The Gate and the Guardian of the Gate
by Don Webb

My life was utterly changed by a small bookstore in Lubbock, Texas called Star Books and Comics. I don't know if Star Books is still around. It had a mix of used SF, new SF and gaming materials. It was the place I could buy really cheap paperbacks, when I had little money; but it was what I got there for free that mattered. I got four things there, which changed everything. I got advice, got what I wanted, I got friends, and I got a chance to put stuff out into the world. None of these things are possible in a large chain store, none are possible over the Internet, and as they die out things look bad for writing. Oh writing won't disappear, but certain richness, a certain initiatory lineage will vanish and slicker values will come to make the mediocre even more so. Many people think of independent bookstores as a quaint idea, whose time is gone; they don't realize that they are a Gateway. If we allow this Gateway to close, we will be much the poorer for having done so. Let's look at each of these things given to me by Star Book and Comics.

1. Advice. Sid, the owner, paid attention to what I bought. Not because I was a well-heeled client that dropped hundreds of dollars. I bought cheap used paperback for the most part. But he noticed little things. "You like Lovecraft, you would check out Clark Ashton Smith." Other folks in the store would join in, "You should read Hannes Bok." "See that Best of C.L. Moore?" I still have the latter. It was a slightly water damaged copy that I could easily afford at a buck. It is also one of the best SF anthologies ever written. My most recent publication at the time of this little essay is a Clark Ashton Smith tribute volume, The Last Continent: New Tales of Zothique. It grew out of a comment by the owner of a little store. Yes, I still have the Smith paperbacks he sold me. I received an education in SF and Fantasy simply by being a customer. The staff at a Barnes and Noble is less apt to teach, to initiate me into the mysteries of fantastic writing.

2. What I wanted. Bookstores don't make money with special orders. Most chain stores actually tell their staff not to recommend anything that might not be on the shelf. Sid treated his regulars like family and would order special books, even things far beyond his field, because he thought that was part of a bookstore's job. Now, don't get me wrong, Sid would talk me into things as well. He religiously read the lists of books coming out and would suggest titles that I might like to try. He knew me, and went to the bat for me. If an item came in that I thought I might like, he would put it under the counter for me.

3. Friends. The store was small, it hosted gaming groups, and it even had a corkboard bulletin board. In those when games were played with dice and paper, getting groups tighter was a big deal. Sure the Internet does this function in an isolating cold way now, but I doubt many lasting friendships are made this way. I was a thoroughly uncivilized SF geek, and the simple need for gaming buds did socialize me (to an extent). When I moved from Austin to Lubbock I hung out at used bookstores to meet people. Firstly the old Paperbacks Plus and then Adventures in Crime and Space. I even owned part of such a store: the Fringeware Store that created a big part of Austin culture until it was Amazoned to death. My friendships have always been tied to used bookstores. Sure I can take my new friends to a bigger store and buy coffee, but I don't meet people over coffee at those stores. I have never got into a chat with customers at B&N or Borders. There I go in, make my purchase and leave.

4. Broadcast. The smaller store is much more willing to stock things by new writers. Adventures in Crime and Space have had many signings for me. I have seen the owner hand-sell copies of my books. But even if I wasn't a writer (say when I lived in Lubbock), I could effect what went out in the world. I could put really cool 'zines like Factsheet Five in the free stuff box. I could get Sid to order my favorite games, and thus the chances of meeting people that could play them was great. I could do things with what people read and thought.

These are not little things. These are world-changing things. It changed my writing by exposing me to good (but often obscure writing), so unlike people I tend to see in my classes on writing, I wasn't trying to emulate current best sellers. I may have lost a little money on that proposition. It changed my awareness of what was available. Rather then passively waiting for a title to appear on the shelf, I often found out about small collections from tiny presses that have become the most prized books I own. It allowed me to shape a social group, who - of course - discussed what I was reading. I note that one of my cronies from those days - Trace Reddell - has gone on to become quite the writer himself. I was a college drop out, Trace earned his Ph.D. in English - but both of us count Star Books and Comics as a formative influence.

Writers, an impoverished lot often screwed over by publishers, wistfully think that Internet sales of their books will be the answer. Sadly, no. They can perhaps sell a few copies this way, but it can never replace the effect of hand-selling books. Simply put without the guy or gal at the counter, nobody points new or good books anymore. We are left in the hands of reviewers, who are perhaps well-intentioned people. However, they do not have the eye that comes from the mixture of commercial self-interest and love-of-the-material that bookstore owners do. A critic will never recommend a used book, or remember something as odd as my fascination with zeppelins. If a writer wants to really reach people, the in-store wise recommendation is the best way.

I trade with many bookstores. Three that I really use are Adventures in Crime and Space (here in Austin), Chris Drumm books in Iowa (Chris even publishes a chapbook of my work, The Bestseller and Other Tales), and Ziesing books. Each of these stores has hand-sold my books, has found rare items for me, and made my life better. There is a subtle culture that comes from such Gates into the world, and it would be damn shame is they closed. Please patronize the hell out of them!

I wrote this article for the Adventures in Crime and Space webpage. It is Copyright © 1999 Don Webb, but it may be freely reproduced on the webpage of any independent bookstore with this attribution. It may likewise be reprinted in newsletters of indie bookstores or shown in the shop. I am at dwebb9@aol.com.