American publishers will only have the rights to it on a certain date, so I assume unless you went to England and physically bought the book and brought it home, an online retailer can't sell/ship to the U.S. until the U.S. pub date.

Damn it. I figured that was the case. Or something like it.

I've bought books form Amazon.com that weren't available at amazon.ca without any problems, but I don't know if there were publishing issues or just availability issues. I know people that have successfully bought books from Amazon.co.uk (to ship to Canada) specifically because they were released in the UK earlier.

Steph, did you actually place the order before you got the message?

Steph, did you actually place the order before you got the message?

Last year, yes. Although when I placed the order, there was already a US release date scheduled. As of now, there is a UK/Australia date scheduled, but no US date actually scheduled -- just confirmation that it will be released at some point.

I tried to put it in my shopping cart at .co.uk and it was okay, because .com usually tells me when I add something if it can't be shipped to Canada. But if it let you order it last year, maybe that won't work.

One of my friends buys stuff from amazonUK fairly often, but it is stuff that isn't published here. ( She is English) Of course, her CC stops her card all the time because the charge goes thru Lithuania.

I do know I bought the British edition of Monbiot's "Heat" from Amazon Canada before the U.S. edition was out. Don't know if that would work for fiction.

Smart words from John Scalzi about Amazon and MacMillan authors.

I'm now having a crisis of conscience. I dislike the way Amazon has behaved. I want Connie Willis' new book in my hands right this minute. Amazon is significantly cheaper than anyone except *shudder* Walmart, if the local store has it in stock.