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Back to Journal  « Extended Family Salute - April 2007 Edition | Kurt Vonnegut Jr 1922-2007 | 2007 Submission Log: Weeks 14-15 » Kurt Vonnegut Jr 1922-2007 April 12, 2007 In January I discovered that one of my Vonnegut books was either missing or that I never owned it. I got a lot of my Vonnegut reading from libraries over the years, and I remember in particular paying remarkable fines as a lad for extended looks and listens to his short story collections in hardcover and audio formats. Also in January, I discovered a Barnes and Noble gift card from my in-laws. Niche and esoteric works dominate my to-buy list these days, and here was something Barnes and Noble was actually likely to have in stock. In the "literature" section there was a little sign near the end of the alphabet that said to ask a sales associate for anything Vonnegut. I then checked the science fiction section, but there was nothing there either. I asked at the information desk. They told me they keep it behind the desk up front at checkout. Here I started feeling like I was in one of his stories. Were his comments on society so subversive that even in 2007 we had to handle his novels like hardcore pornography? I asked the cashier for the book like I was asking for a carton of cigarettes. They had it in stock. They had all his books in stock. Of course I had to ask why they were behind the counter. I wanted to know this more than I wanted the book. "We don't know why, but people keep stealing them," she said. "So here and at our South Point store we have to keep them behind the desk." "Just the Vonnegut books?" "No," she said. She raised an eyebrow. "Medical texts, too." So it goes. The author that most shaped who I am as a reader and writer is dead. Shit. I still need him. |
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Alex Wilson writes fiction and comics in Carrboro, NC. His work has appeared/will appear in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Rambler, LCRW, Weird Tales, The Florida Review, Futurismic, ChiZine, Pif, and Dragon. Locus Magazine has called him a "promising new writer," and Publishers Weekly also has nice things to say. Alex runs the audiobook project/podcast Telltale Weekly and the writer wiki Guidevines. He publishes the minicomic/zine Inconsequential Art. He is a 2006 Clarion graduate.  
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Can and Has and Sometimes Doesn't Casey at the Booth 2008 Submission Log Weeks 42-45 Latest Audiobooks The Star New Testament: Philippians Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Six Napoleons  Powered by MT 3.35 MySpace Profile |
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