Only twice have I ever actually seen a physical copy of an Octavia Butler book in all my trawling of bookshops, new and used.
First, I found a copy of Fledgling for $2 in a Salvos. It has european stickers on it – proof it was imported at some point, rather than bought here. I grabbed it, because it was like seeing some mythical kind of Pokemon that I knew I’d never see again.
Today, I was walking past Dymocks and on the markdown table I saw the Kindred graphic novel. Even though it was only published last year, it was 50% off, possibly because of the small amount of scuffs to the dust jacket. Possibly because they hadn’t bothered promoting it and it hadn’t sold. I certainly never noticed it in there before. It was $17.50. I bought it, because, though I don’t really have the cash right now, I knew it was my only chance.
I have no doubt I’ll struggle to find the others without buying them off the internet, but I can read them digitally on Scribd, so at least the lack of physical copies won’t stop me from being able to read them.
Still, it shouldn’t be so hard for me to find works by a groundbreaking Hugo and Nebula winning author. Oh, that’s right, it’s racism/sexism/homophobia. And if a book isn’t stocked by a shop, PEOPLE CAN’T BUY IT. Instead, let’s fill the shelves with Tolkien, Jordan, McCaffrey, and Pratchett and pat ourselves on the heads for stocking what will sell. PEOPLE WILL BUY DIVERSE BOOKS IF YOU STOCK THEM.
I will add that my Dymocks’ YA section is GREAT. Lots of queer and other flavours of diverse titles. But the adult fantasy sci fi section for the most part sucks if you want anything that isn’t by or about someone cis het white published by a major publisher.
knitting in the dark 