GHQ Models Forums

Hey all.

On a link to sIG33B info on this forum, I went to look at a book site in Austrailia and I decided to purchase 'Island of Fire'. It arrived today - only nine days from Austrailia to Canada - and I am in awe.

What a book!

All other projects are on hold until I read this cover to cover (641 pages!! and a fold-out map of The Barrikady Gun Factory). It is everything I hoped the book to be and is extremely detailed with 1st person stories with accompanying photos. WOW!!

Check out the fellows site here if at all interested in Stalingrad and the Eastern Front:

http://www.leapinghorseman.com/index2.php

Troy

Do you know of any US distributors?

Pitfall

Try www.bookfinder.com Author and title needed

IRISH

Thanks for the suggestion Troy. A couple of months ago I read William Craig's Enemy at the Gates and since then I've been interested in studying about Stalingrad in more depth... sounds like this would be a good follow up read and investment.

Now, I just need to save my monthly book budget money for a few months to afford it

Tanner

btw Troy did you get the softcover? All the hardback seem sold out... just curious what you think of the quality of the binding, etc.

thanks,
Tanner

Tanner, I bought the hard cover - 100 bills or so. It is good (not excellent) binding on so-so quality paper. There is a 50% off sale on defect H/C though - wish I'd seen that earlier!

Troy

I have the softcover book on the 24th PD (Leaping Horsemen). The binding is extremely high quality & stitched. I have the hardcover on the Island of Fire, but knowing Jason...

he takes pride in his work & product. 99% of your history authors just rewrite & rewrite rewrites of true researchers/investigators like Jason (take Ambrose as the classical example). That's where the money is.

Doing what Jason does with a traditional publisher is a losing proposition, as that level of scholarship has a limited market, & the research/travel budget is frightening. Try it if you don't believe it. Look at what JJF charges for books...and there is absolutely no research involved. They just give you high quality translations of German books. Granted, translating is not cheap, but pales in comparison to spending months in Europe at various archives, traveling to meet veterans & their families, have Russian documents translated, etc.

Jason studied self-publishing in college & that equiped him for his future author ambitions, and by self-publishing, Jason can afford to do the dirty work that no other author can, & still give you a masterpiece product at the end.

Ritter, I really don't agree. I wonder what is a good book then?

The hardcover is stitched, opens flat to read easily with no effort, it's attached to the boards perfectly, the paper is heavyweight semigloss archival,

I am confused.

The dude is confused. Are we talking about the same book?

Drbig,

I must say firstly that I am only a mere appreciator of books not an expert on pages and bindings (you probably are as I don't know heavyweight semigloss archival from lightwieght flat newspaper ). When asked about the binding, I merely stated my opinion or more correctly my ‘best guess’ on its quality. Having said this, I can only compare it to other books I have in hardcover. Upon inspection, yes, the pages are stitched instead of glued (silly me, I thought the binding was the cover!) and it does open easily. Also the pages are thin – REAL thin and have a sort of shinny magazine feel to them but they are completely opaque and are surprisingly very strong…yes…I did try to rip one. But compared to some old books I have (1941-53), the pages and cover don’t seem to be the same material as them.

Still – this is – as I said before a very good book…again WoW!!

Troy

I'm guessing he did a 2nd printing then? JJF book paper is much closer to magazine weight than this paper (I mean my copy). Let's see if I can get him over here...

Jason sends his best regards to our community, and asked me to post the email he sent me...

"Good to hear from you and thanks

There was no second print-run of "Island of Fire". Ritter has the same
edition as you. His critique of the paper was pretty accurate:
"Also the pages are thin ­ REAL thin and have a sort of shinny magazine feel
to them but they are completely opaque and are surprisingly very strong..."

I had to pay a lot more for paper of that quality. The paper is thin but
it's heavyweight (more clay in the paper, as they say in the trade), opaque
and strong! Paper doesn't get any better than that. And the binding is top
notch, too. Section-sewn , it's called, and although not visible, the book
will never fall apart. Compare the weight of my book with another of a
comparable size and mine will feel much heavier. The quality of a paper is
in the weight, not the thickness."
-------------

Well, that's right from the leaping horse's mouth

nice to hear... makes me more interested in the hardcover version... as it sounds like it will last.

thanks,
Tanner

Definitly not my last book from this guy - There is a new book due out soon 'Turning Point' - should be good! Too bad 'Death of the Leaping Horseman' is sold out!

Troy

For those of you who like the grunt's eye view, try 'An Infantryman in Stalingrad'. While it doesn't have the breadth of 'Island of Fire', you can practically smell the smoke in the writing. And Jason still has this one in stock!

Bill
http://www.freewebs.com/gupiao/

Try Landmark Military books they have just about everything if you are looking for a copy.