Yesterday after spending the day doing so many different, mundane things I can no longer recall them all, I went to the mailbox and discovered a package! From Bethany House.
It was my hot-off-the-presses copy of the new, repackaged version of my first published book, Arena, which will be releasing July 1.
Maybe. A quick check of the general Amazon listing, is confusing at best, indicating that the Kindle version is to be released July 1, but is eligible for pre-order. Even as you can get it on the Kindle for free now if you are a member of Amazon Prime. If you click through to the actual page for the book, there is no mention made of any pre-ordering or July 1 release, only the fact that it’s out of print and you can only get it for Kindle.
There’s also a new review up, giving it five stars from a person who’s read it three times, and should’ve stopped with her review there. Unfortunately she did not, going on to add “I had always hoped for a sequel to the story. Karen Hancock has not done much as far as a good story line since.” 🙁
Then there’s Christianbook.com, which is worse. It has two entries. Arena, repackaged, but showing the old cover and saying it will be available for purchase June 16, and Arena showing the new cover but for the e-book which won’t be available until July 1.
Worse, each has a single one star review, and each one star review is written by a different reviewer.
The reviewer on the repackaged version entry didn’t think it was good or Christian and was disgusted by the “(fairly graphic) sexual violence.” This one is listed as releasing June 15.
The reviewer for the e-book entry with the new cover was disappointed because “Unfortunately, this book contains much graphic horror and implied sexual abuses. I could not recommend it as a positive experience for anyone seeking to grow closer to God.” It is listed as releasing July 1, 2012.
[To be clear, the ebook is already available and has been for a year. The repackaged hard copy version will have the new cover and is supposed to release July 1, 2012. I’m not sure if you can pre-order. You should be able to, but the entry’s too confusing.]
It all reminds me of when Arena was first released back in 2002 — my very first Amazon review ever was a total slam, though the reviewer did give it 2 stars. I’m not sure why since he found nothing good in it. The odd thing was, he began his spate of reviews for Amazon on March 20, eleven days before Arena’s debut, and ended July 26 all in 2002. During that time he reviewed exactly 6 books. One of his favorites, and the one he reviewed right after Arena, was “The Gospel of Judas” which, as the title suggests, explores “certain heretical ideas” involving the supposed discovery of a document that would cause the downfall of Christianity.
Looking back it really seemed like the kingdom of darkness at work. And so seeing how things are going now, it looks like that again. Which I think is cool.
In any case, please pray that the hardcopy will do well. If it does, maybe they’ll repackage the Guardian King series as well… 🙂