Pynchon pub party...nice...St. Mark's in NYC is also having a midnight party, I read

[Mark Kohut]

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Cool idea of the day. Midnight literary madness will strike A Cappella Books, Atlanta, Ga., next Tuesday, August 4, when the bookstore celebrates publication of Thomas Pynchon's latest novel, Inherent Vice, with a midnight release party.

The Journal-Constitution reported that the "bookstore tried a release party the last time Pynchon wrote a novel in 2006 but did so with minimal planning." Owner Frank Reiss has higher hopes this time. 

"We're even going to have a band," he said. "We're going to use social networking. We can better touch base with people who have that particular obsession." The band, Schwarzkommando, "cites Pynchon's works in its lyrics," the paper wrote.

While Reiss is not anticipating Potter-like frenzy, he observed that "people who become obsessed with books become obsessed with Pynchon. His works are so demanding. You have to be a pretty committed reader. It's a certain self-selectivity. There's also a paranoia that comes through in his books. And bookish people tend to have a soft spot for paranoia." Which, naturally, makes midnight the perfect hour for a book release party.

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