At long, long last Privateer Press is reporting that not only is the IKCG written, edited, laid-out, printed, proofed, re-printed, and shipped. It has also been received by distributors. Keenly aware that they have a PR problem with the severe delays in releasing this product, they had the excellent taste to display the following on their main page:

Flying pigs spotted off the coast of Washington!
[7/20/04 19:28 GMT]
First reports have started popping up of distributors receiving the Iron Kingdoms Character Guide! We have seen the reprinted sections of the book, and though the additional delay was inconvenient, we are quite happy with the decision to fix the sections that were too dark. The book finally is real, and should be in stores within the next week or sooner…

Note that I’m not holding my breath yet, but I’ll probably feel a little less pessimistic when I head by my FLGS on Friday to pester the staff about whether UPS has shown up yet.