Germ Books and Gallery in Philadelphia was one of the stops on the book tour I did with Crazy Carl in 2007. It was a great store filled with fascinating books. If you were a reader interested in science fiction, occult, conspiracy theory, and underground literature, it was a little slice of heaven. I remember buying Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's
Illuminatus! there, and it was difficult to restrain myself to only buying one book (we were trying to travel light on the tour and not come back with more books--albeit different ones--than we set out with). I bear sad news though. The proprietor, David Williams, just announced that the store is closing at the end of the month, so if you live in Philly, go check it out while you still can. I'd like to thank David publicly for stocking my novel
The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus all these years! I'm sorry that another great bookstore will shortly be only a great memory. It's the age we live in though as a lot of culture goes online. So let's enjoy the great bookstores while we can because there won't be many left in the future.
I worked with the deceased, RIP,
ReplyDeleteco-owner Jennifer Bates at a
Philadelphia record store in the
mid-90's and we had some good
conversations about odd material.
The neighborhood the store is in
has not proved to be full of book
lovers though it is ," hipster
central", and is Philly's version
of Haight Ashbury.
Pete, thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I never got to meet Jennifer, but I've heard many good things about her over the years.
Hipsters would be cooler if they read more books.
Yes, tomorrow night's monthly UFO meetup will be the last at GERM. It truly is a sad day for us.
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