In Defense of Buying Books
Or — In Defense of buying books — and never reading them.
Curious bit here, about buying books and never reading them.
Towards the end, there are two points that stick out with me:
- *You might meet the author someday.
*You support the author.
I’m easy to meet. I have a listing of locations, hours and availability. Not rocket surgery, finding me. Easy to stalk. Some say, easy to catch, but I defer on that one.
Readings, face-to-face are easy enough, as I’ve covered more of Texas than anything else, but I do make it overseas and further afield some times. Check back or ask, I might be there, soon. Never can tell.
The idea that buying books supports the author has never been more true. As such, the next book I’ve got coming out spans several years. More than two decades as there’s one piece included that has its roots in shaky, undergraduate work. After 20 or more years, I’ve learned a thing or two. Winced and cleaned it up.
This is the first place I’ve ever lived that’s not close to a bookstore or two. As it turns out, there is a small store, but it’s kind of a hit-or-miss deal, with some best-sellers, then numerous remaindered materials, not always bad, but some didn’t sell for a reason.
One of the skills I acquired, perforce, in a trailer park in South Austin? Which books to buy and which books to borrow, or get in paperback and then discard, or, these days? Just get them in e-book form.
Towards that end, I will have my own version of a pulp magazine available in November, Drawer for Wishes, some new, some old, some good, some not-so-much.
It will be free, and since it’s on Kindle Select, only available through that platform for the first 90 days (I think those are the terms). One piece has waited more than 20 years for publication, kind of a sophomore effort, which means, the piece was done before the advent of e-books, &c.
When I owned a house, I envisioned a well-stocked library. These days, I envision a slightly larger but equally manageable library to what I’ve got.
I’ve learned, over and over with the sad effort of selling off unused books, that I can’t really buy books that I’ll never read. But that’s me. Couple of authors, I’ll buy both the ebook and the hardback.
Books — astrofish.net/books are now available in Austin, at Nature’s Treasures.
See astrofish.net/travel listing for details and location.