Now there's going to be a novel for "The Astonishing"???

[gzarruk]

Peter Orullian on Facebook:

I'll have a final publication date next week. But copies should begin shipping in mid-March.

[Fritzinger]

Dream Theater just posted that the novel will be released on 18th of March. They charge 75 Dollars. 75 fucking dollars for a book! Just release it as paperback so that everyone can afford and read it! Sorry DT, I paid a ton of money for your stuff already, but this goes too far.

https://www.facebook.com/dreamtheater/posts/10155115385337181

[Cyclopssss]

Nope.

[Logain Ablar]

I'll wait for the paperback or e-book, if they are ever released.

[Peter Mc]

I already ordered it about 18 months ago, not really for the book itself to be honest (although I will give it a go) more for the nice packaging and extra stuff.  Can't actually remember what the additional stuff is now but it was a Christmas present for Christmas 2016 so it wasn't me who paid for it!

[The Walrus]

Not buying until they release a cheaper paperback version. $75 for a book. Get real. I hesitate to spend $40 on a damn video game.

[Samsara]

Not buying until they release a cheaper paperback version. $75 for a book. Get real. I hesitate to spend $40 on a damn video game.

$40? What are you still on PS2? 

Those fucking games for PS4 are like 60, 65 bucks. It blows.

[The Walrus]

Not buying until they release a cheaper paperback version. $75 for a book. Get real. I hesitate to spend $40 on a damn video game.

$40? What are you still on PS2? 

Those fucking games for PS4 are like 60, 65 bucks. It blows.

That's what I'm saying! Even $40 is tough to spend. $60 + tax makes my ass itch.

[Shooters1221]

Can't actually remember what the additional stuff is now but it was a Christmas present for Christmas 2016 so it wasn't me who paid for it!

https://www.vaultbooks.pub/store/p17/The_Astonishing.html

[OpenYourEyes311]

Not buying until they release a cheaper paperback version. $75 for a book. Get real. I hesitate to spend $40 on a damn video game.

$40? What are you still on PS2? 

Those fucking games for PS4 are like 60, 65 bucks. It blows.

That's what I'm saying! Even $40 is tough to spend. $60 + tax makes my ass itch.

Just FYI - I bought Mega Man 4 on NES brand spanking new in 1992 for $65. 26 years later, games are still only $60. Now think about how inflated the price of everything else has become. I mean, yeah, it's a lot of money, but I only put down full price for games I know I really want, and its been the same price for decades. I can't really complain.

On topic, I bought this, like most people that did I imagine, a year and a half ago. I don't care too much about the book, but wanted the extras. We'll see if it's worth it, but I've paid more for less when it comes to DT.

[The Walrus]

Not buying until they release a cheaper paperback version. $75 for a book. Get real. I hesitate to spend $40 on a damn video game.

$40? What are you still on PS2? 

Those fucking games for PS4 are like 60, 65 bucks. It blows.

That's what I'm saying! Even $40 is tough to spend. $60 + tax makes my ass itch.

Just FYI - I bought Mega Man 4 on NES brand spanking new in 1992 for $65. 26 years later, games are still only $60. Now think about how inflated the price of everything else has become. I mean, yeah, it's a lot of money, but I only put down full price for games I know I really want, and its been the same price for decades. I can't really complain.

That's true. In those days standardized prices weren't a thing. Some brand new NES games could cost $15, some would cost $50. Some SNES games were upwards of $70 dollars or more. It's still a lot of money for one thing especially considering how many games most people end up getting for any given console. I'm okay with taking a few risks with games these days because they can be so massive and time consuming but there's always that 'gamble' element.

I wish they'd release a paperback version of this book alongside the limited edition. Apparently the paperback is coming later... but why? Sounds like a poor business move - people are going to stop caring, I'm sure the sales of this will be down compared to if it were released in 2016, but if they lock the book behind such a high price tag and only release a cheaper option later, that's just silly.

[Evermind]

The price is really ridiculous. I tend to buy random books in stores whenever I'm travelling abroad—sometimes I strike gold with my picks, sometimes I don't—but most of the books I buy are paperbacks that cost $15-20. When one of my favourite authors releases a new book, I would order it from amazon in hardcover for, say, $25 and additional $20 for shipping. Which amounts to total of $45, sometimes $50 at maximum.

There's no way I'm buying this book for $75, considering I didn't even like the story from the album.

[MirrorMask]

I wouldn't even pay 75$ for the actual album honestly, and I love it. That's simply out of range for a book. I'd consider it only for a super ultra mega especially special gigantic awesome majestic edition of a book I love, with illustrations, a gorgeous 3D cover and everything. Something that is nice even just by looking at it and holding it in your hands.

[Anguyen92]

I'm willing to pay $15-20 for the hard copy of the book (same price as the album), if I'm interested, and $5.00 for the e-book copy.  Yeah, $75.00 is way too steep for books in general I feel, and not that too many people (still a decent number though) bought the album in the first place and not that many people like the story as well.  Hard to get too many people to spend money on that price for the book, all things considered.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Not buying until they release a cheaper paperback version. $75 for a book. Get real. I hesitate to spend $40 on a damn video game.

$40? What are you still on PS2? 

Those fucking games for PS4 are like 60, 65 bucks. It blows.

You'd hate Australia

[pg1067]

Not buying until they release a cheaper paperback version. $75 for a book. Get real. I hesitate to spend $40 on a damn video game.

$40? What are you still on PS2? 

Those fucking games for PS4 are like 60, 65 bucks. It blows.

That's what I'm saying! Even $40 is tough to spend. $60 + tax makes my ass itch.

Just FYI - I bought Mega Man 4 on NES brand spanking new in 1992 for $65. 26 years later, games are still only $60. Now think about how inflated the price of everything else has become. I mean, yeah, it's a lot of money, but I only put down full price for games I know I really want, and its been the same price for decades. I can't really complain.

Not to stray too far from the topic, but I was just discussing this with someone at my office who is probably in her early 20s.  I told her that I had a Colecovision when I was in my teens and then owned the original NES, an SNES, a PS1, a PS3, a Gamecube, a Wii, and now a PS4 (which was a Christmas gift for my kid).  If I'm not greatly mistaken, all of those systems (with the possible exception of the Gamecube) cost about the same when they were new (about $200).  Same with new games:  about $50-60.  What that means is that, according to an online calculator, my mother paid the equivalent of over $500 in today's dollars for my Colecovision.  On the other hand, I just ordered Overwatch for the PS4 and paid $38 on Amazon Prime.

On topic...$75?!?!  I don't care if it is limited to 700 copies, that's NUTS!

[Sycsa]

I guess they did their market research and figured this is the way they'd squeeze the most money out of the book. I mean, it's a niche book of a niche band in a niche genre, based on an album which divided even their most devoted fans. Can't get much more niche than that.

There's probably a bigger market for these $375 leather jackets. https://dreamtheater.fanfire.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/product?sourceCode=DRAWEBWWUSD&sku=DRA43026

[Fritzinger]

I think, a *good* leather jacket goes for even more than 375. But then again, I don't think that this is a good leather jacket.

[The Walrus]

I won't lie, I've wanted that jacket for over 10 years and I still do

[pg1067]

The jacket looks nice, but I wouldn't pay that much for any band logo jacket.  The other thing at that site that struck me was the $75 backpack.  Are you kidding me?!

[AngelBack]

I bought a pretty cool coffee mug from that site for about 15.00 years ago.

But for 10.00  I got 2 8x10 autographed JP photos and a hand written note from his wife from JP years ago.  Not sure if they still are available, I believe it was from his site.

[Ben_Jamin]

Just received an Email that Publication date is March 16th and orders will be shipped on March 17th.

Also interesting to note, they only have 9 copies left.

[Samsara]

I've put this in the cart to buy it six times, and haven't pulled the trigger. It's not that I don't want to buy it. I do. But 75 bucks, plus 12 for priority shipping, or six for media mail, puts this at 80+ dollars. And to be honest, I just want to read the story. I am not into all the fancy packaging or the extras. I just want a better understanding of The Astonishing. Peter Orullian is a great writer (and a hell of a nice guy), and a gifted singer (he has fronted Fifth Angel for years and done an outstanding job). But I just can't justify the cost.

Hopefully a normal hardcover edition is released later this year for a typical hardcover price.

[Ben_Jamin]

I've put this in the cart to buy it six times, and haven't pulled the trigger. It's not that I don't want to buy it. I do. But 75 bucks, plus 12 for priority shipping, or six for media mail, puts this at 80+ dollars. And to be honest, I just want to read the story. I am not into all the fancy packaging or the extras. I just want a better understanding of The Astonishing. Peter Orullian is a great writer (and a hell of a nice guy), and a gifted singer (he has fronted Fifth Angel for years and done an outstanding job). But I just can't justify the cost.

Hopefully a normal hardcover edition is released later this year for a typical hardcover price.

I'm sure they will. Once publication date hits, they (hopefully) might release other forms of the book. Seems odd not to do a digital release at least.

[jammindude]

Maybe I'll do an "unboxing video".   This is my favorite modern author doing a book based on a story from my favorite band so....I would have shelled out twice that much. 

EDIT - I hope to God that Peter doesn't read that though...

[Samsara]

Maybe I'll do an "unboxing video".   This is my favorite modern author doing a book based on a story from my favorite band so....I would have shelled out twice that much. 

EDIT - I hope to God that Peter doesn't read that though...

Pete's a great dude. Aside from being a great singer, I am really fond of The Unremembered. I still need to read his other stuff.

[devieira73]

Pete and John talking about the book tomorrow with the fans:
https://www.facebook.com/dreamtheater/posts/10155153607227181

[Logain Ablar]

Did anyone catch that live stream? (I don’t use Instagram). Anything interesting in it?

[Ben_Jamin]

I totally forgot about that. I wonder how it went and what was said.

Edit: just messaged Peter on facebook. The DT team is planning on releasing the video. Also, the book will start shipping later this week.

[SystematicThought]

They did a post about the book on their Facebook. It’s interesting to see from the Facebook post and the picture of I assume JP’s notes that Arhys’ name was originally Atticus

[Evai]

And also Gabriel was originally Gabreil and the narrator was originally a narator

[jammindude]

My "exclusive content" got Emailed to me today.    No big deal, but kinda cool.   Just some really early recordings of just JP and JR hammering out the early ideas that would become The Gift of Music.   

[RaiseTheKnife]

Sorry to be the contrarian, but this Astonishing novel package is looking to be worth every penny (to me).  4 unreleased early ideas for songs, plus 5 rough mixes and guide tracks of Gift of Music - since i love me some instrumental stems from previous special releases, these extras give a unique perspective (although in this instance are live takes, not instrumental stems).   

It's nice to be a fly on the wall while JP and JR meld their creative mastery.  There's a funny moment when the iPhone recording the session receives a text message alert sound, giving the guys a playful chuckle as they play.

Looking forward to the book and whatever else that arrives with it, because I certainly don't entirely remember what I bought.

Apologies if this news ruins your Easter/Passover.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Yeah, there's about a half hour of music (mostly Gift of Music stuff), and it's pretty interesting. The Unused Ideas are fun to hear as well.

I can't help but think that this kind of stuff would work well as Ytsejam releases. I'm sure they have hours and hours of tapes for the last three albums, and I'd definitely be interested in hearing more like these tracks.

[the_silent_man]

So has anyone got the book yet? If so, what's it like?