On June 21, Skylight Books in Los Feliz will host a book release event for Madhouse Fog.  I’ll talk more about the event as it gets closer.  Before I do, I’m going to talk about why I love Skylight.

1. I was there last week, buying a couple of books that I’d had my eye out for but hadn’t seen in bookstores yet.  Of course, I know that I can buy books online any time I want.  Usually, books are cheaper online.  But I’m picky about books.  I don’t want a used copies that the last reader smeared with chocolate stains (chocolate being the hopeful interpretation of a brown smudge).  I don’t want smelly books or dogeared books or books with annotations from students who write exactly what the professor tells them to in the margins.  I want brand new books that I can pour my energy into.  I want to see and hold the book before I buy it, if at all possible.  Skylight makes that possible.  I carry around a mental list of books I want.  Skylight always has more books on that list than I have money to spend.

2. As I was paying for those books last week, the guy at the counter saw my Razorcake shirt and told me that they were hosting an event with Razorcake on June 21.  He told me I should come.  Of course, I’ll come.  The event is my book release.  And nothing makes you feel more hopeful about an event than a bookstore employee plugging it a month in advance.

3. That was almost as cool as the time several years ago when I was buying books at Skylight with my debit card.  The woman behind the counter recognized my name on the card and said, “We carry a couple of books by a guy named Sean Carswell.  Are you that guy?”  I said I was.  She asked me to sign the copies in stock.  I did, feeling like a big-time guy with every stroke of the pen.

4. The next time I went into Skylight after that incident, my signed copies had sold.  Skylight reordered the books, and new copies were on the shelves.  If only every bookstore were Skylight.

5. It’s not all about me.  What makes them a great bookstore is their attitude.  Nothing seems to explain that better than this little piece on Skylight’s tumblr page.  Check it out: “What the What the Whaat!?!?”