Buying My Books From Me Has Never Been Easier or Better!

Forget putting this on a card: I kind of want to get it tattooed on my comically oversized bicep.

My big goal for the book adaptation of The Weird Accordion to Al was to have it in the hands of the patrons who pre-ordered it during one of its three successful crowdfunding campaigns—first GoFundMe for the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour that gives the extended version of the book its name, then Kickstarter and then finally Backerkit—by Christmas, 2019. 

I wanted geeks everywhere to wake up on December 25th, 2019 and find a shiny, hopefully autographed copy of The Weird Accordion to Al under the Christmas tree just waiting to be devoured.

Needless to say, I failed. As is so often the case with the wacky world of literature, things proved substantially more time and labor intensive than I had anticipated. So I had to reluctantly cancel my plans to release a book that had taken up a whole lot of my time and energy and enthusiasm over the course of several years in time for last year’s Christmas.  

Do I write everything in red and green to make it more Christmasy? Yes I do.

Weirdly enough, the quickest, easiest part of the book publication process was Al copy-editing and fact-checking The Weird Accordion to Al. You would think a man like Al has all sorts of competition for his time. You would be right yet I sent the nearly 400 page manuscript to him and got it back copy-edited and fact-checked something like two days later. 

According to Amazon, the original version of The Weird Accordion to Al was published on January 11th, 2020, just in time to completely miss the holiday season. The expanded version was published on July 27th, 2020, in ample time for Christmas, 2020. 

To that end, I am introducing several promotions to make buying my books from me for Christmas and/or any other winter holidays as appealing as possible. You’ve never been able to buy Postal, the book I wrote  with my friend Brock Wilbur about the notorious video game series and movie of the same name and their eccentric creators Vince Desi and Uwe Boll respectively, from me directly by itself. 

Sadly, Brock has been taking handwriting lessons for decades. Don’t seem to be doing any good, I’m afraid.

I am pleased to report that is no longer the case. Now you can buy a copy of Postal signed by Brock and myself for twenty dollars all in, meaning shipping is free and there are no taxes. Alternately, you can buy one of 27 signed and numbered bundles of both Postal (signed by Brock and myself) and the extended version of The Weird Accordion to Al for a mere 37 dollars,  shipping and taxes including, domestic only. 

But that’s not all! Everyone who buys one of the 2020 bundles will also get a signed, numbered, limited edition (only 75 exist and they are going fast) and personalized Christmas Card featuring Felipe Sobreiro’s amazing artwork for “The Night Santa Went Crazy” from the book that I will personalize however you like. You just need to PayPal me 37 dollars (for the two book bundle +card) or 23 dollars (for the book +card) at nathanrabin@sbcglobal.net and tell me what to write (or not, if that’s your preference). 

I refrained from swearing in The Weird Accordion to Al and I removed all references to Donald Trump by popular demand but I will be only too happy to personalize the books “Fuck Donald Trump!” if you’d like.

AND because I can’t leave well enough alone, one of the 27 people who buy the bundle will get a copy of the original edition signed by Al himself.

The only list that matters (other than the other one I’m on, of course!)

I did a similar deal earlier in the year but this one’s way better because the Postals are signed by Brock as well as myself, you get the much longer, definitive version of The Weird Accordion to Al and the nifty card. 

I am quite fond of Postal but don’t take my word for it. Take Polygon’s! They named it one of the ten best video game books of the year, gushing, “Brock Wilbur and Nathan Rabin make for a charming pair of travel buddies on a journey through the deeply unsavory world of Postal. The series began in 1997 as a top-down shooter, following a mentally tormented man who goes on a mass shooting spree. The tone fluctuates between “anarchistic nightmare” and “aspiring social satire” and “imprisonment in an abandoned fun house.” Wilbur and Rabin unpack the franchise’s history with humor and grace, without glamorizing or apologizing for its nastiness.”

This has been a very difficult year for this website along with the rest of the world. My monthly Patreon haul is way down, from 3300 dollars or so a month earlier this year to 2500 dollars and sinking so it really would mean the world to me if you would consider buying the book, or the books, as a gift or for yourself. If you already own the original edition, why not upgrade to the 500 page extended edition with oodles more content and illustrations? Or buy a copy for your nerdiest friend?

I’m in the Christmas business, it seems, through no fault of my own and to be honest, I am feeling the Merle Haggard song “If We Make It Through December” on a painfully personal level right now. So please do consider pledging to https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace and buying my books from me personally. You can help me make it through December and make your Christmastime brighter in the process and then God willing 2021 will be, at the very least, a little less apocalyptic than this legendarily, historically terrible year. 

Help ensure a future for the Happy Place during an uncertain era AND get sweet merch by pledging to the site’s Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace

Also, BUY the RIDICULOUSLY SELF-INDULGENT, ILL-ADVISED VANITY EDITION of  THE WEIRD ACCORDION TO AL, the Happy Place’s first book. This 500 page extended edition features an introduction from Al himself (who I co-wrote 2012’s Weird Al: The Book with), who also copy-edited and fact-checked, as well as over 80 illustrations from Felipe Sobreiro on entries covering every facet of Al’s career, including his complete discography, The Compleat Al, UHF, the 2018 tour that gives the book its subtitle and EVERY episode of The Weird Al Show and Al’s season as the band-leader on Comedy Bang! Bang! 

Only 23 dollars signed, tax and shipping included, at the https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop or for more, unsigned, from Amazon here