Coming soon: Young Wizards "New Millennium" revised editions

[Newsbot]

The first four Young Wizards novels have been in print for more than twenty years, and DD has wanted to do revisions of all of them for some time.The present US publisher of the Young Wizards series, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has expressed an interest in publishing revised versions of the novels at some time in the future. However, DD wants to make revised editions available to the

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[LifeSong]

The covers are going to be made by . . . someone called Niko Geyer? *visits Niko Geyer's webpage* Wow! Does that mean the new covers are going to be anime-style? *drools*

Or are they going to be the same as the International edition covers? (Which are beautiful. I wish I lived outside of the U.S. just so I could get them. )

[ViaDolorosa]

I'm seriously excited about this. I mean, I was in sixth grade when I first read SYWTBAW. I personally wasn't fazed at all by its being "outdated"; I pretty much just read it all in one sitting, said "That was AMAZING," and went to my school library first thing the next day to check out DW. (And cried a little inside when Dilemma went missing from said library before I got to read it.)

With any other author, I'd be worried about that little something I loved about the books being taken out with the revisions, but since its DD I know they'll just be better.

So, its an understatement to say that I'm anxiously awaiting these editions. Let the countdown begin... (And yes. If the covers are anime-style, even just a little bit, I would probably just die of sheer happiness. )

[Linnette]

Has there been any word on when the Millennnium editions of the Young Wizard books will be released? Ebooks Direct at DianeDuane.com still says the first book is coming soon with a tentative release date of September 1, 2011. Ebooks Direct at DianeDuane.com — Coming soon: Young Wizards "New Millennium" Revised Editions

[RK12]

Want! *_* I just recently started rereading them and downloading the books from the Android Market to read on my tablet. Only on DW so I'd love to read these first before getting too deep in the original.

[SpacePen]

read the original

rk12 - I would be just the opposite - I'd want to read the original and then read the millenium editions just to see the differences!

In any case I suspect it's High Wizardry that will see the most glaringly obvious changes, technology-wise, so you're probably good to go with DW.

[Kiwi]

I'd like to purchase the ebook versions, will there be a version available for the nook?

[Mitsu101]

YAYNESS! I'm glade they are being updated. It wasn't until I started reading WAW and WOM that I realized that for people who were born in 88 they had WizPods and and texting at the ages of 13. O.o... But I'm excited the new renditions of the covers! I am a great fan of the anime style art and am excited to see how Kit and Nita look anime style!

[Kiwi]

YAYNESS! I'm glade they are being updated. It wasn't until I started reading WAW and WOM that I realized that for people who were born in 88 they had WizPods and and texting at the ages of 13. O.o... But I'm excited the new renditions of the covers! I am a great fan of the anime style art and am excited to see how Kit and Nita look anime style!

haha, not quite. I was born in 89 and I didn't have a phone until I was 15. We didn't even have texting as part of our plan until I was 16. But I do know a kid who is 10 that has a phone... *shakes head* seems kinda young to me.

Anyway, I'm off topic. I'm looking forward to seeing what DD does with the updates.

[Wizardling]

Perhaps I'm just an intellectual snob...

...but I find as with the discovery the 20th Anniversary Edition of SYWTBAW had been updated to reflect the current world (at the time, anyway), I am lukewarm about SYWTBAW being updated again along with much beloved DW and HW. I've never had any problem putting myself in the shoes of a character living 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 or far, far further into the past (just as I have few problems imagining a future scenario). Perhaps that is just because I am both middle aged and well taught and read about history, so no internet, cellular phones, or even any phones (for example), does not phase me in the least. In fact I enjoy reading about characters living in other time periods, recent or long past. It would be very dull for me to only ever read stories set in the current day. I like the differences in how characters have to deal with situations given the technology, knowledge and culture they live in. It expands my imagination :-)

Also I must confess it simply rubs me the wrong way to see old beloved favourites being changed. It is upsetting to someone who grew up with the early YW books as they were. It is always hard to see something I love changed, especially (perhaps selfishly) when it isn't a positive or necessary change for me. Now I'm a very geeky tech guy so change is part of my life, and something I embrace. But not blindly and without consideration as to the benefits and drawbacks.

Given that I'm not a fan of these changes. I wish I had a way to buy brand new hardbacks of the first four YW books (which I originally bought in flimsy paperback as that was all I could afford as a teenager) unchanged from their original text, to ensure I always have access to hard wearing real (I think e-books are great for textbooks and periodicals, but I far prefer the real thing for books I like a lot) versions. But unless I'm out of date, every time I've checked in the past ten years, all I can find of the first four are paperbacks which don't withstand repeated readings well. Unless of course I go second-hand for hardbacks, which I may well do before I can't find any more affordable original versions.

Anyway, this is all just my personal opinion and feelings as it affects myself. If younger readers are being put off by older tech and culture in books, then if updating them gets them reading I suppose that's a good thing. Still, I can't shake the feeling something important is being lost as children today are increasingly less able to relate to the past, or have their imaginations challenged by being forced to do so. Feeling I was being pandered to or patronised as a child used to drive me wild. Still does actually.

Or as the subject says, perhaps I'm just an intellectual snob... :-)

[Magic Butter]

It's out! Finally!

I'm not grabbing the digital version yet, waiting on the POD option later on...looking forward to reading the changes and the slight additions.

I find the idea that the books never quite settle a nice parallel to the Manuals in the novels.