New Amber interview at BBC Cult

[petal of roses]

WOOHOO I just received my copy of Astray in the mail today, signed by Amber and Christopher. It looks pretty awesome.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow: What the heck was that?

Tara: I don't know but the petals are off

A New Man

[Kajun]

Yah!! I got mine too! It's very classy looking. The illustrations are really nice too. Awesome..

[littlecrazy80]

I received my copy today. Mine is #253.



*lil´c*

"I am S-E-X-Y" Amber at the FedCon



SweetAmber ~~~ AmberBoard ~~~ Sam´s melody

[WebWarlock]

From Chris Golden.

Quote:

---

Ghosts of Albion -- Initiation

By Amber Benson and Christopher Golden

Illustrated by Tom Canty



Preorder:

www.subterraneanpress.com...e=benson02



Subterranean Press is offering a 20% discount on anyone who mentions learning about the book via Amber's message board or Christopher's message board.

The special is only good until 12:59 EST, February 11, 2005. Folks should mention the message board in the comments section of our order form to take advantage of this special offer.



Limited: $40

Lettered: $150



In October 2005, Del Rey will publish the first full length Ghosts of Albion novel, Accursed. Subterranean Press recently published the novella Astray, which was the second Ghosts of Albion adventure.



Now, in this exclusive book, you can get the rest of William and Tamara Swift's early adventures in one place. For the first time ever, Initiation will collect the full scripts for the two hour-long BBC animated adventures of Ghosts of Albion. The first, Legacy, introduces Tamara and William to magic for the first time, as the previous Protector of Albion, their grandfather, meets a horrible fate and they are forced to combat his greatest enemy. In the second, Embers, (the third GoA adventure, after Astray), a terrible mystery involving William's lady love and the walking dead sends them around the world on a harrowing quest.

Embers also features pages of material that were cut for length from the final animation, seen here for the first time.



As an added bonus, Initiation also features the short story "Illusions," which reveals a pivotal moment in the friendship of the vampire, Nigel Townsend, and previous Protector, Ludlow Swift, in his days as a young stage magician.



Ghosts of Albion was created and written by actress/writer/director Amber Benson -- best known for her role as Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- and novelist Christopher Golden -- author of Wildwood Road, Of Saints and Shadows and The Boys Are Back in Town.



See how it all began...



Ghosts of Albion -- Initiation will be available only from Subterranean Press in two unique editions:



Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcovers

Lettered: 52 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a handcrafted traycase



Subterranean Press will be matching numbers for books by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden. If you want the same number copy of Initiation as Astray, please mention which number copy of Astray you have in the comments section of the order form.

---

The hard bound copy of "Astray" is very nice.



Warlock

Web Warlock, web.warlock@comcast.net, The Other Side.

Liber Mysterium: The D20 Netbook of Witches & The Dragon and the Phoenix: New Adventures of Willow and Tara

"We’re gonna light up the dark of night like the brightest day in a whole new way."

[BFR from Paris]

There's no way I would spend 150 $ on a book, besides it contains material which is already available on the BBC website for free!



Why does everything has to come with expensive "limited edition" merchandising these days? They're certainly taking advantage of the fact that some fans would do whatever it takes to own these objects. I'm surprised they haven't released the William & Tamara action figures...



I'm sorry if I'm spoiling the fun, but I can't be the only one who's bothered by this (if I am, I guess I'll avoid this board )

[WebWarlock]

No, it is ok to be bothered.



When that happens I just don't buy the thing.



But to others this would be a nice thing to have.



I have many times spent extra cash on these limited editions to varying degree of satisfaction. My numbered, leather-bound edition of "Ravenloft" is nice but was it worth paying 3 or 4 times what the regular edition costs? Maybe. But either way it looks really nice on my shelf.



Ghosts of Albion Astray was a little smaller than I expected, but it sure is nice. And having Amber and Chris' signature in it is also very nice.



Will I buy this one? Yeah I might. I really like Ghosts of Albion and I have a pretty good idea what extra bits are included that are not on the BBC's site.



But hey, no one *has* to buy anything.



Warlock

Web Warlock, web.warlock@comcast.net, The Other Side.

Liber Mysterium: The D20 Netbook of Witches & The Dragon and the Phoenix: New Adventures of Willow and Tara

"We’re gonna light up the dark of night like the brightest day in a whole new way."

[helpful information perha]

BFR asked: "Why does everything has to come with expensive "limited edition" merchandising these days? They're certainly taking advantage of the fact that some fans would do whatever it takes to own these objects."



I don't fault amber and chirs - "limited editions" are just standard business practice and it helps keep the cost down for the regular edition for the rest of us



ex. this practice is used commonly by car company's - they put out a given model at a reasonable price and then add an 'all the bells and whistles upper end "limited edition" version' of the same model to the show room stock - the limited edition gives a much higher profit margin to the company --- fact is companies can sell the "regular model" at a fair price (and low profit margin) BECAUSE there are folks with bucks who buy the bells and whistles version (high profit margin for the company)



bottom line the folks who can afford the "limited edition" merchandise subsidize the lower cost regular version of a product



so - they are selling 1000 copies of the autographed version for $40 and you can get a 20% discount off of that by mentioning chris or ambers website - which seems a rather good deal for an autographed book



the more expensive 150 copies of the lettered and leather bound limited edition is obviously a collectors piece - (heck anything leather bound and autographed is going to cost big bucks these days) - and there are always a few people who buy that kind of merchandise because they can/have the money too invest - collectors expect that it will be worth more down the road.



so as far as I'm concerned - hey if 150 folks can afford to buy a leather bound and autographed collectors piece - great - they make the 1000 copies of the autographed version cheaper for the rest of us



with a 20% discount that means I can get one of only 1000 copies of a book with both amber and chris's autographs for $32 - which is less than what it would cost for me to get both their autographs at a con and plus I get the book!



do I wish I could burn bucks on limited edition stuff - sure - but hey I wish I could live in a mansion and drive a sports car too - then there is reality

Edited by: helpful information perhaps at: 2/8/05 8:00 am

[BFR from Paris]

In response to WebWarlock and HIP:



I don't feel obligated to buy at all, rest assured it's just, this whole "limited edition" mania annoys me.



See, I don't mind paying 132 euros to see Madonna in concert (even if I bitch about the price), but 150$ for a book?!



I know it's everywhere, I know some people can afford that stuff (hell I actually can), so you're right, why wouldn't they buy it? And okay, that type of product enables companies to achieve a higher profit margin, but that's not really the issue here



Anyway, the problem IMHO is that it's kind of a vicious circle, because the people who sell that stuff know that there will always be fans who just *have* to buy it (not literally, but you get what I mean), and I think they take advantage of that, plus the whole "star system" in which a signature on a piece of paper can be worth hundreds of dollars (personally, autographs mean nothing to me - especially in this case where it's not even signed in front of you).



I don't fault Amber and Chris either, I actually suspect they don't have much say in the matter. Culture has become a merchandise, a lot of people now actually judge books by their cover, and it's a little sad...



I mean, what if I wanted to buy a regular non-autographed version of that book? Does that even exist? lol



And don't even get me started on conventions! LOL



That's all I wanted to say, and I totally respect people who collect stuff (I used to collect X-Files trading cards and such), I'm just worried that sometimes, -more and more often- it gets out of hand... and it totally perverts the value of things.

[helpful information perha]

BF - your correct - "culture" is "merchandized" these days

no getting away from that - and it will be merchandized as long as it is profitable to do so - as long as people are willing to pay - someone will be willing to fill the orders



but the point I was making is - that its those who are willing to spend the big bucks on the limited edition stuff who make it such that companies get enough profit so that they can sell the downscaled version of what ever it may be they are selling - at a reasonable price for everyone else



so we all benifit from the guys who can and are willing to fork over the big bucks



ex. those who buy the $150 leather bound and autographed book will provide enough profit to this company such that they can offer 1000 autographed copies at $40 and throw in a 20% discount to boot



and once those 1000 preorder copies get sold



I'm betting that the book without autographs will be selling for an even more reasonable price - because the publisher will have made their money up front off the limited edition AND autographed copies - and can now afford to sell the unautographed version cheap to pad the profit margin



same goes for movies - ya pay big to see a movie in a theater when it first comes out - then ya pay less when its making its way through the low end circuit - and then it ends up in a rental box - and then a used dvd for cheaper - and eventually on tv for nothing - the studios try and make their money up front in the first run theaters and then pad their bottom line (or at least break even) with the rest of the merchandising of the film - and the block buster films subsidize the rest of the films the studios turn out that don't pay off

Edited by: helpful information perhaps at: 2/9/05 11:09 am

[BFR from Paris]

thanks for the economics lesson HIP

I guess I just don't like capitalism... LOL



another example of something that annoyed me: before Xmas they released a fancy DVD boxset of Kill Bill I & II for 75 euros, and it was the only way to get Kill Bill II -that is if you wanted to buy it for Xmas, which of course a lot people did... And of course, in early January, Kill Bill II was available by itself at a normal price. See? I didn't plan to buy it, so it's not like it ruined my Xmas plans, but it just annoys me!



the big companies have created a craving for "limited edition" stuff that didn't exist before (or was very low) and they have certainly succeeded. people buy, sometimes they don't even know why, but they buy. °sigh°



And this is now OT, so I'll just shut up and go enjoy my ordinary books and DVDs

Edited by: Warduke at: 2/9/05 1:18 pm

[Repost Moderator]

Originally posted by TaraLivesOn

---

Check out the mention in this blog:

peterdavid.malibulist.com...02769.html

Quote:

---

Got to the convention, went to the charity auction, and won the oppportunity to be brutally murdered in an upcoming fantasy novel by Christopher Golden and Amber Benson. So that should be fun.

---

Is this something new or something old?

[Repost Moderator]

Originally posted by WebWarlock

---

It's the new Ghosts of Albion novel.



















































It rocks!



Warlock

[TaraLivesOn]

I can't seem to find mention of this on the Kitten board but it is very alarming!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/200 ... 0186.shtml

bbc/cult closes July 15th with all stuff going away, including:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ghosts/ ???

Somebody needs to alert Amber and get a mirror copy of everything!

(forgive me for being overly excited if I am wrong or slow on this news...)

[Sheridan]

This isn't really a surprise move, after all the BBC no longer has any programming that really falls into this category, and with further development on 'Ghosts' moving towards novels and RPG's they probbably aren't expecting any more material on that front. I'm not even sure the end of the 'cult' section is a bad thing regardless of what happens with GOA, it was part of the mentality at the BBC that saw sci-fi and fantasy as strictly for a minority audience, a view that seems to have changed around the time they commisioned the new 'Doctor Who', kind of hard to class a show that pulled in 7-10 million viewers on a Saturday night as 'cult'.

Edited to add:
In fact did a quick search under 'Amber Benson' at Amazon and found this, scheduled for September:

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/034547130X.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[Taramber]

Well I emailed someone I know at BBC to ask him if it is possible to host everything related to Amber on my site.

Well, I do not know if it is going to work but at least it is a possibility I could offer in order to keep Amber's and Christopher's works on the net.

As soon as I receive an answer I will inform you.

Marilyn

[WebWarlock]

I have also made backups of most (90%) of all the Ghosts of Albion content.

Maybe I can ask Eden Studios if they could take some of it on when the Ghosts RPG comes out.

Warlock

[Taramber]

Here is the email I have just received from the guy I know who is working at the BBC:

I'm sorry - for copyright reasons, the content must remain with the BBC. We are working to find another host for Ghosts of Albion within the BBC.

So good news anyway. As soon as the BBC finds another host for GOA, I will let you know.

Marilyn

[WebWarlock]

I wanted to let you all know about a new group dedicated to Amber Benson’s and Christopher Golden’s “Ghosts of Albion”.

In this group we can discuss our favourite adventures of the intrepid Swift siblings, Tamara and William, and their ghostly and supernatural cohorts. We will be discussing the BBC animations, the upcoming novels and even the new “Ghosts of Albion Role-Playing Game” from Eden Studios. Or any other multimedia Ghosts might appear in.

Plus get any and all updates on Amber and Chris signings and special Ghosts-related news and merchandise.

Discussions are free and people are encouraged to talk about Chris and Amber’s other work, especially if it relates well to Ghosts (are the faeries from “Ghosts” the same as the ones in “Wilderness”? Who is the cooler vampire Nigel or Peter Octavian?)

Join now to get some special “heads up” on the upcoming Ghosts of Albion novel “Accursed” due out on October 25, 2005.

To join:

Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ghosts_of_albion and choose subscribe

Or send an email message to ghosts_of_albion-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Thanks!

Warlock

[WebWarlock]

Even more Ghosts news!

A new interview with Chris Golden with mentions of Amber, Ghosts and a couple of role-playing dudes you might know.

At Flames Rising.
http://www.flamesrising.com/index.php

Warlock

[helpfulinformationperhaps]

Kudo's WW, Chris really gives you and Eden high praise!!

[rezeaka]

I haven't seen any mention of this on the Kitten, so figured I'd post the info:

(Originally posted by Christopher Golden over on the Essence Board)

Amber Benson & Christopher Golden hit the road to support their new novel
GHOSTS OF ALBION: ACCURSED. The authors will be appearing together to read,
sign, and discuss the new dark fantasy series at all of these events:

Tuesday, 11/8, B&N Boston University, 7pm
Wed. 11/9, B&N Framingham, MA @ 7:30 PM
Friday 11/11, B&N Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY 6:30 pm

Thurs., 11/17, Mysterious Galaxy San Diego, 7 pm
Friday, 11/18, Brentano's, Century City, L.A. CA @ 7 pm
Sat., 11/19, Booksmith, San Francisco, 7pm

I can't freakin' wait!!!!!

Anybody else going...?

Also, Chris later added that this tour is being done on he and Amber's own "time and dime", so the chances were pretty high that these would be the only "stops" on the Tour.


-annie

[WebWarlock]

From Chris,

The new GHOSTS OF ALBION website is now live. Amber Benson and Christopher Golden created GHOSTS OF ALBION as an online animated series for the BBC, and it has now evolved into a brand new series of novels for Del Rey, and a soon to be released role playing game from Eden Studios. At the new website, you'll find all sorts of things, including links to the original animated series, stories, Amber's production journal, and a contest, not to mention the Ghosts of Albion online store, with t-shirts, mugs, and other fun stuff. We'll also be serializing the prologue and first eight chapters of the first full length GoA novel, GHOSTS OF ALBION: ACCURSED, starting today. ACCURSED hits stores on October 25th, but you can get a head start at http://www.ghostsofalbion.net

Hope you have a chance to visit.
http://www.ghostsofalbion.net

Warlock

[tygerfaerie]

I will definitely be at the Barnes and Noble in Brooklyn on Nov. 11.
Finally, I get to see Amber in my neighborhood for once. I can't wait!

Anyone else planning on going? Maybe I could actually also meet some Kittens.

Nica

[WebWarlock]

Hey all!

New Amber interview at Flames Rising.
Link

She talks Ghosts, Tara and comics!

Here are their forums. http://www.flamesrising.com/index.php?n ... opic&t=388
Stop by and thank Matt for these interviews.

Go!

Warlock

[AmbersSecretAdmirer]

2006!!! The year that Amber hits the mainstream and keeps on running! Her rise to Empress starts here, LOL!

Seriously though, I think next year, with so much happening that comes to fruition next year it could be the perfect time for Amber's greatness to shine through. A lead role in a tv movie is a good start but it is only the beginning for her.

Watch this space!

[WebWarlock]

Ghosts of Albion Accursed.

Just got this in!

From NOW until November 1st, if you order the book from online bookseller http://www.shocklines.com , you will receive GHOSTS OF ALBION: ACCURSED signed by both Amber Benson & Christopher Golden at no additional cost.

Here is a direct link http://store.yahoo.com/shocklines/ghofalacbchg.html

Not so bad really.

Warlock

[Jennpurr]

YAY!!

Jen

[werewolf123]

I thought you might be interested in this...




Here it is, folks, the Official Ghosts of Albion Suggest-a-Ghost Contest!

To celebrate the release of the first full-length GHOSTS OF ALBION novel, ACCURSED, we have created a simple contest, with an opportunity for those who enter to win a FREE AUTOGRAPHED COPY, signed by both authors and inscribed to the winners. And, yes, there will be multiple winners.

Our partners in this contest are http://www.aintitcoolnews.com, http://www.shocklines.com, The Cemetery Dance Insider newsletter available through http://www.cemeterydance.com and Brian Freeman's Stephen King Newsletter, which you can sign up for at http://www.stephenkingnews.com/

One winner will be chosen from each of those sites, and TWO winners will be chosen from entries made through http://www.ghostsofalbion.net. Each of those SIX winners will receive a free, personalized, autographed copy of the book. From those six, an overall winner will be chosen to also receive a free GHOSTS OF ALBION t-shirt, and a phone call from Amber Benson.

So what do you have to do? It’s simple, really. Suggest a figure from British history to be a ghost in a future Ghosts of Albion story. Your choice may be anyone who was British by birth or citizenship, who was famous or infamous enough for there to be at least some historical background available, and who died PRIOR to 1840. Please note the name of the deceased, the years of their birth and death, and, very briefly, your reasoning why you think that person would make an excellent choice for inclusion in GHOSTS OF ALBION. Also include your name.

Please note, only one ghost suggestion per person, PER SITE. That means you can enter once at each of the contest partner sites as well (with DIFFERENT SUGGESTIONS, of course). No one will win more than once. If the same person were to win at two different sites, the best of the two suggestions would count and the other would be disqualified. But entering different suggestions at the different sites gives you additional chances to win.

Amber and Chris will choose the suggestions they like best from each contest partner, and TWO from http://www.ghostsofalbion.net Of the final six, they will choose their absolute favorite to be the overall winner.

The contest begins on Thursday, October 20th, and entries will be accepted through Halloween—Monday, October 31st.

Meanwhile, don’t forget that GHOSTS OF ALBION: ACCURSED goes on sale Wednesday, October 25th. Pick it up for Halloween! And don’t forget that the prologue and first eight chapters are being serialized right now at http://www.ghostsofalbion.net Drop by for a taste.

GHOSTS OF ALBION. Darkness is Their Inheritance

**Fine print: winning suggestions may or may not actually be used in future Ghosts of Albion stories.
**Advice: don’t suggest King Arthur. Ain’t gonna happen.
Chris adds this:

If you want, you can also mention that anyone who orders the book from http://www.shocklines.com between now and November 1st will get it signed by Amber and myself at no additional cost

I wonder if they would use Dashiel Hammett or Raymond Chandler? Or course you have Poe,and Doyle and Joesph Bell also.

[WebWarlock]

Hehe.

I was just going to post that!

Get out there folks and do some research!

Warlock

[AmbersSecretAdmirer]

Now this be a fine contest.

Now how do you enter on the Ghosts of Albion site? I tried to contact the Crew but the email program didn't work (damned set-up on this library computer!!!). Can anyone give me the email address please so I can send my entry?

Good luck to everyone!!! This will be fun I think!!!