The New, Muchly Improved Rabbit Room Store
That’s right, ladies and germs. We have heard your cries, your pleas for deliverance from clunky interfaces, pages that don’t load properly, organizational confusion. We have heard those cries, and because of the tireless (and aesthetically pleasing) work of Sir Jonathan Forsythe, we offer you this solution.
Here are some of the changes:
–It looks better. Way better. Thank you, Jonathan.
–Downloads. Downloads won’t disappear from your account after you’ve downloaded them. That way, if your computer crashes or something, you can always find your purchases in your Rabbit Room Store account and download them again.
–You can easily see new music and books. The three newest items we’ve added will be on the main store page. We also have a section for featured or recently reviewed items, and if there’s a corresponding Rabbit Room post you can link to it easily from the item in the store.
–Reviews! I’m excited about this one. Let us and others in the Rabbit Room community know what you think of the works we’re carrying.
–Artist/Author pages. If you click an item, say an Eric Peters CD, at the top of the store window you’ll see “bread crumbs”, like in the iTunes store. Basically, it’ll say “Rabbit Room Store > Music > Eric Peters > Chrome” If you click the “Eric Peters” link it’ll show you all of his products in the store. Neato. The same would be true if you wanted to see which C.S. Lewis books we carried after you’d clicked The Great Divorce: “Rabbit Room Store > Books > C.S. Lewis > The Great Divorce”.
–Podcasts. We’ll also have an easy interface for you to browse and download the Rabbit Room Podcasts, though it may not be ready for a day or two.
This is still a work in progress, so if you see any glitches or have suggestions for improvement let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate. Jonathan at Makeshift Creative has worked hard on this, and not because we’re paying him the big bucks (we’re not). He’s doing it because he believes in the Rabbit Room and wanted to help. So thank you, thank you, Jonathan.
You may remember a while back we asked you for suggestions for improvement of the site in general. Well, we’re working on that too. We have plans to update the contributor pictures and bios. We also want to fix the category tabs so they make a little more sense. I don’t know about you, but I never click the Story/Art/Music/Trails tabs any more.
A.S. Peterson has crafted a work of compelling historical fiction which begs the question, “Can this really be a debut novel?” With dogged fidelity, Peterson captures the spirit, manners, and social conditions present during the American Revolutionary War. We meet colorful, credible characters who navigate the high seas of life and love, dependence and independence, war and peace, truth and consequence, and despite forays into dark places, The Fiddler’s Gun is beautiful, lyrical, and redemptive.
Walt Wangerin, Jr. strikes again.
Janner Igiby lives in Glipwood, a nothing little village in the land of Skree, on the edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Manhood is on the horizon, but Janner finds it hard to feel much hope for the future. Skree is ruled by foreign oppressors, snake men called the Fangs of Dang, servants of a shadowy emperor named Gnag the Nameless. The Skreeans are weak and weaponless. They’re even tool-less. Any Skreean who needs to use a hoe has to borrow one from the Fangs (and fill out the requisite paperwork). And from time to time, the Black Carriage arrives in Glipwood to carry young Skreeans toward an unknown fate across the Dark Sea.
I am not a fan of Civil War literature; in fact, I have always thought of it as one of those weird sub-genres for obsessive types. They’re almost like Trekkies with their re-enactments and maniacal devotion to detail. It’s just not my thing (although I’m secretly jealous that they get to dress up and shoot cannons).
A Randall Goodgame song is like a great independent movie. Characters deliver lines like they were lifted from a break room, a truck stop, or a downtown diner. Seemingly incongruent scenes are juxtaposed and plot isn’t obvious; in fact, narrative–a good story–is often more evident than linear plot lines. An indie movie, like a Randall Goodgame song, seems to tell itself. Rather than being rudely yanked by a chain through a sequence of contrived events, with a Randall Goodgame song, I have the sense that I’m being allowed a willing, but vicarious sneak peak into the real lives of his real characters.
Sara Groves irritates me just a little bit. With each album she makes, she moves from strength to strength and is always raising the bar with the quality, depth, and lyrical ambition of her work. And as a fellow artist, that’s just a little irritating since it means the rest of us are going to have to work harder if we hope to keep up.
I am outside on my front porch. The yellowed leaves are methodically falling from the black walnut in the yard, my breath is chalky visible in the recent cold snap, and lately I have been exploring the unpleasant nuances of the dark night of a soul - my own, to be exact. It is a strange passion we live out on this over-glorified orb of rock hurtling through space at some rate that I’m sure would astound me were I to know what it was. It is an odd series of days, I am realizing, when you question your own faith more than you question your own doubt. And, indeed, it is these nagging questions which have prompted me to share my thoughts on Andrew Peterson’s 2003 album, Love and Thunder.
11-year old Reuben Land, a character in the 2001 book Peace Like a River, provides narration that is clear-eyed and insightful, yet retains the magic, wonder, and innocence of youth. I found it easy to entrust my imagination to the author’s clever method of telling the story through the sensibilities of a pre-teen boy. An author with lesser skill would have either made the boy too smart-alecky for his own good or impossibly cute.
I just finished a book that upon closing it, I felt like it finished me in a sense. A quiet meditative book that reached down and stirred the deep waters in me. It’s Marilynne Robinson’s 2005 Pulitzer prize winner Gilead, given to me by my friend Andrew Peterson.
Eric Peters’s body of work addresses a diverse range of topics, but hope is a recurring theme that gently percolates in the midst of it all. And yet, somewhere between the 2001 masterpiece Land of the Living, and Scarce, the flavor of hope that Peters’s work emits has evolved closer to a tone that is more resolute than what came before. And though the complexion of hope has a broad range, the lyrics from Scarce–while intermittently contrite and timorous as in previous efforts, are now strengthened and bolstered by roots that have grown deeper, radiating an underlying grit and security.
Having read The Great Divorce many times over the years, I’ve found this classic from the great C.S. Lewis to be full of startling clarity and depth on the differences between Heaven and Hell. The only thing both have in common is that both begin in the human will; we can either let Heaven enter us and rule in us to blossom into love and goodness, or allow Hell to infect and reign in our hearts by the daily refusal to submit to Heaven.
Even if you haven’t heard Room to Breathe, its still likely you’ve heard Andy Gullahorn. He’s what I’d call a heavy lifter by trade. He writes lyrics, plays guitar, arranges vocals and adds production help to the work of artists like Jill Phillips and Andrew Peterson.
Allow me to preface this by telling you that I am a great despiser of gushing reviews. I’d much rather write (or read) a scathing dismemberment of the latest Brett Ratner film or Terry Goodkind book than suffer through four hundred words of overblown hyperbole about even the best of things. But when asked to write some thoughts on Frederick Buechner’s Godric, no amount of distaste for high praise was able to intervene. I hope you’ll take what I say with the understanding that I do not say it readily or lightly.
I am trying to create an account (which I thought I already had) and it is saying to enter the security code. Yet no such picture or code is showing up to enter. Help?!
Thank you! Can’t wait to start buying Christmas presents from the new Rabbit Room store.
Chris–Jonathan just fixed the issue. How’s that for fast service?
AP
Sorry to say~ I can’t login to my account or get my password. I thought I’d forgotten my password and clicked on “forgot password”, but to no avail. Do we need to make a new account for the new store?
You’ll need to make a new account, Paula.
Sorry about that, Paula! Jonathan’s working on whether or not he can import the old accounts, but it’s iffy. There were a few thousand, and it may prove too difficult. Hope you like the new store!
AP
Having problems downloading the new BTLOG album. It says to get ahold of @rabbitroom. Any suggestions?
Purty! That flash shopping cart was beautiful, but, well, it was in flash. Double edged sword, what.
Jake,
Sorry about that. I forwarded your problem on to Jonathan, who will help you out post haste. Thanks for your patience, everybody. This is super helpful.
AP
Jake,
Try it now. Should be fixed.
AP
Hey, yesterday I ordered a download of the Appendix A, but it came back telling me there was an error in my billing address and the credit card info. However, today I was billed for two downloads. What can I do about this? Thanks!
Just placed my first order on the new store (the ability to pre-order a mug was just too much to resist). The store sure is purty! Did notice one thing, though: The whatchama in the left-hand frame to sign up for the email newsletter doesn’t seem to have a submit button…?
Thanks Andrew. It is downloading now. What a treat to get a fresh listen on this album. We are stoked to have you come to Lincoln Berean!!
I also tried to log into my account to download the purchased Appendix A album, but it doesn’t seem to be recognizing my user email and password. Any help? Thanks again.
Justin,
Send an email to orders@rabbitroom.com and we’ll take care of it. Sorry about that. Again, thanks for your patience.
AP
So, I made a new account and pre-ordered BTLOG Anniversary CD. Thanks for everything, and I LOVE the new store. It rocks, you guys!
The store is not set up properly for Non-Americans yet. For the initial store login you have to enter an American State with no mention of country. If you do create an account using a not totally correct location, even though you can select another country, you can’t put in a 6 digit postal code, just 5 digits. I’ll wait patiently for the fix.
Kyle,
I just heard from Jonathan that our xenophilia has been remedied. Canadians are welcome, as are most other nationalities. I’m not sure about the Danes.
AP
P.S. Dear Danish friends: I’m kidding.
I just ordered something, and.. well, it’s not really a big issue, but some spelling (specifically the word “receive”) was butchered on the confirmation e-mail.
Ooh. Thanks, Matt. We’ll take care of it.
AP
One more quick question. I have a few books I’d like to send in that can go in the store. How does that work again? I tried perusing the site to find that information, but didn’t know where to look. Thanks for the help. It’s some Buechner, Chabon (Yiddish Policeman’s Union), and Chesterton.
Thanks for straightening this out, Andrew!
I’ve attempted to go to the store to buy things in the past and found it wouldn’t load. I thought it was just me!
Wonderful improvements to the store! One annoyance is that whenever you add an item to your cart, you get automatically redirected to your cart. Maybe it’s just me, but I think it would be better if it stayed on the current page.
On the other hand, I guess that’s a simple of letting the user know that the item has been added to the cart.
OK, never mind