The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski

In this story set in East Texas, a local seamstress named Chintana finds herself responsible for five orphans who are not only captivated by a storyteller’s tale of vengeance but by the long black box he sets before them. As midnight approaches, the box is opened, a fateful dare is made, and the children as well as Chintana come face to face with the consequences of a malice retold and now foretold.

Originally published as a large-size limited edition and subsequently performed only on Halloween night as a live shadow show, The Fifty Year Sword is finally available in hardcover complete with newly stitched illustrations and autumnal quotations marks.

The collector’s edition of Mark Z. Danielewski’s The Fifty Year Sword features a deluxe slipcase with five metal latches, Nepalese binding (an exposed, specially stitched spine), and a signed frontispiece. Limited to 1,000 copies.

The hardcover version of The Fifty Year Sword goes on sale October 16, 2012 for $23.95 and the limited edition goes on sale November 13, 2012 for $100.

To celebrate the release of the cover on 8/23, Mark did a Q&A on Twitter and with io9 readers. Read the Twitter Q&A here, and read the io9 Q&A here.

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Books-a-Million | Powell’s | Random House

Pre-order the eBook: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBookstore | Random House

Buy the Deluxe Limited Edition: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Books-a-Million | Powell’s | Random House

The limited deluxe edition with slipcase: