Had a four-hour book signing today at Kazoo Books in Kalamazoo, along with Comrade Sarah, Anne Harris, and Jacqueline Carey. Kalamazoo about a two-hour drive west of here, so off I went in my trusty Cavalier. The drive was nice, and I had fine spring weather. Found the bookstore easily enough and walked right in.
Kazoo Books is a used and new bookstore set up in what used to be a house. It’s very large, with three floors of shelves and an enormously fat cat named Tink. I was later told that the owners put Tink on a diet but he didn’t lose weight. Eventually they discovered the customers were feeding him! Now they have signs posted around the store asking people not to do that.
Anyway, I met the very friendly store owners and got a tour. (The place is big enough to warrant one.) The SF books were in the basement (rather like those stereotypical SF readers), and I found the workers unpacking and shelving a whole slew o’ boxes. It seems some guy died and his heirs found box after box after box of SF and F novels in his house. They called Kazoo Books. “How much would you charge to haul them away?”
“Er . . . ”
Despite temptation, the owners paid for the books and quintupled their SF collection. Some of the books were really old and pulpy. A worker and I found two erotic SF novels translated from French--the adventures of a sexologist and her great adventures in space. Despite temptation, I didn’t buy them.
Also found some Chicks in Chainmail books, which I signed.
Upstairs, Sarah and Anne and Jacqueline finally arrived and we went to our assigned places. We had comfy armchairs set next to tables loaded with our books. I signed a set right off for a collector, then had a lull, then signed several more. Many people wandered through, and Sarah and I engaged in long, relaxed conversations with them, punctuated by more signatures and browsing about the store.
Somewhere in all this, the owners made a serious misake. They gave us all Kazoos.
The fun began when Sarah and I marched off in search of the food table, kazoos clenched firmly in our teeth. We did a duet of “It’s a Small World After All,” and segued into a Sousa march. We were followed by the owner and a pair of giggling customers. Anne and Jacqueline’s table was at the other end of the store, so Sarah and I went to visit them. We did a quartet of “Pomp and Circumstance.” (Only later did we learn someone had a video camera rolling. Oh dear.) Later, we added “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” and the University of Michigan fight song. The customers were alternately fascinated and horrified. Sold a few more books, though.
And then home.
--Steven
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