Mermaid Confidential: A Novel (Serge Storms, 25)
Mermaid Confidential
To me, the publishing house, Barnes & Noble always felt like a second tier option. An afterthought? An “also ran?” A long, storied namesake. But the other, long-dead, giant chain, with its cool accoutrements — Borders — crashed and burned, long before the seismic shift in bookstores and book-buying. All of this is best left in the dust and history of the public with its retail-book habits.
Mermaid Confidential: A Novel (Serge Storms, 25)
For me, I’ve experienced mixed results, at best, with purchasing top-selling books on Amazon. True, I link to them, and true, I can earn a commission from the link and sale, but not enough of ya’ll are buying from my links, and that doesn’t matter. Not always on time, like a Tuesday release date doesn’t get delivered on Tuesday, as suggested.
When the Tim Dorsey books go on sale? I prefer buying local. To be sure, there is merry war of wits between Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Costco. That last one, Costco, only carries authors who sell at a certain level, and I tend to not favor too many of those bestsellers, but it is a favorite spot because of the price — and sales count towards bestseller status.
Tim Dorsey himself answered a query e-mail from me, about which one was better for him, as an author, and his response was that it didn’t matter. I just wanted to buy where it helped the author the most.
Most of the Barnes & Noble I’ve been in, certainly all of them locally? There’s a branded Starbuck’s coffee shop, and rock-bottom remainders, plus best sellers, and similar, all under one roof. Craft, cruft, crass, and curated. Careful examination of “classics” reveals that the giant has a deep canon of public domain copies of classics, published under its own name, hence serving the name of “publisher” rather than just bookstore. Plus a proprietary e-reader.
What disturbed me the most, I rolled up on Wednesday because I was at the rock shop on the release date itself, and to no avail. “We didn’t get that one in, do you want us to order it for you?” Probably not, you know, because it should be on the bestseller shelf before too long. Supply chain problem.
I have two local libraries, both digital, and one popped the book up in a hurry. So there is that. I still need a hardback, first edition, and I’m still slightly perturbed that my buddy is no longe getting an ARC, but times being what they are?
Mermaid Confidential
Mermaid Confidential: A Novel (Serge Storms, 25)
There’s a kind of sheer insanity brilliance, and prose style that rips forward, crashes forward, at an alarming pace. For the record, the Serge novels do hold up well under subsequent rereading, hallmarks of good literature, topical references be damned. There’s a crazy amount of information buried, with trivia and diatribes, long-winded bits of exposition that deliver nuanced, or maybe blatantly, flavored data.
If there is a theme? Sort of a vertical trailer-park. Condo-commandos in the Keys? With a decent swipe — Serge style — at medical billing policies and practices.