I just got an email with the reminder that J. Michael Straczynski’s Babylon 5 Script Book Series is going out of print at the end of the month. Monday, June 30 is the last day.
It’s hardly a surprise, since the series was always advertised as a limited edition.
The weird thing is that they’re also shutting down the related store, with all the quote merchandise, until August. Presumably that includes the Londo/G’Kar campaign signs as well.
Meanwhile, the companion series, Other Voices, with scripts and commentary by the other writers who worked on the show, just released the second book. (To give you an idea of just how much of B5 JMS wrote, his scripts take up 14 volumes. The others add up to just 3.) It’s been interesting to compare the different styles of commentary. Some wrote epics, some did Q&A or interview-style introductions, and David Gerrold simply wrote half a page about why he resisted writing “Believers,” and what he did when he realized exactly why they wanted him to write it.
I hate to admit it, but I’ve only just started reading the bonus volume of the original set last weekend (in between bouts of re-reading The Ringworld Throne and writing). After so many years wondering “what would have happened if Sinclair had stayed?” you’d think I’d be in a bigger hurry to find out. Okay, I was busy with the whole moving thing, and then unpacking, and then trying to catch up on a fan site, and then trying to launch a blog, and I keep getting sucked into comic forums…
I think I need to sleep more.
The way I read the e-mail, they’re closing down the rest of the store — which would include the quotes and the campaign stuff — “until August.” I presume they’re planning an update or some kind of revision of the shop. Or it might be their way of making sure that they can keep the income from the books completely separate in some way, allowing a month for returns. Very mysterious, but I did get the distinct impression it was temporary. 🙂
I’ve never really understood the idea of closing a website for a redesign. It’s not like a physical store where you need to keep people out while you’re working on it. You can do everything on a test site, then upload the changes all at once. The only time you need to take things offline is while you’re swapping in the changes.
Funny, I now have this image of someone building a new store, then coming in after hours with a crane, removing the old building, and dropping the new one in its place.
LOL! I hear ya on that. But CafePress doesn’t exactly work like that, as far as I can tell. We’re re-working our CP shop right now for our Farscape forum, and you basically just make changes as you go along. As far as I can tell, there’s no easy way to do your test site and swap everything out at once…. Of course, we’re also pretty unskilled — I was THRILLED to figure out how to put a mailto link into the text, LOL! — so maybe there’s an easier way. The people running the Joe Store do seem to have more skills than we do….
Hmmmm….but then my theory that they took it offline for a redesign doesn’t hold water at all, does it…. D’oh!
Funny, I just assumed it was because someone didn’t want to have to work during Comic-Con.