The Book of Tomorrow...Today!

Ok, so in retrospect being at the bookstore the exact moment it opens might not have been the smartest move in order to see GD on the shelves. I used to manage a chain bookstore, and to be honest, there were many days where the weekly "changeover" did not happen as fast as I'd like. Or even in that week, actually.

Of course, that was back in the day, before the age of the Book Superstore, where there are a staff of 24-hour Killbots that shelve the books all through the night (I don't know why the superstores insist on buying Killbots, when plain old robots would do. Only the ideas are dangerous at a bookstore).

The Killbots were busy, but there were a ton of new releases set for May 6th, many of them by established authors with three or four or two dozen books under their belt, so I'm sure the Killbots had to set all their stuff up before giving some love to the rookie.

Here's the breakdown of what I saw and experienced:

Bookstore #1, 9:30 a.m. No Generation Dead on the shelf. In-store computer says it is "likely" in the store. Clerk thinks there might be a box of them. I resist the urge to kick the castle that the Killbots have built out of copies of a certain other book with a May 6 release date at the front of the store when I leave.

Bookstore #2: 9:45 a.m. I spy five copies of GD on a rolling cart. The clerk asks if I need any help and I scurry away, drawing my cloak over my face.

Bookstore #3: 10:00 a.m. No visible copies of GD, but the clerk is sure he's seen it over the weekend, and even describes it as being "the one with the cheerleader, right?" I resist the urge to have him describe it further, even though there are approximately 857 books in the Teen section with a cheerleader on the cover. Anyhow, the in-store computer says there aren't any in the store, and the clerk thinks he remembers selling one over the weekend, so he tells me that "they must have sold out. I resist the urge to ask him how many copies they had, what the buyers were like, and was he certain that they were going to good homes.

Notice How many urges I am suppressing? That can't be healthy.

Bookstore #1 10:15 a.m. Because my other favorite hobby is smashing my own head against my desk, I go back to bookstore #1. Still no GD in sight.

Bookstore #2 10:20 a.m 5 copies of GD are now displayed on the "Hot New Reads" wall. Yay!

I start the long drive towards home. I stop at a favorite fast food chain of mine and have a truly awful meal.

Bookstore #4 11:30 a.m. There is a nice "Teen Reads" table with lots of great books, and a stack of five copies of Generation Dead. In the main YA section, there are another five copies of Generation Dead on the shelf next to some of Scott Westerfeld's books. I'm excited about this because I really like Scott's books. Well, really I'm just excited to see GD on the shelf, but I really do like Scott's books. The clerk tells me that they actually sold a few over the weekend, and she speaks with, um, more credibility that the clerk from bookstore #3.

My spies and emissaries from far afield have called and emailed to say that they've seen the book in stores as well. Some of them go as far to say that they have purchased the book--bless them. Has anyone seen the multi-copy display? They had a few such displays (or "dumps", to use the common retail parlance) in bookstore #4 but not one for GD. I'd really like to see what that looks like, if anyone spots it.