Haffner Press announced earlier today via email newsletter that The Complete John the Balladeer will be released next year at the 2019 World Fantasy Convention in Los Angeles. The cover on the left may not be the final cover. This will be a two volume set containing all the short stories as well as the five novels. The novels have been out of print since the middle of the 1980s and are hard to come by.
The current preorder price is $90 for the two volume set.
The newsletter also said all but one or two of the outstanding projects will be published this year. I hope that turns out to be the case.
Regardless, I thought some of you would be interested. I don’t normally do two posts in one day, but this was announced today. I have something else planned for tomorrow.
Nice! I’ve been meaning to check out these stories. I probably won’t be getting this at $90, but I’m glad it’s being released.
This is awesome news.
I think so.
Cant wait for this – but it does make the likelihood of a Night Shade PB reprint of their 5-volume Wellman collection even less likely. Mind you, between Shadowridge’s republication of Worse Things Waiting, with Lonely Vigils in the works, there is not a lot left in the 5 volume set you cant get elsewhere.
But yes, fantastic news from Mr Haffner.
I’ve got the Nightshade books; bought ’em when they came out. I’ve also got Worse Things Waiting (the paperback reprint) as well as an original Lonely Vigils. Still, I’ve already preordered this one. (That will be my Christmas present.) I don’t have all the novels. Haffner does a top notch job on quality.
Probably won’t get this. Too expensive. I have the Nightshade Silver John collection and one of the novels. The fact that this contains all the novels is tempting, but I think I will just keep an eye out in used bookstores.
I have all the stories in the Night Shade Press edition but my copies of the novels are the Berkley Books editions and they’re missing covers and stuff. $45 for all the novels might be worth it.
I’ve got a couple of different collections of the short stories, but the novels are what sold me on this one. A couple of them are pretty pricey used.
Exactly.
I suspect this only contains the ‘official’ John stories. “Frogfather” is not included. Paizo added that story & another early tale to their edition of WHO FEARS THE DEVIL? (I don’t recall the name and I can’t find a t.o.c. online.) They were two stories that had a ‘John’ who could have been John the Balladeer but they weren’t written & published with that in mind at the time.
I’m still buying it, though!
I don’t blame you. I am missing one or two the novels. But I would buy it solely because it will be an archival edition of the short fiction.
I think you’re probably right about the canonical stories.
In re: proto-John stories . . .
Keep Watching the Skies!
We will. Looking forward to the book.