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An Interview with Inkstone Books · This Dad Reads

• Jason Munoz: Welcome to the show, Brett. Thanks for being here. What is going on my friends? Welcome back to another episode of This Dad Reads the podcast. I'm your host Jason. And today I am joined by some special guests. I have my friend Ryland Grace and Rocky here with the amazing Brett: Thanks for having me on. Jason Munoz: You bet. We have been friends for a while now. I was trying to like do the math and I was like, we've known each other for probably four-ish years and just part of the Star Wars book community. I consider you like another book friend, but obviously you ⁓ operate Inkstone Books, which so many people love for your Star Wars special editions in particular. And we're definitely going to get to that today. But in all honesty, Brett, like I don't really know you very well. Like we're kind of online mutuals and like Hail Mary ship that I recently put together. We might as well just jump in and talk about the thing that I have been waiting to talk about for so long. The book that so many have read and is so beloved is coming out as a movie very soon. Yes, it's Project Hail Mary. If I didn't give it away from the Lego set itself already, I finally read the book. It had been on my list to read because I... We've done a lot together and collaborated a lot in the past, but I want just for my own sake and for everyone watching and listening, just tell us who you are. Tell us a little bit about yourself. I know that you're an American living in the UK, which is like my dream. So just tell people who you are. And like, we just want to get to know you a little bit. Brett: That was a very broad question. Yeah, I one of the first things I always say is that as the accent tends to give away, I am a an expat living in the UK. I've been over here off and on for most of my life. I was actually born here. My parents are American. And yeah, dad's work brought us brought them over here when I was born and then sort of we moved back and forth between here and America. Jason Munoz: been anticipating the movie coming out. And anytime there's a movie that looks good, that's based on a book, of course I'm going to want to read it. And I don't know what took me so long. Why did it take me so long to read that book? Andy Weir really did it. He has written, in my opinion, like a science fiction classic that will probably stand the test of time. I am so excited for the movie. It's coming out in a mere matter of weeks and You Brett: most of my life. ⁓ I've been here in the UK this time permanently since 2016, so it's a while. I hadn't thought about the fact that it's decade this year, but yeah, I've been here for a bit now. ⁓ Yeah, I guess sort of I got my start in books, well, as a reader from a very young age. My parents ⁓ were big readers and book collectors, so sort of from when I was Jason Munoz: I am so excited. I'm going to see it on IMAX. Hopefully I'm going to grab myself a popcorn bucket if they still have them, if they're still available. ⁓ You know, I really hold an open hand when it comes to adaptations. I actually took a film to ⁓ literature to film class when I was in college as an English major. And so I feel like I have very tempered expectations when it comes to film adaptations. But the buzz I'm already hearing about this movie from the critics, from fans and just from even the trailer alone. Okay. . Brett: 10, 11, I was sort of into collecting books, signed books, which is not the normal thing that a lot of 10-year, 11-year-olds are into. So yeah, I've been interested in books, of ⁓ collectible books from it for a while. And ⁓ I got to know a couple of people who ran a bookshop in London pretty well through buying books from them. And then when I moved back here in 2016, after being in the States for Jason Munoz: I'm pretty hyped up for it. I'm not gonna lie. I have my expectations pretty up there and I have a feeling that I am not going to be let down. So Project Hail Mary, I cannot say enough good things about it. I feel like I'm the last person in the galaxy to have read this book. ⁓ I'm still recommending it to ⁓ friends and people around me. If you have not read it, definitely, definitely check it out. You will tear through it. Even if you're not a science fiction person, I feel like Andy Weir does such a great job of Brett: a bit for university and work for a couple years. I got a part-time job with them, which turned into a full-time job, which turned into me starting in stone. So sort of a roundabout way of getting to where I am. Jason Munoz: just really welcoming people into this world and endearing you to the characters in this book. I'm not going to say very much about it. Obviously, even just this ship and these characters alone are a little bit of a spoiler. But outside of that, I would say just go in fresh, go in with an open mind and please try to read it before you see the movie, because we all know all this book. People know that the books are always better than the movie. And as good as this movie is, I'm expecting this movie to be. I know that the book's just still going to. Yeah, so what were some of those core, you know, books that got you into reading and collecting? I you said your parents helped introduce you, but what were some of those ones that maybe are still on your shelf today or are just super nostalgic for you? Brett: So the Redwall books were very big influence on me growing up. I've got my collection of the original American hardbacks and I was able to meet the author, I think when I was about 11, and got him to sign a couple, which was a a formative part of, I think, my book journey. The nicer editions, I mean, I still don't have a first edition of Lord of the Rings. I'm not sure anybody, I know anybody who does, but my dad, Jason Munoz: be 10 times better. Nice. Right. ⁓ that's awesome. While we're at it, we might as well just talk about some of the other books that I have been reading since my last episode. In all honesty, my January kicked off so strong. I read and listened to so many books and my February pumped on the brakes just a little bit. But I think I got like four books read total. But some of the other ones being the Dungeon Anarchist Cookbook, book three of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Brett: My dad read Lord of the Rings to me when I was 12, which was my first experience with those books and sort of adult fantasy. And so those books always have a very ⁓ important place in my collection. And so I've been collecting different versions of the more recent books, which are slightly more affordable than the ⁓ Jason Munoz: Definitely. That's awesome. How about with Star Wars? I know that you've been a long time, you know, part of the Star Wars book community, but where did you first interact with the property and kind of where did the bookish part of it begin for you? which I have been loving so much and I'm trying to catch up and read all seven of the books before the new book comes out in May. But I'm also trying not to just tear through them completely because I want to enjoy them. So I'm currently on book four right now ⁓ and really loving it. Book three was pretty challenging. I'm not going to lie. And I'm thankful that Matt Didam and gave like a little warning at the beginning of the book saying like, hey, the system here and this level is a little bit, you know, more complex than others, but everything will come together. And it did. Brett: So I was introduced to the original trilogy on VHS. think my parents had the original versions of the VHS, the pre-special edition, and I was introduced to those at, I think, six, five or six, and my brother and I got really into them. And that was a couple years before the prequel started, and then about the time of Attack of the Clones, all the press for that, I got really into Star Wars in general. Jason Munoz: So I'm glad that I stuck through it and I still love Princess Donut, still love Carl and now Katya too, of course. ⁓ Again, if you haven't read Dungeon Carl or Carl, no spoilers, but I cannot recommend the series enough. ⁓ I'm just having a great time and I love hanging out in that world. Brett: because I was such a big reader, I started getting the books as gifts. think I got a copy of Return to Ord Mantell, one of the young Jedi Knight books, and a copy of the Star Wars essential chronology as birthday presents right around Attack of the Clones. And that sort of put me into the book world. I don't know, handing an 11-year-old a book that says, did you know that there's actually about Jason Munoz: Another book that I talked about on my last episode, which I actually finished and read was the art of Star Wars, the acolyte by Kristen Baver got to meet and chat with Kristen at her launch event in San Francisco in February and finally got around to reading that book. I think I read it the last day of February. I wanted to really get that under my belt for February. Brett: 10,000 years of Star Wars history and here it all is laid out in order kind of changed how I perceived things a little bit. Jason Munoz: Kristen does such a good job of not just explaining the behind the scenes stuff, like the technicalities of it, showing the artwork, but also really just allowing the creatives to kind of contribute to this time capsule really of a work. And for a fan of the show like me, it's just something that I just want to have on my shelves and I will forever cherish. ⁓ it was amazing, it was so good. It was really cool seeing all the different designs that went into the stranger's helmet. I bet. I was going to say I was born in 83. Are we similar aged? Because I feel like probably around similar to I was I experienced Star Wars VHS for the first time too. Brett: I was. Yeah, I'm 92, Jason Munoz: Okay, okay. We're pretty close then. Yeah. So I was trying to think like similar experiences and histories. That's awesome. ⁓ And just hearing from like Leslie Hedlund and the actors and again, creatives and executives behind the show. So ⁓ as I heard her say at the event, it's really kind of like her, the end of her trilogy of her art books for the High Republic, the others being the art of the High Republic volumes one and two. So I'm really glad that I was able to knock that out and have that piece of memorabilia, really Star Wars memorabilia on my shelf forever. So how about too with like the current canon and current fandom? I know that we've, you know, been in the mix with the most recent releases, like the stuff like the higher public and stuff like that. So have you always like kind of wanted to stay up and stay fresh with all of them, like recent Star Wars book releases and how many of them have you actually read? Brett: ⁓ of the new ones, I've read sort of everything since 2021. So everything since High Republic started on and then quite a bit of sort of the earlier ones. ⁓ Sort of, I read a lot of the ones that came out right when it got ⁓ relaunched. And then just because I got busy with work and things at the time, I sort of fell out of. Jason Munoz: Another book that I recently read and just posted a review and video on is a book called The Ascent by Christopher Walker. This is an indie fantasy adventure novel that really gave me Chronicles of Narnia vibes. I won't say too much more about it because I did put out a full video and ⁓ book review on thisdeadreads.com, but it was a four hat read for me. Really fun, really adventurous, ⁓ steeped in like classic fantasy storytelling tropes, but not in like a Awesome. What are some of your favorites? Like what are some ones that if someone were to ask you like, where should I start with Star Wars books? Like what are some of your go-to recommendations? Brett: reading a lot of things for a couple of years and then back when High Republic got out, I really fell back into the canon books in a big way. Jason Munoz: way that takes away from the originality of this book at all. So an ordinary guy gets transported to a magical world. He might be the chosen one that all these people have been looking for. He's charged with taking down an evil king. And he just kind of goes on this epic adventure with a group of elves and faces down different magical beasts and different challenges, different emotional beats. So it was really fun. It was really good. I would definitely recommend checking out again, check out my website for my full review and links to where you can pick that one up as well. Brett: So we very hopefully put together a couple of reels on our social media feed last week. ⁓ So I got that ready to hand. on the canon front, I'd always point somebody towards towards starting with the High Republic just because, you know, a couple hundred years earlier tends to be you don't need to know a lot about Star Wars apart from what a Jedi is to really get into that. I like recommending Lost Stars as well. Just it's a very good. I feel like it's a very good entry point for anybody who's kind of curious about about what the Star Wars ones are. Jason Munoz: Yep. If Something that I haven't really talked about too much anywhere, aside from like reposting some of Star Wars's Instagram stories and liking the Instagram post is my excitement for the upcoming Mandalorian and Grogu film coming out in May. We are a mere couple of months away from a new Star Wars movie being out in theaters. And like I kind of said before, when it comes to book to film adaptations, I really do kind of hold an open hand with Star Wars. Like ⁓ it is such an IP that is close to my heart and that I so love. But there's definitely Brett: And ⁓ I also like, I know the Revenge of the Sith book, a lot of people discuss whether or not it's legends or canon. And I think the current timeline considers it to be canon. So I put it in the canon thing with a caveat that it's, could be a good gateway into legends if you're interested in a lot of the references that are in that one. Jason Munoz: Yeah, and guys, we did not confer before this episode because Brett and my recommendations are very similar. So all that goes to say is that it's good advice all over the place. just because I'm saying it doesn't mean that other people can't say it too. like pieces of the Star Wars canon ⁓ that I like more than others. And I know that the Mandalorian and Grogu has kind of gotten some knocks here and there mainly from their PR and marketing side. Basically, a lot of people not thinking that this movie is doing enough to really ⁓ engage audiences and to excite them. So marketing strategies aside, I cannot wait for a new Star Wars movie to be in theater. And every time that I have watched the trailers or pieces of media coming out, Brett: you Jason Munoz: So tell me a little bit about the process for ⁓ what it's like to kind of bring a book to Inkstone. Like, ⁓ I can only imagine like what that kind of looks like and feels like. And we don't need to get too in the weeds. Obviously, I don't want you to be talking about your day job too much here. But that's what so many people have grown to love about what you guys and what you do is these gorgeous editions. And you spoke about, ⁓ you know, legends. You're really the only place doing hardcover legends of some titles that have honestly like haven't seen one or haven't had one ever. with my kids, with my family. All I know is that we are all smiling and that we are all laughing. I cannot wait to see what ⁓ Grogu and Mando are going to be up to. So tell me a little bit about that process and like, what does that look like? that's really what I loved about the Mandalorian series as well, ⁓ is that it was just like two ⁓ a family going on adventures. ⁓ And I think this is going to be probably the first original Star Wars movie that my entire family is going to go see in the theater and. Brett: Well, the process for doing the Star Wars and the process for doing everything else are a little bit different. mean, just starting with this sort of non-Star Wars one, so for like my subscription, I'm always reading books six months to a year ahead of when they come out, just because that's sort of the lead time required to get things sorted out. ⁓ I won't do a special edition unless I've read a book and really like it and know that it will ⁓ resonate well with my particular audience. So sort of anything that... Jason Munoz: Mm hmm. ⁓ That's awesome. For that alone, I am so excited just to all of us be sitting in there watching a new Star Wars on the big screen. ⁓ I, for that alone, like I said, am just excited. And I have my expectations tempered. I'm not going in with them super high or super low. I just want to go in with a good time. And like I said, to me, all Star Wars is good Star Wars. And so just the fact that we're getting another theatrical release is reason enough to celebrate. So I'm here for it. Brett: where we have coming out is something that I really enjoy. And so once I've read ⁓ a book early, I'll start talking to the publisher to say sort of, is what we would like to do. Is that feasible? How much will it cost? And then once we sort of have a framework like that worked out, we'll start talking with them about artwork. ⁓ And sort of for the non-Star Wars ones, it's sort of a mixture of whether or not we provide all of the artwork. Jason Munoz: Of course, all of the tie-in stuff that is going to be coming as well, from merchandise to books, collectibles, I will definitely be keeping my eye out to see what new additions might need to make their way to my Mandalorian shelf. So I cannot wait for Mandalorian and Grogu. And I just can't wait to have more Star Wars in all of our lives. it really being exposed to more people again, I think I like to think that, you know, everybody knows Star Wars, everybody loves Star Wars, but every single day, every single week, I'm Brett: minus the dust jackets ourselves, so artwork for the foil or the edges, or if we just provide them with sort of art direction and they come back with something and we give them notes and there's a bit of back and forth. Star Wars is a bit different, as you might imagine, everything that we put on the books has to get approved by Disney before it gets put out on the books. So there's a lot more sort of chatting with ⁓ the publisher Delray who speaks to Disney on our behalf. A lot of the time, Jason Munoz: seeing that people are watching Star Wars for the first time, reading Star Wars for the first time, so I really hope that this movie can do even more to open up the fandom to even more audiences all around the Brett: as well, almost all the time as well. We do read the Star Wars books, the new ones, the new canon books beforehand so that we can figure out the best thing to put on the edges or the foil. Legends is obviously a lot easier since they're all out and I have read almost all of them already. So I can sort of give our artists some good direction on those. But yeah, we come up with sort of conceptual designs, ⁓ send them over to Disney so that if they don't... Jason Munoz: You ⁓ Brett: like anything, we don't have an artist waste too much time on a finished piece of artwork and then once Disney's happy with it, we'll wrap it all up, send it over to the publisher and they'll work with the printer to get it all sorted. Jason Munoz: for all my book collectors out there, I have a very special guest joining me today. ⁓ It is Brett from Inkstone They are a UK based ⁓ retailer who has a subscription and they do special editions tons of different books. But of course they've been doing special editions recently of all of the Star Wars canon books. ⁓ And they are the first to really do special editions in some of the legends stuff. So their essential legends collection ⁓ has been really captivating and Nice. And how did the Star Wars part of it come to be for you? Because I know that there, if anyone in the book world has been paying attention, there's been a couple of different companies that have been doing special editions. And it's pretty rare nowadays that Random House Worlds or Delray is doing them themselves. I feel like they've kind of pulled back and different people have had different licenses, I think, from what I can tell. But thrilling Star Wars collectors now for a while. You probably can't see behind me, but I have a number of my inkstone books on my shelf. So thankfully Brett carved out some time to chat with me. And so please enjoy me and Brett's conversation. I'm just curious, like, how did that come to be? Did this something, was this something that you had to pitch? Were they going looking for people to partner with? Like, how did that all come to be? Brett: Yeah, so it was something that I had to pitch and I was actually the bookshop that I worked at before I started Inkstone also does Star Wars special editions and I was the sort of person responsible for initially pitching those to Del Rey and so then when I started Inkstone I wanted to keep doing the Star Wars books because they were such an important thing to me and with Inkstone I had the Jason Munoz: Again, I want to say a huge thank you to Brett for taking some time to chat with me today. I loved having friends on the show and I do consider Brett a friend, not just another guest out there. So he is a fellow member of the Star Wars book community and has been for a long time. And he hinted at some really fun things that might be coming our way very soon this year. Hopefully some new things in the Star Wars world. And Brett, I wish you nothing but the best. And I am serious about if you need a West Coast wing of Inkstone books, definitely hit me up. Okay Hmm Okay Brett: Well, I thought I had the window to start doing Legends books because the other bookshop only does sort of first editions. And so the Legends books were not something that I was ever able to do there. So that was, went to ⁓ Delray and sort of pitched the Legends project to them. ⁓ They then talked to Disney about it and we sort of figured out the best way of moving forward with all of that, which was sort of starting with. Jason Munoz: All right, guys, that is all for me for this episode. Please check me out on social media. I am always active on there and I cannot wait to keep chatting books with you over there and here on my next episode. So I'll catch you guys next time. Brett: the essential legends books, since those are the sort of what they're working on now and working through all of those and sort of talking on a book by book basis of, right, well, can we get the author to sign this one? Does it make sense to do this timing wise? All of that sort of thing. yeah, it was very much I went to Delray and said, this is what I want to do both in the canon space, which I know, you know, you are working on some of those and hopefully you'll let me keep working with you. then Jason Munoz: Yeah. Okay, that's awesome. And how has the response like, how have you reacted to the response from people? I feel like Brett: do the lighting separately. Jason Munoz: You guys are kind of like one of the premier people doing obviously Star Wars special editions. I think you've probably done the most of them out of recent memory from anywhere. And like you said, you're the only people doing the hardcover like Central Legends collection. like, were you surprised by how ⁓ well loved they've become or like, I just want to kind of gauge like how that made you feel after you guys have been kind of establishing yourself. Brett: I it's been, I had a suspicion that the Legend books in particular would be well received, but obviously you don't know until you try. But it's been really nice to see everybody really come out and be excited by what we're doing. I think, like you said, we've done a couple like, well, Night Errant has never had a hardback release at all. And Yoda, Dark Rendezvous only had a book club special, of hardback, so it's a slightly different format. So it's been really nice to see, to be able to do books like that and to see. Jason Munoz: Right. Yeah. Brett: readers and authors be quite excited by. I John Jackson Miller, I was talking with him about Night Errant and we talked a bit about the artwork for that one and he was quite pleased to finally have a hardback of that one for his own collection. it's good to see the author and the reader response and then with the canon as well, especially now that we've been able to do sort of the fancier edges with the Bad Batch Helmets or Vader's Lightsaber to see everybody seem. Jason Munoz: I bet. Yeah. Brett: quite taken with those and it's good to see that the artwork that we're putting together is well received and that my ⁓ instincts for what to put on a book are not misguided. Jason Munoz: Yeah, I was gonna say it's really good that you start as a fan and as a collector because you feel like you know what people want and what people will respond to. So that's awesome. It's good place to start. Brett: Definitely. There is a bit of pressure with every book to me. Like, okay, well, hopefully this is the we're doing the right thing on this one and we'll see what we're going with. But now it's been good. Jason Munoz: Yeah. For sure. ⁓ I'm just curious too, like what have been some of your favorite releases? It can be any of your books that you've ever done and I don't want to mean to put you on the spot. Like you don't have to choose your favorite child or anything, but have there been any releases that for, you know, any reason at all that you just are particularly proud of? Brett: Let me start by saying that I love all of my books and all of the authors I work with equally. And if any of them are listening, this is in no way an indictment of it. But I mean, I think one of my favorite ones that we've done recently was the subscription book we did for quarter four last year, The Shipwright and The Shroudweaver. That was a book that I read really, really early. And I knew sort of from the first two chapters that I needed to do something with it. And it was a Jason Munoz: Yes, there you go. Good job. Yes. Brett: long process to sort of get everything sorted out and we did a lot of work on the artwork for that one and that's one that I'm really ⁓ proud about, haven't been able to do. ⁓ On the Star Wars side, mean Darth Plagueis is, I don't know if the Jus jacket's on display, but one of my favorite books in general, not just a Star Wars book and so that was one that I was very keen from a very, from sort of the get-go to be able to work on and... I never really expected that we would be able to get the author to sign that one. And so when Dalryce proposed that one to me, I was like, yeah, sure. We'll get on that one straight away. Yeah, let's do that. And also if he's happy to sign all these other books, let's work on them too. Yeah. Jason Munoz: Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, let's do it. If some other books just happen to show up. Yeah. That's awesome. ⁓ So what are some of your dream projects outside anything like I'm sure you can't say too much, but I mean, it's early in the year and I would expect that you have some things on the horizon and share whatever you feel you're comfortable sharing. But outside of that, what are some projects that are kind of still on your bucket list? Brett: Sure, so this year in the Star Wars space, we do have a special edition of the Legacy Book coming in the summer. We are working on the artwork for that, which is very fun to be able to work with some of the sequel characters finally. ⁓ And then we'll also have a matching edition of the Second Reign of the Empire book, which will go nicely with our first one. So as far as all the canon stuff ⁓ that has been announced, they're all in the works. ⁓ Jason Munoz: Awesome. Awesome. Okay, good. Good to know. Brett: There are some Legends projects coming as well, which I can't quite talk about yet. They are slightly larger and more complicated than what we've done in the past. The artwork on the edges will be closer to what we've done on Bad Batch and Master of Evil and Outlaws. Not just a single block of color, but it's taking longer to get all that sorted. Once that's ready, ⁓ we will be able to share it. Jason Munoz: Ooh. Okay. Okay. Ooh, that's fun. And everyone else, yeah. Brett: But yeah, I think people will be very excited with what we've got coming in that space. as far as bucket list projects go, just sticking with Star Wars, I would love to be able to do the New Jedi Order series in sort of a unified hardback, especially since the only way to have hardbacks of those is to drop a lot of money on the book club version and they're all different heights, which bothers me a lot. So doing some of those would be, doing that would be a dream, it's a much longer or a larger scale project. And especially since we're only doing essential legends books at the moment, something that's probably a bit further out. Redwall has always been a bucket list project and we do have a new version of Redwall coming, which will lead into the rest of the 20-ish book series. So again, that's got some bigger projects. ⁓ Jason Munoz: Sure. Okay. Brett: coming up in that space, but I would love to be able to do ⁓ Matthew Stover's non-Star Wars series, which starts with Heroes Die, is a phenomenal fantasy series, which sort of sort of the same level of violence slash introspection as some of his other books in the Star Wars canon or Star Wars Legends canon go, but then it's quite philosophical. Jason Munoz: Okay. Okay. Brett: The covers are quite dated at this point, shall we say. I would love to be able to work with him ⁓ on those at some point in the future once space allows. I mean, one of the big problems with some of our bigger projects, just to draw the curtain back a bit, is that I tend to do this, I don't tend, I say Inkstone Books as a team, but it is me with my partner helping the social media and artwork. And so there's only. so many books I can pack at any given point in time. we're slightly limited by what I am physically capable of doing at the moment, but that is. Jason Munoz: Sure sure sure I mean, that's good to say though. feel like people might just think like you're this, you know, maybe bigger company with like a team. But I mean, I feel like that's good for people to hear and to know. Brett: Yeah, so if your books take slightly longer than other places to reach you, do apologize, but it is because I'm packing them and quality checking them and doing all of that stuff to make sure that they get to you in good condition. Jason Munoz: Yes, it's solely Brett's fault. Well, and I have to say, as the recipient of so many of your books, they are packaged with such care and like I've seen people unboxing them and I really appreciate the care you go through to send them out, like multiple layers of bubble wrap. like it's so nice. Brett: I'm glad that they get there safely. Jason Munoz: I feel like there is some confusion sometimes out in the fandom where people are kind of like they don't quite understand the difference between what Random House Worlds is doing or maybe what, you know, a publisher in the UK is doing out. ⁓ And then what like is going on on the YA side with like Disney Lucasfilm publishing. So ⁓ do you have any thoughts or goals about into some of the other titles like some of like I have the ⁓ Kwame Mbali book behind me of the YA titles. Some people are like, oh, is Inkstone doing that? I'm like, I don't think they do those ones. But is that of interest to you as well? don't know. Usually there's not that many special editions done from some of those kind of either middle grade or YA titles, but just agree. Brett: Yeah, I would love to start doing the middle grade in YA titles. I have been trying for the better part of four years to figure out what's going on with the young adult YA titles in the UK because obviously now Lucasfilm Press has sort of merged a little bit with Penguin in the States and Penguin is handling all of their distribution over there. Over here, Penguin UK, Delray does not have the rights to the young adult and kids books. Jason Munoz: Okay. ⁓ Right. Yeah. ⁓ gotcha. Okay. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. Brett: and nobody seems to know who does, which is why, best that I can tell, I'm sure that somebody does actually know. And so I'm not trying to speak ill of anybody, but I cannot figure out who has them. I think as some UK customers will tell you, the only way to get the young adult and kids books is to import them from America because they're not published, like they're not even printed over here, much less published over here. So. That's the reason why there are no ⁓ young adult or children's special editions of the High Republic books or the books that you described or Lost Stars or I was quite keen to do the Eyes Like Stars that's coming out later this year and Penguin UK isn't doing that one and I'm not totally sure who is. So all that is to say, yes, it is. Jason Munoz: Yes, yes. Okay. Brett: That's another bucket list project to start getting onto those and bringing out, dipping into the back catalog doing, ⁓ but it's, we're trying to unpick that mystery. Jason Munoz: Gotcha. Okay. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, maybe we can talk about this offline, but if you need an American based associate, maybe let's let's work something out. Maybe I can ship start doing some shipping for Inkstone here. Okay, that's good to know. And I feel like that's a really good thing to state because I feel like most people it feels like Brett: Thank you. Jason Munoz: Obviously there's a global audience for these things and people are friends all over the world. And, I feel like it's not a lot of people realize that not everything is accessible for everyone as it is for others. So that is a really good point to note. So I do feel for my UK and, you know, great Britain friends who they're like, ⁓ that's cool. That books out today. I have no idea when I'm going to be able to buy it or get it. Brett: Not to direct people to a competitor, but I do know that Forbidden Planet tends to have American imports of the young adult and kids books. I was there last week and they had some of the more recent ones. So if any people based in the UK, I'm not sure about online, but are within access of London, they can go there and hopefully get a couple copies. Jason Munoz: ⁓ Cool. Semi close to release date, hopefully. Brett: Yeah, I'm here. Jason Munoz: We've been talking a lot about Star Wars, right? But there's so much outside of that world that is ⁓ to appreciate you were raised on books as was I. ⁓ And I don't just read Star Wars. But if there is someone who is listening because they love your Star Wars books, what are some? They don't have to be instant releases, but obviously that would be cool. But what are some other authors or titles that you would recommend to someone who loves Star Wars and loves reading, but they don't kind of know where to go next? Brett: Oh, so I have a very good recommendation for that. So Django Wexler wrote a trilogy, think, oh, God, I'm blanking on the name of the first book. I think the first book is called Ashes of Man. I'll have look up. But effectively, he wanted to write a fantasy trilogy that is effectively Star Wars, but with a lot of the detail sanded off. And so there are... sort of mythical knights that have these kind of very special swords and they have access to sort of magic that's not the forest and it is very Star Wars coded without being Star Wars and so if you only really read Star Wars books and are looking for a gateway to fantasy that could be a very good gateway to fantasy since it was effectively written to be Star Wars but not. I'll drop you an email with the name of the book later because I don't... Jason Munoz: Okay, nice. Perfect, nice. I know. Brett: put me on the spot and I don't remember at the top of my head. I read it in 2020 and I loved it. But what other gateways from fans of fantasy put me on the spot now? I am a huge fan of these are much heavier fantasy books. So I'm not sure that necessarily the best jumping off point, but the Malazan series. You'll know within the first couple of chapters of the first book if it's for you or not. And if it is, great, you've got 14 more books to go. If not, you saved yourself a lot of time and space. yeah, they're very good books. ⁓ So books that I've done, if you want the sci-fi stuff, ⁓ I can't speak highly enough of Bethany Jacobs trilogy, the Kindom trilogy. The first book is called These Burning Stars, and it's a very... Jason Munoz: There you go. Brett: sort of fun, fast-paced, of heist, sort of. They're the heist, but there's a lot of other stuff going on. sort of the trilogy builds, and it's one of the few books I've read, the first book in particular, where when I finished the first book, I wanted to go back and reread the first book immediately, because some stuff happens in it that sort of recontextualizes everything. I wanted to see sort of the seeds. were the hints that I missed throughout the course of the book. So ⁓ yeah, definitely give that a good. Jason Munoz: ⁓ nice. Nice. Brett: good recommendation. I've actually have had a couple of customers who only really read Star Wars books who started reading sci-fi and fantasy, other sci-fi and fantasy because of my subscription and sort of the books I was putting out alongside Star Wars. And I know that one book in particular that they seemed to really enjoy was The Sword Unbound by Gareth Canterhan. Jason Munoz: Nice. . Brett: Henrahan, which is a trilogy of fantasy books that we did which was seemed to be very well received by Star Wars fans. So I think that's another good entry point and it's sort of, it's in a series that sort of takes a look at some of the bigger tropes in fantasy and does some interesting things with them. So even if you're not a newcomer to fantasy, there's a lot of good stuff there to be found. Jason Munoz: Nice. And I will add all these to the show notes so anyone who's interested, I can make sure that they go find them. if you, any of those, you don't have to write those down as you're listening or driving anyone. will link those and I will put information in the show notes of this episode. Brett, I feel like we should have talked about this earlier, but you have mentioned it a couple of times that Inkstone has a subscription and there's also a special edition. So can you explain a little bit about like your business model and like how can people if they want to start purchasing your books, like how can they get in and ⁓ what does that process look like for customers? . Brett: Sure, so our subscription is a quarterly subscription, so once every three months you'll get a special edition ⁓ fantasy or sci-fi book that I've picked. ⁓ Like I said before, I read all these books way ahead of time to figure out sort of what's the best thing. Best thing and best fit for my customers that are coming out during that three month period. It will be signed by the author, numbered edition, so our subscription is currently 750 subscribers, so it'll be. one out of 750 with sort of all sorts of special artwork on the edges and on the foil. So if you're familiar with our canon Star Wars books, the most couple recent ones with the lightsaber edge or the Star Wars Outlaws characters on the edge, that's the sort of artwork that we're putting on the edges of our non-Star Wars books as well. So that's sort of what you can expect to get. Subscription is currently full. We do have a bit of a wait list for it, but If you're interested at all, can ⁓ join our waitlist by going on our website. We've got a subscription section at the top, which will have all of the information and links to sign up to the waitlist. It also shows what the last couple subscription books have been. ⁓ We also do have wait lists for individual books as well that you can just join by emailing us. So if there's ever anything that sounds of interest, ⁓ you can just drop us an email. And then on the non-subscription special editions, they just sort of go up on our website as and when we have them, advertise it on social media and everything too. So yeah, just keep an eye on our website and all of that too. I should say as well with our subscription is that one thing that we are very... ⁓ strict on doing is finishing a series if we start it. So one of the things that bothered me a lot about other subscriptions that I was a part of is that I would get the first book and then they wouldn't do the second or third book and so it wouldn't match. And so so far everything that we've done we've finished and that's something that I really believe is important. So if that is potentially worrying you about signing up for a subscription, ⁓ don't need to worry about that. Jason Munoz: That's awesome. Basically a subscription by a fan for fans and for collectors. That's awesome. That's really good. I will say too, your online store, you have other books in there too, right? Not every single thing that you sell is a special edition. Am I wrong? Brett: No, no, not everything that we do. ⁓ We do, I've started doing a lot, not a lot, but sort of getting sort of older, rare secondhand books. ⁓ So we've had some Star Wars stuff on there recently and ⁓ we do sort of signed books, signed non-special editions sort of as we can get them last year we had. Jason Munoz: Mm-hmm. Brett: the most recent RF Quang book, ⁓ Catabasis, ⁓ we've got signed copies of the next James S.A. ⁓ sci-fi book coming out in April, I want to say, up on the website now. yeah, if you're just interested in sci-fi and fantasy ⁓ or older Star Wars books or whatever in general, yeah, our website's a good place to sort of keep an eye out for and see what we've got ⁓ added on there. Jason Munoz: Yeah. . Awesome. Brett, what do you see? Where do you see things going for Inkstone? ⁓ What are some of your goals that you're still hoping to achieve in the not just 2026, but maybe in the years to come? Brett: Yeah, so I'd like to grow the subscription a bit. think a thousand is a nice place to sit. ⁓ Part of the... well, a lot of our shipping, a lot of my shipping, slipping into third person again, is done. From the front room of our house, which again has some physical limitations on how many books I can do. So this year, I'm looking to sort of move out into a proper warehouse and have slightly more robust... receiving and shipping facilities, which will allow me to do a lot ⁓ more books and sort of more intricate projects. Like I said, a lot ⁓ of the Star Wars stuff that we've done and sort of the special editions outside of description in general have all been sort of individual purchase, just sort of one book at a time. How more space will allow me to start tackling sort of trilogy sets, so sort of a trilogy with a unified design across all of the books. ⁓ should become quite popular, which is a big goal for the next year or two, is to start being able to do sort of matching trilogies of all that, all that wants to help save a bit on shipping and also to do just cool stuff with the artwork. So that's a big goal ⁓ as well. And I'm also trying to hopefully dip my toes into sort of doing some of the Star Wars canon books that came out between 2014 and 2021 that don't have special editions yet to sort of finish building out the collection as it were, we'll see what happens with those. Jason Munoz: Excellent. Well, that's good news for Star Wars fans for sure. ⁓ Another just like question that I was thinking as you were going through this. Do you take submissions for requests for because I'm like, wait a second. Maybe if there's a book that I obviously said you have to read it all. So I'm like, maybe do you take reading suggestions? Brett: I need to be careful about what I say because I don't want to start getting hundreds of emails a week. No, I'm always on the lookout for recommendations ⁓ of books that people like. I some of my favorite books that I've done at Inkstone and just more broadly have been books that other people have suggested to me first. So definitely. Jason Munoz: This is a selfish question, by the way. Brett: within reason, send me any recommendations or sort of requests that you might have and we can sort of take a look at them. And if I, if I feel like that would be a good fit and yeah, maybe we'll see what we can do. Who knows. Jason Munoz: You heard it here, folks. You heard it here first. Brett, also saw recently. ⁓ sorry. Go ahead. Brett: ⁓ well... I said, send them all to Jason first, and he can vet them for me, and then, Jason Munoz: Ha ha ha ha! I mean, hey, that's fine. I'll take it. It's the least I could do. ⁓ I saw recently that you guys were at an event. Are there any other in-person events or conventions at Inkstone or you yourself are planning on being at this year? Brett: We don't have anything confirmed yet. We do like doing sort of events as they make sense for us. think we really enjoyed, we did Worldcon two years ago now when it was up in Glasgow and that was a phenomenal experience and the Star Wars conventions are always a lot of fun. We've been hoping to do one of the... bigger Comic-Cons, London Comic-Con or Birmingham Comic-Con, something like that. ⁓ The timing has not worked out over the last couple years, but hopefully, hopefully this year, especially with Brandon Sanderson coming over, the May one in London, I think would be quite a fun event to do. ⁓ And if, you know, a Star Wars celebration ever makes its way back to Europe, hopefully we'll be able to do that. Yeah, just missed the last one in London, but, you know, I'm sure it'll come around again. Jason Munoz: ⁓ bummer, okay Well, try to come out to 2027 in LA. I know it's quite a trek, it'll be hopefully the state of the world won't be as crazy and we can get as many people here as possible. So I'm just throwing it out there. Brett: Yeah, we've been quite keen to do events in the States, potentially not as booksellers, just because the logistics of getting a bunch of ships to America and then shipped back, not entirely sure we would come out ahead on that transaction. But no, definitely as fans, wanted to work, we're quite keen to do some of the bigger fantasy events. know Dragon's Steel looks quite, we've been Jason Munoz: ⁓ I'm sure. Yeah. ⁓ so fun. I was thinking like you guys would fit in so good there, like, yeah. Brett: Watching from afar and I've been quite jealous of all of that. Yeah, that's a big one that we want to do and ⁓ there's some other Star Wars ones that sort of happen semi-annually in the States that we're kind of keen to take a look at as well. hopefully, yeah. But I guess the flip side is that, you know, since I am the only person who runs the company, who's doing any work at the company, is that any events that I'm at, especially if they're in America, does mean that. Jason Munoz: nice nice ⁓ Brett: ⁓ things aren't getting shipped for sort of a week plus at a time so everything has to be balanced slightly. Jason Munoz: There you go, exactly. Again, if you need a West Coast arm, just let me know. I'm here. I can help ⁓ run the booth. We can help do it. We'll do it together, Awesome. Brett: Yeah, I might have to take you up on that. ⁓ Jason Munoz: So a question that I always like to ask, obviously, because we're all book fans and I'm going to again put you on the spot. And but what are some books that you have been reading recently that just kind of are at top of mind and that you've been enjoying? Brett: so it's, I want to say it's out in April. It might be out in March, but it's called ⁓ to the Half Broken. It's a fantastic, it sounds weird to say it's a post-apocalyptic, but hopeful book, but it is a very hope-filled, post-apocalyptic dystopian book, sort of about a robot navigating a sort of collapsed. Jason Munoz: Okay. Brett: version of our world that's sort of 20, 30 years from now. And it's really moving. can't speak highly enough of that one. if that sort of sci-fi is your thing, ⁓ definitely give it a look. ⁓ There are some books that aren't announced yet, so I'll have to skip those for now. But there's a book. Jason Munoz: . Okay. ⁓ Brett: it called? They've changed the name of it twice on me. I think currently it's called right now Tears of Leviathan, I think, by M.A. Carrick, which is out in July, which is a very fun historical fantasy sort of about set in a world in which instead of going to America, the Spanish conquistadors instead invaded the lands of Faerie and sort of have started having wars with all these different magical creatures. And that's a very fun ⁓ Jason Munoz: ⁓ Brett: alt history, I always like, historical fiction with magic. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell is my all-time favorite book, and so anything that scratches that itch always gets bounty points from me. Jason Munoz: Nice. That's awesome. Have you gotten into the Dungeon Crawler car world at all? I'm just curious. Brett: I've read the first couple and had to stop because work reading called me away. I've got the audiobooks all sort of set up so I can listen to them as I pack, which is how I do my fun reading. Jason Munoz: Okay. Okay, gotcha, gotcha, yes. Okay, good. Oh, gotcha, okay. You were talking about like a collapsed world post-apocalyptic. I'm like, hmm, I'm wondering if he's dipped his toes in that yet. Brett: ⁓ yes, ⁓ yeah. I don't think it's ⁓ possible to have skip Stunsh Kraler in our world at this point. Jason Munoz: I know, right? At this point, I know I just finished the third book the other day and I'm doing some work reading too right now. So ⁓ I got to wait a minute to get back to that. So ⁓ definitely a new favorite that I've been really loving. And I'm reading Project Hail Mary right now for the very first time because I'm wanting to have it read before the movie. like literally that's the book that all I want to do is read it right now. I'm on like chapter 10. And so it's like hitting. So like I just want to sit and read that like all day long. Brett: We Thank Jason Munoz: responsibilities. So Brett: Yeah, the author of Dungeon Carle just had a sci-fi book called Operation Bounce House come out, I want to say a week last week. That's really good. Yeah, that's very good too. Can highly recommend that one. Jason Munoz: Yes. I bought it. It's sitting on my TBR, but... Okay, nice, nice. Yeah, I will definitely be reading that at some point with all my piles of books, you know, as we all know. ⁓ my goodness, I know I have to regularly go through and like edit my stuff and like figure out what I really want to keep because I just can't, you can't keep adding. I mean, it's not possible. Yeah, I guess, I guess, I guess that's true. Brett: Yeah. Fill space is the number one problem. I don't know about that. That's what storage you need. As a bookseller, you can never have enough books. Jason Munoz: I mean, Brett, if you guys keep up what you're doing, I'm going to have to figure something out because there's no way that I'm not going to want like all of your guys's, at least your Star Wars titles from forevermore. They're so good. Anyway, you can't bear. They're all behind me. ⁓ they're in another shelf. You can't see them. But anyway, I have my own special, special edition shelf, which all my inkstones are on. Brett: Thank Jason Munoz: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to hang out and chat with me today. Brett, is there anything else that you just kind of want to say to the book community, Star Wars fans at large, before we go? Brett: I just wanted to say thank you for supporting sort of what we do and showing such great support and reception for it. I we wouldn't be able to put out the books that we're putting out if people didn't like them. And it's always ⁓ great to see and to hear from people when they're liking what we're putting out. So yeah, thank you. And I hope that you are going to enjoy what we've got coming out for the rest of the year, once we can actually start talking about it. Jason Munoz: So if you're not already, and I can't imagine that you have not followed Inkstone on Instagram, on socials, go check out their website. I will be linking everything again in the show notes of this episode. So I've still heard people who are like, wait, where did that special edition come from? I'm like, guys, you got to be in the know. Like you've got to. and pay attention and pay attention to those emails, get on their mailing list, because if you're not on it quick, you're going to miss out. So don't miss out, especially on Inkstone's releases. And so I am for one of as a fan, I'm excited for what you guys have to come, what you have to come. You and your partner have to come for this year. ⁓ The entire team. Yeah. Cool. Thank you. Yeah. OK, thanks, Brad. Thanks for hanging out. Brett: For a week, yeah. me and my personality. Thank you. No problem, thank you.