Ajax Penumbra 1969 (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #0.5)

by Robin Sloan

Books of silver; books of bone; and yet the strangest thing you see in all your years at Galvanic is a boy in a ski mask, sitting in a basement, using a computer.

“He’s looking for a very particular book, Mo.” “As are we all, Mr. Corvina, as are we all. Most don’t realize it yet. So on that count, our friend Ajax Penumbra is ahead.”

“The measure of a bookstore is not its receipts, but its friends,”

“Well, you know our saying: ‘It’s not over until you hold the book’s ashes in your hands, weeping at the years you’ve lost.’”

‘The willingness to entertain absurd ideas.’