Timewaster's Guide Archive

Phaz,

From the spoilers section of the annotations (which are kind of hard to find, sorry about that.  Hopefully the new site will make some of this information more accessible.)

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By the way, the reason the Lord Ruler's army attacked Renoux was not because they broke Marsh. It's because the Inquisitors--still tracking Vin--finally managed to trail her to House Renoux, and therefore to Valette Renoux. They hit the convoy, fully expecting her to be on it. When she wasn't, they devised their trap, knowing that Kelsier would come for his friends. They never even suspected that the team had managed to get a mole into the Ministry ranks.
--Quote--

On the second point, you got it exactly.  Kelsier left a wake of destruction at the pits that would have impressed any horror movie viewer.  He pretty much slaughtered every guard in the place, stole a bunch of atium, and inadvertently destroyed a bunch of the crystals. 

Thanks,  I checked the annotation for the first part thinking that it would contain the answer, but missed the 'spoiler' button.

The second part makes a lot of sense too, since it would explain some of why Straff is so interested in the "Survivor" when Kell meets with him as an informant.

I just finished rereading MB1 over Thanksgiving, and was curious about one of the plot elements.

Near the end of the book, after Kell destroys the pits, the Renoux crew are in the cages coming down to be executed.  At first, everyone thinks that this is because of Marsh being caught, spilling the info about them.  That makes sense.  However, reading that part knowing that that Marsh wasn't caught makes me wonder, how exactly did they all get caught? 

I"m by no means a careful reader, so I could of missed something obvious, but the last I remember, Kell gave them the order to leave town, they did, and the next time you see them, they are in the cages.  How were the found out?  The only ideas I could come up with (neither which I think have any direct evidence in the story itself) is either that an inquisitor somehow saw them leave, and since they evidently (as is implied earlier in the book) have some method of detecting Renoux (why he couldn't attend the balls) they saw he was a Kandra, and then took everyone hostage.  The only other thought that came to my mind was that they somehow traced Vin to that residence (just like they discovered the thieving crews) and it was just a coincidence of when they actually were found out.

Also, a smaller plot point that I just want to clarify.  When Kell destroyed the pits he destroyed some of the crystal nodes as well right?  Straff mentions something that happened "a few years ago" that caused their production to drop so they couldn't quite keep up with what the Lord Ruler wanted.  I think reading the scenes with Kell in the pits, there is some text that makes it appear that he got a few of them when he escaped.

I'm probably the outlier here, but I wouldn't buy a $4.99 book because it's basically stealing.  I can't imagine that after production costs, shipping and then the retail store's part, the book has almost no money left over to pay the author, artist, editor, etc.   Also, for something that is going to take hours to read, that just seems like too little.

Doesn't a book at that price really depend on the venue it's sold at?  Like I could see a cheap book selling really well at a super market, but with fantasy reader's being fairly picky, wouldn't they be more willing to chip out a few more bucks and expect to because they would be in a book store?

How do online retailers affect that?  I know with a Barnes and Noble card I can get a paperback Elantris for just over $7.  Would 2 bucks off that really get more sales?   

Also, with the cover, are there any statistics for fantasy readers on what causes them to buy books?  I know with myself and most my friends, it's almost always a recommendation from a friend (or amazon) that first finds me to the book, and then the reviews (online or from my buddies) that convince me to buy/read it.  I've never been shopping for a book on Amazon and seen a cover and decided on that I wasn't going to get the book.  It's always the reviews that decide that.  Is there really a big enough group that just wanders the shelves looking at covers and reading backs on the ones that look interesting?  If so, does that vary much with genre?  Are fantasy readers more or less likely to do that?

So yea, those are just my $0.02.  I am by no means an expert, in fact, I haven't even really been 'reading' books for very long.  It just seems to me, with the internet as big as it is and most fantasy readers having interests that put them in (real life or online) contact with other fantasy readers, that those types of things would have less impact on sales in modern times.

However, on a related but unrelated note on the opposite side of the spectrum.  If you were going to release some kind of set with the trilogy, or a collectors edition type thing, I would be all over that.

And you will never convince me that Potter is worth that level of examination.

It's not just Potter either. The idiots who do this about Star Wars are just as frightening -- though granted most of their theories are based on things that are actually in a movie or a book not just tucked in a file box somewhere and ultimately determined unnecessary to the story.

And you will never convince me that comics are worth any level of examination. 

I however, do understand that my preferences and tastes and interests aren't universal, and fully understand how someone else can think that comics are for more than the Sunday paper.

I think might be the exact opposite of you Merzbow 

I prefer reading the hardbacks.  A tiny paperback is too hard to manage, you always have to move your hands around and 'work harder' to read the same story.  Having a hardback come out sooner is just an added bonus.

Even if I discover a book after it's been out for a while, I still puchase the hardback.  I've even gone as far as to buy a full 4 part series in hardback before reading the 1st.

I may be in the minority, but to me, even a hardback is cheap.  I'm not filthy rich, but when compared to something like a video game I pay $59 for, or a movie for $9,  a $20 or $30 book seems like a good deal.  That book is going to give me hours of enjoyment reading it, and often much more either thinking about the book after I've read it, lending it to friends to get them hooked, or rereading it.  When I buy paperbacks I just feel like I'm stealing.

Supporting the authors is a nice benefit as well.  I think to date I have purchased maybe ~20 of Brandon's books (including 9 at his last signing here, many of those were for others who couldn't make it or gifts for young reader cousins).  I think right now I own 4 hardback copies of MB1, 2 of MB2, 2 of Alcatraz and 3 of Elantris.  Only a few of those are sitting on my book shelf, most are out with other readers.  Last I heard, one of the copies of Elantris made it's way up to Minesota and is in the hands of it's 5th reader in the chain.  It's not just Brandon's books either.  I own between 3-6 copies of each HP book, including a full set of Hardcovers I don't ever plan on reading, but more just 'keeping'.

Brandon, do you think you'll ever do the 'deluxe' or 'special' editions of any of your books?  I'm a big sucker for collectors stuff like that as well.

I noticed the "store" section that seems to be a placeholder currently.

Does this mean that I'll finally able to fulfill my dream of owning a t-shirt with the MB Alomancy diagram on it and a bumper sticker that says "My other vehicle is a mistcloak/coin purse"?

Yea, Amazon is definitely shipping it early.  My copy just got here.  I can't wait to read it.

The cover looks really good on the book, even better than the digital picture.