Bookstores. Yeah. That's right. Bookstores.

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#1

You will perhaps mock me (silently or not so silently ) for being an old fart and or an obsessed trekkie but:

Bookstores

For years and years, my whole life since I was novel reading age I loved going to bookstores.

And, I would (a) always first gravitate toward ---- no, not gravitate— make a bee-line directly for the Sci Fi / Fantasy section. And (b), in that section, I would scan the Star Trek books section and 9 times out of 10 buy something from it.
The James Blish STTOS episode novelizations…I’d eat 'em up. etc.

Until about 7 or 8 years ago, the Star Trek sub-category was the largest sub-category in the sci fi section (sub-category defined here as a single franchise).

Just had an interesting realization today as I went to a Barnes & Noble to pick up the new Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series guy) book for my daughter.

Naturally I also checked out the SciFi / Fantasy. Good news is the Sci/ Fi section is as big, diverse and robust as ever. And the…I won’t say bad news…but the “Hmmm” news is that the Star Trek sub-category section was a mere single 3 ft wide shelf and a bottom shelf to boot.

I’m not saying that’s good, bad or indifferent but to me it’s a meaningful change.
I love all sorts of other sci fi and fantasy, but it kinda makes me wistful to see Star Trek fading into the past.

Anyone else, with thoughts, feelings, experiences about that old obsolete place called the bookstore? :slight_smile:

#2

I love bookstores. Sadly, my current town has one tiny chain store that doesn’t have much of a SF/F section - and I also was a beeline-maker to the SF/F section, though I was always checking for more Marion Zimmer Bradley books

#3

I go into a bookstore so I can take pictures of the titles I want to buy online. Hmmm…wow that sounds bad.

#4

Ha Ha!..wait I’m an old fart trekkie.

I miss Borders. Barnes an Nobles got no easy chairs and couches, and about half the Sci Fi Borders did.
I’ll eventually break down and buy a Kindle, and get my books like everyone else…Get off my lawn.

#5

When I can I’d head down to John K. King books in Detroit. Rare books and lots of nooks to fumble through.

The offerings at the big boxes does seem to have waned. Not to mention the merging of SciFi/Fantasy into one section. Back in the day I distinctly remember there being a separation of these genres ( … get off my lawn …).

I do believe there is value in holding the printed word in our ink stained fists.

#6

Are as many Star Trek books being published as there used to be? It used to seem like there were almost one per month. There are still some new ones, but not as many.

#7

Yeah, they used to really pump them out, but now they have better continuity.

#8

I miss the bookstores too. Used to be a Borders less than 5 minutes from me.

Yeah, Trek books started dropping off aroun dthe time the new Trek flick came out. At first, Pocket books was going to have books for both timelines…now just the original, and even that is going away. And it looks like Tyhon Pact is going out with more whimper than bang sigh

ah well

#9

Stores stock their shelves based upon what they believe to be the latest trend. I saw this on many occassions…

During the LOTR craze Tolkien and Fantasy in general saw a huge boost. During the Harry Potter craze Young adult Fiction saw a large uptake. Twilight and True Blood have caused a boom in the Urban Fantasy market. The Matrix sequels caused a small boom in Cyberpunk. Every time Lucas tries to repackage his movies there is a small uptake in Star Wars books, but this one seems to be the smallest one yet; I think consumers are getting tired of his nonsense. And as for Star Trek, the new Abrams version did not appear to create quite the craze Paramount had hoped for, the new fans lost interest in a short while and all of the true Geeks seem to be loyal to the older version. I can hardly blame them…

It can be hard for brick and mortar stores to try and keep up with the latest and ever changing trends, and for customers like me they can be frustrating. Because I am always looking for a particular number in a series, and it is hard for stores to keep enough in stock. So I generally have to use Amazon, their prices are always lower and they always have what I am looking for in stock and since I usually by two to three books at a time the shipping is free. It is hard for a old fashioned bookstore to compete with that, and I fear that many will fall to the same fate as Borders. The only ones that I think may have a chance are the small neighborhood comic book stores, because there is a strong sense of community with those. It is more about visiting and chatting with fellow fans than about picking up books at the best price possible. It is like Cheers for Geeks. “Hey Norm!” :smiley: