I told ya. Simon & Schuster Aust. is lending support to the new movie, it would seem, and went air freight - to make sure the latest books are in stock in time for the movie. I'm expecting the novelization will turn up soon, too.
one FRICKING shelf
- Thread starter RobertScorpio
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I told ya. Simon & Schuster Aust. is lending support to the new movie, it would seem, and went air freight - to make sure the latest books are in stock in time for the movie. I'm expecting the novelization will turn up soon, too.
Within a 20 mile radius of my house there are 2 Waldenbooks, 1 Barnes and Noble, 2 Borders, and 1 Hastings. I hit them all on a regular basis. The shelves for Trek have consistantly gone down, but I have never had a problem finding the book that I want to find. And that is a good thing, considering that I buy any book that is related to Trek, no matter what series or if it is fiction/non-fiction.
(Yes, I have an addictive personality, and the word 'Sucker' tattooed on my forehead. They see me coming a mile away.)
While I have never done an actual tally on the SW books on the shelf, out of these 6 stores, it seems to me that the same books are sitting there that were there the time before. The only movement appears to be adding more books to the shelves as they are published. However, as with ST books recently, these stores have been stocking fewer and fewer copies of the newer books.
None of these stores is making anything big out of the new movie. There are no displays dedicated strictly to the movie or ST at all. Maybe they will hit the bandwagon late; maybe not at all. However, that doesn't mean ST isn't selling here. I see people browsing the shelves every time I go, and if I don't hit the stores as quickly as possible when the new releases come out, I have to special order the book.
(Yes, I have an addictive personality, and the word 'Sucker' tattooed on my forehead. They see me coming a mile away.)
While I have never done an actual tally on the SW books on the shelf, out of these 6 stores, it seems to me that the same books are sitting there that were there the time before. The only movement appears to be adding more books to the shelves as they are published. However, as with ST books recently, these stores have been stocking fewer and fewer copies of the newer books.
None of these stores is making anything big out of the new movie. There are no displays dedicated strictly to the movie or ST at all. Maybe they will hit the bandwagon late; maybe not at all. However, that doesn't mean ST isn't selling here. I see people browsing the shelves every time I go, and if I don't hit the stores as quickly as possible when the new releases come out, I have to special order the book.
Yeah, I've noticed lately that at the Chapters here in Mississauga the new releases show up a week later than when they start being available on-line.
Chapters has a big habit of shipping books a week or ten days before the official release date. I've noticed that lately if you don't order online, it can take a month or more after release date for Chapters to actually shelf the book.
As of this morning, the Borders at NYC Penn Station has about a full shelf's worth of Trek books, as compared to the two or three shelves of Star Wars ones. 
They did, however, have five or six copies of Open Secrets (one of which came home with me!) at the front of the store, prominently displayed on the "New Releases" table. So I guess it could be worse....
They did, however, have five or six copies of Open Secrets (one of which came home with me!) at the front of the store, prominently displayed on the "New Releases" table. So I guess it could be worse....
Still no Open Secrets at my Borders. (However, they are down to only one copy of Collision Course.) So I left today with Tolkien's "new" book, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun.
Interestingly, the Wolverine display had been replaced with a summer movies display. Wolverine graphic novels, some Terminator books, and Star Trek Monopoly.
Interestingly, the Wolverine display had been replaced with a summer movies display. Wolverine graphic novels, some Terminator books, and Star Trek Monopoly.
At my local Borders in Islington (London), there was two and a half shelves of ST books and about the same of SW, but here's the kicker, half the ST stuff was gone. People had snapped up all the Destiny, TNG and Titan books, leaving Voyager and the other, older, stuff. They've got book 2 of Errand of Fury, and books 2 and 3 of Vulcan's Noun, never all three of either.
Ironically, there was Open Secrets at two different Borders by my house on Saturday, but no Treason, which is what I was looking for.
Have you started the Tolkien book yet? Is it worth buying?
I flipped through it at work this afternoon, and I've read CJRT's introduction.
It's... an interesting book. Of all the posthumous Tolkien books, this is the book that will undoubtedly have the lowest percentage of buyers who actually read it. (Of course, I still haven't finished The Children of Hurin yet.)
Now, I'm absolutely fascinated by the Volsung Saga to the point where I very nearly named some cats Fafnir and Sigurd. I've read the Volsung Saga, the Nibelungenlied, and William Morris' Sigurd the Volsung. I have Wagner's Ring Cycle on CD. (I haven't bought either of the graphic novel adapations, either the Roy Thomas/Gil Kane adaptation from DC or the P. Craig Russell adaptation from Dark Horse, but if I wanted to read them my brother has both.) Suffice it to say, this is a subject that interests me, so there was never any doubt that I'd buy this.
But that's the problem. This is a specialist's book. It's presented in a way that will attract a casual buyer, but I don't see why anyone without an interest in the Volsung Saga would find this of interest. The poetry is written in an archaic alliterative style. There are extensive notes. There is a long lecture that Tolkien delivered in the 1920's. If the subject interests you, this is a book you'll probably want. If your experience of Tolkien is The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, this is not your book and will never, ever be your book.
For what it's worth, Borders had a metric ton of Sigurd and Gudrun on their front display when I walked in. Clearly, they're hopeful that people will buy the book, not knowing what they're buying.
The story of the Volsungs is one of the great myth cycles of northern Europe. William Morris said that it should rival the story of Troy in its importance. It's the story of Sigurd (in German, Siegfried), his family, and his battle with a dragon.
The Volsung Saga is the Icelandic version of the story, written down in the 13th century. There's also the Nibelungenlied, which is a roughly contemporaneous and written in Middle German. It's also written in the Old Norse Poetic Edda (also 13th-century). Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung is based on the Icelandic version of the tales, though he uses the German names from the Nibelungenlied. Though all of these versions date to the 13th-century, carvings of representations of characters date to the 10th-century, and it's believed that it's based on some historical events of the 5th- and 6th-centuries (so roughly contemporaneous with King Arthur).
These are the stories and myths that shaped Viking society. The gods of Norse mythology play roles. This story was for the Vikings and the Germans of pagan times what the stories of Olympus and Troy were to the Greeks. There's even an influence on Christianity in the Volsung Saga -- the practice of Ash Wednesday was a Norse ritual of praise to and blessings from Sigurd and Odin.
Many of the texts -- The Volsung Saga itself, the Nibelungenlied, William Morris' Sigurd the Volsung (a Victorian-era reworking of the legend into a proto-fantasy novel) -- are available for free on Project Gutenberg.
I'm not an expert. I just have a layman's interest in the subject.
The Volsung Saga is the Icelandic version of the story, written down in the 13th century. There's also the Nibelungenlied, which is a roughly contemporaneous and written in Middle German. It's also written in the Old Norse Poetic Edda (also 13th-century). Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung is based on the Icelandic version of the tales, though he uses the German names from the Nibelungenlied. Though all of these versions date to the 13th-century, carvings of representations of characters date to the 10th-century, and it's believed that it's based on some historical events of the 5th- and 6th-centuries (so roughly contemporaneous with King Arthur).
These are the stories and myths that shaped Viking society. The gods of Norse mythology play roles. This story was for the Vikings and the Germans of pagan times what the stories of Olympus and Troy were to the Greeks. There's even an influence on Christianity in the Volsung Saga -- the practice of Ash Wednesday was a Norse ritual of praise to and blessings from Sigurd and Odin.
Many of the texts -- The Volsung Saga itself, the Nibelungenlied, William Morris' Sigurd the Volsung (a Victorian-era reworking of the legend into a proto-fantasy novel) -- are available for free on Project Gutenberg.
I'm not an expert. I just have a layman's interest in the subject.
I did find the movie novelisation at the Wal-Mart where I work today. It's the first Trek book I can remember seeing at this one. It's actually one of three different ADF books we have, we also have Terminator: Salvation, and the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen prequel novel.
In Sydney it's the Dymocks' stores who seem to be stocking the new S&S Aust. imported books earlier than usual. Mind you, some are franchised, so will depend on managerial whim.
But almost every general bookshop I've checked out recently had equal shelfspace to ST and SW, with some actually favouring Dr Who and Twilight.
Borders and Minotaur are the only places I've seen that stock Trek books in Victoria lately (the latter at almost double the price, albeit stocked earlier).
Collins and Angus & Robertson will normally order Trek books in on request at cover price, but I'd rather just get them off the shelf.
Collins and Angus & Robertson will normally order Trek books in on request at cover price, but I'd rather just get them off the shelf.
Just wanted to say (not 100% if I posted it) but I picked up a copy of the novelization on Monday morning at my local Borders. The salesman and I started talking about Trek and the film and he said that he's put in orders for some of the older Trek novels because he "loved the new film."
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