Big Beat Steve Posted June 22 Posted June 22 (Yes, it's me again ... ) Did any of you U.S. pre-orderers - or European pre-orderers, in fact - receive word about a more exact shipping date for this book by now? This is 22 June now, so the publication date of 16 June is well past and the book ought to be out by now. However, what's indicated on Amazon has me wondering what's up ... When I check amazon.com (US) for delivery to a US address I see that amazon.com will ship it by July 5 to 8 at $59.95. But what about PREorders? Hence my above question. And then there are a handful of third-party sellers who offer shipping sometimes at a discount over that "list price". But with rather a measly feedback rating (positive feedback of 80% or even less for amazon third-party sellers is what I consider dubious). When I do the same for shipping to a German address from amazon.com it's the same $59.95 again but more than $10 for shipping. And some dubious third-party sellers are there again. Why would one want to ship this book from AUSTRALIA (so it says there) around the world with a 9% discount? All this loooks rather fishy to me. Checking the German amazon.de site for shipping and filling my pre-order I see there still is no shipping from German amazon.de, but from amazon.com (US) instead at some 60 EUR (including shipping) for delivery by July 6 to 16. At least SOME progress (if this time frame remains ...). Plus some third-party freeloaders that promise delivery by early July at prices way, way above 60 EUR. Whereas my preordered copy is still listed for delivery at anytime between 10 July and 28 October. Which is surprising, considering that the book now seems to be available for orders placed NOW for delivery by 6 to 16 July. I'm beginning to wonder if there are forces at work trying to protract fulfilment of preorders at the guaranteed preorder price (which is more than 10 EUR below what now looks like the retail price - but that's the risk incurred solely by Amazon) to make preorderers cancel their preorders and go for what may be percevied as a faster and therefore "safer" regular order placed NOW with amazon. Fishy too in my book ... (But I still hope to be proven wrong eventually...) Pity this had to happen with THIS book .. There have been cases in the past where I'd have said "screw you" and cancelled (I once actually did, but even then there were less tos and fros than this time). But definitely not now! Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted June 27 Posted June 27 (edited) Not wanting to quibble only all the time - so here's an update as I see it now: Yesterday a mail from amazon advised me that my pre-ordered book has been shipped (at last ...) and is set to be delivered here on Wednesday 1 July. Checking the delivery status now I see the book was processed by customs in Rochester, Kent (UK) today, so apparently it is not amazon.com (US) but amazon.co.uk that does the shipping. Maybe print-on-demand in the UK (I've had this once before with a US-published book). Good news on the one hand, but OTOH I'll believe all this when the book actually arrives here on 1 July. Keeping my fingers firmly crossed ... Strange, though: Regular orders placed now on amazon.de for delivery by "Amazon" (amazon.de, I suppose) are indicated for free delivery on 8 August. Seems a bit late for a book that should be IN STOCK now. Amazon.com (US) OTOH promises shipping to Germany by 7 to 14 July at a slightly (but affordable) higher cost including shipping. Did any of you European or German pre-orderers receive word about shipping too by now? And me just being curious - what about US pre-orderers? When are you going to receive your copy? Anyway, looking forward to the beginning of July now! Edited June 27 by Big Beat Steve Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted June 27 Posted June 27 That's surprising, since as far as I can see you ordered around the same time that I did. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. My shipping status update on the Amazon site now says that my copy has crossed the channel and has been processed by EU customs in Belgium at about 10 a.m. today. So something seems to be on the move, hopefully ... Quote
adh1907 Posted June 27 Posted June 27 I’m told by Amazon that my copy has been delivered today (in London). I’m away on holiday so looking forwarding to perusing in a week or so. Anthony Quote
Daniel A Posted June 27 Posted June 27 I've been awaiting this book for 20 years. 🙂 Swedish Amazon does not carry the book; other Swedish online stores quote shipping dates between July 2 and July 9. Quote
mikeweil Posted June 30 Posted June 30 On 6/28/2026 at 11:18 PM, JSngry said: The book is here and is most agreeably meaty!!!! So we at least know it exists. In some parts of this world. Just saw the date for delivery was updated to July 28. Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted June 30 Posted June 30 (edited) Ha! Amazon made good on their promised delivery date and even delivered one day early! I just freed my copy from my mailbox. So all is well that ends well (at last). I'll keep my fingers crossed for all other pre-orderers (particularly from over here) that they will receive their copies very soon too. But at any rate it's well worth the rest of your wait! BTW and FYI, just like I had figured - according to an imprint on the very last page my copy is indeed a print-on-demand copy - printed in Milton Keynes, UK. But it looks very tidy (including photograph reproduction quality). I've only thumbed a bit through the pages but this looks like a SUBSTANTIAL tome! It has now taken its place (in the space freed for it on my music bookshelves months ago) next to my West Coast Jazz books. Will be looking forward very much to digging deeper into it. Edited June 30 by Big Beat Steve Quote
gmonahan Posted June 30 Posted June 30 I look forward to some reviews here before I decide to shell out some bucks for this one. Quote
JamesAHarrod Posted July 2 Author Posted July 2 Checking around the web I discovered that google books allows some peaks inside: https://books.google.com/books?id=lN3sEQAAQBAJ&newbks=0&pg=PT104&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false Jim, Quote
Stompin at the Savoy Posted July 3 Posted July 3 5 hours ago, JamesAHarrod said: Checking around the web I discovered that google books allows some peaks inside: https://books.google.com/books?id=lN3sEQAAQBAJ&newbks=0&pg=PT104&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false Jim, Wow, this looks really good! Going to have to get it. Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted July 3 Posted July 3 10 hours ago, JamesAHarrod said: Checking around the web I discovered that google books allows some peaks inside: https://books.google.com/books?id=lN3sEQAAQBAJ&newbks=0&pg=PT104&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false Jim, Is THIS (single-column) the layout that books printed directly by the publisher in the USA get? My copy (print-on-demand from the UK, as stated earlier) has a two-column layout throughout. Not that this difference would be overly important in the end, but it is surprising the Google preview pages do not reflect the actual page layout. Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted July 3 Posted July 3 13 hours ago, JamesAHarrod said: Checking around the web I discovered that google books allows some peaks inside: https://books.google.com/books?id=lN3sEQAAQBAJ&newbks=0&pg=PT104&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false Jim, Isn't there a missed word in the second paragraph of Chapter 9? I would think it should read "Woodward was born in Torrance"? Also, and I may be wrong, but I'll ask, shouldn't there be some commas here: "he decided along with some friends from high school to enlist and become a paratrooper" I would have written this as "he decided, along with some friends from high school, to enlist and become a paratrooper" Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted July 3 Posted July 3 3 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said: Isn't there a missed word in the second paragraph of Chapter 9? I would think it should read "Woodward was born in Torrance"? You are right. But though I am only up to the first pages of Chapter 7 so far (and won't be able to progress much in the next few days) I can confirm it is not the only one. Not many such cases but it did happen. Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted July 3 Posted July 3 There's definitely a comma missing in the fourth paragraph. "When Ray moved to Hollywood in 1952 he opened a small record department", should read, "When Ray moved to Hollywood in 1952, he opened a small record department" I think there's another comma missing. "Dotty recalled that one day in early 1953 Dick Bock came into Fife & Nichols" should have a comma after 1953. And that sentence about Dotty should not end in a question mark unless there was a quoted question like, "Would she like to work for Pacific Jazz?". Otherwise, it's a statement, not a question. The first paragraph in Chapter 10 uses the word Castaic as if it had been "defined" earlier. I assume Castaic was "the Sheriff's Honor Farm" mentioned as the place Mulligan was confined. Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted July 3 Posted July 3 Ouch .. . we're geting on muddy soil here, I think. (Because ... where to stop?) I'd beg to disagree about the last example in your second post. I'd not see any absolute need for a comma there. But as for your first post and the first example in your second post, I'd agree. In fact comma-less sentences like ""he decided along with some friends from high school to enlist and become a paratrooper" occur elsewhere too, from what I've read so far (and sometimes annotated in my copy). But for the time being I tended to pin this down to my personal "professional deformation" (no, I never was a teacher ... long story ...) so I would not have made a big deal of that. Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted July 3 Posted July 3 When I started college, I wanted to be an editor. My Freshman English professor talked me out of it, saying there was no money in it. 1 minute ago, Big Beat Steve said: Ouch .. . we're geting on muddy soil here, I think. (Because ... where to stop?) I'd beg to disagree about the last example in your second post. I'd not see any absolute need for a comma there. But as for your first post and the first example in your second post, I'd agree. In fact comma-less sentences like ""he decided along with some friends from high school to enlist and become a paratrooper" occur elsewhere too, from what I've read so far (and sometimes annotated in my copy). But for the time being I tended to pin this down to my personal "professional deformation" (no, I never was a teacher ... long story ...) so I would not have made a big deal of that. I'm just having a little fun. These days, I read a ton of self-published books on my Kindle and there are far more typos, grammatical errors & missed words than here, so James did a pretty good job. As I understand it, getting good editors these days is difficult. Quote
gvopedz Posted July 3 Posted July 3 45 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said: I read a ton of self-published books on my Kindle and there are far more typos, grammatical errors & missed words than here... I am sure many of you know that grammar rules change. Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted July 3 Posted July 3 (edited) 10 minutes ago, gvopedz said: I am sure many of you know that grammar rules change. I understand grammar rules are relatively flexible in the English language anyway, particularly in AMERICAN English. But there are cases, for example, where putting a comma can help a lot to CLARIFY a phrase and its meaning and eliminate double meanings or misunderstandings, and OTOH there are cases where putting a comma or some other punctuation mark makes the sentence appear awkward at best. And these rules in my opinion STAND. If only as dictated by common (linguistic ) sense. (And yes - I realize I may be particularly finicky about this because I learnt English as a FOREIGN language back in high school. ) Edited July 3 by Big Beat Steve Quote
ghost of miles Posted July 3 Posted July 3 I’ve only paged through the book so far, but it looks amazing and is a great follow-up to James’ Stars of Jazz book. Re commas, by old-school standards Kevin is correct, but I find myself omitting commas more often these days when I feel that they disrupt the rhythm of a sentence or paragraph. Not sure if I’m responding to general changes in the discourse or simply growing more impatient as I approach the age of dotage. 😄 Quote
Stompin at the Savoy Posted July 3 Posted July 3 I disagree with the commas Kevin wants. Strunk and White's Elements of Style agrees with James Harrod and me. Don't put commas unless they are necessary to make sense or disambiguate a sentence. Quote
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.