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

[Another_Won]

Thanks for posting!  I'll pick one of these up. 

[porcacultor]

Thanks for posting! The postal situation in Brazil is so shit that the kindle version was my only hope of accessing it. Glad to see it's got the band interviews and extra chapters and all.

[TAC]

Honestly, I don't have the least bit interest in reading the book, and I LOVE The Astonishing.

That said, I think it's awesome that this has finally come to fruition and I'm so happy for JP. I would love to read the liner notes, foreword, etc...

[TheGreatPretender]

Just placed my order for it. While I do want to finally read this book, I have to say, I think I'm more excited about reading the band member interviews in it.

[Trav]

Are the interviews in the kindle version?

[Logain Ablar]

Mmm, just went on to amazon.co.uk and it looks like only the paperback is available. What gives??

£15 for the paperback too. Seems a little steep IMO.

[Shadow2222]

I enjoyed the limited edition book that I just recently read for the first time. It definitely was a good read - nothing mindblowing and still not an extremely strong story, but well worth a read.

[Progmetty]

I like that the book description starts with "In a not so distant future" while literally the first words on the album are "Far in the distant future, beyond the pages of mankind" 

[Ben_Jamin]

Thats good he's finally, due to band demand, making it available digitally and in paperback.

I bought the book for the story and also, mainly the bonus cd of unused ideas. Its neat hearing the progress of The Gift of Music from idea to full song. It's the only way to get an Instrumental version of the song.

[porcacultor]

Are the interviews in the kindle version?

Yes! Track by track story 'splanation by JP as well!

[Fritzinger]

Don't want to destroy the joy for this edition, but it does seem kind of a rip off that first they sell a highly overpriced limited edition of the book, don't answer if it will be available as a normal paperback book - and then finally release it for 19 bucks on amazon.

Anyway, I will be getting this, it's available on German Amazon prime for 18,82€ (probably 19,99$ in €).

[Logain Ablar]

The Kindle edition is on amazon.co.uk now, for £7.99. The interviews and track by track breakdown are definitely included as well. I'll probably dip into those before getting time to read the rest of it.

[nattmorker]

Paperback and ebook now available:

https://www.orullian.rocks/blog/new-editions-of-the-astonishing

I must admit, my enthusiasm level for this isn't high, but I will grab the Kindle version and give it a go st some point.

Finally a more affordable version! I will definitely grab it.

[ytserush]

Still on the fence about this. At least Kevin J. Anderson wasn't involved.

Didn't know the limited edition came with a CD. Might have jumped on that. What's on the CD?

[Logain Ablar]

I read through some of the interviews last night. MM comes across very much like a hired gun that was just given the job of playing along to tracks that were pretty much already complete. Same with JMX. It doesn't seem like they had too much scope for input, which is what we already knew.

I found James's interview pretty interesting. He gives some details about his vocal injury, and going through dark times where he felt he was struggling for control of his voice. Definitely worth a read.

I haven't got to the John or Jordan interviews yet.

[Fritzinger]

Does anyone have the paperback version already and could post a picture of it? 

[OpenYourEyes311]

Still on the fence about this. At least Kevin J. Anderson wasn't involved.

Didn't know the limited edition came with a CD. Might have jumped on that. What's on the CD?

No CD, just digital tracks.

6 tracks chronicling The Gift of Music from iPhone recordings to studio guide tracks to early/instrumental mixes and finally the final version.

And 4 more tracks titled Unused Song Idea #1-4.

28 Minutes of music

[Another_Won]

Still on the fence about this. At least Kevin J. Anderson wasn't involved.

Didn't know the limited edition came with a CD. Might have jumped on that. What's on the CD?

No CD, just digital tracks.

6 tracks chronicling The Gift of Music from iPhone recordings to studio guide tracks to early/instrumental mixes and finally the final version.

And 4 more tracks titled Unused Song Idea #1-4.

28 Minutes of music

That sounds like some very interesting stuff.  I'd love to hear it! 

[ytserush]

Still on the fence about this. At least Kevin J. Anderson wasn't involved.

Didn't know the limited edition came with a CD. Might have jumped on that. What's on the CD?

No CD, just digital tracks.

6 tracks chronicling The Gift of Music from iPhone recordings to studio guide tracks to early/instrumental mixes and finally the final version.

And 4 more tracks titled Unused Song Idea #1-4.

28 Minutes of music

I wonder if this will make it onto a future CD release.

[gzarruk]

Still on the fence about this. At least Kevin J. Anderson wasn't involved.

Didn't know the limited edition came with a CD. Might have jumped on that. What's on the CD?

No CD, just digital tracks.

6 tracks chronicling The Gift of Music from iPhone recordings to studio guide tracks to early/instrumental mixes and finally the final version.

And 4 more tracks titled Unused Song Idea #1-4.

28 Minutes of music

I wonder if this will make it onto a future CD release.

I doubt it, I'm still waiting for them to use that heavy riff from the drummer auditions in a song and it still hasn't happened But I guess you never know.

[erciccio]

I bought the book 1 week ago, and I started from the interviews and the rest of the bonus material and it's quite interesting.

It just emerges quite clearly from the interview that MM was a bit pissed with all of The Astonishing stuff (not being involved with the writing, playing always with the click...)

The book itself is enjoyable, even though I usually read other staff...there are some nice insights on the characters.


BTW--I got the chance to listen back to the CD and I really think it's a masterpiece, and I struggle to understand why it was SO divisive..
There are more emotions in A Better Life that in the whole D/T...

But clearly there are way more fans that are just for the heavy side of DT than I imagined.

[gzarruk]

BTW--I got the chance to listen back to the CD and I really think it's a masterpiece, and I struggle to understand why it was SO divisive..

Because:

1. Many fans are just metalheads that want nothing to do with softer music.

2. When it was announced TA was going to be a concept album, a lot of people expected another SFAM, when DT were clearly aiming at a completely different direction. Some fans just never understood that.

TA might be their most unique album to date, it was definitely going to be divisive (I love it, btw).