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"There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on." |
It's acceptable to talk about other bookshops I would go to if I could travel everywhere to get anything, right? This is
DreamHaven Books & Comics in Minneapolis, Minnesota and I want to go to there. There's this mural, for one. Plus, they still maintain a
LiveJournal (just like
George R.R. Martin) and this is their given store history:
In 1793, science fiction bookseller Nigel Ketter, facing massive legal action and an unprecedented public outcry (see The London Times
for June 15th, 1793), sailed for Boston with several tons of
collectible monster magazines and rarer-than-rare Arkham House titles.
Upon reaching the New World, he made plans to travel south and set up a
small book shop in the Caribbean (trading books for rum). Nigel
accidentally confused North for South and ended up the arctic wilderness
of Minnesota (see photo).
He managed to survive by burning old Fanthorpe paperbacks for heat and
by hunting (bashing) ice weasels and snow voles with the "Encyclopedia
of Science Fiction." He waited. He advertised. He waited some more.
Settlers settled. The city grew.
But alas! No one had anything to read.
Thus (and finally!), in 1977, enterprising descendant
Greg Ketter, sensing the needs of the public, opened his first store in Minneapolis.
The DreamHaven Empire had begun.
What a lovely store. Bookstore tourism for life. Okay, let's review:
Shakespeare & Co. for when you are in New York and
DreamHaven for when you find yourself in Minnesota. Are bookseller exchange programs a thing?