Border[Starbucks] and Reed

[WillL at fieldschool.com]

Date	1/11/97
Subject	Border[Starbucks] and Reed
>From	WillL
To	Pynchon List

Border[Starbucks] and Reed

I (accurately) reported here that my best local bookstore (Olsonn's of Wash, DC
-- near your old Dupont Circle hang-out, Steelhead) told me that Ishmael Reed's
"Yellow Back Radio Broke Down" was out of print.  This sad news was lamented by
Steely, and he offered to mail me a copy.

So today I drive by the Uber-bookstore, Borders, the Starbucks of the land of
letters, the threat to the wonderful, smaller shops that, as Pynchon fans, we
are required to prefer, and I stick my head in.  Borders, with its
sucker-stuffed tentacles reaching out far and wide into the book world, tells me
that "Yellow" is far from out of print, and they order it for me.

So, thanks for the offer, Steely, but I have thrown in my lot with the behemoth.
 I won't drink that cursed fu-fu coffee, but if Borders can get Ishmael Reed . .
 .

-- Will Layman