It’s always a heady experience entering the Mystery and Imagination Bookstore, inhaling the rich aroma of ideas, breathing in molecules of Bradbury, Poe, and the almost, but not quite, infinite of notions floating in the air heady as pure oxygen. (There have to be some notions unthought, or we’d have nothing to write about.)
The stairs to the reading room wall is inscribed with signatures of writers, colorful as dream but more tangible.
I was at the M & I for the opening reading of Jason V Brock’s . The Book itself is magical, heavy, and weighty in all the right ways. It’s both a work of art, and a book to be savored. It’s also substantial enough to be used as a weapon. Fight a war of words with this baby in your head and you’ll be bound to survive.
I was (am) privileged to have three of my shorts included in this work along with countless other writers much, much more accomplished and famous.
I was greeted at the door of the M & I by the owner, the exuberant, gracious, Christine Bell, whose infectious smile welcomes you into her realm of magic. The store always fills me with a bittersweet hope that I will see Ray Bradbury’s face peeking from behind a pile of books. It was his favorite bookstore and I’m sure his ghost still spends nights there perusing the shelves and reordering his books.
Upstairs the reading was packed! Ten of the fifty writers were there, joking and arguing about influences and writing. (I could be wrong about the numbers; I’m a writer not a mathematician damn it!)
Writers attending were: The brilliant and ever cantankerous Dennis Etchison, the world embracing William F. Nolan, Cody Goodfellow (with adorable, show-stealing daughter in tow), Nancy Kilpatrick (who left her raven at home), the amazing Joe Lansdale, magical poet Wendy Rathbone, the feisty, unbelievably prolific, and funny Gini Koch (who brought her nine other pen-name personas with her, no wonder it was standing room only!), sweet, lovely talented Sunni Brock, head honcho Jason V Brock, the legendary George Clayton Johnson (looking, as always, like Gandalf’s literary cousin), beautiful, smiling Kelly Dunn, and more. How’s that for a well-crafted sentence! Hemmingway would be proud.
All in all a fabulous time was had by all – Thanks Jason for putting together this marvelous collection and To Christine Bell for her magical bookstore.