Book of the Dumb 2 Arrives

Posted on October 27, 2004    Posted by John Scalzi      9 Comments

Here’s Athena again, modeling this year’s model of Book of the Dumb: Book of the Dumb 2, or as I like to call it: Book of the Dumb 2: The Quickening. It’s 330 pages of quality stupidity, and as a bonus it actually looks quite a bit nicer than the original, thanks to a slightly revised cover design and and substantially overhauled inside design which makes it a lot easier to read and enjoy. I’m very pleased about both; I wasn’t a huge fan of the first BotD cover, although I allowed that the Uncle John people knew their business better than I did. Since the book sold very well, that was the correct assumption on my part. However, the new cover refers back to the old cover while at the same time opening up the design, so everyone’s happy.

As a extra bonus, the content’s good, too. Although I did find one very amusing typo, in the acknowledgments: I thanked Fark.com and mentioned Fark proprietor Drew Curtis by name, and the typo has him as Draw Curtis. I think there’s some deep, rich, creamy irony there, and indeed I can see the Fark headline now: “Book of the Dumb Author Thanks Drew in Book, Spells Name ‘D-r-a-w.’ Asshat spelled ‘A-S-S-H-A-T’.” I’d be more upset if it actually weren’t kind of funny, and from what little I know for Mr. Curtis, he doesn’t seem the kind to get that upset about it. Anyway, I’m sure they’ll fix it in the second printing. And since that’s the only typo I’ve come across so far, we’ve gotten off pretty lightly.

I’ve gotten my personal copies slightly ahead of the book appearing in the stores but it’s available for pre-order on Amazon and other online book sites. And it’ll be in bookstores probably in the next couple of weeks. I will of course let you know when it’s officially on the market.

I’m really excited about this book getting out there — I talk about Old Man’s War more, because it’ll be my first novel, but like most authors I feel about my books pretty much like parents feel about their kids; it’s hard to pick favorites (at least in public). But I have a lot of fun writing the Books of the Dumb, and it’s the sort of book I can see writing for a while. If they ask me to do Book of the Dumb 3 (or, as I like to call it: Book of the Dumb 3: The Final Outrage), I’ll be there. Book of the Dumb 4? Sure. BotD 5? Why not. Athena needs college, and I like being published, and apparently, the world needs books about dumb people doing dumb things. As I said before: Everybody wins.