AXIS OF EVIL MAPPING NEWSLETTER DECEMBER, #11 OF 2011

NEW TITLES RELEASED SINCE THE LAST NEWSLETTER: We issued 15 new titles last month alone, so should be finished, right? Wrong! Here are four more, including three brand new titles: Kabul and the Historic Khyber Pass, Malaysia, Mauritius and Rodrigues, and Norway. Details below
Dear all,

INTRODUCTION

Lan, Linh and myself seemed to spend most of November in a plane or in a hotel. Lan stayed in Vancouver to perform on Canada’s Got Talent!, then flew to Hanoi. Linh and I flew to Bangkok to attend the IMTA conference, leaving daughter Phuong in charge of the store, the warehouse, our American-based operation, two houses, and a baby to manage – and she did it without batting an eye! IMTA was a great success, in spite of the scare-mongering yellow press that vastly over-emphasized the extent of the flooding and scared off some of our delegates. We enjoyed the geocaching, the conference speakers, the hotel buffet lunches and, most of all, the networking with fellow delegates. We picked up two new lines, from Malaysia and from the Philippines, and activated new distribution arrangements into Indonesia and Vietnam. Linh and I then joined Lan in Hanoi and spent ten days being mostly involved with globes, but I also had a pleasant meeting with the Director-General of the country’s post office and renewed my acquaintances with several senior philatelic collectors.
As this is our last Axis newsletter of 2011, I would like to extend to you our best wishes for a happy and peaceful Christmas season, and much prosperity in the New Year. We end the year by losing one of our valued staff, Sophie, who is returning to France, and welcoming our newest staff member, Sam, from China.

STUPID CROOK AWARD FOR THIS MONTH

Even though it’s Christmas, stupidity never goes out of fashion. This happened recently in England. A young couple went out on their first date, to a movie, using her car. Once inside the theatre, the man claimed to have left something in the vehicle, borrowed her keys – are you ready for this – and stole her car. I mean, how dumb can you get? How often does a car get stolen by somebody one knows, let alone somebody one is dating!?! Needless to say, the boys in blue didn’t have much trouble arresting the miscreant. He’d told the girl his correct name and where he worked and his mobile/cell phone number; three dead giveaway clues to being arrested.
That’s it for news this month – now please note four new releases, below and four new titles in our unavailable list further down. As fast as we get new releases, something else goes out of print.

NEW TITLES RELEASED IN LATE NOVEMBER/EARLY DECEMBER, 2011


Kabul and the Historic Khyber Pass 1st Ed,. 2012 1:16,500 (city)/1:1,000,000 (region) ISBN 9781553416548 UPC 815534165466 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – Never let it be said that ITMB is a shrinking violet! Well, those who think Afghanistan is a perpetual basket case had better think again. Sure, the country is still infested with tribal factions (it always has been), and fighting still occurs all too often, but if one wants to get in on the groundswell of a new day, one starts early. This is the first map of Kabul that’s ever been published by a major cartographic house. Is it a good map? Well, I hope so. Obviously, doing the research was a bit difficult, but it is the best darned map on the market and will appeal to aid agencies, relief workers, the families of tens of thousands of soldiers who are posted to the region, and to the rebuilders who are steadily and quietly rebuilding the new Afghanistan. It isn’t all doom and gloom; there’s some exciting things happening in Afghanistan that are positive, like the rebuilding of the medieval fortress overlooking Heart, or the first council of elders that was held in Kabul very recently. AVAILABLE.
Malaysia Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 20121:750,000 (west)/1:1,100,000 (east) ISBN 9781553411963 UPC 815534119636 $12.95cdn/us E8.95 7.99GBP– Malaysia must be considered as two separate entities lumped together. The Malay Peninsula stretches south from the Thai border to the island republic of Singapore, and is overwhelmingly Muslim. The other half would be the far-flung island components of Sarawak and Sabah, with the Sultanate of Brunei in the middle, extending eastwards towards Polynesia, wild and only lightly touched by the modern world. As this is an update, there isn’t a lot of new material; obviously, things that have changed from the previous edition have been corrected/added, and the inset map of Kuala Lumpur has been re-worked. We have added a detailed hiking map to the Mount Kinabalu inset map, and have added the new spinal highway linking Sarawak with Brunei. AVAILABLE.
Mauritius and Rodrigues Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2012 1:90,000 ISBN 9781553413233 UPC 815534132376 $12.95cdn/us E8.95 7.99GBP – This is another brand new map title for ITMB. Although I’ve not yet been able to visit Mauritius, or its satellite island of Rodrigues, it’s in my planned trips for next year. The island, south and east of Cape Town, is a major sugar-producing country, with enormous tourist potential. Dozens of beach resorts already dot the coastline, including all the ‘brand’ names, which bodes well for the future. Naturally, we’ve shown all the roads, villages, touristic sites, and attractions, and have respected the heritage of the island by inter-mingling French and English names, just as exists on the islands. This expands our country range to 150. AVAILABLE.
Norway Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2012 1:875,000 ISBN 9781553410058 UPC 815534100580 $12.95cdn/us E8.95 7.99GBP – This is actually a brand new map, in that it is completely new artwork, although we have had a map of Norway for several years. Lan and I took our base map to Norway in October (approximately one month ago, as I write) and all of the pictures on the map emanate from that trip, including the interesting cover picture of a traditional stave church ( which is at Lom and noted on the map). Norway is, in my opinion, one of the most scenic countries in Europe. It has more tunneled roadways through mountains than Switzerland, a larger ferry system than anywhere else, what must be the most English-language friendly country outside of Holland, and scenery galore. As a word of warning, however, the roads tend to be narrow and winding, and speed limits of 60 to 70 kms/hour result in long days of driving if you want to see the whole country. We drove 6,000 kms in a week and never got north of Trondheim! This map is, in my opinion, far superior to our previous attempt, and would serve any traveller’s needs. AVAILABLE.

NEW RELEASES IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER, 2011: A SUMMARY

Eastern Canada Travel Atlas 1st Ed. 2011 157pg. scale varies ISBN 9781553410850 UPC 815534108586 S19.95cdn/us E14.95 13.99GBP
Bolivia Travel Reference Map 4th Ed. 2012 1:1,250,000 ISBN 9781553410126 UPC 815534101228 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
Cambodia (and Laos) Travel Reference Map5th Ed. 2012 1:750,000 ISBN 9781553412908 UPC 815534129079 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
Chile Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2012 1:1,750,000 on waterproof paper ISBN 9781553412106 UPC 815534121097 $11.95cdn/us E8.95 7.99GBP
Chile South and Patagonia travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2012 1:1,250,000/1:2,000,000 ISBN 9781553411314 UPC 815534113153 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
Colombia Travel Reference Map 3rd Ed. 2012 1:1,400,000 ISBN 9781553410171 UPC 815534101730 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
Helsinki and Southern Finland 2nd Ed. 2012 1:10,000/600,000 ISBN 9781553410188 UPC 815534101815 $10.95 cdn/us, E7.95 6.99GBP
Iceland Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2012 1:425,000 on waterproof paper ISBN 9781553412861 UPC 815534128690 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
Laos (and Cambodia) Travel Reference Map 5TH Ed. 2012 1:1,200,000 ISBN 9781553412908 (as above, see Cambodia) $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
Moldova (and Romania) Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2012 1:445,000 2012 ISBN 9781553414001 UPC 815534140043 (same as for Romania, below) $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
Panama Travel Reference Map 6th Ed. 2012 1:300,000 on waterproof paper ISBN 9781553413882 UPC 815534138811 $11.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
Puerto Rico Travel Reference Map 5th Ed. 2012 on waterproof paper 1:190,000 ISBN 9781553414506 UPC 815534145000
Romania (and Moldova) Travel Reference Map 1:850,000 2012 ISBN 9781553414001 UPC 815534140043 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
Sikkim and Northeast India Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2012 1:135,000/1,500,000 ISBN 9781553410843 UPC 815534108432 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP
US/Canada Border Travel Map 1st Ed. 2012 1:2,500,000 ISBN 9781553417385 UPC 815534173805 $12.95cdn/us E8.95 7.99GBP

ARTWORK OUT OF STOCK and being prepared for release

Argentina is out of stock – again! We’re doing a minor update and the map should be available again by the end of January.
Armenia/Azerbaijan is out of stock. An updating has been completed and the artwork sent to the printer, but it should be late January before it is available again.
Bali/Lombok has been marvelously successful, but is already out of stock. A new edition is already at press, and should be available in late January.
Costa Rica is out of stock, with a new edition coming in January.
Madagascar is quite low in inventory and should be out of stock by early January. An updating for a new edition is underway, for release in March.
Malta and Gozo is out of stock and undergoing a major re-working as well as updating. It should be available again by March, 2012.
Nicaragua has run out of copies and is being updating for a February release.
Thailand is out of copies and should be available again by February.
Yemen is out of stock. Given the political unrest currently besetting that country, we have decided to suspend this title until tourism to the country picks up again. Now that the dictator has agreed to step down, a degree of normalcy has returned to Yemen, but not much.
Zimbabwe, as a separate title, is out of stock. Please use Botswana and Zimbabwe, the combined title, until further notice.