sugeatarc (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sugeatarc) wrote,@ 2008-05-08 21:03:00 |
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About "That" Book
[Edited to add: OKAY, IT'S OFFICIAL. "THE BOOK" IS OUT. So if you don't want to get spoiled, get your head down.]
Okay, I’ve noticed a lot of confusion regarding the impending release of the “Sozin’s Comet” book. So I decided to put together this post as a kind of one-stop information dump. There’s nothing new here, but I’ve collated what is actually known (or strongly suspected) and added links.
Q. Book? What book?
A. It’s a “novelization”, kid-style, of the final four episodes of the series, titled Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle. Click the title to get the full info from Amazon.com.
Things to notice:
1) It’s listed as currently “In Stock”. That means it's actually released. (Otherwise it would say something about the expected date of publication.)
2) The product description is minorly spoilerish, but has been posted before in most venues, so you’ve probably already seen it.
3) The reading level is ages 4-8.
4) It’s only 64 pages long.
5) If you want to try to track it down at your local bookstore, write down the ISBN number and have them look it up using that.
Q. What’s all the fuss about?
A. The book, which will probably be quite spoilery (see the next question), was originally due to ship May 20. That would be bad enough in terms of jumping the gun on the aired finale, but for unknown reasons some folks who preordered it from Amazon have received notice that they’ll be getting their books much sooner, perhaps as soon as May 9, certainly by early next week. (Yes, May 9 is tomorrow, as I write this. Yes, we might know “how it all ends” within 24 hours. Yes, that’swonderful horrible just plain weird.)
The book is currently listed as “In Stock” at Amazon, meaning that paper copies are actually out there sitting in the warehouses right this very minute and many other copies are probably winging their way to various retail outlets in shipping boxes, if they haven’t already arrived and are sitting in back rooms waiting to be shelved.
There is also an outside chance that the early ship date notices are just a screw-up by Amazon, but the “In Stock” listing strongly indicates that it’s for real.
Some people are reporting that their copies are still listed as shipping May 20. In at least one case the person is in Australia which probably explains why they’ll still be waiting.
Q. Is the book going to be canon?
A. We don’t know for certain until someone actually gets their hands on the thing, but the answer is probably “Yes and No.” Yes, the main plot points will almost certainly be taken straight from the storyboards/transcripts of the actual final four episodes, so that will be spoilery like you’ve never seen spoilery.
On the other hand, the book is very short and written for kids ages 4-8, so a lot was probably left out, and any interpretations that the writers put on the basic story probably won’t be considered canon. This is like “The Lost Scrolls” and “The Earth Kingdom Chronicles” – the products are approved, but not every little detail is necessarily in line with what Bryke had in mind.
Given the targeted age of the book, it’s doubtful there will be any shipping in the text. I would be surprised if there was even any mention of “The Kiss” or “The Hug.”
Q. Wait, isn’t something missing here?
A. Yeah. Episodes 316 and 317. We have DVDs up to 315, then the book will cover episodes 318-321. We’ll have no information on what happens in 316 and 317 unless there are spoilers dropped within the text of the book (possible, but likely to be scarce if they exist at all). We may be able to glean info from the text about these episodes -- for example, if Iroh is already present, he must return in one of those two; if he returns in the book, he won’t be coming back in 316 or 317. But that’s as good as it’s likely to get.
What exactly the presence of this gap will do to the flow of the overall story remains to be seen, but it’s hard to see how it could be good.
Q. Is the book going to be any good?
A. Depends on your definition of good. Note the reading level (ages 4-8) and the length (64 pages.) It’s going to be a kid’s book, probably similar to the “Lost Scrolls” and “Earth Kingdom Chronicles”. Adults and literate teens shouldn’t expect much from the text in terms of an enjoyable read. On the other hand, it will have artwork, a poster, and an interview with Bryke. So it’s probably not totally valueless.
Q. Where can I get the book?
A. Pretty much anywhere. You can order it on-line, obviously (see the above Amazon link) but chances are it’ll be in every major chain bookstore, and most likely it’ll have shelf space in the big retail outlets like WalMart and Target as well.
Q. Where can I find the spoilers if I don’t want to buy the book?
A. ….Pretty much anywhere on the Internet would be my guess. (The harder question is the next one.) You can expect there to be tons of spoiler posts here on LJ, and not all of them will be appropriately spoiler-protected. We’ll probably get at least one spoiler troll too. The major fansites will almost certainly have spoilers (Avatar Spirit Net, Distant Horizons), hopefully properly caged by the moderators in spoiler pens where they belong.
Chance are fairly good that scans of the artwork and poster may show up over on 4chan/co/ first, since they specialize in that kind of thing. (Hello, hostile perverts of 4chan! I love you guys!) Kids should stay out of that place, it gets pretty icky over there. Anyway, while they’ll probably be the first to get scans, they won’t be the last. You should be able to google scans or find links to them on LJ shortly after paper copies arrive in the fans’ hot little hands.
Q. How can I *AVOID* the !@#!@@# Spoilers?!?
A. Um. Pray? Unplug your computer and don’t talk to your Avatarded friends until July?
More seriously, if you really, really want to avoid the spoilers, you’re going to have to avoid the Intranets, as the Series of Tubes will be exploding all over the place. I’d suggest staying off of the LJ comms and the fansites for at least a week after the release to allow, at a minimum, the spoiler trolling to die down and the moderators of the various fansites to whip the residents in line and get the spoilers corralled where they belong. For at least the first week spoilers are going to be flying everywhere, and even if everyone had the best of intentions, someone is going to screw up and fail to hide something somewhere. Probably a lot of somethings. And of course, there will be spoiler trolls who do NOT have the best of intentions who won’t even try to hide the stuff.
Some LJ comms that are normally freeposting may go to moderated posting until the initial surge is over, so don’t be surprised if you get a moderation message on your post when you never got one before, even if it has nothing to do with this book.
If you really, really, truly want to avoid all spoilers, you’re going to have to stay completely away from anything Avatar-related on the Internet at least until the last DVD is released on July 29. (Unless it ships early. Anything’s possible at this point.) Or until the finale hits the air. Assuming it ever does.(Stupid Nick is really really stupid.)
A word to the wise: Do NOT expect to be able to go to these places and remain completely unspoiled! Even if there was no malicious spoiler trolling, people are going to make mistakes with their spoiler protections. And don’t go flying off on a rant if you do visit your old Avatar haunts and get spoiled, because YOU’VE BEEN WARNED. If you really want to remain unspoiled, you’re going to have to exert self-discipline to protect yourself, because you can’t expect everyone else to do it for you.
Edited to add: It's possible the atla_unspoiled comm might provide a safe haven for the unspoiled on LJ. I wish the moderator luck, because she's going to need it.
Q. I thought the release date for this was July 29?!?
A. That’s the last individual DVD release date. This is a completely different product.
Q. Hey Suge, I thought you loved spoilers! What gives?
A. Normally I do. I never thought I had a “too many spoilers!” threshold, but I’ve just been proven wrong. Imagine my surprise.
I think it’s the weirdness of the 316-317 gap that pushed me over the edge, combined with my belief that the text version of the battle is going to simultaneously suck on its own while removing the edge of awesome from the aired version. I’d feel very differently if it were going to be written by an established young adult fantasy author (Garth Nix? Scott Westerfeld? Jonathan Stroud? Tamora Pierce?) or heck, even one of our better fanwriters, but having the plot of the finale dumbed down to the level appropriate for a four-year-old reader is….blecccch.
Which doesn’t mean that I won’t read the spoilers.
It just means I’ll be grumpy about it.
[Edited to add: OKAY, IT'S OFFICIAL. "THE BOOK" IS OUT. So if you don't want to get spoiled, get your head down.]
Okay, I’ve noticed a lot of confusion regarding the impending release of the “Sozin’s Comet” book. So I decided to put together this post as a kind of one-stop information dump. There’s nothing new here, but I’ve collated what is actually known (or strongly suspected) and added links.
Q. Book? What book?
A. It’s a “novelization”, kid-style, of the final four episodes of the series, titled Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle. Click the title to get the full info from Amazon.com.
Things to notice:
1) It’s listed as currently “In Stock”. That means it's actually released. (Otherwise it would say something about the expected date of publication.)
2) The product description is minorly spoilerish, but has been posted before in most venues, so you’ve probably already seen it.
3) The reading level is ages 4-8.
4) It’s only 64 pages long.
5) If you want to try to track it down at your local bookstore, write down the ISBN number and have them look it up using that.
Q. What’s all the fuss about?
A. The book, which will probably be quite spoilery (see the next question), was originally due to ship May 20. That would be bad enough in terms of jumping the gun on the aired finale, but for unknown reasons some folks who preordered it from Amazon have received notice that they’ll be getting their books much sooner, perhaps as soon as May 9, certainly by early next week. (Yes, May 9 is tomorrow, as I write this. Yes, we might know “how it all ends” within 24 hours. Yes, that’s
The book is currently listed as “In Stock” at Amazon, meaning that paper copies are actually out there sitting in the warehouses right this very minute and many other copies are probably winging their way to various retail outlets in shipping boxes, if they haven’t already arrived and are sitting in back rooms waiting to be shelved.
There is also an outside chance that the early ship date notices are just a screw-up by Amazon, but the “In Stock” listing strongly indicates that it’s for real.
Some people are reporting that their copies are still listed as shipping May 20. In at least one case the person is in Australia which probably explains why they’ll still be waiting.
Q. Is the book going to be canon?
A. We don’t know for certain until someone actually gets their hands on the thing, but the answer is probably “Yes and No.” Yes, the main plot points will almost certainly be taken straight from the storyboards/transcripts of the actual final four episodes, so that will be spoilery like you’ve never seen spoilery.
On the other hand, the book is very short and written for kids ages 4-8, so a lot was probably left out, and any interpretations that the writers put on the basic story probably won’t be considered canon. This is like “The Lost Scrolls” and “The Earth Kingdom Chronicles” – the products are approved, but not every little detail is necessarily in line with what Bryke had in mind.
Given the targeted age of the book, it’s doubtful there will be any shipping in the text. I would be surprised if there was even any mention of “The Kiss” or “The Hug.”
Q. Wait, isn’t something missing here?
A. Yeah. Episodes 316 and 317. We have DVDs up to 315, then the book will cover episodes 318-321. We’ll have no information on what happens in 316 and 317 unless there are spoilers dropped within the text of the book (possible, but likely to be scarce if they exist at all). We may be able to glean info from the text about these episodes -- for example, if Iroh is already present, he must return in one of those two; if he returns in the book, he won’t be coming back in 316 or 317. But that’s as good as it’s likely to get.
What exactly the presence of this gap will do to the flow of the overall story remains to be seen, but it’s hard to see how it could be good.
Q. Is the book going to be any good?
A. Depends on your definition of good. Note the reading level (ages 4-8) and the length (64 pages.) It’s going to be a kid’s book, probably similar to the “Lost Scrolls” and “Earth Kingdom Chronicles”. Adults and literate teens shouldn’t expect much from the text in terms of an enjoyable read. On the other hand, it will have artwork, a poster, and an interview with Bryke. So it’s probably not totally valueless.
Q. Where can I get the book?
A. Pretty much anywhere. You can order it on-line, obviously (see the above Amazon link) but chances are it’ll be in every major chain bookstore, and most likely it’ll have shelf space in the big retail outlets like WalMart and Target as well.
Q. Where can I find the spoilers if I don’t want to buy the book?
A. ….Pretty much anywhere on the Internet would be my guess. (The harder question is the next one.) You can expect there to be tons of spoiler posts here on LJ, and not all of them will be appropriately spoiler-protected. We’ll probably get at least one spoiler troll too. The major fansites will almost certainly have spoilers (Avatar Spirit Net, Distant Horizons), hopefully properly caged by the moderators in spoiler pens where they belong.
Chance are fairly good that scans of the artwork and poster may show up over on 4chan/co/ first, since they specialize in that kind of thing. (Hello, hostile perverts of 4chan! I love you guys!) Kids should stay out of that place, it gets pretty icky over there. Anyway, while they’ll probably be the first to get scans, they won’t be the last. You should be able to google scans or find links to them on LJ shortly after paper copies arrive in the fans’ hot little hands.
Q. How can I *AVOID* the !@#!@@# Spoilers?!?
A. Um. Pray? Unplug your computer and don’t talk to your Avatarded friends until July?
More seriously, if you really, really want to avoid the spoilers, you’re going to have to avoid the Intranets, as the Series of Tubes will be exploding all over the place. I’d suggest staying off of the LJ comms and the fansites for at least a week after the release to allow, at a minimum, the spoiler trolling to die down and the moderators of the various fansites to whip the residents in line and get the spoilers corralled where they belong. For at least the first week spoilers are going to be flying everywhere, and even if everyone had the best of intentions, someone is going to screw up and fail to hide something somewhere. Probably a lot of somethings. And of course, there will be spoiler trolls who do NOT have the best of intentions who won’t even try to hide the stuff.
Some LJ comms that are normally freeposting may go to moderated posting until the initial surge is over, so don’t be surprised if you get a moderation message on your post when you never got one before, even if it has nothing to do with this book.
If you really, really, truly want to avoid all spoilers, you’re going to have to stay completely away from anything Avatar-related on the Internet at least until the last DVD is released on July 29. (Unless it ships early. Anything’s possible at this point.) Or until the finale hits the air. Assuming it ever does.
A word to the wise: Do NOT expect to be able to go to these places and remain completely unspoiled! Even if there was no malicious spoiler trolling, people are going to make mistakes with their spoiler protections. And don’t go flying off on a rant if you do visit your old Avatar haunts and get spoiled, because YOU’VE BEEN WARNED. If you really want to remain unspoiled, you’re going to have to exert self-discipline to protect yourself, because you can’t expect everyone else to do it for you.
Edited to add: It's possible the atla_unspoiled comm might provide a safe haven for the unspoiled on LJ. I wish the moderator luck, because she's going to need it.
Q. I thought the release date for this was July 29?!?
A. That’s the last individual DVD release date. This is a completely different product.
Q. Hey Suge, I thought you loved spoilers! What gives?
A. Normally I do. I never thought I had a “too many spoilers!” threshold, but I’ve just been proven wrong. Imagine my surprise.
I think it’s the weirdness of the 316-317 gap that pushed me over the edge, combined with my belief that the text version of the battle is going to simultaneously suck on its own while removing the edge of awesome from the aired version. I’d feel very differently if it were going to be written by an established young adult fantasy author (Garth Nix? Scott Westerfeld? Jonathan Stroud? Tamora Pierce?) or heck, even one of our better fanwriters, but having the plot of the finale dumbed down to the level appropriate for a four-year-old reader is….blecccch.
Which doesn’t mean that I won’t read the spoilers.
It just means I’ll be grumpy about it.
