Buying Books

Last week I had a little time to myself. A rarity to say the least, so I decided to take a ride out to my local Barnes and Noble. I had a wallet full of birthday money and I was looking to buy some books, in particular the new book by former 315er Marshall Ryan Maresca, THE FENMERE JOB. And maybe a few more of his books while I was there. I have a two of his already vast catalog, one on my Kindle and the other safely tucked away on my bookshelf.

I treated myself to a venti iced Chai and a salted toffee cookie (I only ate half). To my joy, I discovered that Starbucks (at least the ones in Barnes and Noble) don't use straws anymore. This seems to annoy a lot of people, but having to bring ones own bags to the grocery store and not getting straws doesn't seem like a big deal to me. But that's another blog post, not this one.

I walked around the store, disappointed to find they did not have the book and for a massive store filled with thousands and thousands of books, it felt like there wasn't a lot of selection. Sure there was an entire five shelf rack of GAME OF THRONES books and a shelf and a half of WHEEL OF TIME. Three racks of tie-in novels, mostly related to WARHAMMER. I was saddened that there was no more Dungeons and Dragons fiction on the shelf, a cornerstone of my education as a writer. I perused the young adult shelves where I was deluged with a wave of darkness. Every book cover was black or dark blue or gray with almost identical silver writing. It was dismal. Is it that the "grimdark" subgenre has worked it's way down to young adult and we've decided that there really is no hope? Or was I just being oversensitive? I walked the aisles, moving through the traditional and romance titles before making my way through history and eventually over to the kids section. Even the writing shelves were dominated by Stephen King and B&N's own writing books. I was bummed.

I wound up walking out with my remaining chai and half a cookie. And that's all. And that made me sad. Me walking out of a bookstore without a book is an absurd thought. And a sad one. Is it that it's just easier to hit the Buy It Now button on Amazon and get exactly what I want? That's a good question. Fear not, dear reader, I did not go on without getting Mr. Maresca's book. I contacted the only local, independent bookstore I know, The Golden Bee Bookshop in the village of Liverpool and had them order me a slew of his books for me. So I'm supporting an artist that I love and a local business as well. I encourage you to do the same.