me that ships for free.
February 7, 2008 at 5:12 pm
There is something nice about buying in an actual store. And there’s something especially nice about buying in an actual independent, locally-owned store. I don’t know where you live, Paul, but I’ll bet there’s one of those relatively close to you that will get Shriek for you in a matter of a few days. If not, I know of a <a href=â€Âhttp://www.mercerislandbooks.com/â€Âplace near me that ships for free.
February 7, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Wow. Links don’t work AND I managed to double post my self-righteous screed. Sorry about that.
February 7, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Jeff: I’d always argue for a non-generic look for your Ambergris books, and it’s great if they catch a wider audience. I just felt this one was a bit bland and the lettering was poor. I can’t imagine a publisher giving, say, Invisible Cities, something like this yet some of the Calvino covers I’ve seen would certainly suit City of Saints.
February 7, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I like this cover, John. I like the lettering and I like them not going for a standard fantasy look. It fits in with the Everything Is Illuminated, Curious Incident by Haddon, etc.
JV
February 8, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Right on Jeff! Ambergris deserves to sell well! It by far surpasses most of the books I’ve ever read on the fantasy/fiction shelves. I need to order a copy of the limited edition today cause that is probably the coolest cover i’ve ever seen on a book. Amazing!
February 8, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I do in fact have a couple of the Prime edition left for sale, if you’re interested, James.
I am. I’ll send you an email in the next week.
February 12, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Cool.
JV
June 21, 2009 at 12:52 am
So I just read City of Saints for the first time, and I have the 2006 edition published by Bantam Dell. I’m determined to decipher the numbers at the end of the encrypted story “The Man Who Had No Eyes”, and I want to make sure all of my head-scratching and confusion hasn’t been in vain. Do those numbers still apply to this edition?
Sorry if this has already been addressed, I couldn’t find any mention of it online.