Masterpieces of Science Fiction

Hello All,

I don't post very often, but I was wondering if anyone else had received a brochure for the new/revived Masterpieces of Science Fiction series? I received an offer today for "Dune" for $39.50 in the mail provided I signed up for the series and emailed them to find out what books were currently available in the series or had been announced. I also asked if other signed or unsigned science fiction and fantasy were coming back. Has anyone else heard anything?

>1 SkiaEsh: Yes, I received the same offer in the mail. I don’t know anything more than you.

I received this response:

Hello redacted name,

Thank you for your e-mail.

So far we only know of 3 books that will be in that series:
Dune
Foundation Trilogy
War of the Worlds

Any other titles will be announced at a later date

Thank you!
Maryann
Customer Service

Can someone share the code or brochure? Didn't get it and interested in joining.

this is exciting news

>5 sdawson: I agree. Presumably with this newly relaunched series, they'll follow their current policy of also making all volumes available a la carte on the website, even if for a slightly higher price.

When I was subscribed to the MoSF series back in the 80s & 90s they sent me a list of the volumes they were publishing and I was able to let them know which ones I planned on sending back. I was a poor student back then and could not afford one per month. Now I am trying to purchase those ones I missed. I hope if this relaunch is true that they will allow us to do something similar so that I can pick the new titles they are including and pass on the ones I already have. 🤞

Anyone received the second book in the series yet to confirm what it is? Mine is apparently lost by FedEx at the moment.

I received two Dunes....

Yeah, what I thought was going to be book 2 turned out to be a second copy of Dune. I talked to customer service and they said they do not have a date yet for book 2

>10 HowardEriksonWolfe: were you charged? I couldn't find a charge

No, no charge. When I asked them about it though, they said they would send me a return label.

EP is now advertising the resurrection of this series on its website.
https://www.eastonpress.com/all-categories/book-series/masterpieces-of-science-f...
I am going to email them to ask which titles are in the series and whether they would be able to send me only the 18 or so that I am missing when I was originally collecting them in the late 80s and early 90s.
🤞

>13 Neil_Luvs_Books:
Wow, so does the $11 savings mean the regular price is $90/title?

>14 treereader: That sounds about right. 100 Greatest volumes have always been the cheapest, and those are up to $70 each. And the per-book price of recent sets has been running about $99-$120.

>14 treereader: and >15 whytewolf1: yes, this is my understanding. $79 seems like a pretty good price given what many of these titles from the 1st MoSF series now sell for on the resale market.

I received a reply from EP customer service yesterday and they informed me that this 2nd MoSF series consists of 25 titles 8 of which were also part of the first series. Those eight that overlap with the 1st series (series #3857) are:

DUNE
FOUNDATION TRILOGY
WAR OF THE WORLDS
NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON
PRINCESS OF MARS/AT THE EARTH'S CORE
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES

Joe, from EP customer service, further said that the remaining 17 titles will be announced as they are released and that subscribers are always free to return unwanted items. So I am hoping that I can subscribe and simply say that I don't want these first 8 because I already have them from EP.

So here's a fun game for us to play... Which 17 titles would you want to see released? Whoever gets the most correct wins... bragging rights? Of course, this will be a long game because we won't know those other titles until they are released over the next 25 months if they do what they usually do and release one a month.

These are my 17. The only rule here is that we assume that they cannot already have been released in the 1st MoSF series. We can check Wootle's list here on LT to check if any on our wish list were already previously published (series number 0067 at this URL: https://www.librarything.com/topic/314818#n7801045). But I would not be surprised if they include some in this 2nd MoSF series that have been released as part of other special series. For example, Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress." This game does beg the question of what constitutes a masterpiece of SciFi literature?

Anyways, here are my 17:

THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by RA Heinlein
DARWINIA by Robert Charles Wilson
TITAN by John Varley
ORYX AND CRAKE by Margaret Atwood
THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH by Gene Wolfe
LEVIATHAN WAKES by James SA Corey
ANCILLARY JUSTICE by Ann Leckie
THE ILLUSTRATED MAN by Ray Bradbury
THE PAST THROUGH TOMORROW by RA Heinlein
ILIUM by Dan Simmons
OLYMPOS by Dan Simmons
RED MARS by Kim Stanley Robinson
BLUE MARS by Kim Stanley Robinson

Hmmm four more to add... I'll have to think about these ones... Others that I keep thinking of are actually fantasy, not SciFi.

(ADDED LATER) Just heard back from EP customer service and we should not have to wait as long as two years to hear what the remaining titles are. Joe in customer service said that they should have the entire list of 25 titles set in two or three months.

>16 Neil_Luvs_Books:
Thanks for the information. Much appreciated.

As the MOSF was one of the best EP series, this is good news. I am curious about the relatively low number of titles (25?). If I read you correctly, there are 8 which overlap with the 50 title series from 25 years ago, and 17 new titles?

I have the 68 page brochure from this first series on my desk at the moment, will get some PDF's of the first few pages with the list from the first series. If I can mail it to someone who could post it to a good site for sharing with the group, that would be great.

Attempting to link to first 5 pages.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cOea-oYL4IjzbOhtgPq4Q4YbMMExG6Mp/view?usp=drive...

>16 Neil_Luvs_Books: I like this game, although admittedly this list is more wishful thinking on my part than any real attempt at prediction...

Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers

Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch

Crash by J.G. Ballard

The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison

Roderick and Roderick at Random by John Sladek

Past Master by R.A. Lafferty

Pavane by Keith Roberts

Inverted World by Christopher Priest

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

Fiasco by Stanisław Lem

Moderan by David Bunch

Dhalgren by Samuel Delany

We Who Are About To... by Joanna Russ

The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith

War With the Newts by Karel Čapek

Dark Universe by Daniel F. Galouye

Report on Probability A by Brian Aldiss

And I agree it would be nice of them to complete the Book of the New Sun and the Mars trilogy.

>17 sdawson: that is a really great resource for the first MoSF series. I suggest you alert wootle when you have them posted so that he can link to them in the database he has created in LT. Is there a way you can scan these as a PDF?

>18 SolerSystem: what an interesting wish list! I had completely overlooked including Dhalgren in my list. That should certainly be included IMHO. The others I am not as familiar with.

If nothing else this game will contribute to my already large TBR list! 😀

I want to add DHALGREN by Samuel R Delaney to my list as suggested by >18 SolerSystem:.

I also want to add I, ROBOT by Asimov. Should short story collections be considered masterpieces? Well, Bradbury’s THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES were included in the 1st series and that is basically a collection of short stories so… I, ROBOT should also be included IMHO. 😀

>19 Neil_Luvs_Books:

Yes, I have been wanting to get this booklet scanned into a single PDF with all the pages. There is basically what amounts to the flyer notes which would have been included in each of the 50 titles in the original series, but as a single document.

I have a note on the back cover stating that on 5-8-97 12 books arrived. So the pamplhet is at the latest from 1997. I did acquire the complete series.

So if there are an additional set of titles in this new series, I am interested. There may be some overlap with other Sci Fi series they have done, so I need to somehow navigate that with Easton Press. I don't need duplicates.

Would you consider "The Martian" by Andy Weir on this list? Is it even Sci-Fi? I really liked the book, and EP did a signed version of it.

>24 Eastonorfolio:
That's where I think a lot of the new non-overlap titles are going to come from. Newer stuff that they already have the rights to or can extend the rights due to past related work.

What a fun game!

For all you fellas that so love sci-fi related books - CONGRATULATIONS!!

>24 Eastonorfolio: I think Weir’s The Martian might be a worthy addition to this list. 👍

>23 sdawson: EP Customer Service implied that it should be possible to subscribe and not be committed to duplicates. At the very least they have a no questions return policy.

I’m envious that you were able to collect the entire 1st series of MoSF! I am still filling in the holes in mine after I had to discontinue in the early 90s. I think I have ~15 more remaining to secure for my collection to be complete.

What about including Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale?

>29 Neil_Luvs_Books: Yes, I would add that one. good choice.

Two more volumes have been added to this 2nd MoSF series:

HYPERION
SIRENS OF TITAN

I already own Sirens but missed out on Hyperion when EP released it with the 1st MoSF series. I am trying to subscribe now if they ensure that I am able to purchase only those titles that I do not already own. I suspect they will permit that. They have done so before.

So far the titles in this 2nd series were already part of the 1st series. I wonder if there will be any new titles?

>31 Neil_Luvs_Books: That's great. Thanks for letting us know. Considering how small the discount is for subscribing ($11 off), other than the initial 1/2 price book, of course, I think I'll stick to ordering a la carte from the website.

Edit: This is especially welcome, considering I don't have either of these books, and the cheapest copies available on ABE are selling for $275 and $171, respectively!

>32 whytewolf1: Yup!

I just subscribed and customer service assured me that they will only send me the ones I want. So first one I’ll receive is Hyperion once it is ready to ship. Total price including shipping and taxes is $89.20. Taxes are 5% up here in Alberta. The shipping rate is excellent from EP: $5.95. All US dollars.

Anyone know yet what the 4th book (after War of the Worlds) is supposed to be?

>34 HowardEriksonWolfe: See my posts >16 Neil_Luvs_Books: and >31 Neil_Luvs_Books: above for the list so far.

Thank you, Neil. I did not realize your list was in the intended release order.

>36 HowardEriksonWolfe: I don’t know that for certain. But that is what Joe in EP customer service implied when he and I exchanged emails a few weeks back. It seems that they are releasing titles as they are placed in the queue for production and release. At least that is what I understood. I am emailing him again at the end of the summer to get an updated list to see if they are releasing anything else that I missed out on when the series was first running. So far it is only Hyperion for me.

I checked in with EP Customer Service (Joe) today and learned that The Invisible Man has been added to this 2nd release of the MoSF. So the current list of titles includes:

DUNE
FOUNDATION TRILOGY
WAR OF THE WORLDS
NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON
PRINCESS OF MARS/AT THE EARTH'S CORE
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES
HYPERION
SIRENS OF TITAN
THE INVISIBLE MAN

>38 Neil_Luvs_Books: Cool. Thanks for keeping us updated.

Appreciate the update, thanks!

If they add Fahrenheit 451, I will join this.

Has anyone been getting the little "notes" inserts with this edition of the series? I have second hand copies of the original MOSF (a partial set) and each volume came with a very nice little note insert that described the book and the author (the way the 100 Greatest series has a similar introduction printed as part of the volume). I have noticed that the first 2 books in this series reissue have come without the notes and am wondering if Easton has stopped providing them, or if I just received faulty shipments, missing that piece? Would Easton send me the notes if I requested them specially?

Sadly, this sounds pretty normal. With other old reprints, I’ve noticed the same thing - the little extras fall by the wayside when they bring things back.

Hopefully, someone can provide concrete evidence to the contrary with the MoSF series, though.

If they are indeed skipping out on this, everyone who orders, for every title received, be sure to file a complaint. Maybe they’ll get the picture…

There have been no collector’s notes with the new iteration of the series, unfortunately.

You can download and print the collector’s notes from the first series. I have been slowly scanning and posting the ones I have at this URL:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mwKjBzSNtKYSgWw2ImAFgfuIKkd64vAVJp0lN5sH...

If there is a particular one you are missing that you need let us know and we can see if we can get that one posted to that link.

>45 Neil_Luvs_Books: Thanks, Neil! Incredible kind of you. :)

Looks like Easton upped the prices a bit for the new series. With a subscription, the regular price per volume is now $92 instead of $79 ($103 instead of $90 for single volumes without a subscription). Does anyone know if they pass on that increase to current subscribers?

So far, every volume has been $79.99 plus about $10 shipping for me. Princess of Mars/At the Earth’s Core is due to ship this week and there’s been no communication of any price increase.

The latest magazine (came in the mail today) states $92/issue plus another $9.90 for shipping and handling for all the books in the series, except for the promotional first item, which is only $40+9.90.

If you already signed up for the series, you may have been locked into the previous pricing model. That's how they used to run the show years ago.

Hmmmm… my understanding was that series subscribers got a discount compared to non subscribers who buy the volumes as one off purchases.

My copy of Princess/Earth’s Core arrived today and my invoice reflects the same price as for all the previous volumes. So, it seems those previously subscribed will maintain the lower rate.

>51 HowardEriksonWolfe: 👍

I have received my copy of Dune yesterday and I have to say I am somewhat disappointed. While I cannot say anything negative about the binding, the contents are a letdown. It is a facsimile reprint of the 1984 Putnam edition without any of the additions the 1987 Easton edition had. The Schoenherr artwork is missing entirely (even the little figures at the start of each chapter), there is no introduction at all (the 1987 edition had multiple essays), and there are no Collector's Notes. There is a new frontispiece and it appears to be an original but the copyright page does not have an artist's credit.

I really hope this new series won't consist entirely of reprints like this one.

>53 spacepope: very disappointing. But from what I have seen on their website it looks to me like this second series will not have the same embellishments that the first series had.

Agreed. The reason to subscribe to this series is if you want nicely bound copies of these works at a slight discount from individual pricing. Extras are minimal to non-existent.

>53 spacepope: Also, that memorial edition of Dune from the late 80s is really special with the essays of remembrance by Herbert’s contemporaries and the illustrations by John Schoenherr. I had the 1978 calendar with his illustrations and hung on to them until I purchased that memorial edition from Easton containing the same calendar illustrations. You can see the illustrations at this URL that I found in a Reddit post. https://imgur.com/gallery/JCbrNDQ

I am going to skip on the reprints, still hoping they will do something more exciting for new titles in the series.

For those interested, the frontispiece artist for the books out so far is Dennis Lyall.

I just learned that two new volumes have been added to this series:

TARZAN OF THE APES
SNOW CRASH

I have Tarzan but not Stephenson's Snow Crash. I've asked that it be added to the list of titles I wish to receive.

Snow Crash is great news!

I’m excited to hear both of those! Great additions. Has Easton ever published Snow Crash previously?

>60 HowardEriksonWolfe: As far as I can tell EP has never published Snow Crash. I believe the only book by Neal Stephenson they have ever published is The Diamond Age. Can anyone confirm that?

Added later: yep, I just searched Wootle’s EP database (https://www.librarything.com/topic/314818#n7801045) and could locate only Stephensen’s Diamond Age in the list.

I just received my copy of Hyperion by Dan Simmons from the EP. It is my first volume from this 2nd series of The Masterpieces of Science Fiction. It seems to be of the same high quality of other EP books. Different from the 1st MoSF series is that the end pages are moire rather than paper with the MoSF logo. In addition, there is a new piece of artwork at the front. But only the one painting. I do remember seeing photos of EP's first edition of Hyperion having more than one painting inside the volume. The other difference is that there is no free notes pages from EP. Instead there is a bound page that has some notes about the author, Dan Simmons.

Here are some pics:
http://bit.ly/3tfo6eo
http://bit.ly/3NTMSdw
http://bit.ly/3UnVNGv

Does anyone have a copy of the Collector’s Notes for Hyperion they could send me?

{EDIT: No worries. I was able to find a photo of the 1991 The Collector's Notes via Google.}

Andreas and I have been chipping away at the spreadsheet containing links to the Collector's Notes for the first edition of Easton Press' Masterpieces of Science Fiction series and have scanned all that is in our possession.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mwKjBzSNtKYSgWw2ImAFgfuIKkd64vAVJp0lN5sH...

Only three are missing from our combined collections.
* Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by PKD
* Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
* Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

Does anyone have these that they could scan or take a photo of for me to upload and complete this project?

>65 Neil_Luvs_Books:
Amazing resource!!
Thank you SO much for all your work on this important database!

i have flowers for algernon
where do i email it?

>67 sdawson: I messaged the email address to you in LT. Thanks!

>66 booksforreading: You are very welcome. It has been a labour of love. 😀

Neil or anyone, can you get to this link? If you can put it into your spreadsheet somewhere, that would be great. I scanned this today, it was the original booklet I received when I subscribed to the original MOSF.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ulafjq0fg2go4f6/Masterpieces-of-Science-Fiction.pdf?dl...

>70 sdawson: Got it! I'll link it to the top of the spreadsheet. Wootle, is this already linked in your database?

Thanks Neil, I appreciate all the work you and Wootle have done!

>70 sdawson: It is posted now on the spreadsheet. Some of the text on pages 5-11 didn't turn out very clearly.

>73 Neil_Luvs_Books: ok i will try to rescan those

>45 Neil_Luvs_Books: Is it worth adding a note that Joan D. Vinge's The Snow Queen was reprinted in 2002 with different cover art from the original 1990 edition?

>75 ambyrglow: oh! Thanks! I didn’t know that. I’ll add that note.

So, as far as I can tell, Snow Crash is the last remaining title that has been teased here that has yet to be released. Anyone have any updated information on further titles coming for this series?

>77 HowardEriksonWolfe: I sent an inquiry to Easton Press in January and the customer service rep (Joe) informed that there were no additional titles released since Snow Crash. I am still expecting a few more. Their original intention was 20-25 titles.

So, I’ve received all the confirmed titles so far other than Snow Crash (of which there’s been no sign yet) and I saw today that the next book getting prepped to ship out to me will be Ringworld. Thought this was interesting since this title had not been mentioned previously.

>79 HowardEriksonWolfe:

Things like that suggest that it's a resurrection of the original series and not a reboot. The only explanation needed for any differences between the two would be licensing related.

Yup, I already have Ringworld through the original MoSF series. The only new one so far is Snow Crash. Which I am looking forward to receiving!

For those interested, after Snow Crash, the next 3 titles to be released for the series are set to be:

The Island of Dr Moreau
Flowers for Algernon
Fahrenheit 451

Per Easton customer service today.

thank you.
all three of those books are great science fiction reads

>82 HowardEriksonWolfe:
Moreau is my favorite Wells novel and one of my favorite Sci-fi stories ever. EP did a DLE several years ago that was beautifully illustrated and signed by the artist.

>82 HowardEriksonWolfe: hey! That’s great news. I missed out on Flowers for Algernon and The island for Dr Moreau when I was collecting the first series decades ago. I gotta order these two. And I just received an email this week that my copy of Snow Crash is in the mail. I’m looking forward to that one.

I am excited for Flowers for Algernon as well. Snow Crash is nice. I very much enjoy the cover design and frontispiece.

I just received my copy of Snow Crash. EP did a great job. I like how they are including author information as a bound page rather than a loose insert the way they used to do with their "Collector's Notes." And I also like the note they are including about the font used. But I do prefer the style of leather they used to use a decade or so ago to what they are using now. But it still looks & feels good.

I ordered my copies of Dr Moreau and Flowers. When they emailed confirmation of my order they informed me that their plan is for 18 more titles to be added to the current MoSF series for a total of 35 titles. So they have increased their plans from when they first announced this 2nd MoSF series.

Hey all, I found this thread while doing research on Easton Press Masterpieces of Science Fiction. The information here was essential in tracking down a complete list of books, especially the work Neil_Luvs_Books has done. I have a newish booktube channel where I'm going to be reading all the books on the list if anyone cares to follow along: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmDcXwLpK8w

Thanks again, everyone. You've got to love the Science Fiction community!

>88 SciFiWordsOfWonder: thank you for the you tube link

I just received my copy from EP of Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau. Beautifully done as always. But this one does not include an introduction (other than the one written by Wells in character) or author bio and the frontispiece painting is uncredited. Does anyone know who painted the frontispiece for this title in the 2nd series of MoSF?

All of the frontispieces for the 2nd series books out so far were painted by Dennis Lyall.

>91 spacepope: 👍

>88 SciFiWordsOfWonder: Just watched your video, nice job. I just signed up for the Masterpieces Sci Fi as well and should be getting my first book soon. Started following your videos.

So since I just joined this series, and we all received the book Dune to kick things off, do we all receive the next few books in the same order? For example, is everyone's second book the same, then third, etc. or it varies? Sorry if this has been discussed already I'll try to skim through this thread now.

>93 AlexG743: I really don’t know. I never compared to someone else.

>93 AlexG743: Unless you signed up for a series very early on, the order in which you receive the books is pretty random. If you want specific copies rather sooner than later, EP's customer support can make that happen

The series seems to have hit a pause. I called EP as it had been well over a month since my last book. I guess they don’t have Flowers For Algernon ready just yet.

Although out of print, Stephen King's only book so far published by EP is "The Dead Zone". It's part of the Master Pieces of Science Fiction collection. Should this be part of the collection? I'm on the fence on this one.

>97 Eastonorfolio: I read my EP copy of King’s The Dead Zone last year and thought it was excellent. Stephen King really is an excellent story teller.

>98 Neil_Luvs_Books: I wish I had that copy. It's selling for hundreds on the secondary market. Yes, King is one of my favorite authors and I wish EP would publish more of his titles. Folio Society has published three I think in the past couple of years.

>99 Eastonorfolio: I am just very lucky that I was a current subscriber to the first series of MoSF in the 90s when EP republished The Dead Zone. But unfortunately I unsubscribed just before EP released Solaris, Starship Troopers, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Sometimes you luck out and sometimes you don’t. 🤷‍♂️

Anyone looking to fill in gaps in their Easton Press science fiction collection might find these job lot auctions interesting, at least at the starting prices: https://www.cazasikes.com/auction-catalog/rookwood-pottery-easton-books-currency... . I didn't even realize they'd published some of these titles.

Has anyone read Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash"? EP currently has it for sale and the synopsis looks very good. EP is calling it one of the most popular Sci-Fi books of all time. Reminds me a lot of "Ready Player One", but this book was written in 1992.

>102 Eastonorfolio: I picked up Snow Crash from EP a few weeks ago based on the reviews. It is still in my TBR stack. 😀

Looks like Flowers for Algernon was further delayed. My next book arrived finally after a long gap and it is Fahrenheit 451.

>53 spacepope: Almost a year later, what is the general thoughts on subscribing to the new series vs. tracking down books from the original masterpieces of science fiction series?

It sounds like this second series isn't as well done, but is it still "worth" it? What about when you consider many of these titles are on secondary markets for less than the ~$110 they would be from the subscription (including tax and shipping)?

>105 Luke.w: I already acquired most of the current series titles. However, EP has been great about sending only the edition I’m missing; I’m currently on hold until more titles are announced. I’m hoping some of the more difficult to find and more expensive editions are reprinted. Time will tell; seems like little risk to subscribe.

>105 Luke.w:

If the secondary market has it for less than the $110, just cross it off the list and they won’t send it to you. Then you go and buy the never read version off the secondary market because no one actually reads these, lol. Myself included. I thumb through them and look at the illustrations, but they really aren’t all that fun to actually read. They make great Zoom backgrounds though.

>107 copperstatelawyer:

Haha, that's a very expensive way just to make a zoom background!

I think you may have underestimated the folks in this group - a lot of us read a lot, if not all, of our books. Ironically, I'm reading Stranger in a Strange Land right now.

>105 Luke.w: I’m doing the same as others, using this second series to fill in gaps for the first series that I missed first time around. For example, there was an eBay auction a few weeks ago for Flowers for Algernon. I bid up to the price of what it will cost new in the second series. I was out bid but I didn’t care. I’ll get it in a few weeks with the MoSF series.

BTW >107 copperstatelawyer: I am working my way through reading the entire MoSF series. I’m not quite half way yet. 😀

Stranger in a Strange Land is great.

And I too have read most of the MoSF books I have collected. not all, but most.

There are a few I have gotten a few chapters in and stoppped purposefully as I didn't care for the writing. But they all are given a fair chance.

Now the Modern Signed Science Fiction is another tale, I have yet to read most of thise.

>108 treereader:

I’m trying too! But I’m going very very slowly. Another huge hiccup is that I much prefer reading the FS version (if available).

>111 copperstatelawyer:

Admittedly, the Folio Society’s offerings have been more interesting to me in recent years and have been a distraction from my Easton Press bookworming duties.

Looks like I, ROBOT will be next: https://www.eastonpress.com/all-categories/sci-fi-and-fantasy/i-robot-3815018.ht...

>113 spacepope: Awesome! I have been trying to get a copy on the secondary market for a reasonable price for some time now. I am putting in my order right away.