| Author | Message | ||
     Nigelfox03 (Nigelfox03) Username: Nigelfox03 Registered: 08-2010 Posted From: 85.18.64.74 |
Maybe I've missed this piece of information in the present forum, but in case it escaped your attention Dan Ghetu has announced in the Thomas Ligotti website (message board) that Ex Occidente will close in April 2011. http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=2535&highlight=occidente&page=75 Any thoughts? Mario | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 80.4.12.3 |
When I first made contact with Dan over a year ago he told me that Ex Occidente was a project with a built-in "completion date". So it's not a surprise really, though I wasn't expecting it to happen quite so soon. Provided the Bulgakov tribute book and my own two books appear before April 2011 I have no grumbles with Dan's decision... | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.111.128.251 |
Hi Rhys (and happy birthday :>). I think the Bulgakov with our stories in comes out in December. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
Ex Occidente did create some absolutely gorgeous books, but I understand the frustration of writers like Quentin S Crisp, who said he felt "ghetto-ised" by having his work in books too expensive and elusive for many to get hold of. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Happy Birthday Rhy. Enjoy the day, mate. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.68 |
Happy birthday, Rhys! | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
@Kate- was that ghetto-ised or Ghetu-ised? Sorry, I'll get me coat.  And a happy birthday again to Rhys- the above pub could be taken as a birthday present..! | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
'The above pun', that should've been. Although I dare say the first option would have been even more popular. Happy birthday anyway sir! | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Simon - if you're getting your coat, can you grab mine while you're there...I exist in a state of perpetual self-exile, always it seems, on the cusp of yet one more failed comedic offering...(: | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 62.30.117.235 |
It's disappointing news. Their books were very attractive. For the first few minutes of Pete Crowther's best small press speech at FantasyCon I thought he was leading up to an announcement that PS was closing, and that would have been devastating. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
Soon there will be only me left! How I shall dominate the world! Non-believers will be dealt dinged spines! Any heretic shall suffer a burst appendix! | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
For a moment I thought Ian Paisley had entered the room. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.45.47 |
Happy birthday, Rhys! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
No, that was Gary in his paisley underpants. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Happy birthday, Rhys! | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Sad to see that Ex Occidente is planning to fold. The press has had a meteoric career: live fast, die young, leave a beautiful bookshelf. | ||
| Skunsworth (Skunsworth) Username: Skunsworth Registered: 05-2009 Posted From: 92.14.252.204 |
...and a number of irritated customers, authors and dealers! | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
When I saw the news about Ex Occidente on the BFS site yesterday I was concerned about whether Des' "The Last Balcony" was likely to see the light of day. Apparently, though, that's due out in December too. And happy birthday, Rhys. (BTW how does Ally always know when it's someone's birthday?) | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.111.128.251 |
Facebook...they list friend's birthdays each day. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Ah, right! I still haven't ventured onto Facebook so I don't know about these things. I thought you had some kind of "sixth sense" which told you when it was someone's birthday. I was going to say, Ally, you missed mine!  | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 62.30.117.235 |
No, Des has withdrawn The Last Balcony from them, or had, last time I looked on the Ligotti boards. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.111.128.251 |
When is it Caroline? I'll remember | ||
| Skip (Wolfnoma) Username: Wolfnoma Registered: 07-2010 Posted From: 216.54.20.98 |
So this thread has been hi-jacked into a Birthday thread for Rhys? Cool. Happy Birthday! | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>No, Des has withdrawn The Last Balcony from them, or had, last time I looked on the Ligotti boards.<< Oh, right. I was going by some comments further up another thread on the Ligotti board, so I might be out of date with that one. Des did give me a "watch this space" kind of message when I asked him about it by email a little while ago. So I guess it will see the light of day elsewhere? I hope so anyway. Ally - now that would be telling, wouldn't it?  | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 207.6.255.47 |
Rhys: Happy Birthday! Gary: I'll wear you down until you're pinned to the pavement under my boot-heel! ...aaaaand, so as just to get us back on track, it's a shame that anything has to come to an end, but ultimately you do anything for at least one of two reasons: you really enjoy it, or it makes you money. If you're lucky, it's both, but that's rare. If neither of those requirements are being met, then you're broke and sad, and there's no point in doing that for too long if there's nothing to suggest the situation will change, so Dan's probably wise by stopping when he is, although I'm only guessing that this is the case. I recognize that there's a market for books which cost the earth to possess (Ex Occident's; PS's editions of Ramsey, Bradbury, and Fry; Cemetery Dance's editions of just about everyone), but I can't see my way clear to creating the things myself. Yes, the profit on the things is exceedingly sexy, but without a 'Trade Edition' it's nigh-on impossible for a fellow like me to afford a copy of the thing, which is very troubling when I just want to read the book (which is why e-books make sense here, but that's another debate entirely). It's incredibly important to have that collector's market on speed-dial or in the Rolodex before you launch into that mode of publishing, and I wonder if Ex Occident had that? Delaying things and not communicating with people about that (and anything else) is a grand way of negating any of that access to the particularly demanding market, but it's always the cumulative effects which are easiest to spot in hindsight, aren't they? Well, I hadn't meant to say anything about this as I thought I hadn't anything to say. But what a rant, eh? | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.68 |
Rants are good for you every now and again. As indeed are birthdays. Statistics show that the more you have the longer you live. (Belated happy birthday, Rhys.) | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
It's a shame Ex Occ mucked up, but it can't have been easy running a small press from Romania. It's hard enough in the UK, and Canada, I would imagine. Shipping is the crucial thing. I envy the US presses: bigger market, easier shipping. Ho hum. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
>>>PS's editions of Ramsey, Bradbury, and Fry And the solution to the Atomic Fez Spot the Odd One Out competition is: Legend, legend, nobend. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
I don't think trying to release a gazillion books a week helped the cause. It always seemed to me that Dan was creating a huge burden for himself. Sad to see Ex. Occ. go, though; I've always had only good dealings with them. | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 212.219.233.223 |
But the best is yet to come from Ex Occ -- sixteen or seventeen books in the next six months! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
Btw, Ian, there's a jacketed hardcover of my latest PS book available at £20. | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 207.6.255.47 |
Gary; I'm waiting until they make the film. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
Haven't they approached you to play the central spook yet? I put in a good word . . . | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 207.6.255.47 |
What with the E.A. Poe gig, it was thought best not to risk typecasting. Seeing as how your writing style's so similar. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.244.154 |
Nevermore. | ||
| Degsy (Degsy) Username: Degsy Registered: 08-2010 Posted From: 86.134.28.143 |
Nice books and a real love for arcane literature, but I won't miss Ex Occidente too much because of their unprofessional attitude, and I'll be amazed if everyone gets their money back. From my own personal experience their customer service is exceptionally poor, if not even amateurish, (orders not shipped etc.) And when I discovered that he was shipping unnumbered copies of a (supposedly numbered) limited edition that was the end of my interest in this press. |