My Dad & I took my grandmother back to Baltimore on Friday. We got back just in time for all hell to break loose, but that’s something else entirely.

On an unrelated issue, I’ve got a dilemma.

Steven Burst has a new Vlad Taltos book coming out August 8.

I love Steven Burst’s writing, and I love the Vlad Taltos books.

However, this book is coming out in hardback.

What do I do? Wait an entire YEAR for the book to come out in paperback? Or bite the bullet and buy it in hardback books so I can read the book sooner.

I know that hardback books are better for authors, but I just don’t care for them. They’re heavy. They’re unwieldy. They’re hard to hold and uncomfortable to read. They don’t fit in my jacket pocket. And all the other Vlad books are in paperback.

And that doesn’t even consider the expense. I read a LOT (as you may have noticed) and the price of paperbacks is bad enough, and hardbacks are worse. I have some paperbacks, but the majority are books that had been remaindered, and were cheaper than buying the paperback. Or else books that I was unable to wait patiently for.

But Dzur begins where Issola ends. And it’s been a long time since there was a new Vlad book.

Bah humbug.