Richard McGowan's Blog: Smashed-Rat-On-Press - Posts Tagged "blinker"

Today, class, I'll bring to light another example of random stuff that annoys me about books and modern society. (This is part of an on-going occasional editorial series of talks to my bathroom mirror.)

Sheldon Lord's book 21 Gay Street was published by Midwood in 1960. It is a cheap thirty-five cent paperback. (That's just over one-third of a dollar for those who are counting.) If you can find a copy of this ultra rare book, like I did on Abebooks.com today, you'll pay nearly $100 for it. Of that hundred, the author will get precisely nothing because it's a used book. Well, that's OK, we know that authors don't get royalties on used books. C'est la vie, right? (Oh, and for what it's worth, a vintage postcard of the cover of that book can be had for only $143.66. What!? I only paid $12.50 for an original edition of Ann Aldrich's We Walk Alone which is five years older.)

But my real question du jour is: Why isn't this quaint book in print, especially in an electronic edition? It's not like it's orphaned by some ancient scribbler who died a zillion years ago leaving no known heirs and whose publisher has gone the way of the passenger pigeon causing 100-year lock-up of the work just because nobody knows who the hell owns the copyright...

Sheldon Lord is apparently a pseudonym for the actual author Lawrence Block who is still very much alive and is even here on Goodreads, blogging up a storm as of 3 days ago. Mr Block has republished some of his "mid-century erotica" list, and it shows up on his own website as well as Amazon. He has apparently owned up to other books of similar vintage, which is really cool. Good one, Mr Block! I love it. Maybe he just hasn't gotten around to republishing this one...? Who the heck knows. (My guess it that it's probably some kind of copyright snafu, but mentioning that would make me sound like an underground anarchist who wants to give away books for nothing. Or maybe he doesn't know anyone who has a copy, and isn't willing to shell out $100 for a copy that could be ripped apart for scanning...)

Anyway, most people who might be interested in reading 21 Gay Street, and who might willingly pay the nice author a fair or even fat royalty to get a fresh copy, will never shell out $100 for a brittle used paperback on cheap paper. And sadly, boys and girls, you can't even find this book pirated in some illegal download torrent because it's too damn rare. C'est la vie.

Anyways, maybe I'll ask Mr Block why 21 Gay Street isn't available as an e-book... Oh, wait. Hmm, apparently he doesn't have the nifty "Ask the Author" feature enabled. C'est la vie. Maybe one of the six degrees of people I know will know him and can ask on my behalf.

And as usual, anyone who read this far can ask for a free e-copy of An Uncommon Surfeit of Lipstick as a reward for perseverence. It's not crime, but it might scratch your not-X-rated Lesbian romance itch for an hour or two.

Finally, anyone who actually understands and can correctly articulate to me the meaning of this posting's title can ask for one free paperback from Smashed-Rat-on-Press... C'mon. Dig a little.