JoeGKushner
Adventurer
I agree to a point.
However, as Sony's eReader and Kindle, etc... become more and more... accessible (Kindle on the iPhone now for free), the whole 'print' issue is going to become moot.
People will read what's new, what's being supported, what's happening now.
However, a movie or tv show could easily bring one of those old bastiches back from the grave.
With modern audience, to discount the internet... well, on an electronic message board, doesn't seem completely feasible.
However, as Sony's eReader and Kindle, etc... become more and more... accessible (Kindle on the iPhone now for free), the whole 'print' issue is going to become moot.
People will read what's new, what's being supported, what's happening now.
However, a movie or tv show could easily bring one of those old bastiches back from the grave.
With modern audience, to discount the internet... well, on an electronic message board, doesn't seem completely feasible.
Check the years on most of those 1999 (re-issues after the other went out of print) and later or 1984 and earlier (initial print runs). Also consider that there was no such thing as Amazon, wikipedia, or, hell, the internet with which to find those books. There were bookstores and word of mouth.
So, sure, I'll eat the "out of print." However I'll replace it with "widely unavailable." Just for comparison of books available now, I just did a search at four local Barnes and Noble (based on my ZIP code of Revere, MA) for both Leiber and Vance. In stock at the stores are Lankhmar Book 1 and Book 2. Literally none of Vance's work, and nothing else by Leiber. I also checked the Boston Public Library for "The Dying Earth." The Boston Public Library has exactly 2 copies, neither of which can be checked out of the library.
You'll note the resurgence of pulp fiction authors in the late 90's and early 00's, authors most people coming of age in the 80s and early 90s hadn't heard of because the books weren't in current printing.