Salon‘s Andrew Leonard has a nice interview with Iain Banks today. Among other things, Banks explains why it’s taking so long to get The Algebraist published in the US – he’s switched publishers (again), and is working with a small outfit called Night Shade Books in San Francisco.
Checking their website, I see that they are also publishing Banks’ The State of the Art, including a $45 limited edition, signed by the author, with “material not in the trade edition”. Good grief! Are books going the same way as music CDs? At least I can tell exactly what the difference is between two different CDs – an extra track, or a video clip, or something. How do I know whether the added material in The State of the Art justifies replacing my existing paperback copy? I guess that a True Fan wouldn’t worry about such things….