Brilliance and incompetence

So after getting my “third notice” that my subscription was about to expire back in December, I sent the “bill me” coupon back to Yen Plus’s subscription handlers (as there was no option to pay at that point). Weeks pass, they send me back a bill, and I send them a check. Weeks pass, they send me another bill and a warning about my subscription lapsing. Hmm. So I looked into it and it looks like they never cashed the check. Maybe they didn’t receive it? I send them another check. More weeks pass, last Friday comes and I still haven’t received my April issue yet. Figuring my subscription had indeed lapsed, I went ahead and bought it at the bookstore (not paying attention, I accidentally grab a copy that had a huge tear in the cover that goes several pages deep. Arg). Now today (Monday)… I get my subscription issue in the mail. Was everyone’s issue late, or just mine? Seeing as how Yen Press hasn’t posted their April issue post on their blog yet, I’m thinking it might be everybody… No matter. Now I have two copies of this issue. I check the status of the checks I sent them, and it turns out they cashed the first check… two days after I had sent the second. Did I just accidentally subscribe for two years? Who knows where I’m going to be in two years!

God. If these idiots can’t get with the twentieth century and accept credit cards by phone or interweb, the least they could do is at least process check payments in a reasonable amount of time. Yen Press, your subscription handlers are maliciously incompetent. Don’t you realize this sort of BS reflects poorly on you guys as well?

Anyway, in case you haven’t received your issue either… The big news is that it looks like Hero Tales will be going on hiatus - it doesn’t look like it’s being fully retired; just put on pause for an indeterminate amount of time. JuYuon gives an explanation for it; I don’t really understand it, but it sounds sincere. After an inconspicuous start, Hero Tales quickly took off and has really turned into something special, in my opinion. I greatly anticipate its return.

On a happier note… I just finished the second volume of Higurashi When They Cry: The Curse Killing Arc. As I’m continuing to read this series, I’m reminded of projects in my high school writing and drama classes where we were all given a list of set characters and props and had to come up with our own stories or plays incorporating them. The end results tended to be pretty lame, but each “arc” in Higurashi is essentially doing this, but with incredible execution - the series just keeps getting better and better. As I become more familiar with Ryukishi07’s world, I find myself fascinated by watching the same props and characters being woven in anew in each story; oh, here’s where Satoshi’s baseball bat comes in - oh, no, wait, he totally faked us out! Is it not going to show up in this one? …Aah, there it is. If you’re a fan of psychological mind-bending stories, you’ve got to check out this series; if you’re not, this series just might make you one.