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 Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2021 6:57 am
The Fall of House Hadley, by Lee Malever.
Not on a display of its own, but on a table with six other newly released romance books. Everything seemed to have been organized symmetrically, and that meant that at least two copies had been sold.
The tallest tier was on the best seller's list, so obviously it would have more copies available, and a larger space. He couldn't compete with that--but his book was on the same table as that. And, it was among the second highest tiered display, along with another book he recognized by name.
Malcolm had a small box from the publisher back at home, a few copies to keep or give out. He didn't know to who, so he stashed them in his closet with the others, from the last book he'd published and the leftovers from his time of self publishing.
This one, though, was special. A variant cover.
Okay, no, it was a misprint, technically. They printed the book with the wrong cover in a batch or two, but rather than throwing them away, they'd gone ahead with just shipping. He should have been mad, the cover was almost scandalous enough to make it seem like this was an erotic book, not a romance. But it was tame, he told himself. It was still classy. Better than some of the other books surrounding it.
And, he was going to buy it.
Malcolm had braved the cold weather of Destiny City because he knew this book would be here. He was signed up for the mailing list of nearly every single bookstore in town, and while scrolling through his emails after a restless night, he'd seen the picture of the display, with his book, with that cover.
Naturally, he'd had no choice but to bundle up and visit. He wasn't wearing anything spectacular; he wanted to blend in and be forgotten. Black pants and boots, and a muted blue sweater. He had black gloves and blue and white snowflake scarf, because it was still winter, and that was about as fashionable as he could get.
Maybe he should have felt a little silly about having brought his actual camera--he was going out to take pictures in the park later--but he rationed, no one knew who he was. He wasn't important for anyone to pay attention to, and people would certainly be more interested in books, or the café tucked away in the store, or--well, anything.
So, he sucked up his nervousness, drew up his camera--focused it--and took a picture while no one was close enough for him to offend. He just needed one clear picture, not the slightly fuzzy, off-centered one from the email.
Just something for the scrapbook, to hide away and never share with anyone, because he was in too deep to start being honest, and there wasn't really anyone to share with, anyway.
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2021 5:49 pm
“Isn’t there a no camera policy here?” Michael asked from behind the young man taking pictures of the book display. Michael had no idea if there was a no camera policy in the store, and if there was then it was a stupid one, because people were going to take photos of… books… if they wanted to or not.
Okay, so it probably wouldn’t be good for the store if people pirated books by taking pictures of the pages, but who seriously had the time to do that?
“Relax, I won’t tell,” he promised before he got any lip about it. Again, he had no idea if there was a no camera policy, but did this guy know there wasn’t one? It was just amusing because of how nonchalantly he tried taking the shot.
“So what are these, your favorite books? Or you just like the… covers…?” he raised an eyebrow as he caught sight of the book that most likely had this guy’s attention. “I mean if you’re into that,” he shrugged.
He had some books tucked under his arm, and a cup from the cafe in his other. No, he didn’t usually go around harassing other patrons, but he was bored.
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:23 am
Malcolm died.
He felt his soul leave his body and he nearly dropped his camera. He looked up with worry and alarm and scrambled to stand up straight and fumbled to catch the camera that was, thankfully, still attached to the strap around his neck.
"N-No," he blurted, because it felt like he needed to say anything to spare his dignity. "--It's not what it looks like, really. I'm--" he gestured almost frantically and held up the camera. He was red-faced and his embarrassment was beyond salvation at this point. "I'm a photographer. I--it's--the--I have a book club," he insisted.
"There--It's not--you can't judge a book by its cover!" he said, and felt the extreme urge to flip the more scandalously marketed books over to spare himself further embarrassment.
...But he was here to buy one of them, and this whole thing was already horrible already.
"So it's--it's not what it looks like! And neither is this!" he said, and he'd already squared himself up as much as possible, stood as straight as possible, and tried to look as responsible as possible--not like some pervert who got off ogling romance books, or whatever this guy already suspected of him.
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:42 pm
Michael was trying so hard not to laugh at the young man's reaction, but as tightly as he was pressing his lips together, he couldn't quite manage it and ended up laughing anyway. Not at him! Okay, maybe at his reaction, but it was a pretty cute reaction to being caught taking photos of naughty books.
"A photographer with a book club," he grinned, obviously amused and glad he decided to harass people instead of leaving them alone. Well, this guy in particular had been worth harassing.
"Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone," Michael laughed again, because it was really just too endearing how horrified the kid looked. Okay, he wasn't a kid, but he was younger than him, so therefore… kid enough.
"So which of these books is your book club reading? Or are you reading all of them? Or are you picking out which one you want your book club to read? Do you have any recommendations if someone was interested in this genre?"
He was both messing with him, and genuinely curious. He wondered how flustered the poor guy could get, too.
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 8:38 pm
He should leave. He should just put the book down and run, and hide in the bathroom for twenty minutes, or an hour, or a year. Long enough for the shift to change, long enough for anyone who had seen him come in to leave.
Maybe he didn’t even need the book.
No. He needed it, he’d come out for this. He was going to go home with it, even if he didn’t have any dignity left after this.
This guy was laughing at him, and–okay, maybe it was comical, if you weren’t the one in this position. He couldn’t tell if all the blood had gone to his face or left it.
He could lie. He could say he was picking up one of the other books. He could say he was getting it for his girlfriend.
Wait–no, he’d already–
Malcolm was trying very hard not to deflate right there.
“It’s–”
Okay, he remembered how to talk. That was good. Oh, he had to breathe, too.
He couldn’t look Michael in the eye and he held his camera tightly, in case he lost his war with himself and decided he needed to bolt. Preferably before he passed out on the floor.
“The cover’s a misprint,” he insisted. “It’s a romance book. A drama. And it’s a local author. It’s not supposed to look like that. That’s the cover art of ‘Kiss and Tell’. Which is everything you would expect from that cover, and that title.”
He suddenly felt the urge to flip every copy of his book face down and hide the suggestive imagery.
“It’s not bad,” he said again, and it sounded like he was almost pleading for Michael to just believe him.
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:23 pm
Michael’s eyebrows raised slightly as he glanced back to the table to consider the books on display. “A misprint, huh?” he said, although it was mostly to himself.
“You’re a fan of the author? Or know them?” he wondered, looking closely at the name on the cover which… Lee was a pretty unisex name. He hadn’t heard of them before, but figured it was something he could probably look up.
He set down the cup he had from the cafe so he could reach out and pick up the book in question, and flipped it over to the back to see if there was a picture of the author--
But nope… That was fine, it wasn’t a requirement. He was just curious. Maybe someone that this guy had a crush on?
“Michael Gallo,” he finally introduced, thinking it was only fair after harassing the poor guy. “I’m an elective literature teacher at Azure. Been looking for some more material for my class. I like supporting local artists, so… might as well give this one a try, yeah? Do you have any other suggestions? Anything else that your book club liked? Or anything else that caught your photographer's eye?”
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Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2022 3:00 pm
His ears were burning. His face was burning. They were having a conversation, though! An absolutely normal, non-nerve wracking conversation. He had conversations like these all the time. Online, but.
“I’m Malcolm,” he introduced, between one forced breath and another. His head was spinning but this conversation was at least partially grounding. He didn’t feel the need to run away as much. For now.
“I um–yeah, I like this author. I don’t know if it’s the sort of thing you’d read in class? I didn’t read anything like it for school. Oh, but I have a whole list of suggestions. I’ve written a bunch of articles on local artists.”
Which was a far more comfortable topic than his book, with the very steamy misprinted cover. That Michael Gallo could pick up without any sign of discomfort.
“Only good things,” he quickly assured. “I don’t like to write bad things about anyone who poured their heart and soul into something, especially local artists. But I’ve got recommendations for all sorts of things for all sorts of audiences. There’s a lot of really good slice of life stories that are age-appropriate and relevant to teenagers. I mean, I think. There’s a good few that even take place in the city, I always like that. Oh, but I read a lot of romance books.” No, that was so cringey, Malcolm.
“And paranormal things.” He wanted to say something more interesting and masculine. Like. What, sports? War? “Sci-fi, fantasy, horror,” he said instead, a little softer. Like it wasn’t already obvious where his tastes lie. “Maybe things that might be interesting to someone else. But I read a lot of genres so I can review them fairly and recommend them when I run into an awkward situation.”
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 1:07 pm
Michael’s lip twitched into a brighter smile. He hadn’t exactly meant looking for more material and giving this one a try to be in direct correlation, but maybe he would let Malcolm think that his class was all about reading inappropriate romance novels.
“Oh have you? I would love to read your articles then. Maybe I’ll keep this one for my personal library and make sure the kids have something--”
He paused to turn the book over and look at the cover again before continuing.
“--More age-appropriate, as you said.”
It was kind of cute the way Malcolm’s ears were burning, but Michael didn’t want to harass him too much, especially if he was going to help by suggesting some local artists and authors. And so many different genres too!
“Any local poets you know? I haven’t published anything for myself yet, but maybe I can talk to them and see what publishers they worked with, or if self-publish is the way to go.”
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2022 7:09 pm
His ears were burning again. He turned his head to the side just slightly and could swear he heard liquid sloshing around.
“A lot, actually. There was just a big event for writers a few weeks ago, I was really lucky. I got to talk to a bunch of them. Got to interview a lot of them, too. About the creative process, what writing means to them, where they find their inspiration and what keeps them going–I think it was really interesting. Um–okay. So–okay.”
He paused, drew in a breath, collected himself, and then dug around in his bag for a few seconds so he could pull out a little business card. “This is tacky, I know. I don’t usually carry them around, but–here. This is my card, it’s got my website and all of my social media information. All of my articles have tags on it on my website, so it’s easy to search if you’re looking for anything in particular. No spoilers, if you’re worried about that sort of thing. But there’s interviews from local writers, and some of them talk about their experiences with getting published and how they decided what was best for them. Some of them have their information available online and you could probably contact them through there. When you get something published, you should email me. If you want to. But I really love that sort of thing. I mean, I’m very passionate about it. Not in a creepy way.”
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:35 am
“Not at all,” Michael shook his head. “It’s a good idea to have something with you.” Michael supposed he could just look him up, but it would take longer than just being handed a business card. And it was probably less embarrassing to let someone pull up the information on their own time, than actively watching someone not bother to pull up your website in front of them.
But Michael was already pulling out his phone to type in the website address.
He laughed when Malcolm clarified that he was passionate but not in a creepy way, and he shook his head to hopefully let him know that it wasn’t anything he needed to worry about.
“I appreciate this. Really, Malcolm. And… it’s okay if I get this book, isn’t it? You seem pretty flustered,” he asked, holding the book with the mixed up cover once more. He didn’t want to embarrass him if there was a reason why he was blushing so much.
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:09 am
Malcolm reached a hand to his face and cupped his own chin like he was trying to clamp his hand over his mouth. He hummed a response beneath it before he allowed himself to nod. A few more seconds before he could lower his hand and speak again. “I mean, if you’re brave enough to buy it with that cover.”
Like he wasn’t going to be doing the same thing. He just wished he had the same confidence Michael did. He’d planned to go pick up a few other books and try to sandwich it between them so they could just scan the barcode and he could sneak out without having to look anyone in the eyes and explain himself.
His voice was hesitant, reluctant. Embarrassed, obviously, but he was pushing through it to insist, “If you like it, you should let me know. You can send in recommendations too, if you have anything you’d like to suggest or share. If you don’t like it, you can tell me too. I won’t be offended.”
Publicly, at least. Privately, absolutely.
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:15 pm
“I would hope you wouldn’t be offended if I didn’t like it. It’s not like you wrote it, right?” Michael hummed with a smile as he tucked the book confidently under his arm. He was absolutely going to buy it and he was absolutely going to email Malcolm to tell him what he thought about it.
Michael didn’t say anything about Malcolm’s embarrassment or his reaction to Michael picking up the book in the first place. He could guess, but he wasn’t going to say anything that could upset the poor guy. And especially if Malcolm was the author, or knew them, Michael wasn’t going to start insulting fellow writers.
“It was nice meeting you. I’ll email you when I get a chance,” he said with a small wink. But before he turned to leave, he reached over to the display to carefully adjust the books, making sure the one Malcolm wanted to take a picture of was in better lighting. He wasn’t going to stand around and watch him take his pictures, but he thought he could use a little encouragement -- which hopefully he got from the gesture and not feel like he was being teased.
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