Back in September I recommended (albeit in a sort of snotty tone) Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey. Shortly after that, I found out that it’s not just a book, it’s a series. I’ve been reading it but I’ve stopped because I think Amazon’s robbing me.
[Update:] As many commenters have pointed out, the price difference seems to be because I’m in Canada. A few points on that:
The un-signed-in browser is also coming to Amazon from Canada, and Amazon knows that.
I paid $10.36 on September 9th for Sandman Slim, which is now $1.15.
I paid $9.35 for Kill the Dead, which is now $4.65
I paid $4.63 for Aloha from Hell, which is (gasp!) now $4.63. Win!
Canadian taxes do not add 50% to the price of a book.
Canadian dollars are worth US$1.02 last time I looked.
My Nexus 7 doesn’t even have cellular radio, so the cost to Amazon of delivering a few hundred K over the Internet is probably not even measurable.
The hardcover price doesn’t seem to vary by country.
Devil Said Bang is $15.17 on Amazon, $12.99 at both Google Books and Kobo.
So maybe it’s a little unclear exactly who is doing the dirty work here, but it’s still obviously true that when I shop that Amazon, I’m being ripped off.
[End of update: Back to your regularly-scheduled programming.]
I realized that I’d enjoyed Slim’s company and the dark sparkle of the conversation so much that I’d ignore the silly back story and cartoon theology and give the sequels a try. I’m glad I did, because they’re terrific fun.
But then I noticed people talking about how the book was on sale cheap, like for 99¢; I’d paid a lot more.
It seems like immediately after I read each volume, its price miraculously drops to nothing. There’s one left unread, Devil Said Bang. I wonder how much it costs? Here are two listings: The first in a browser where I’m logged in, the second where I’m a stranger.
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Maybe there’s an explanation. I don’t care what it is, it’s not good enough and it’s not reasonable and I’m not paying that price and maybe you shouldn’t be either.