Last night, as I was getting ever closer to sleep, I decided to check out the website for Rocket 88 Books.

I’ve been reading and throughly enjoying their book on the history of Dream Theater, LIFTING SHADOWS.

Lo and behold, what did I find on the website?  That Rocket 88 will soon be releasing a paperback version of the 2012 coffee-table book, THE SPIRIT OF TALK TALK.

For those of you who know me, you know how much I adore Talk Talk.  But, even with my normal lack of frugality and my love of the band, I just couldn’t bring myself to pay the price that was being asked for that hardback–no matter how beautiful–three years ago.

And yet, here it is.

So, of course, I ordered it.  Immediately.  Here’s the response I awoke to from the press:

Hello Bradley,

Congratulations, you were the first person to pre-order the new paperback edition of the Spirit of Talk Talk book! And before we have even told anyone it is avalable, impressive work

The email that was sent to you to confirm the order bounced back though, that address you gave us was bradletbirzer@xxxxxxx.com

We have taken a high level executive decision and reckon it should have been bradleybirzer@xxxxxx.com and have updated it.

We can also confirm we have your order, reference number: xxxx.

We will keep you updated along the way on progress we can tell you that books are planned to be in the UK in October but will take a little longer to get to our warehouse in the US, so you should expect to have your book in November.

Best wishes,

Rocket 88

Books with extra thrust.

rocket88books.com

Here’s my response to their response:

Hello Rocket 88,

It sounds like you’re very, very good at executive decisions.

Yes, bradleybirzer@xxxxxx.com is correct.  I can only blame large, clumsy fingers on my typo.  I don’t want to badmouth my fingers too much, though, as they’ve served me well in handshakes, eating, opening doors, etc.

I just happened to be on the Rocket 88 website and saw the new books.  Great press, by the way.  I’m just finishing up the LIFTING SHADOWS about Dream Theater.

Again, thanks for taking the time to clarify.  No worries on October or November.  Either way, I’ll be happy.

Yours, Brad

And, finally, their response to my response to their response:

Ha! Yep keep those fingers handy.

Thanks for your kind words and great to hear you’re also enjoying Lifting Shadows. We have a couple more titles coming in that area too which may interest you as we are presently working feverishly to finish books from Devin Townsend and from Opeth.

Best wishes,

Rocket 88

Books with extra thrust.

rocket88books.com

Ok, so I know that I wasted some poor person’s time.  But, you know what?  They now have my total loyalty.  If every one in the world brought this kind of excellence and humor to what ever it is they do, we’d have a pretty great world.

Thanks, Rocket 88!