No avatar, just an original
(Note: there’s an update at the end!)
So just wanted to share a quick post about a new acquisition up here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library North, and a bit of an associated mystery, a real literary eccentricity and rarity. The book is Avatar Inc: A Sci-Fi Anthology edited by Ann VanderMeer and published March 13, 2020, by the XPRIZE Foundation.
Yeah, that XPRIZE Foundation.
It was originally made available through a website at avatars.inc, with downloadable versions in ebook and pdf format, but the site no longer exists except as a partial archive at the Wayback Machine.
The most we’ve been able to find about this book is this story on Tor.com and some reviews at GoodReads. And nowhere have we found reference to a print edition.
And yet here one is…
As far as we’ve been able to figure out so far, this print edition shouldn’t exist. It has no barcode or ISBN, which suggests it was never meant for commercial distribution. But it is by no means a cheap copy, featuring instead full colour illustrations at the start of every story, and a high quality perfect bound full colour cover.
Our leading hypothesis is that this was a contributor copy for participating authors. But if so, how did it end up at an antique store in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada? Assuming our hypothesis is even accurate.
We are now on a quest to find one of the allegedly formerly freely downloadable pdf copies in order to compare copyright pages and other content, but which as a further mystery we have not been able to find all that easily now that the original website is gone.
So we can’t find the only edition mentioned anywhere, but we do have an artifact that is mentioned nowhere. For all we know, this print copy could be the only proof it ever even existed beyond rumour and internet hearsay.
If we learn more, we’ll share in the comments or a follow up post. But in the meantime, happy questing for your own mystery artifacts!
– Winston
Update!
September 12, 2023
So as part of our quest for answers, I posted variations of the following to several social media platforms as well as a Discord group of student librarians:
Okay, weird quest to throw out to all of you! The book is *Avatar Inc: A Sci-Fi Anthology* edited by Ann VanderMeer, published March 13, 2020 by the XPRIZE Foundation, and at one point available as a free pdf download from a website that shut down a year or two ago, formerly at avatar.inc ... trying to track down that pdf! No luck with the Wayback Machine. Anyone grab a copy? Ideas for where else to look?
Many took up the search. And once again social media revealed its potential for the positive, with a particular shout out to Mastodon for making the final connection. After being boosted a handful of times on that platform, the following response appeared:
Screenshot from Mastodon that reads “jakob @themoep@infosec.exchange @blackriders i don’t know if ann is on the fediverse but @jeffvendermeer might know or ask”… yup, that would be @jeffvandermeer who is spouse of Avatars Inc editor Ann VanderMeer…
Later that day, this one word reply appeared…
Screenshot from Mastodon that reads “jeffvandermeer @jeffvendermeer@mastodon.online @themoep @blackriders yeah @Annvander18”… yup, that would be @Annvander18 who IS Anne VanderMeer…
And then les pièces de résistance…
Screenshot from Mastodon that reads “Ann VanderMeer @Annvander18@mastodon.social @blackriders I’m working with the XPRIZE people to get the website back up for this anthology (plus the earlier one Current Oceans). Will post when it’s available.”
And then in response to a follow up question about print copies…
Screenshot from Mastodon that reads “Ann VanderMeer @Annvander18@mastodon.social @blackriders there were only a few printed copies for review purposes. I don’t know how many are in circulation. I will see if I can find a pdf.”
I should probably also mention that my response to all this in the other places where I had posted the original quest was the following:
OMG I POSTED THIS SAME QUEST ON MASTODON AND IT GOT BOOSTED AND THEN SOMEONE SAW IT AND TAGGED JEFF VANDERMEER WHO TAGGED ANN VANDERMEER AND NOW I'M MESSAGING ANN VANDERMEER TO FIND OUT MORE!
So all that to say that the Butterflies & Aliens Library North is now the proud steward of a printed review copy of Avatars Inc, and we look forward to the relaunch of the avatars.inc website. And we will update with a link as soon as it’s available.
In the meantime, happy reading!
– Winston
