The Pie Dudes in April 2009 visiting Powell’s
After the publication of Second Avenue Second Hand and a very cool reception and unproductive meeting with the local indie bookstore when attempting to arrange a signing with fellow author, Donna Hole; I considered other options. Immediately I thought of Powell’s. I used to be a big fan of the bookstores out of Portland, OR. It was a fun family weekend excursion to run up to Portland (usually to escape the oppressive heat of California’s Sierra Foothills), spend a day roaming through Powell’s, stop off down the street at Voodoo Donuts for a Texas doughnut to nibble on during the drive back home, taking with us another over-sized doughnut a piece for the morning after, staying in Eugene at another family favorite, Broadway Inn. It would have been my dream come true to arrange a signing there, but in trying to get in touch with someone, I couldn’t find the author links on their site that I had seen many times before. Puzzled, and sidetracked by the growing of my twin boys, I let it go.
Pictured Above: A Voodoo Doughnuts & Broadway Inn Photo Essay Circa 2009
But then Kelli Stanley, author of the Miranda Corbie novels, published a scathing post about the bookstore. Seems that there’d been a change at the helm which you can read here. While I removed as many of the links to the Powell’s website for purchasing the anthology after reading about this, replacing them with links elsewhere, but not the preferred indie store, I decided to ask Kelli what she recommended by way of other indie stores. And this is what she said:
“A friend recommends Annie Bloom’s or Broadway Books in Portland. Outside of Portland–and specifically for crime fiction–there’s the Seattle Mystery Bookshop, Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Clues Unlimited in Tucson, Book Carnival in Orange, CA, and Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego (they also carry science fiction and fantasy). The latter stores are heavily patronized by the crime fiction writing community, so whatever book you’re looking for, they’re sure to be able to get it signed and delivered.” .
Sadly, our family tradition of excursions to satisfy our inner cravings will be missed. But now we have the opportunity to start new ones as we hope to visit the stores Kelli suggested. Tell me, though, do any happen to have doughnut stores like VooDoo?
Do you have a favorite indie bookstore?
