Wednesday 17 April 2013

Wishlist Wednesday #3



Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop hosted by Pen to paper, where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it's entirely up to you), that we can't wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

 On my Wishlist Wednesday for this week is a book, that has been on my wishlist for what seems like ages.   

New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear was released for the first time back in 2007 and had been out of print for ages.  Yes, I used the past tense because I just found out that it was finally (!) released as an e-book by SubTerranean Press.  My elation was short-lived though, but I'll explain below.  First something about this book, which reminds me of Dan Abnett's Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero.

     Add to Goodreads    
Abigail Irene Garrett drinks too much. She makes scandalous liaisons with inappropriate men, and if in her youth she was a famous beauty, now she is both formidable and notorious! She is a forensic sorceress, and a dedicated officer of a Crown that does not deserve her loyalty. Sebastien de Ulloa is the oldest creature she has ever known. He has forgotten his birth-name, his birth-place, and even the year in which he was born, if he ever knew it. But he still remembers the woman who made him immortal. In a world where the sun never sets on the British Empire, where Holland finally ceded New Amsterdam to the English only during the Napoleonic wars, and where the expansion of the American colonies was halted by the war magic of the Iroquois, they are exiles in the new world - and its only hope for justice!
Source : Goodreads.com

Sounds fabulous right? Alternate history, magic, Victorian sleuths, vampires and steampunk, all in one?  Subterranean's punchline is "Readers who like the grit of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels and the historical heft of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s vampire tales will find similar pleasures here."  If that doesn't make you start googling for the book, I don't know what will. :o)

However ... there is just one small but significant detail the publisher forgot to mention on their site.  According to Kobo and Amazon, this e-book is "not available for customers in Europe". What !? *insert cry of exasperation* What is the point of making a novel available in e-book format after it has been out of print for God knows how long, and then restrict it to a limited audience? :o(



I wrote an e-mail to the publisher on April 3, asking them whether they planned to release the international rights to this book any time soon and how, in the meantime, non US residents could purchase it, but they haven't even bothered to answer me.  So I strayed off the legal path this week and Google led me to a Polish site where I did find the book for download.  I feel bad for bending the rules, because I think that every author deserves to be paid for his or her work, but this idiotic geographical restriction and the unresponsive publisher didn't leave me with much choice if I wanted to read this book. :o(

Have you ever come across this type of restrictions as well?  And if so, did you abandon any hope to read the book or did you try by all means to have it nonetheless?


10 comments:

  1. Wow this looks like a good read! Never heard of it!
    And thanks for Seraphina link! :)

    Hope you get the book soon!

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  2. Why not available in Europe? That seems weird. I hope you manage to find a copy soon, this sounds really interesting.
    Thanks for stopping by my WW!

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  3. Ooo sounds interesting. Why not offer it in Europe - ridiculous!
    Here's mine: http://danielleheartsbooks.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/wishlist-wednesday-4.html

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  4. I've never heard of this one before, but the cover looks pretty interesting and a bit creepy! Thanks for stopping by My WWl! And not being released in Europe is pretty weird! I see no reason why it should be and the no response is a tad bit mean.

    Janina

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  5. Sounds frustrating! I've been wanting to read Elizabeth Bear for a while, and recently picked up the first book in her Promethean Age series. This one sounds great! I hope you enjoy.

    Lisa
    My WW

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  6. Wow, I've never came across this before. I kinda like the cover. It looks really mysterious and dark, yet creepy at the same time.

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  7. This book looks crazy good! I hope you can figure out how to get a copy soon!

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  8. I've never heard of this before, but it sounds good. Hope you get it!

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  9. That is so lame! (So sorry for the late response, I took the weekend off :) I don't understand why an EBOOK is restricted to certain territories? It's like when publishers price their authors ebooks at $15 while everyone else is at like, $3.99 ha.
    I liked The Girl of Fire and Thorns bc the MC girl was likable, there was no instant love connection and she actually changed through the book/matured/learned things. Highly recommend :)
    Thanks for commenting on my webpage. Am excited to read more of your posts!

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  10. Oh no! :( That sounds uber frustrating. Ugh. Some things make no sense.

    The book looks really good, though. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. :)

    Brandy @ A Little of the Book life

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