I absolutely agree that we shouldn't get upset with these (or any other) creative people bravely trying to get books published in an often difficult market. For what it is worth, though, I think the emails on this subject so far have been mostly expressions of pain at the delay, and not anger. I don't see that pain as a bad thing â€" it means that, like most of us here on the lists, they care.
I care very much that new material continue to come out. When I hear promising news, like MD plans for the "immediate release" of ILH2 or that the website will be overhauled "early in 2006", I get excited and hopeful. When it doesn't happen I start to worry. I could pester Rick and company about it in private email, but I don't want to be a pain in the posterior so I continue fret in silence - until someone less timid brings it up on the lists.
Please don't think that I am chastising anyone for lack of communication. I know that companies like Issaries and Moon Design don't have much to gain by making early announcements. Publication dates slip, and many times the little information that is given out becomes a cause for general unrest when it turns out to have been overly optimistic. (see above) Instead, what I want to do here is 1) encourage publishers to feel comfortable giving us suitably vague estimates when possible, and to update us when those estimates change, and 2) encourage fans to receive this information, gift that it is, with gratitude - even when the news is dissapointing. My hope is that if both of these bits of unsolicited advice are taken, then the general level of anxiety will be reduced for all concerned.
~Kevin McD
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