A friend of mine tried ordering the hardback on Amazon UK, and it gave him a delivery date of March next year, which is when the AMERICAN edition is coming out. He cancelled the order. Could it be that Amazon is switching hardback orders from people in the States to the US version automatcially? Very annoying if so. Have you emailed them to try to clear it up?

I preordered the trade paperback, for which it is at this point still giving July 7 as the release date.



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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

either that or skip amazon entirely and order it from one of Jasper's recommended sellers. I personally recommend Post Mortem (Ralph Spurrier). He did right by me last time and I've had WOLP pre-ordered since December, so we shall see on this one!

Which ones will take cheques? I haven't got a credit card owing to the financial misbehaviour of my ex-husband (still linked to this address even though he's been gone nearly 18 months).



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Me twelve. Sorry, I lost count of which number we were on.

I don't suppose that being a librarian (or technically, Library Assistant) counts as 'working in the book trade', does it?



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There's a hole in my creativity bucket and it's all leaked out.

So, go on then, what happens?










*ahem* only joking. But honestly, it's like waiting for my degree results.

Only weirder.

Now if The Man Himself was a really good guy he'd give out advance copies to everyone one the fforum. Wouldn't that be a sweet thing to do?


Yes, all right. I'm joking. A little bit. *sigh*

At least the new Harry Potter book is out next week to tide me over. Mind you, from past experience I'll probably have that knocked off in 36 hours.

No it's not. It's two weeks away, isn't it?

Bugger!

Think it's bad for you lot? I've finally told the people funding my PhD that I'm ill and need a break, and they've gone 'Take all the time you need'. Fantastic, thinks I. 'We've stopped your funding until you're ready'.

At this point I open the next letter to find that the bank manager has noticed I'm way over my overdraft limit. To add to the problems I now find that I can't claim benefits as I'm technically a student (although doing precious little studying).

The upshot of this is that the only way I'll get to read WOLP anytime soon is by reading it in the shop.

Oh dear...



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

PSD - is that a plea for us to have a whip-round for you and present you with your own copy at the White Horse do?

If so, you failed - miserably! :-)

Sadly, I too will be unable too buy WOLP as soon as it is published, every penny I'm not currently earning belongs to someone else! I think I'll have to go pester my local librarians, seeing as they currently have none of Mr Ff's books on the shelves at all, either that or they've been nicked. Perhaps one of you nice people can do a plot synopsis ;)

Eeep! Now that is serious. Maybe you need to go and look at Guy's site.

In the meantime, if there's any way you can come down to Uffington (even if it means hitch-hiking), I'll have a copy by then and will certainly have read it, so you would be welcome to borrow that and send it back via the post.

In the long term, since you were talking about giving up on the PhD anyway, it might be better to do it sooner rather than later, then at least you could claim some kind of benefit. You'll probably need to go to a Citizens' Advice Bureau to help you sort out your existing finances (I've been down this road before, not through any fault of my own, as you know); you should find them extremely helpful and supportive. They deal with a lot of debt problems, many of which are far worse than yours.

Hope it all gets sorted as soon as possible.



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Fortunately I can see the funny side of things, so I'm not overly worried. Well, as not worried as anyone suffering clinical anxiety can be... I'm used to having no cash - it comes with going through university... I'll get hold of a copy of WOLP somehow anyway - this may be the first time in years I actually ask for a birthday present...



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

psd, sarah's advice about the citizens advice is good, also you could think about transferring your balance to one of the credit cards that's got 0% interest for 6 months, or I'm sure I saw one that was 0% on all balance transfers. At least then when you pay money in it's coming straight off the total amount. That's what I did, and it's so much nicer paying £50 and seeing £50 come off, rather than £50 come off and £28 interest go back on... hope it all works out!

Oh, and the nice bookshops with comfy sofas are very good - I finished Night Watch in one the other day.



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Do something pretty while you can...

Hmm, credit card companies prefer you to have some kind of credit rating... (okay, I have a credit rating. It goes 'ARRRRGGGHHH!')

I have a student Barclaycard that has 0% interest, but they won't let me increase my limit.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Yeah, that sounds like my credit rating, but smile gave me a card :o)

Can you claim disability if you quit your PHD? My mate's boyfriend seems to live comfortably on it, I think it must be something similar to clinical anxiety he suffers from.



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Do something pretty while you can...

I've got to talk to the DSS again (or whatever they're branded as this time) otherwise I'll have to get a no-brain job to support myself for a while.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

It's the DWP now, the Department for Welfare to Work and Pensions. The Employment Service, DSS, Child Benefits Agency and Pensions Service have all combined into one new government department, now separated from Education.
I should know, I was working for them before they retired me on medical grounds. They will give you good advice about what benefits you may be entitled to if you quit your course. And look on the bright side. At least you don't have to suffer having CSL dealing with your rent claim on behalf of Sheffield City Council..........

PSD - I, too will not be buyng the new book for some time. Mostly coz it's actually rather difficult to get them in Aus. But I have it on hold at my local library. It's not out yet, but already I can place it on hold. Pretty happy with that.