So, maybe you’ve heard tell of these “supply chain issues” that are plaguing everything from lumber to microchips to monkey chow. I mean, I just assume the thing about monkey chow? Whatever. Point is, add one more things to the list of supply chain woes:
Books.
What’s causing this supply chain problem with books? I have no idea! Trees for paper? Printing problems in China? Shipping issues domestically? All of the above? No idea.
(I blame goblins. Book-hating goblins.)
So, a lot of books are having their release dates pushed back, sometimes just a couple weeks, sometimes many moons, even pushing 2021 books into 2022, or 2022 books into the Next Glacial Epoch, where they will be read by an advanced race of space-faring trilobites.
Either way, Dust & Grim has fallen victim to these supply woes, but fortunately only had the release date bumped back by two weeks.
Old release date was October 5th, and the new release date is October 19th.
What does this mean? Beyond not getting the book on the date you ordered it?
It means:
a) The events are pushed back, and new event schedule is below.
b) It means if you pre-ordered already, you should check to make sure the pre-order still holds. Some retailers — Amazon has been known for this — will simply cancel all pre-orders if a release date is juggled around. I expect your local indie store will hold firm, but it may be best to call to check.
c) It means if you have not pre-ordered, and you’d like to be guaranteed a print copy, please do pre-order. Even moreso than in Normal Times, pre-ordering now (this book and any upcoming books by authors you like) will help to guarantee you’ll get a physical copy. Shipping and printing woes may still limit copies and waiting till the book is out could ensure the print version is not available. Hopefully not, of course, but pre-ordering helps you get ahead of that particular issue — bonus, it’s good for me, the bookstore, the publisher. It’s bad for the book-hating goblins.
d) If you’re procuring from a library, instead, you can ask them to order the book.
So! That said —
Where should you pre-order?
If you want a signed/personalized copy, my two locals can sort you out:
(They can ship to you.)
I’ll also be doing virtual events (dates below) with Books of Wonder, Scrawl Books, Porter Square, Anderson Bookshop.
You can also find a local indie through Indiebound, or buy through Bookshop.org.
B&N, too, is a good choice for print copies — and you can find other buy links here!
New (virtual) events schedule:
Or, outside of the image, text schedule:
Monday, 10/18, 6PM EST, Virtual launch event at Books of Wonder with Matt Wallace (not, erm, Matt Wallance, you can’t trust that Wallance guy), tickets here. Pre-order Matt’s wonderful Supervillain’s Guide to Being a Fat Kid.
Tuesday, 10/19 6:30PM EST, In-person (!!) event at Let’s Play Books, Emmaus, PA, event details here. All the other events are virtual but this one is theoretically in-person — I’ll have details as to what this entails, I believe it’s going to be outside, not sure about vaccination requirements, I expect masking will be necessary, etc. — and further, expect that the event could go virtual at any moment. Like, whoosh, we’re in the Matrix.
Wednesday, 10/20, 7PM EST, Virtual event at Anderson’s bookshop with Greg Van Eekhout. Event calendar here. And checkout Greg’s newest, Weird Kid, which my own kid adored.
Friday, 10/22, 7PM EST, Virtual event at Porter Square Books with Delilah S. Dawson. Details here. Grab Delilah’s spooky good time, Mine.
Tuesday, 10/26, 7PM EST, Scrawl Books Book Club Event, details here.
Who Did The Art?
The artist who did the cover, and the interior art, is the wonderful Jensine Eckwall. All of it beautifully art directed by Karina Granda!
Blurbs
“A clever, heartwarming tale of funerary rites, ghosts, and the undying power of family.”—Holly Black, Newbery Honor-winning author of Doll Bones and The Cruel Prince
“Wildly inventive, totally hilarious, and unexpectedly moving.”—Lev Grossman, bestselling author of The Silver Arrow and The Magicians
“A one-of-a-kind delight—mysterious, exciting, inventive, sometimes scary and always funny, Dust & Grim reads like a rollicking ghosts and monsters story, which it is. But just as important, it’s a compelling and tender story about family. Sibling duo Molly and Dustin will find their way into readers’ hearts as surely as they find their way into each other’s.”—Trenton Lee Stewart, bestselling author of The Mysterious Benedict Society
“Sucks you in with a wise-cracking zaniness that soon spirals into a delightful rampaging chaos of swarming vampires, thorny wolves, walking trees, and eldritch horrors. And yet even as the dangers for Molly and Dustin increase and the wise-cracks keep flying, the importance of family both lost and found grounds their story with a profound sense of heart.”—Paolo Bacigalupi, bestselling author of The Windup Girl, Ship Breaker, and Zombie Baseball Beatdown
“Spookily charming, bewitchingly creepy, full of hope, heart, and horror, Dust & Grim is the sort of book you gobble up in one sweet and salty bite.”—Delilah S. Dawson, author of Star Wars: PHASMA and Mine
“Every line of Dust & Grim is packed with a laugh, a sharp observation, or something radically cool, and sometimes all three at once. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Wendig is a welcome new voice in middle-grade fiction, and we are lucky to have him.”—Greg van Eekhout, author of Weird Kid, COG, and Voyage of the Dogs
“Siblings Molly and Dustin Grim are the most unlikely of heroes, and for that reason they are among the greatest. The fact that they must save the world from within a secret monster mortuary is only the first of many surprises that bestselling tale-spinner Chuck Wendig has created for this full-of-heart debut about trust, friendship, and the importance of having the perfect costume for every occasion. A fantastic, spooky adventure!”—Fran Wilde, Nebula Award winning author of Updraft and Riverland
“Playing to strengths demonstrated in his many comics and tales for older audiences, not only is Wendig a dab hand at concocting extremely creepy critters, but here he also pulls together a secondary cast of quarrelsome but supportive allies for the beleaguered teens.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Monstrously fun…. A sure pick for those enamored by Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (2008), and Tahereh Mafi’s Whichwood (2017).”—Booklist
