Seed by Ania Ahlborn - SUNTUP NUMBERED EDITION 2021

Seed by Ania Ahlborn - SUNTUP EDITIONS NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION 2021

A PICTORIAL REVIEW

No. 325 of 350 Copies
Signed by Ania Ahlborn and Dolce Paganne.
New introduction by the author.
Six full color illustrations by Dolce Paganne.
Quarter bound in brown cloth, flatback binding with mod-brown Indiana Corn handmade paper boards made from 100% corn stalk and leaf.
Gilt foil stamped maroon spine and cover labels.
Light brown endsheets are Hahnemühle Ingress paper.
Brown embossed paper covered slipcase with gilt printed maroon edge label..
246 pages
24.6x16.2 cm.
US$390

A spine-tingling story of Southern gothic suspense, Seed is the first novel by bestselling horror novelist, Ania Ahlborn. As a young boy, Jack Winter fled his rural roots in Georgia, vowing to never look back. Years later, the new life he has built is threatened by a sinister presence that looms dead ahead. When Jack, his wife Aimee, and their two small children survive a near fatal car accident, six-year-old Charlie starts to change, taking on a new and frightening personality. Aimee struggles to understand what is happening to her little girl, but Jack already knows: the horror that once came to him as a child has found him again.













































An index of the other illustrated reviews in the this series can be viewed here.

What did you think of the story? I've never even opened the box of my numbered copy.

I'm a big fan of the Andrea Petersen corn paper used for the boards here, as well as the wonderfully horrific illustrations that Dolce Paganne provided. I was less impressed with the paper used for the book itself.

>2 kdweber:
It is a well written, intriguing and suitably horrifying story that drags you onwards, while wanting to stop because of what you may learn. Took me about 2.5 hours to read.
The pictures are as horrifying as the artist's signature is intriguing.

>2 kdweber: I read her other Suntup-published book, "Brother" and thought it was mediocre. Characters were stereotypical, all the "surprises" were fairly yawnerific, and the writing was as I said mediocre. If you really want to read a "good" novel of such ilk, I recommend Jim Thompson.

>4 wcarter: The pictures are as horrifying as the artist's signature is intriguing.

Her name-alias sounds sinister too :)

>5 astropi: Thanks. Not really my preferred genre, I'll probably unload the book.

>7 kdweber: LOL

Same. Just checked Ebay, and the book is selling for less than retail. Probably will get worse with time.

The Suntup train has derailed with 42 copies of the numbered Collector still available. This is actually a pretty good value by objective criteria (quarter leather, letterpress, Mohawk Superfine) and would have sold out quickly if the train were still moving. Leaving aside the earliest books (the Road and before) it looks like the numbered books that can sell above market value are the books without AEs - Blood Meridian and Neuromancer (both famous authors in addition) and the Harris (signed) books - Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs. It's the books by the more obscure authors (like Ahlborn - who I had never heard of before Suntup) which will drop in value, probably substantially. It's much worse at the lettered level - the less popular Suntup lettered editions have been sold at massive losses (up to $1400).

>9 punkzip: Why do you think this is happening? What changed?

>10 Tyler_ghaskjd: There has been some talk about both quality and value reducing over time but I think the main reason is simple: too many books. This leads to a couple of results: firstly it increases the financial pressure on those on the train so some will inevitably drop off; secondly having too many books, many of which are not in the top tier of their genres, reduces the 'specialness' of Suntup books in general and makes them, over time, less desirable. Honestly, I think it was a mistake to release multiple books a month and I think he realises this now. There's probably a feedback loop going on too: as more drop off the train it becomes easier to acquire numbered copies without being on the train, so there is less need to be on the train and hence more drop off. That's my take on it anyway. It'll be interesting to see how the next few releases perform.

>11 Levin40: I think this is exactly right

>11 Levin40: That's definitely right, but some additional factors are in play as well I think.

The value of staying on the Suntup train depends upon future releases. The Q4 announcement was 4 books, none of which (based on guesses) were major titles. This meant that one would have to purchase 4 books - none of which were major titles - in order to stay on the train hoping for major releases in Q1 2022. Compare to Q3, which included Jaws and Charlie. Q4 has since been reduced to 3 releases. I think the most important factor responsible for the Suntup train derailing was actually the Q4 announcement.

Charlie was one of the most expensive numbered editions, putting increased financial strain on those on the train.

The combination of the cost of Charlie with the disappointing Q4 announcement probably prompted many people to jump off the train.

Also, for many, the ability to stay on the numbered train was based on the ability to sell books one doesn't want on the secondary market either at break even or a profit. After the Q4 announcement it became apparent that many books could only sold at a loss once the hype is gone. This of course, makes perfect sense - if you don't want the book at the price you paid, why would other people want it at that price - absent the hype? Given this staying on the train would mean continued losses for those who don't actually want the books. The Collector, for example, was on the market almost immediately for $100 below retail. No takers. Also, if one can buy for less than retail immediately on the secondary market this makes buying direct from Suntup less attractive of course.

Not only does Suntup release too many titles, diluting the specialness of their books, other publishers are drawing attention, such as Amaranthine and Lyra's. These publishers plan to publish much less than Suntup, and their rights systems are designed to avoid train behavior.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Suntup going forward. IMO it makes little sense to release 350 numbered and 1000 AEs of largely minor titles on a monthly basis, the demand probably isn't there absent the hype. The lettered of these minor titles makes even less sense, these are typically terrible values by objective criteria and it's not too clear if there is a market for 26 (often) offset books of minor titles costing thousands of dollars - absent the hype.

>13 punkzip: Yes, I agree with all of that and you make some good points. I thought about the increased competition aspect after I made the post above. This probably hasn't really hit Suntup yet, but will do so increasingly over the next year with these other players upping their games. It's pretty obvious looking at this forum and the FB groups that there is a core group of buyers who purchase from many of these publishers and it'll be interesting to see how thinly this group can be spread without fragmenting...or whether the market for pricey limited editions will continue to grow as it has over the last couple of years. In addition to Lyra's and Amarantine we also now have Arete (no rights but still competition) and now the CP Dune rights train. Additionally, I came across this prospective new entrant the other day:

https://curiousking.co.uk/announcing-joe-abercrombies-the-firs/

(incidentally, it will be interesting to see how Curious King do, and what price points they offer. They're planning to print a lengthy fantasy novel letterpress even at Standard level)

>14 Levin40: I'm not sure that Curious King using letterpress at all levels is a good idea given that it will increase the cost. From the Suntup example, I'm not sure if letterpress or paper quality makes any difference at all. The customer base for Curious King and Suntup is likely a lot closer to that of Centipede, where offset is the norm rather than Arion or Thornwillow - basically genre small press rather than fine press. Of the more recent Suntup numbered releases, most of the very popular ones - the 2 Harris books and Neuromancer were offset and Neuromancer and SOTL used mediocre paper as well. The lettered is another example, many are offset and this doesn't prevent people from paying thousands for them. So as I see it, it is really a combination of famous titles, signed by the author, with flashy presentation bindings and enclosures which work best for Suntup and letterpress and paper play almost no role. The latest release, the Collector is letterpress on Mohawk Superfine (while not a great paper by fine press standards, it's better than Suntup usually uses for numbered) - it's a pretty good objective value for the price - yet look how that did.

>15 punkzip: I jumped onto the bandwagon with that book (The Collector). I didn't think to check the secondary market before I did.

>16 Tyler_ghaskjd: That would make sense if you got a number 250 and below and want the next book (almost certainly Hex - a book which I have never heard of before Suntup) which is 250 rather than 350 for the numbered. I'd be curious to see how fast Hex sells with the lower limitation. Otherwise you don't really need rights for the December book (almost certainly Butcher Boy -which I have never heard of either) as if the Collector is not sold out by that time (highly likely at this point) all of those numbers will be available guaranteeing a public sale.

>17 punkzip: That's a good point. Frankly I was ok getting a number over 250 for the reason previously brought up in this thread; too many releases, my wallet would hate me.

Paul has released books that have no business getting the "limited treatment." This has added a bigger commitment from buyers, and pretty much made all of them Suntup resellers just to stay on the train.

Maybe like a year ago another small genre publisher in his newsletter asked the question if we really needed expensive limiteds for every book? He pretty much said that wasn't going to be his business model. I guess he got a bunch of annoying emails about doing more Suntup style releases. I am glad that he had the balls to address this, and saw that the Suntup business model wouldn't work for every book.

>19 Undergroundman: I have to disagree with Paul has released books that have no business getting the "limited treatment." One of Suntup's strengths is making beautiful editions of lesser-known works. I do agree that might slow sales down, but I think one of the real issues is, as others have noted, the frequency. A second important factor is that just about all books also have an Artist Edition - which is limited to 1000 copies and they are signed by the artist. If a book is not letterpress, why bother with the numbered edition when the artist edition is arguably as beautiful? Sure, the numbered edition might include an extra signature by someone you never heard of and don't care about, as well as a slipcase, but is that worth four+ times the cost? NOPE.

>20 astropi: The AEs do have slipcases. The slipcases are much sturdier than what you would get from FS. Paul Suntup can release whatever he wants of course but absent the train behavior it would be very unlikely that titles like Johnny Got His Gun, Replay and Blackwater would sell anywhere near 350 copies. Where it gets silly IMO are the lettered editions for the minor titles - these are often massively overpriced by objective criteria and the limitation isn't meaningful as absent the rights system it's not clear if there are 26 people in the world who would want many of these titles (I could see buying a lettered edition of books like Neuromancer or the Harris books as they are famous books signed by famous authors). The Roman Numeral Replay is particularly absurd - $5555 for an offset book of a minor title?

>20 astropi: I agree the signature means little, but surely you recognize the difference in binding and other details in the finishes?

(The artist editions do also include slipcases. Though perhaps not as fancy as numbered etc., they are high quality.)

(I haven't personally bought any of the offset numbered editions, but I can see why someone might, especially if it was a work one wanted a nice copy of that wasn't otherwise well-served. For example, if Paul did something like Neverwhere or Susanna Clarke's Piranesi, and the design was agreeable, I'd fork over numbered-level money for a premium offset book, because alternatives don't exist. I'd prefer letterpress, but you take what you can get!)

The way the hype was built up until Blood Meridian. The tension, the pushing and showing, the knuffing and puffing to come aboard the train, and to stay aboard the train. Might also have taken it`s toll. A lot of energy and money invested for a long period of time for the mortal man. More and more books, unfamiliar books, books with quality issues. Many who buy / bought Suntup books, bought for investment and quick cash. It doesn`t seem as affordable any more no, The Roads or Red Dragons to cash in on. There has been a downward spiral since Blood Meridian, with a bump with Jaws, and maybe excitement before The Collector, which seem a miss, and a crash also with CP Press Dune. Nerves and anxiety might have kicked in also, all these money, on books, a wake up call for many during a pandemic and it`s aftermath. Suntup have seen stages :

1 period : Relatively unknown (Heard a bout this publisher selling a Stephen King book to his mates and it`s very expensive - well, it`s much more expensive now)
2 period : Excitement grabs you (a publisher who makes video teasers, and invest so much to build tension is great - red herrings, riddles, a union, what`s next)
3 period : Carrot in front of face (many books down the line, there is a rumor that Silence of the Lambs will be published)
4 period : Then Excorist and Blood Meridian (an orgy of books and party going on on social media, revolution of the 60`s was nothing in comparison - probably)
5 period : Many so and so books in a row, vitality gone, party over for the time being, and a little get together with Jaws)
6 period : No man`s land (where we are now. Being hash, maybe The Collector was a missed oportunity)
7 period : Will take place in 2022, and who knows how that will be .. back to it`s roots maybe .. Paul will find out. Anyway I really like to see new titles given the chance. Like the Auctioneer .. but hopefully this pushing and showing train business will be out of the way in the future.

>1 wcarter: Didn`t know you were into books like these and neither did I know you were a train passenger. I was renovating my bedroom at the time this went on sale, forgot all about it.

>21 punkzip: >22 abysswalker: I sit corrected :)
Since the AEs have slipcases, even less of a reason to purchase a numbered edition that is not letterpress! Blackwater is a fabulous series of books (I read them all) and I'm happy he sold out of the numbered editions. There are about 200 copies of the AE left, but that seems to show there is strong demand for his books. I think this notion that everything should sell out instantaneously is asinine. No reason for that. Perhaps, as >24 Pellias: notes, the hype train was all about "it's going to sell out at light-speed! purchase now, get the rights, sell for 1000000000000000000000000000000000% profit now GO GO GO!!!!!" and well, that kind of nonsense just won't last will it! In terms of the numbered editions having "superior" quality in the binding, I think you could make that argument. But ultimately, I think it comes down to personal taste. I could have purchased a numbered edition of Johnny Got His Gun, but it was not letterpress, it was much more expensive than the AE, AND (more importantly) I though the AE had a better designed cover. Oh, and Suntup always hypes that the AE is the "ONLY" edition with the full-color dust jacket... so again, even less of a reason to purchase an offset-produced numbered edition!

>24 Pellias: an orgy of books and party going on on social media, revolution of the 60`s was nothing in comparison - probably
Don't ever change my friend :D

>25 astropi: I've purchased 6 of the letterpress Suntup numbered. I've purposely avoided purchasing any of the offset numbered except for one -Blackwater. There was no realistic way Blackwater was going to be letterpress as it was close to 900 pages. Was this overpriced? Yes. But the only other option was the Centipede press version. This wasn't worth the secondary market price which would likely been close to or more than the numbered Blackwater (assuming I could find one at all) - and the numbered Blackwater would definitely be higher quality as the Centipede press version was pretty basic - retail was $195 I think for 6 books. The AE was also an option but I thought the numbered had nice aesthetics which matched the theme.

I do think the Blackwater numbered sold out fairly quickly though due to people trying to get rights for Charlie.

>24 Pellias:
Not a train passenger, this is my only Suntup numbered edition, and this was bought at a reasonable price on the secondary market just to seen what these books were like.

I thought others may like to know what the numbered editions were really like also, thus the review.

Will not be trying the experiment with the lettered or Roman numeral editions!

I also have a few Artist Edition books of the more popular titles.

>26 punkzip: I think you did well. I owned the CP edition of Blackwater. I am a fan of CP and most of the books are beautifully produced. The CP Blackwater had beautiful artwork, but was unfortunately plagued by quality-control issues. I believe after that, CP stopped using printers in China. So yes, I am certain the Suntup edition will be of much higher quality :)

The hype was also because lots of people were flush with cash in the late winter/spring of this year due to pandemic lockdowns and nowhere to go, and nothing to do.

How else do you explain someone paying $2,400 for a $500 book, to get rights to Blood Meridian. And now BM sells for $1,1000-$1,300 in the group.