Aji's Quest - yes, now in the Go Book section

[Gunnar]

Hello everyone!

It's my pleasure to announce here that the fantastic story of "Aji's Quest" is now available as printed book.
The book has been published by BOARD N'STONES, the English-language branch of primarily German-language Go books publisher Brett und Stein Verlag. Check with your trusted dealer for ordering a copy of the book

http://www.boardnstones.com/09-All_Titles-87-BSV87.php

Gunnar

[Joaz Banbeck]

...now available as printed book...

What type of printing? Is this POD or a real printing press?

And if it is a real printing press, what is the print run?

[Gunnar]

...now available as printed book...

What type of printing? Is this POD or a real printing press?

And if it is a real printing press, what is the print run?

Hello Joaz,

In order to fascilitate international distribution the book is indeed POD produced, but not with Amazon's CreateSpace.
The main printing site is in Germany, responsible for all orders from continental Europe. Contracted agents of the main printer are based in the UK, US and Australia.

This network allows to order the book in any book store or online shop. Look or ask for the ISBN 978-3-940563-87-3.
Ordering at a local store supports the local business.

Hope this helps.

Gunnar

[John Fairbairn]

Is there a quality issue we should know about, or is it just anti-Amazonism - or even just snobbery?

I've bought quite a lot of POD books from Amazon and been delighted with the quality (though the books' lives are admittedly still in the short term). I bought Aji's Quest via Amazon and noticed nothing better or worse than any other books from Amazon, except delivery took a lot longer.

For my own books I choose the best quality paper, which adds to the price. Maybe other people go with inferior paper?

As to Aji's Quest itself, I admire the artist immensely and got a smile on every page. The only niggle is that the publishing name is Board N'Stones. It was like a mote in my sensitive eye. It should be Board 'n Stones (also as per the OED, incidentally, and as in fish 'n chips). On the other hand, it uses 'board' instead of 'goban', so all is forgiven.

[Gunnar]

Is there a quality issue we should know about, or is it just anti-Amazonism - or even just snobbery?

I've bought quite a lot of POD books from Amazon and been delighted with the quality (though the books' lives are admittedly still in the short term). I bought Aji's Quest via Amazon and noticed nothing better or worse than any other books from Amazon, except delivery took a lot longer.

For my own books I choose the best quality paper, which adds to the price. Maybe other people go with inferior paper?

As to Aji's Quest itself, I admire the artist immensely and got a smile on every page. The only niggle is that the publishing name is Board N'Stones. It was like a mote in my sensitive eye. It should be Board 'n Stones (also as per the OED, incidentally, and as in fish 'n chips). On the other hand, it uses 'board' instead of 'goban', so all is forgiven.

Dear John,

Thanks for the questions. I try to answer.

Well, there are some hassles with Amazon's CreateSpace, but none you may exposed to or have to worry about.
Indeed, your books have a good quality and there is nothing to complain about. I have a long relation ship with my printing company, knowing the good and bad, and stay happily with them.

BOARD N'STONES, well, you may argue where the apostrophe has to be. There are arguments to have even two of them, but that doesn't look nice at all and so it was no option for me. By the way, Wikipedia claims fish and chips to be fish 'n' chips... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chips).

However, as I am not a native English speaker I took reference from another example of probably improper usage:
Have a look.... Sorry about that. I guess, you may already have had several times motes in your sensitive eyes...

Thank you for forgiving. Gunnar

[John Fairbairn]

Gunnar - well, that web page gave me double barrels of despair...

Being German you may not be aware of the English obsession with apostrophes. It is a truism that may not even be true that uneducated people here never know where to put their apostrophes, with the result that people like shopkeepers, who used to chalk the day's offers on blackboards outside the shops (showing my age, and I'll ignore the "please, sir, what's a blackboard" remarks), ended up with a veritable spaghetti of apostrophes, and by some as yet unexplained law of the universe, always ended up putting them in the wrong place. This was dubbed grocer's English, or as some would have it, grocers' English. The latter seems more correct as all grocers seem to spaghetti lovers.

But even among the supposedly educated, there is debate over whether we should write James' or James's. Which is especially daft as most of those who write James' say James's in speech. And of course those who write grocer's or grocers' say grocers either way.

The upshot is that English people (Scots has differences) are highly sensitised to apostrophes. They shine out like laser lights.

The explanation I would give of fish 'n chips as opposed to fish 'n' chips (apart from the fact that I wouldn't trust Wikipedia on anything) is that, in speech, all except the ineffably pompous would say fish an chips if asked to say it slowly. So it is only the a that is being dropped.