Another Story: An extra chapter

This will be short, and incredibly sweet.  It's snowing very badly here and that's doing its usual number on my body.  But I have some happy news to report.

Not so very long ago, I spoke of the impending demise of Another Story, my beloved local used bookstore, which was in the midst of its going out of business sale.  Owner John Furphy owed around $4,000 in back rent and was reluctantly giving up the ghost.  Nothing short of a miracle seemed likely to save the store.

As it happens, there was a spare miracle to be had.

Thanks to extensive media coverage and a slew of new customers discovering the store because of said media coverage, enough money came into the store by the deadline to pay off the back rent.  Against incredible odds, the store has received a fresh chance to survive.

It's not completely out of the woods yet, of course.  There are other debts to be paid, and business has to continue to be good in order for the store to stay open.  But there's a chance, now.  There's room to hope.

On Justin Bieber's Arrest

It's very late at night while I'm writing this, and I have a headache.  But this whole Justin Bieber nonsense has me really angry and I feel the need to explain why.

Justin Bieber, for those of you who haven't heard, was arrested sometime in the past 24 hours for DUI and drag racing in a residential area of Miami, Florida.  Good.  If you're going to drink and drive, you should be arrested.  That's what you deserve.

I am obviously not a "Belieber."  I am not part of Justin's fan group.  I know very little about him, to be perfectly honest; I know he's a musician and he's from Canada and he has an insanely large fan following.  That's the approximate sum total of my Bieber knowledge.

That, and the fact that he did this makes me really angry.

I get angry, on some level, whenever celebrities do things like drink and drive.  Because for one thing, they are endangering the lives of "ordinary" people like you and me when they do.  And we have enough people who have suffered the loss of loved ones to other people's selfishness.

That's what DUI really is, you know.  Selfishness and recklessness.  I'm sure no one intends to be either of those things, but let's be honest - they are.

So they're putting us in danger.  Okay, but so are other people, non-celebrities, who do stuff like that.  I get angry about them too, but the celebrities actually make me angrier.

See, celebrities have fans.  Fans who blindly worship them and defend them.  Which is exactly what Justin's fan army is doing right now.  If you don't believe me, go on Twitter and look for hash tags like "#WeWillAlwaysSupportYouJustin" and "#FreeJustin."  I saw a picture of a candlelight vigil being held in Miami by teenage girls praying for his release.

My feeling is that if you know that people are looking up to you and quite possibly emulating the things that you do, then you have a responsibility to do what's right.  Because you are setting an example - and that's especially true if, as with Justin Bieber, your fans are young.  Particularly impressionable.

Can people make mistakes?  Of course.  But if you do, then own up to them.  Justin Bieber has yet to acknowledge (at least on public record) that he's done anything wrong.  Maybe he will; maybe this arrest will be the wake-up call that he seems to so desperately need.  I can only hope.

But if my words are hollow to you, then let me encourage you to watch a video by a young man who shares my point of view for profoundly personal reasons.  And ask yourself:  If I were in his shoes, wouldn't I feel this way too?

It's another story, and one I don't want to tell.

Back in August, I did a post profiling Another Story, the last bookstore in the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania.  The quirky proprietor and I have a friendly relationship, and I try to stop by periodically to see how he's doing and maybe pick up a book or two.  I don't have the shelf space for all the books I would like to buy (which would be a lot), so I have to restrain myself.

I'm sort of sorry this is the case, because Another Story's days are numbered.  With too many bills to pay and too few customers coming in, it simply can't continue.  Allentown will have a bookstore for a few more days and then... no more.

Everything at the store is currently half price.  If you live in the vicinity, please stop by to say farewell to the landmark.  You can get the exact address and other contact information at the store's Facebook page, found here.

Writing Things

For some reason, in the last two weeks, my writing career has started moving.  Literally, in one sense.

It was a bit of a blur, the email arriving right before Christmas the way it did.  My serial fiction on the web, The Graystone Saga, was accepted for hosting at JukePop Serials.

My immediate reaction was to start shaking.

I didn't really expect it, you see.  I'd sent in my application for consideration over a month before, and I wasn't even sure they'd received it.  But they had.  Christmas came a couple days early.

There was lots to do, and still to be done.  Had to pull all the chapters of it off of the blog where I'd been personally hosting it for over a year.  The site's still there; I'll use it to host links and fan art and things like that.  But the chapters have to be exclusive to JPS for at least six months - fair's fair, after all.  The first chapter is up; the second chapter, once I edit it and satisfy myself that it is awesome as it can get, will be added a bit later this week.  (To read beyond the first chapter requires registering for a JPS account, but I promise it's free and painless and if you join and give my chapters the up-votes that are needed for me to earn a paycheck I will love you forever.)  Eventually, at logical progression points, my intention is to publish print copies of the story as well as the online thing.

I'm also in talks with Indie Game magazine about possibly joining the ranks of their game reviewers - I don't have any more details than that, but the fact that I a) write game reviews and b) game on multiple platforms definitely has their attention.  (Shout out to my parents for giving me an iPad for Christmas, thus providing me with one more gaming platform.)

I also have a new Pip the Mouse manuscript to edit, and I still have Anne's biography to do, and my cousin also wants me to write a version of our family history for the book that's being published for the 150th anniversary of the founding of Slatington, Pennsylvania, which was my grandmother's hometown.

Quite literally, there are so many words that will be pouring out of my mind in the coming twelvemonth that I'm a little overwhelmed by them.  I'm not sure I even know where to start.  It's a good thing, being wanted for the thing I unquestionably do best!  It's just a little... daunting.

Christmas Countdown

It's nine days until Christmas and I haven't touched this blog since Thanksgiving.

Between illness, work, house-related things, work, trying to settle into the apartment, and work, I just don't feel like I've had a lot to say.  I'm working every day but one between now and Christmas, and I just don't think I'm going to have the time to find something to say.

I hope that regardless of what you celebrate, you're having a perfectly lovely December (and remembering to treat retail employees with kindness and patience!) and get all your shopping done.  May you each find a $100 bill on the ground.

I'll be here on December 26th.