It snuck up on me! We stopped into Borders after supper this evening. I was looking up the release date and saw "Possibly in store."
I grabbed one of the clerks and we looked and looked...and looked. I was about to give up and say just order a copy, when she took me to the New Release table right in front of the door...and there sat a stack of 7 copies :) I only bought 1 though, hehe.
For whatever reason, Amazon seemed to have them before the release date. I had pre-ordered mine back as soon as this could be done, and I received my copy in the mail on June 27! I'm about halfway through, and it is simply great! I am so glad I am a Starfist fan, because the books are well worth it. My wife saw what came in the mail and questioned me about why I didn't wait for the paperback, as that would be cheaper. I made no reply because she wouldn't have understood. Wait six months to a year for the PB?! OMG, what a freaking nightmare! Note that I will probably buy the PB when it comes out, too, as I mean to keep my HB's as pristine as I can. I am one of those poor unfortunates who ends up with multiple copies of favorite novels -- because of the re-read factor, I eventually end up wearing them out.
I'm interested to note that there seems to be less written about Gunny/Ensign Bass than I am used to reading. Is it because he's now an "ossifer"? Or is it that Claypoole is finally coming into his own?
And there's more good Hammer Schultz lore here, too. The guy is definitely psychic. I'm turning more and more into a Schultz fan.
That's good to know!
And -- I have just finished the book this afternoon! It takes long to write these, and the reading is done in a comparative instant, knowing that the next installment is a long wait away. Oh, well.
I was happy to see General Jason Billie's fate. He should have known his limitations. Puella Queege survived, I was happy to see. Charlette Odinloc made it (as I expected) and apparently has a bright and rosey future ahead of her. And is there a Spike Milligan fan between the two of you? I detected a very close similarity to that estemed comic's name in the planetary administrator of Haulover, a certain Spilk Mullilee. I read a few of Spike's WW2 memoirs and found them sometimes rude, crude and but usually terribly funny. You are probably aware that his gravestone reads: "I told you I was sick." In Gaelic, of course.