Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Germ
If you're ever in Philadelphia, check out The Germ bookstore. It must be one of the last Science Fiction bookstores left in the country. I think this has something to do with the city itself. It's an eccentric, angry city. It has a strong conservative contingent and a deep catalog of history that undermines that conservatism. It's that irreconcilability, I suspect, which is a fertile ground for Science Fiction. Though "fiction" doesn't quite cover it: Philly SF is outrageously, pleasantly aspirational, too, when viewed through the lens of The Germ. The Science Fiction section is largest section of the bookstore, with great Sheckley, Moorcock and Zelazny finds, but it blends seamlessly with a handful of other sections, including UFO Abduction, Paranormal Research, Zero-Point and Anti-Gravitational Energy Studies, and Training in ESP. In the front there is a petition to the Serbian Orthodox Church requesting sainthood for Nicola Tesla, and in the back there is a gallery devoted to Tesla-related artwork. On purchasing a hardcover edition of Dangerous Visions and a selection of Leigh Brackett stories I received ("50 cents or free with every purchase") the gift of a Nicola Tesla pin. The Nicola Tesla Inventors Club meets there. Tesla acolytes are tough, perpetually unfashionable, prickly and fairly democratic sort of utopian. After the last general interest bookshop (whoever came up with that fanciful notion?) has shuttered its doors, The Germ, or something like The Germ, will continue to sell what it sells and bear host to what it hosts. Salut. ¶ 8:38 AM
If you're ever in Philadelphia, check out The Germ bookstore. It must be one of the last Science Fiction bookstores left in the country. I think this has something to do with the city itself. It's an eccentric, angry city. It has a strong conservative contingent and a deep catalog of history that undermines that conservatism. It's that irreconcilability, I suspect, which is a fertile ground for Science Fiction. Though "fiction" doesn't quite cover it: Philly SF is outrageously, pleasantly aspirational, too, when viewed through the lens of The Germ. The Science Fiction section is largest section of the bookstore, with great Sheckley, Moorcock and Zelazny finds, but it blends seamlessly with a handful of other sections, including UFO Abduction, Paranormal Research, Zero-Point and Anti-Gravitational Energy Studies, and Training in ESP. In the front there is a petition to the Serbian Orthodox Church requesting sainthood for Nicola Tesla, and in the back there is a gallery devoted to Tesla-related artwork. On purchasing a hardcover edition of Dangerous Visions and a selection of Leigh Brackett stories I received ("50 cents or free with every purchase") the gift of a Nicola Tesla pin. The Nicola Tesla Inventors Club meets there. Tesla acolytes are tough, perpetually unfashionable, prickly and fairly democratic sort of utopian. After the last general interest bookshop (whoever came up with that fanciful notion?) has shuttered its doors, The Germ, or something like The Germ, will continue to sell what it sells and bear host to what it hosts. Salut. ¶ 8:38 AM
