The Sword and Laser discussion

This months book pick is Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley

Veronica hinted that this or one of the other 2 books on her desk would be this months pick.

This was the book many people here wanted to see picked of those 3.

It looks like a good finish to 2018 :-)

Wow, awesome!

Totally bragging, I got my copy of Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr signed by John during the mass signing event at the World Fantasy Convention.

The book's publisher hired artist Melody T. Newcomb to illustrate the book. She has a page on her website with some of the illustrations.

http://melodynewcomb.com/ka-dar-oakle...

Outstanding.

For some reason I'm reminded of the Deep Thought by Jack Handy; "The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw."

Thanks, V! I am currently reading it and it has been quite a unique experience. Glad that finally I could read another book with the group this year.

Mark wrote: "The book's publisher hired artist Melody T. Newcomb to illustrate the book. She has a page on her website with some of the illustrations.

http://melodynewcomb.com/ka-dar-oakle..."

Thanks! I was wondering about those pics.

Nice. This is the one I was hoping for too. :)

I grabbed the audiobook, which is apparently read by the author. I'm usually a little skeptical of that, but the few reviews I've seen say he's does a good job.

Out for over a year and no e-book on amazon in the UK.... Pain in the proverbial.. Only one of the three not at the library, I keep coming across funny publishing gaps

This is also the monthly pick for another of my groups so I can kill two birds with one stone :) (Or maybe not since another group is reading a book I already have sitting on my shelf.)

Ha. I see what you did there, Andrew.

Iain wrote: "Out for over a year and no e-book on amazon in the UK.... Pain in the proverbial.. Only one of the three not at the library, I keep coming across funny publishing gaps"

Not on Amazon Oz either.

I did the switch my account to the US store, buy it, then switch back to Oz store, trick to get it.

Still shouldn't have to jump through hoops just to buy a book.

Stupid publishers.

Tassie Dave wrote: "Not on Amazon Oz either.

I did the switch my account to the US store, buy it, then switch back to Oz store, trick to get it."

How did you do this? I changed my address to somewhere in the US and I still don't have the option to purchase the Kindle version.

Malcolm wrote: "Tassie Dave wrote: "Not on Amazon Oz either.

I did the switch my account to the US store, buy it, then switch back to Oz store, trick to get it."

How did you do this? I changed my address to some..."

You go to manage your content and devices on the Kindle settings at amazon.

Choose Preferences -> Change Country Region settings to US.

How to swordandlaser.com and take a pick link so T&V get a kick back :-)

Don’t think I’m going to be able to get hold of this one! No Kindle edition I can find, no audiobook either, and my library doesn’t have it. I could buy the dead tree edition except my cash situation isn’t looking great rn...
😞

Ruth wrote: "Don’t think I’m going to be able to get hold of this one! No Kindle edition I can find, no audiobook either, and my library doesn’t have it. I could buy the dead tree edition except my cash situati..."

See above, I just managed to buy from US amazon store by fiddling the locations. The pub is DRM free so can be found, just a pain in the back.

Ruth wrote: "Don’t think I’m going to be able to get hold of this one! No Kindle edition I can find, no audiobook either, and my library doesn’t have it. I could buy the dead tree edition except my cash situati..."

There is, from the iBooks store. Th only problem is it is in German: KA – Das Reich der Krähen :-0)

You can do the trick Iain documents above (I've done the reverse a few times to buy things that aren't in the US store) but you can also see if the publisher's site will let you buy it:

http://www.simonandschuster.com/books...

It's available from Kobo UK if that helps:

https://www.kobo.com/uk/en/ebook/ka-8

William wrote: "It's available from Kobo UK if that helps:

https://www.kobo.com/uk/en/ebook/ka-8"

Afraid not, it is just advertised. No UK ebook rights :-(..

Tried Iain's advice and got this message.


Time to start the long wait for the bookstore special order.

I seem to remember somewhere that's against Amazon's terms of service and they can terminate your account for that.

Iain wrote: "William wrote: "It's available from Kobo UK if that helps:

https://www.kobo.com/uk/en/ebook/ka-8"

Afraid not, it is just advertised. No UK ebook rights :-(.."

I'm baffled, I've clicked "buy now" and it's turned up on my Kobo. I used no black magic, honestly.

AndrewP wrote: "I seem to remember somewhere that's against Amazon's terms of service and they can terminate your account for that."

Yeah, Like Amazon is going to refuse to take your money ;-) and any future money you would spend.

Amazon will say that just to keep the publishers happy, but they will allow these loopholes that let them sell stuff.

I've done it for years on Amazon, Apple and various other sites.
It's not illegal. Just against the publishers wishes.
The author wants you to buy their book.

Malcolm - did you click the link to update your country?

Yeah it doesn't look like it's got a UK publisher, which means it won't be digital for Australia either (and New Zealand too, I think. And other territories still part of the UK according to book publishing land). I'm tired of playing the Amazon country-switch dance for books.

Malcolm wrote: "Tassie Dave wrote: "Not on Amazon Oz either.

I did the switch my account to the US store, buy it, then switch back to Oz store, trick to get it."

How did you do this? I changed my address to some..."

Me too. I still can’t see the ebook on the American store, just the physical edition...!

Ruth wrote: "Me too. I still can’t see the ebook on the American store, just the physical edition...! ."

This is the page where I got it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZXWGPHS/

Rick wrote: "Malcolm - did you click the link to update your country?"

I did and it just goes back to the preferences where I'd previously set it to US.

The page Tassie Dave gave is at least giving me the option to click buy whereas previously it had the not available for purchase box.

I guess they're doing some sort of region checking on my IP as well, and I don't have a VPN anymore to avoid that.

Right, I've figured out the issue - as Malcolm says, Amazon checks your region on your IP, so even if you set your Kindle preferences to claim you're in the US, it still won't show you the US Kindle edition.

Once I got my VPN to pretend I have an American IP, it finally showed up! Only problem is, at $7.99 it's a relatively expensive ebook and my cash situation is not great rn and December is always an expensive month so I might still not be able to join y'all for this month's read... keep your fingers crossed for me I find some money somewhere!

I used to work in film distribution and my sister still does. The arcane methods used to determine availability by country and language are Byzantine in their complexity. You could split out Italian speaking Switzerland to Italy, or not, or perhaps sell to "German speaking Europe."

In the day of instant download by Internet, this is insanity.

Ruth wrote: "Right, I've figured out the issue - as Malcolm says, Amazon checks your region on your IP, so even if you set your Kindle preferences to claim you're in the US, it still won't show you the US Kindl..."


Ah, that's new I think. Or I was VPNed into a London IP when I last used the UK store.

William wrote: "I'm baffled, I've clicked "buy now" and it's turned up on my Kobo. I used no black magic, honestly.."

I figured it out. As I'm currently in Central Europe I was automatically transferred to the Slovak Kobo store (despite using the UK link I posted) where apparently Ka is sold by Kobo. Fortunately my copy is in English, not in Slovak, as my Slovak is very nie dobré.

Ruth wrote: "Right, I've figured out the issue - as Malcolm says, Amazon checks your region on your IP, so even if you set your Kindle preferences to claim you're in the US, it still won't show you the US Kindl..."

When I am finished, I can share it if you like... Message me!

Iain wrote: When I am finished, I can share it with you if you like "
Thank you, that’s very generous! With any luck I’ll be able to scrounge up enough cash for my own copy... we’ll see!

Ruth wrote: "Iain wrote: When I am finished, I can share it with you if you like "
Thank you, that’s very generous! With any luck I’ll be able to scrounge up enough cash for my own copy... we’ll see!"

The other problem of lack of publishing deals, libraries cannot buy the books (recently I was told that The Monster Baru Cormorant could not be bought by the local library as it was not available) and they then cannot be read. Boo!

Iain wrote: "libraries cannot buy the books"

They can, but only like 4 months after it was published, so that impatient ones would support the writers

Right, after seeing people gush about how much they loved this book, and getting impatient, I'm biting the bullet and ponying up the cash (mixed metaphor, anyone?) to buy this the only way I apparently can... getting the dead tree edition from Amazon UK.
(I did try to order it from my local bookstore, but they said they couldn't get hold of it).
Should arrive on Monday!

Oleksandr wrote: "Iain wrote: "libraries cannot buy the books"

They can, but only like 4 months after it was published, so that impatient ones would support the writers"

Unfortunately there is no dead tree supplier for the book in the UK. This means you cannot buy it. The 4 month thing doesn’t exist (I have mortal word waiting for my next trip to the library).

The Libraries buying bulk and get deliveries in lumps... Ka is not the only book th S has happened with.

Just started reading this today!