Eureka!

[dancinghorse]

In the process of prospecting through the book storage for books that people have ordered, I found the Holy Grail: an entire box of A Wind in Cairo. This book is long out of print, and it is a cult favorite. It's an Arabian Nights tale with a historical basis (it has Saladin in it, for starters) about a very bad man who gets what he deserves--and what he deserves has a lot to do with horses. Mostly it's a YA, though it was published (with an infamously hideous cover) as genre fantasy.

If you loved the Brennan books, you'll really like this one. Suitable for the young horseaholics on your list, too, though it's PG-13. (But considering how many fan letters Caitlin gets from 12-14yo girls, I'd say this one is right up their alley.)

Mass market, limited availability. $25 includes shipping (this book, she is rare). Please add 3% to your PayPal payment if you're paying with a credit card.

And let me add a big THANK YOU! to everyone who has contributed to the cause so far. You guys are amazing--and I'm looking forward to seeing a bunch of you at Camp Lipizzan once that gets up and running.

Comments

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

A Wind in Cairo was the first book by you I ever read.

It was excellent. I'm sorry I don't have it anymore. :)

[patchwork-prose.livejournal.com]

I have just sent an e-mail to your livejournal e-mail address.

[djonn]

I remember being impressed even more than usual by A Wind in Cairo when it appeared. And yes, though I haven't reread it in much too long, it's the sort of book that would fit stunningly well under today's Luna Books umbrella.

Come to that, it might be worth talking to Wildside or someone similar about bringing it back into print in a POD edition -- it's the kind of book that ought to do well in that corner of the market.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Diana Duane, apparently, is soliciting committment on the third volume of her cat trilogy (The Book of Night with Moon, In Her Majesty's Wizardly Service) as a POD project.

Only I'm not convinced about the Quality of some of them, I'd want to see samples before comitting, but yes, it might be a possibility.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Errr, let me rephrase that.

this page has a good overview of PoD publishers, and they all look pretty dire to me.

Most are charging huge setup fees offering only moderate discounts on copies for the author to sell, ridiculously small royalties...

There's also the matter of ISBN (making it possible for booksellers to order a book) and CIP (Library of Congress - making it possible for librarians to order a book)

(Yes, I'm a perfectionist. Why do you ask?)

Being the cynic I am, I am not convinced that doing it properly (in effect, becoming your own small publishing company) is going to be more expensive than making use of the services of one of the PoD houses. The trick seems to be to find a reliable PoD printing house that will churn out twenty or fifty copies each time you want them.

More research is needed.

[djonn]

I need to clarify what I'd suggested above. (Many in the gallery -- almost certainly including Our Hostess -- already grasp the distinction I'm about to make, but it's a sufficiently important distinction that it's worth summarizing for those who aren't aware of it.)

There are several small to Really Small specialty publishers in the SF/F genre who specialize in some combination of bringing out new editions of long-OP cult favorite books (like A Wind in Cairo) and bringing out new work by long-established authors that the big houses won't touch because while those authors have a viable reader base for those books, that reader base isn't large enough by Big NY Publisher standards to keep commissioning them. These include Wildside Press, Meisha Merlin, Embiid Books, FoxAcre Press, and others; at least some of these presses use POD technology to make that business model work for them. Some also focus on electronic texts (and there are at least one or two houses, such as FictionWise and Scorpius Digital, that are entirely or almost entirely ebook publishers in this line.)

This is a completely different strata of publishing from the sizeable group of POD operations -- listed on that comparison-page above -- that either offer writers the opportunity to self-publish books on a POD basis or (in some cases) charge writers for publishing the writers' books under their imprint. None of the publishers I've named charges writers at all for any sort of publishing expense.

I agree that self-republishing A Wind In Cairo doesn't make sense to me. OTOH, I think it's exactly the kind of title that one of the genre specialty presses mentioned above might be well-advised to pick up.

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

Oooo! Can I buy a copy of A Wind in the Grail? ;-)

[melinda-goodin.livejournal.com]

This was the first book I read of yours. It and Lord of the Two Lands are on my "comfort book" shelf (aka the "no, you can't borrow those!" shelf) and are much loved. I highly recommend Wind in Cairo to anyone who hasn't yet had the pleasure.

[vampry.livejournal.com]

I have no money right now which is why I haven't commented on your plans yet.

They all sound amazing and I would love the Camp Lipizzan myself at some point.

Many hugs.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

YAY! Duly promoted in my LJ because I know people who must by this!

And you are MOST welcome. You are really doing me a huge favor by filling in gaps that needed. filling.

Did I ever tell you how I discovered your books? Twas Serendipity, really! And you have email following up your emails of yesterday. All done!!

YAY!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Did I ever tell you how I discovered your books? Twas Serendipity, really!

And here I thought it was me! Well... me and Serendipity.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

well, you AND serendipity. Because I actually owned one of her books BEFORE you pointed me to a Wind in Cairo. But GO! YOU! for finding a rare copy of a rare book in a wee used bookstore in Armstrong!!

See, the serendipity came in when the hardcover edition of Lady of the Horses was on the remainders rack (sorry, dancinghorse :( at chapters. Shortly before you visited, electricland. And I looked at it a couple of times, but I was trying to curtail the book buying (I was allowed to browse but not to buy anything other than Christmas presents. Raithens were not allowed more books!) because Christmas was coming. But then MOM! saw it, bought it, and brought it home. And you pointed out Wind in Cairo, and I bought it.

And they both sat on my bookshelf for MONTHS. (I do that, sometimes). And then, one day, I picked up Lady of the HOrses. And was gone. Lost. Around about that time, I also discovered on dancinghorse on LJ, who wrote eloquently about Lippizans and horsemanship and who clearly adored her babies as much as I did mine. And we started to correspond. And then, one day, I made the connection between the author and the journal writer. But for a couple of weeks, I was reading Judy in two places, and didn't know they were the same person!

But thank you, [Unknown site tag], as you were key to this serendipity!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

hee! - I didn't remember it was such a complicated process!

[aswego.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hope A Wind in Cairo gets republished! Reading the other comments was quite heartening. (And it reminded me to check our double-shelved Wall of Read Paperbacks, to make sure that mine is right where it's supposed to be; I used to have a second copy, years ago, but gave it to a friend to try and get her hooked on Tarr, too. Good memories.)