*is excited*
Ok, long story: on Monday (as on every day, really) I checked amazon.de (the GERMAN site!!!) for "First among sequels", and it actually said that it was available within 24 hours. As I've known for as long as it's been announced that the actual launch is on July 5th, I assumed that it was a mistake made by some poor amazon guy, and that if I ordered on the spot, they would tell me that what they actually meant was "pre-order" or they would send me a copy of another Next-novel. But what the hell, I thought it was worth a shot - AND TODAY IT ACTUALLY ARRIVED!!!! IT'S LYING HERE ON MY TABLE IN KARLSTEIN, BAVARIA, GERMANY!!!!!
So, now tell me that all of you already have it and that I'm making a big fuss about nothing :-).
Greetings,
Jo

Why, Lord on a sandwich.

They have a German copy out even before the English is printed? Or you got an English copy from the German Amazon? (That sounds like a strange temperate rain forest, pretend like it makes sense) *runs off to buy German dictionary and F.A.S. auf deutsch*

An obvious time anomally - report to the nearest Chrono-Post immediately and have the book scanned for a temporal virus.
Some little bloke at Amazon has yet to pack it and despatch it, yet you already know that he will do so. Eerie stuff.

Cool!

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

It's the English copy, of course *is disgusted at the thought of reading anything but the original* :-).
Should have thought about the ChronoGuard!

Actually, my local bookshop asked me if I wanted a copy because they could get it in earlier. Makes me wish I wasn't a poor artist!
(sigh)

Is it wonderful?

Well, that's the irony...I can't start reading it now, at least not that weekend, as I have a paper about Lacan or Freud due on Monday *sighs*.

Josie,
Why don't you leave Lacan or forestall Freud until July 5th, give it the little bloke at Amazon and ask him to post it, thus getting your essay in a week ago?

Sadly, unless you are JKR, publishers dates are no longer sacrosanct: many shops shove stock out as soon as it arrives, regardless of publication dates.

It takes most of the fun out of getting hold of an early copy!