I’m not actually joking, although I am damn well putting my own stuff first. International shipping times are getting worse and worse. If it’s not in a warehouse in the USA now, the odds of a toy or game getting to you in time for Christmas are pretty bad, and they’re not going to get better. Certainly not in three months! Excuse me: two and a half months.
Books, on the other hand, are in better shape: bluntly, the publishing industry doesn’t use the PRC as much when printing them. But the big publishers are still dependent on domestic trucking to get their books to the printers, and back from the printer, and then out to the stores. Your best bet is to, yeah, order directly from Amazon. Actually, your best bet is order books like mine; which are made domestically and shipped via Amazon’s in-house distribution network.
And, hey: I have a selection available for sale. Two-day shipping, too. Better safe than sorry, right?
Moe Lane
PS: This advice works even if you’d rather crawl over broken glass than buy a book from me. If that’s the case, I guarantee you this: somebody who you like is trying to sell books in a similar manner. Find them, and buy their books instead.