The Black Company

Skinner

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I’m necroing this thread.

Midworld Press, a small, rather new small press specialty publisher are publishing their signed/numbered version of The Black Company and preorders will begin (hopefully) sometime late this year. Kai Carpenter is doing the artwork. Expect the price to be somewhere between $100 - $150.

In a newsletter they released some very early concept art for the book:

Lady

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Dustjacket:
0081EFF6-A9A6-493F-B7D1-7D28B7CE0007.jpeg
 
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Intrinsic

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Skinner said:
I’m necroing this thread.

Midworld Press, a small, rather new small press specialty publisher are publishing their signed/numbered version of The Black Company and preorders will begin (hopefully) sometime late this year. Kai Carpenter is doing the artwork. Expect the price to be somewhere between $100 - $150.

In a newsletter they released some very early concept art for the book:

Lady

View attachment 416006

Dustjacket:
View attachment 416007
Click to expand...

Keep us posted! I'd definitely be interested in a Pre-order. Signed up for their newsletter but I seem to miss more things these days the busier I am.
 
Kalaar kururuc

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Love the black company books and I know art is subjective but the stuff on that Kai guys site is borderline shit
 
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Intrinsic

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Kalaar kururuc said:
Love the black company books and I know art is subjective but the stuff on that Kai guys site is borderline shit
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That's a big complaint I have about most SciFi / Fantasy special editions from these publishers. Most of the dustjackets are so unappealingly bad I'd be ashamed to have them on my bookshelf. Quite a few others I'd probably be interested in and am actively discouraged from purchasing because they are so hideous. No idea why it is so difficult when Deviant Art and Reddit are full of extremely cool artwork for anything conceivable.
 
Oblio

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My oldest turned 13 this week and I got him Book 1 as one of his gifts.
 
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Drinsic

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Intrinsic said:
That's a big complaint I have about most SciFi / Fantasy special editions from these publishers. Most of the dustjackets are so unappealingly bad I'd be ashamed to have them on my bookshelf. Quite a few others I'd probably be interested in and am actively discouraged from purchasing because they are so hideous. No idea why it is so difficult when Deviant Art and Reddit are full of extremely cool artwork for anything conceivable.
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I just hate dust jackets in general. Give me leatherbound any day.
 
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Intrinsic

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Drinsic said:
I just hate dust jackets in general. Give me leatherbound any day.
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That's true. I did some research on making my own slip cases and it still interests me, but have way too much else going on for another hobby. But nice slip cases are very cool to me.
 
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Void

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Warr said:
I'll keep my Raymond Swanland covers, thanks
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I love those covers, but this cover is the one that made me pick the book up from the shelf and pick a random page to see if I liked it. Since I picked the page where Raven wanted to join and ends up killing his wife and her cronies in the restaurant in Opal maybe?, I immediately bought it.

The_Black_Company[1].jpg


Granted, the next several books really did have sucky covers, but I was already hooked by then and they could have had actual shit on the cover and I'd still have bought them.

Fun facts, I bought book 1 at B. Dalton, and books 2 and 3 at fucking Target of all places.
 
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Skinner

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Not sure how I feel about Kai’s art either. He’s definitely nowhere close to the worst I’ve seen but he’s far from Tommy Arnold and Marc Simonetti. Either way apparently Glen Cook personally approved Kai and his page art selection so looks like we’re stuck with it if you’re interested in a small press copy.

The page illustration with Lady was finished and to me it solidifies my feelings that the art is somewhat middle of the road.

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Midworld press is aiming for an October/November preorder period with a late spring - early summer release. They’re a small and still new fine press so I doubt they will sell out and they tend to price on the lower side around $100ish. Personally I wish Subterranean Press or the new Curious King Books picked up the rights to truly give this series the treatment it rightfully deserves, but it is what it is. Maybe in the future.

I’ll still pick up a copy though.
 
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Skinner said:
Not sure how I feel about Kai’s art either. He’s definitely nowhere close to the worst I’ve seen but he’s far from Tommy Arnold and Mac Simonetti. Either way apparently Glen Cook personally approved Kai and his page art selection so looks like we’re stuck with it if you’re interested in a small press copy.

The page illustration with Lady was finished and to me it solidifies my feelings that the art is somewhat middle of the road.

View attachment 435200

Midworld press is aiming for an October/November preorder period with a late spring - early summer release. They’re a small and still new fine press so I doubt they will sell out and they tend to price on the lower side around $100ish. Personally I wish Subterranean Press or the new Curious King Books picked up the rights to truly give this series the treatment it rightfully deserves, but it is what it is. Maybe in the future.

I’ll still pick up a copy though.
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I don't actually hate that art, but man, I get that Croaker's first several meetings with her were actually very similar to this pic, and if I'm interpreting what you wrote correctly this will likely be inside the book, but not showing The Lady's face is some bullshit. She's the beauty of the ages mixed with every man's wet dream. Sure, almost impossible to capture, but try maybe?
 
Drinsic

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she looks like a fucking glowing zombie, and imagine what that face would look like with eyes that far apart lol
 
Aazrael

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Always heard good things about this series but never actually got to them. I can only find them as collection books if I buy them locally.

I have been lazy lately and using audio books but kinda want to get back into reading something. Would have been nice to find them in hard cover but seems I can only find them in a big pocket format.
 
Intrinsic

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Aazrael said:
Always heard good things about this series but never actually got to them. I can only find them as collection books if I buy them locally.

I have been lazy lately and using audio books but kinda want to get back into reading something. Would have been nice to find them in hard cover but seems I can only find them in a big pocket format.
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Could always do something like this to have on your shelf if you end up liking them. That’s why I was excited about the Grim Oak Press release so I could finally have a good shelf copy.

www.ebay.com

Glen Cook ANNALS OF THE BLACK COMPANY 3-in-1 SFBC HC DJ 1st Edition VTG SciFi | eBay

<p>Glen Cook ANNALS OF THE BLACK COMPANY 3-in-1 SFBC HC DJ 1st Edition VTG SciFi. </p><p> </p><p>3 Books in One</p><p>Hardcover with Dust Jacket</p><p>1st Edition </p><p>Vintage SciFi Fantasy</p><p>In Excellent Gently Read Condition </p>
www.ebay.com
 
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Rezz

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I have just recently picked up the 3 - in - 1 deal (had no idea the books were only like 200ish pages each) - it's decent but I uh, don't get the hype. Definitely not nearly as engaging as Erickson though I've seen them compared a lot. I'm like 2/3 through the second book and while it's kind of interesting sorta, it's definitely a tier or two below Malazan. Not bad, but not in the same running imo.
 
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Rezz said:
I have just recently picked up the 3 - in - 1 deal (had no idea the books were only like 200ish pages each) - it's decent but I uh, don't get the hype. Definitely not nearly as engaging as Erickson though I've seen them compared a lot. I'm like 2/3 through the second book and while it's kind of interesting sorta, it's definitely a tier or two below Malazan. Not bad, but not in the same running imo.
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Well, you have to remember that these first 3 books were written in the 80s, and Erickson's Malazan might not exist without The Black Company (he kind of says exactly that).

I had a couple paragraphs written out giving my explanation, but I realized the best comparison is Everquest. If you played it when it first came out, when the next best thing was Ultima Online, when your life was nothing but school and friends, work was something your parents did...it was fucking magical. But if you played it for the first time now, after having played WoW and twenty different variations of the MMO of the week, you'd wonder what the fuck people were so excited about with EQ.

That's what The Black Company is to me. Game of Thrones, Malazan, everything Sandrson didn't exist. The fantasy books I devoured were often just collections of short stories (Conan, Elric, Fafhrd & Grey Mouser, etc.). I never saw anything more until well after reading The Black Company, same as those of us that played EQ in its heydey, so our comparisons and life situations were completely different.

Objectively I know that these books are nowhere near the best I've ever read. But when you factor in the time I read them, the point in my life I was at, the state of the world at the time, the state of contemporary fantasy literature, etc...the first three of this series will always be my favorite books of all time.
 
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Skinner

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Preorder Saturday, November 19th 12:00 PM Central​
US/Canada Only from main site.​
500 Copies, Signed/Numbered​
$90.00 (Shipping/Tax you’re looking at $120ish)​

I know people who like books tend to be picky over them so I just want to caution again that Midworld Press is still a relatively new fine press that has only published 9 books so far with The Black Company being their 10th. However, this will be their first book with popularity and could be somewhat in-demand, so it could potentially sell out within the week or take months/never sell out. Personally I don’t think it will sell out as they have yet to sell out of anything they’ve ever published and a 500 copy run of any book in the fine press community is considered significantly large (most limit to 200-250). Printers are massively backed up world wide so don’t be surprised if it takes up to a year for the book to arrive, either. The owner of Midworld Press seems to be a decent guy though and replies to emails/facebook/his facebook group and does care about quality. This will be for the first book in the series and I currently don’t know if he will be doing the others or not yet.

A want a fine press hardcover copy for my bookshelf so I’ll be picking one up, but I still wish someone like Sub Press published it instead.


Today’s Newsletter Below:

The Black Company Preorder Date​


The limited edition of The Black Company by Glen Cook will be live for pre-order on Saturday, November 19th at 12:00 pm Central Time. This book is signed by the author and limited to 500 hand-numbered copies.

Dust jacket art and interior illustrations are by Kai Carpenter. Below is a preliminary version of the front cover; the dust jacket art wraps around.

Cover price will be $90.00 USD. At this time, we are limiting sales to one book per household. MidWorld Press is only able to sell this edition of The Black Company to residents of the United States and Canada, but there will be some copies available from other sellers, including Subterranean Press.

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The Black Company by Glen Cook

Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead.

Until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her...

So begins one of the greatest fantasy epics of our age and the forerunner to today’s Grimdark fantasy genre―Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company.
 
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Intrinsic

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God Fantasy art is so bad 🤦‍♂️

That isn’t the final dust jacket I hope. The character, whoever the hell it is, isn’t centered with the title and looks strange. The cape is cutoff on the side annoyingly and not “dynamically,” and there’s a little half rose peeking out for some reason.

Wtf is this even!
 
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