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| At Amazon |
It’s frustrating when you’re trying to look for that special holiday gift for that friend or relative who’s such an avid science fiction/fantasy reader that he or she already has nearly every book on the genre’s shelves in most bookstores. The shelves in these stores aren’t big enough to hold many rare editions of certain books in the speculative genre such as an author’s work that has been out of print for the last 50 years, that Bernie Wrightson-illustrated edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or that signed copy of a book by a favourite author. You have a better chance of finding these rareties at a sci fi and fantasy bookstore, and so one that specialises in the speculative genre. But like many of the books it sells, this type of bookstore itself is rare. That’s why I composed a list of 8 sci fi and fantasy bookstores which consists of at least one store for each of the major regions of the continental U.S.: West Coast, East Coast, the Midwest and the South.
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| Credit: Pixabay.com |
You can search for rare and obscure speculative fiction books at Amazon but, during this busy season, you may not have time to do that very refined search. Many speculative fiction bookstores get part of their merchandise from big online retailers like Amazon to begin with and so turning to them may save you shopping time both online and off. If you’re too remote from a sci fi and fantasy bookstore, like me, that’s okay. Many of these stores also have online versions, some even on the Amazon platform.
Purchasing from a sci fi and fantasy bookstore would also be a big help to its owner. Most of these types of stores are locally and independently owned and so often struggle to stay in business due to competition from big chains. When I was searching the internet for these stores it seemed like every other link I clicked on in the search results went to a domain that was up for sale or a page with a message saying “closed for business”! So when shopping at stores such as the ones listed below, whether at their physical space or online, you would be supporting a fellow speculative fiction fan who sells books. Most of these stores I have not been to myself, so I can’t say much more about them other than they appear to have a good variety of books in the genre. But I’ve provided links to their websites that will give you more details.
Dark Carnival, Berkley, CA: I have shopped at this one before and they have so many books that they have to stack many of them on the floor because their shelves are full! I bought a collection of John W. Campbell’s fiction there, one which included the novella “Who Goes There?” which “The Thing” movies were adapted from. A complete collection of his fiction is very hard to find at most all-genre bookstores.
Borderlands; San Francisco, CA
Dark Delicacies; Burbank, CA: Especially good when shopping for that avid horror reader friend or relative.
Flights of Fantasy Books and Games; Albany, NY
Star Cat Books; Bradford, VT
Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore; Minneapolis, MN: Said to be the oldest indie science fiction bookstore in the U.S.
DreamHaven Books, Comics and Art; Minneapolis, MN
Two Rivers Bookstore; Memphis, TN
If you know of a sci fi and fantasy bookstore not mentioned above, then please list it in the Christmas box below!
Until next time . . .
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