The Missing Disgusting [in a good way] Audiobook Problem

BLOT: (02 Jun 2012 - 10:23:01 AM)

The Missing Disgusting [in a good way] Audiobook Problem

When I wrote the semi-not-quite review of Edward Lee's The Bighead as an audiobook read by Mark Justice, I made a couple of assumptions. First up, I thought the book would be around for a bit. At that time, the only two legit versions available were that audiobook, and then an expensive-ish hardcover copy. Which means that the audiobook would be the cheapest direct way for anyone to get the story. The second assumption was that since I do occasionally review rare or limited edition things, that if it did disappear then it would be right beside a couple of the other bits that are also not available. I never get emails asking about where there those things are, so it should be all good, right?

To a degree, both of my assumptions were wrong, and the book went away about a year after I wrote that entry and since about late 2011 a fair number of Edward Lee fans have suddenly found out about the book (possibly the fact that an ebook edition has shown up is sparking that) and I have gotten several emails with the correspondent asking where can they get their own copy of the audio awesomeness.

It is a viable question. One I can appreciate—a similar one crosses my mind whenever I see a $200+ copy of a Ligotti limited edition that I did not, at the time, buy like I should have. Unfortunately, I have no good answers. Being a purely digital release, there is no used market nor a good way for owners of what copies there are out there to legitimately pass around.

These are the leads and/or deadends that I have found, though:

Dead-End for Now: I contacted Darkfuse back in December 2011 and asked. The response was basically that it wasn't really viable to keep it up as an option.
Promising-as-it-gets Lead: A recent post on the Edward Lee sub-boards at Horror World brought it up and Lee mentioned not having a lot of details but promised to look into it when he had more time [this was late last week or so, so nothing new yet].
Semi-promising Lead: The other audiobook available as a download through the 2009-2010 era Horror-Mall—Chet Williamson's The Lowland Rider—is currently on Audible. (Would the content stop Audible from taking on The Bighead?)
Dead-End, Piracy Edition: Demonoid and The Pirate Bay searches ended up with nothing.

Here are links to the three most likely places it might show up in the future, based on my guess: DarkFuse [Shane's new storefront], Audible [which handles digital-only audiobooks, just in case you did not know], and Edward Lee's own homepage. If I find out anything, I will definitely pass it along.

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