Some Books Are Not For Sale Quotes

“My grandmother used to complain about anything decorated with a skull. Said it was evil. This mostly stopped as I reminded her of the skull inside her own head.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“My new apartment came with a Baby Shrine. In the closet of a second bedroom. Hemingway's "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" filling an entire shelf. Piles of rattles and dozens of bibs. Too much to describe in just six words. I invited a cute neighbor over to see. It wasn't a very good icebreaker. But young guys only get so smooth.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“Old maps make sense to me. With their strange collections of obscure landmarks. It's how we all got around when young. An hour to Gainesville. Turn off where they have the livestock fair. Then past an airport owned by my stepdad's family. A Rotunda. Tiny Horses. Dani's house. Jonesville didn't have much back then. Rosie's Bar and a Lil' Champ. Still when we saw the sign we knew we were close. "HAY!" Screamed by a face on the side of a store. We'd all yell it as we passed. For good luck. Later that sign was stolen. This created suspicions. Some asked if we had taken it. No. But we should have.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“Cold nights meant long lines. At a rusty tank marked K-Oil. Buying kerosene for your heater. Fumes would fill your house. Scenting all inside. You kept yourself warm. Then headed to school smelling poor.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“I saw a teen couple with a baby on the way at a flea market. Picking out their Engagement Knives. With a table of fantasy daggers. They were having a hard time. Fire Dragon? Ice Tiger? "We have to get this right!" And maybe they did.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“Our car wasn't legal. So we took the backroads to church. Sunday morning. Sunday night. Down those limerock roads. Doing crimes for Jesus.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“We live in poetry and share those experiences in prose. It'll always be hard to trust a person who finds the word "sunset" adequate here.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“Southern is a design element these days. A large craft market exists for this Decorative Southernness. Framed art and throw pillows saying – "I Love You Like Biscuits and Gravy" and "Bless Your Heart!" But I've yet to see a "You Don't Look Like You're From Around Here" dish towel. This was the phrase I heard most growing up in small town Florida.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“In the 80s a Tennessee cousin decided he wanted to be a pro-wrestler. There was no real need to train or prepare back then. They just had him arrive a bit early to learn all he needed to know. After showing him a few tricks to sell the action he was handed a fake blood capsule. Fans liked to see the match end in blood. But that cousin was there to fight. Wrestling was real. The bell rang and punches were thrown. "Dirty" Dick Slater split my cousin's head open with an elbow. The match ended in blood as the crowd cheered. Anything can be real for a single night.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“I was born during the only week "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Things went about how you'd expect from there.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“I grew up in a swamp. All who visit see the savage beauty of the place. Those who stay see more. A deep connection. Roots that have grown together for generations. Once as a teen I went with family to a fish fry and sing at Scrub Creek Baptist Church off County Road 351. There a teen girl was very friendly until told to stop. We were cousins. She stomped away – "Is everyone here my DAMN cousin?!" Yes, and we are blessed.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“When I was a kid an older guy sat out front of a gas station in Old Town, FL. His favorite story involved roughing up a couple of guys because "you could tell they weren't from around here." The gruesome details were implied as he'd pull out a straight razor and a plastic bag containing Red Devil lye. "Deliverance", the end of "Easy Rider", and every "wrong turn" horror movie would later make more sense because of those childhood stops for gas and a Yoo-hoo.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“Mythologist Joseph Campbell once spent 5 years living in a shack in rural New York where he read 9 hours a day. I did something similar as I was in middle school but I suspect Campbell read much better books. Most of my books were acquired at the flea market in Chiefland, FL where a hoarse voiced lady sold musty paperbacks 5 for $1.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“On a walk down a remote 13th street I discovered a group of young teens with bell, book, and candle engaged in some manner of witchery. As I approached they fell silent. Apparently the possibility of a successful summoning was more terrifying than the reality of being a bored teen in rural Florida.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“As I wrote at Lake City Community College in the mid-90s there were a great many things I could only discuss with the help of literary devices – allusion, allegory, metaphor. And now... I'm just like... "Well, stepdad drank himself to death." May you all find a way to write what you now cannot write.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“My grandpa lived in the First District area of Dixie County, FL. Near where State Road 349 and County Road 351 meet. I spent a lot of time there as a kid. Roaming over unplanted fields. Tossing maypops against the side of a sun-bleached barn. Chickens roamed freely over his land. Mornings began with a hunt to find eggs for breakfast. Every day was Easter back then. With sand and snakes.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“As kids we went to the Trenton, FL roller skating rink. It is a funeral home now. We all lived a Southern Gothic children's book.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“My family lost most of our old photos. And now? We scan the backgrounds of photos belonging to others just to catch glimpses of ourselves.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“There are situations considered "not fit for children." Many I know grew up with these situations. Eight-year-olds with the Sheriff's Office number memorized. Southernness is raking up countless bags of Magnolia leaves knowing you'll eventually get a few blooms.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“My grandpa talked about how when he was young ladies would wear vanilla extract as perfume. You couldn't tell if they were trying to smell good or had just baked cookies. I'm less coy myself.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“I've been invited to events at a number of private clubs over the years. Luncheons and Dinners in exclusive spaces. Award ceremonies at the Country Club. Boasts of "...since 1890." Bland chicken. Dull conversation. People pay a lot of money to be bored.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“A kid burned down the Scout Hut. That old log cabin in the Cross City park. When asked why he just said he was bored. All I knew could relate. Small town boredom. Rural gloom.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“There is a bottle tree in Cross City, FL. Covered in locally bottled items. Seems Dixie County had a soda in the day. Ghosts keeping the ghosts away.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“Writing style? These days I prefer something of a punctuation-light Gertrude Stein for J.G. Ballard "The Atrocity Exhibition"-like experimental mini-novels. Only with a bit less psychosexual yearning for JFK.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“Many see Southern Gothic literature as just recalling the "bad old days." This is not the case. There are still those places in Florida where you get hookworms by walking barefoot after an afternoon thunderstorm.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“I somehow graduated 90s pre-Internet high school and got into college with just a set of flea market 50s encyclopedias at home.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“I once used the strictest attention to MLA style as I wrote about a stream-of-consciousness narrative.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“I'd not be shocked if bad water was the source of all the moody Gothic Lit classics. With a few cases of hookworm to add some Southern spunk.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“I was tossed into a pool beside the Suwannee River. Out behind an old motel. Sink or swim. Arms flailing in the deep end. Chlorine and Fear. I hurt my shoulder. Tweaked my ankle. Had to be pulled out. They laughed about it all summer. Now pools are reminders. That your friends watched you sink.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“My sense of narrative structure was shaped by ROM (Spaceknight) comics. I'd find random issues at the flea market and read them out of order with no context. The entire series was based on a toy I never owned. None of this made any difference.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale