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The Year of Cemetery Dance 2018
- Thread starter Dana Jean
- Start date
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I totally hear you. I love CD too and do wish things would hurry up, just because I'm so excited to get their stuff. I just try to keep in my mind that I would rather have slow and quality than fast and crappy.
This is a good read, Deej. One of my favs of Petuh's.Next Up at a whopping 692 oversized pages:
God Grant me the serenity
to accept the Petuh I cannot change,
the courage to change my mind about Petuh when I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference between normal Petuh and Serial Killer Petuh.
Seems like the 'regular' editions get out first and then the signed/limiteds follow, sometimes by months. You're right, it has been getting worse as time goes on.
I have about 180 pages to go --
I could live with months. Some of the books that I have ordered are taking years. They take so long I often forget what I ordered. For example, I think I ordered CD's edition of "In Sunlight or in Shadow" (trade edition released in 2016) but haven't received it. Here is the status almost two years later:
"This book is being designed now and the signature sheets have been prepared to Mr. Block to sign."
Again, great products and people but mounting frustration with the endless delays.
I never thought of this before, but I should probably amend my will and leave my unpublished CD books to someone.
...seems legit.....I never thought of this before, but I should probably amend my will and leave my unpublished CD books to someone.
And don't be one of those people who doesn't open their signed editions. It's happened a few times that Steve has had to sign a book even years after it was shipped to the recipient because the tip sheet had accidentally not been signed. We asked to have it verified that they'd made the purchase which took extra time and with some of the authors (not just Steve) getting older or having an unexpected, untimely death, you could have a book that should have been signed but isn't and you'd never realize it. One of the books we got was because the owner had passed away and his heirs were going through the collection and discovered the missing signature.
It will never happen to me. I am not a person that can buy something and leave it in plastic. Me leaving the book in plastic is like asking Dennis The Menace not to press the big red button.
It will never happen to me. I am not a person that can buy something and leave it in plastic. Me leaving the book in plastic is like asking Dennis The Menace not to press the big red button.
This happened on one of my Cem Dance titles, I forget which one, so I can verify that it does happen (and not just with CD Pub). I emailed CD and they very quickly responded, asked me to send back the unsigned copy and quickly sent the replacement.
I never thought of this before, but I should probably amend my will and leave my unpublished CD books to someone.
ME!!!! ME!!! ME!!!
...”quickly”????......*faints*......
43. FLOATING DRAGON -- The 30th Anniversary Special Limited Edition
By Peter Straub
About the Book:
"The terrors afflicting the sleepy town of Hampstead, Connecticut, were beyond imagination.
Sparrows dropping dead from the trees like rotten fruit, disfiguring diseases spreading like wildfire, inexplicable murders and child drownings shattering the lives of the citizens—never can such a list of horrors have afflicted one town.
But the evil madness had a long history.
A catastrophe had struck Hampstead every thirty years since its foundation 300 years before — yet only Graham Williams, a writer and descendant of one of the original founders, had looked into the 'black summers' and their mysterious origins.
When he discovers that descendants of the three other original settlers are back living in the town, he knows it will be the blackest summer yet..."
My Thoughts:
Don Spiro is the photographer on this cover with the additional dragon image by Michael Fusco also present on the cover and throughout the book. The collaboration is pretty and perfect for the story.
I own two of these. Both are signed by Mr. Straub; one is a PC copy and one is numbered.
Now the story.
Dear friends, sit down. I'll wait. No, really. Take your time but pop a squat. I don't want to be responsible for your cracked cranium from shock.
I loved this.
A great story told by a skilled writer and storyteller. It is a massive book at 692 oversized pages. Heavy. Unwieldy. But it was worth every tingly fingered moment. (Tingly because it kept cutting off circulation as I was holding it. I'm pretty sure that was due to the lack of coordination on the part of the handler of said tome.)
And this surprised me that I liked it so much because I'm a short story kind of gal. I like reading an author's smaller works first before I commit to their novels. I think short stories/novellas reveal the real strength of a writer. They have to grab us fast, hang onto us and deliver in the end. All within mere pages.
Peter's short stories almost always gross me the hell out so I lacked optimism with this one. I looked at it and literally groaned but I was determined that I was going to read this Cemetery Dance book that has been sitting on my shelf for years. I sat stunned that I sailed through this -- loving the characters and the settings. It contained smooth dialogue and well written vignettes linking everything into a cohesive story.
Reminiscent of Stephen King's The Stand, but still very much its own tale. I'm actually not sure which one I like best. Each author's books have their strengths and weaknesses for me.
Aw heck. I'll just like them both.
It was two tons of fun.
By Peter Straub
About the Book:
"The terrors afflicting the sleepy town of Hampstead, Connecticut, were beyond imagination.
Sparrows dropping dead from the trees like rotten fruit, disfiguring diseases spreading like wildfire, inexplicable murders and child drownings shattering the lives of the citizens—never can such a list of horrors have afflicted one town.
But the evil madness had a long history.
A catastrophe had struck Hampstead every thirty years since its foundation 300 years before — yet only Graham Williams, a writer and descendant of one of the original founders, had looked into the 'black summers' and their mysterious origins.
When he discovers that descendants of the three other original settlers are back living in the town, he knows it will be the blackest summer yet..."
My Thoughts:
Don Spiro is the photographer on this cover with the additional dragon image by Michael Fusco also present on the cover and throughout the book. The collaboration is pretty and perfect for the story.
I own two of these. Both are signed by Mr. Straub; one is a PC copy and one is numbered.
Now the story.
Dear friends, sit down. I'll wait. No, really. Take your time but pop a squat. I don't want to be responsible for your cracked cranium from shock.
I loved this.
A great story told by a skilled writer and storyteller. It is a massive book at 692 oversized pages. Heavy. Unwieldy. But it was worth every tingly fingered moment. (Tingly because it kept cutting off circulation as I was holding it. I'm pretty sure that was due to the lack of coordination on the part of the handler of said tome.)
And this surprised me that I liked it so much because I'm a short story kind of gal. I like reading an author's smaller works first before I commit to their novels. I think short stories/novellas reveal the real strength of a writer. They have to grab us fast, hang onto us and deliver in the end. All within mere pages.
Peter's short stories almost always gross me the hell out so I lacked optimism with this one. I looked at it and literally groaned but I was determined that I was going to read this Cemetery Dance book that has been sitting on my shelf for years. I sat stunned that I sailed through this -- loving the characters and the settings. It contained smooth dialogue and well written vignettes linking everything into a cohesive story.
Reminiscent of Stephen King's The Stand, but still very much its own tale. I'm actually not sure which one I like best. Each author's books have their strengths and weaknesses for me.
Aw heck. I'll just like them both.
It was two tons of fun.
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MIDWAY STATS
(changed color so I can quickly find this post at the end of the year)
We're just a little over halfway through 2018 and I am a little over halfway to my goal of reading a year of Cemetery Dance.
Here are a few statistics at this halfway point with 43 Cemetery Dance books under my belt:
34 artists contributed beautiful and creative pieces to the works on my list.
I have gotten the pleasure of stepping into the worlds of 133 talented authors.
I have read 278 individual pieces of work.
If an author had a book of short stories, I counted each story, not the book as one thing. Except for the following two books:
Sides by Peter Straub
and
A Chapbook for Burnt-out Priests, Rabbis and Ministers by Ray Bradbury.
Each of these books I only counted as 1 piece of work even though they both contained numerous and diverse writings on various topics. They consisted of a mishmash of speeches, thoughts, poems, fiction, reviews, etc... that it was too hard to count them as separate things.
Oh, I forgot. Here is also my top 10 of what I have read so far in no particular order:
Knuckles and Tales by Nancy A. Collins
Cold Comforts by Peter Crowther
A Long December by Richard Chizmar
Nothing Lasting by Glen Krisch
The River of Souls by Robert McCammon
The Doll by Daphne duMaurier
Triage by Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee
Shivers IV by Various Authors
Floating Dragon by Peter Straub
The Language of Fear by Del James (because this book ((which probably gave me 7 strains of syphilis)) pushed me beyond comfort and challenged my delicate sensibilities).
For those of you who have followed along with me, thank you. Can you hang in there for another 6 months?
(changed color so I can quickly find this post at the end of the year)
We're just a little over halfway through 2018 and I am a little over halfway to my goal of reading a year of Cemetery Dance.
Here are a few statistics at this halfway point with 43 Cemetery Dance books under my belt:
34 artists contributed beautiful and creative pieces to the works on my list.
I have gotten the pleasure of stepping into the worlds of 133 talented authors.
I have read 278 individual pieces of work.
If an author had a book of short stories, I counted each story, not the book as one thing. Except for the following two books:
Sides by Peter Straub
and
A Chapbook for Burnt-out Priests, Rabbis and Ministers by Ray Bradbury.
Each of these books I only counted as 1 piece of work even though they both contained numerous and diverse writings on various topics. They consisted of a mishmash of speeches, thoughts, poems, fiction, reviews, etc... that it was too hard to count them as separate things.
Oh, I forgot. Here is also my top 10 of what I have read so far in no particular order:
Knuckles and Tales by Nancy A. Collins
Cold Comforts by Peter Crowther
A Long December by Richard Chizmar
Nothing Lasting by Glen Krisch
The River of Souls by Robert McCammon
The Doll by Daphne duMaurier
Triage by Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee
Shivers IV by Various Authors
Floating Dragon by Peter Straub
The Language of Fear by Del James (because this book ((which probably gave me 7 strains of syphilis)) pushed me beyond comfort and challenged my delicate sensibilities).
For those of you who have followed along with me, thank you. Can you hang in there for another 6 months?
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Quick question for anyone who can answer it --
One of the Cemetery Dance books I have is The Twelve by Justin Cronin. Do I have to read The Passage first or is The Twelve one of those that is part of a series, but can be a standalone read?
One of the Cemetery Dance books I have is The Twelve by Justin Cronin. Do I have to read The Passage first or is The Twelve one of those that is part of a series, but can be a standalone read?
The Twelve is book 2 of a trilogy. I would read The Passage first.