A word from our Publisher, Nick Wells:

Our otherwise delightful printer seems to have suffered a series of setbacks, culminating in the entire workforce going on holiday at the same time. Or so it seems. They've had the PDFs to make the books for 6 weeks and should have delivered two weeks ago, but various calamities seem to have befallen them and they are currently set to despatch from their factory outside Venice at the end of August.

We print in various locations around the globe, (China, Singapore, Poland, Italy, UK), but rarely do we suffer such extensive delays. However, late Summer is a tough time for Publishers because our printers routinely overbook, to compensate for the quiet winter periods, and so we often lose a week or so, especially if binding machines break down, or illness strikes.

For the three Gothic Fantasy titles we have the added complication of a high quality cover which requires specialist craftspeople. In the Far East where we make our deluxe journals (which have similarly complex treatments) we use three different manufacturers because there's a limit on the number of skilled technicians at each location.

As any Publisher will tell you, printing is easy until it goes wrong. It's the most expensive part of the process, and usually carried out in a remote location. Many's the time I've travelled to a lonely industrial estate, far outside the beautiful city my plane flew over (Hong Kong, Madrid, Seville, Venice) soon to find myself sitting in a windowless room checking proofs as they grind off the press. 

So, we're told that the inside book blocks have been printed, but they await the return of the specialists from their quiet contemplations on some distant beach, to finish the covers to their and our satisfaction, after which the books can be bound, boxed, and transported across Europe to the UK, then off to the US. 

Currently, the three Gothic Fantasy Anthologies will be published in Europe on or around 10th September, with the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand following as quickly as we can despatch to the various distribution centres around the globe. Author copies come from our office, and will be despatched as soon as we receive them.

More soon…

Thank you,

Nick