I Left My Books at a Used Bookstore (And Only Embarrassed Myself a Little)
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I did something terrifying this week.
I walked into Linda's Used Bookstore in Visalia, California — a place I have been crawling through for years, hunting for books, losing track of time in the stacks — and I walked in as the author.
I brought three books. Two copies of Rise of the Red Dragon and one Tupi. New books. They went straight into the new book section.
I was nervous. Genuinely, embarrassingly nervous. I talked too much. I told the lady more than she probably needed to know. Classic author-dropping-off-their-own-books energy. If you have ever done something that felt completely normal in theory and absolutely terrifying in practice, you understand.
She remembered me. From all the years of browsing. Which somehow made it both better and worse simultaneously.
Here's what I didn't do: I didn't sign them. Used bookstore browsers aren't generally the signed copy crowd — they're the ooh, what's this? crowd. Someone is going to pick up Rise of the Red Dragon because it's new, it's right there in the new section, and something about it catches them. That's a reader I never would have found any other way.
I also didn't fill out 4,000 pages of paperwork. Barnes & Noble wants a whole business relationship before your book touches their shelf. Linda's just wanted the books. Sometimes the easier door is the right door.
Also: there is a Chihuahua and a cat on the premises. I didn't see the cat, but there was a sign. They are my homies. I cannot believe I just said that.
While I was there, I did what I always do — wandered the shelves. I wasn't even in my usual section. These were my palate cleansers, the books I'd reach for between my real cravings. I started counting how many I'd already read. It was a lot. The woman who wrote spicy paranormal romance did not get there by accident.
It's three books. It's one nervous conversation. It's a start. And I've already ordered more copies of Rise of the Red Dragon so I can keep going.
There is something quietly full-circle about leaving your books on the same shelves that fed your love of reading in the first place. I highly recommend it, embarrassing oversharing and all.
If you're in Visalia, go find them. And if you want to start at the very beginning from your couch, I'm serializing Vegas Viking on Substack right now — the first section is free. No commitment, no paperwork, just the story.