Here we are, on the other side of Labor Day, looking forward to the eventual end of summer, hopefully by Thanksgiving this year. My wife and I kept busy painting the kitchen in our new house, but only after Saturday's return of the Freret Market here in New Orleans. Unfortunately, we lost the first hour to a much-needed deluge, but the organizers altruistically provided free beer to the vendors until the sun came out a little after 1:00. Other folks were obviously as anxious for the return as I was, because they came out in force for the rest of the afternoon. I also received good news from vendor organizer Cree McRee that the Broad St. Bazaar will return on October 10. Reminders will be posted as the date gets closer.
As promised, I am updating the Greater New Orleans market bestseller list for 2009, side by side with the previous list:
pre-Labor Day current
1. Kurt Vonnegut 1. Kurt Vonnegut
2. Star Trek 2. Star Trek
3. (tie) Ray Bradbury 3. (tie) Ray Bradbury
3. (tie) Walker Percy 3. (tie) Walker Percy
5. (tie) Robert Heinlein 5. Albert Camus
5. (tie) Hermann Hesse 6. (tie) Robert Heinlein
5. (tie) James Joyce 6. (tie) Hermann Hesse
5. (tie) J.D. Salinger 6. (tie) Aldous Huxley
6. (tie) James Joyce
6. (tie) George Orwell
6. (tie) J.D. Salinger
6. (tie) Clifford Simak
As you can see, several classic writers managed to earn their way onto the list, with Algerian existentialist Albert Camus leading the way after two copies of The Stranger sold on Saturday. The most surprising entry has to be Golden Age science fiction writer Clifford Simak, vaulted onto the list by the efforts of one obsessive fan. I've alluded to this before, but let me remind you that all of you are the ones who decide. Are you outraged that that pinko pacifist Vonnegut is at the top, and the dean of military s-f Heinlein is stuck in sixth place? Come on out to the market and put the world right. Camus, Simak, Harlan Ellison and John Kennedy Toole fans did just that this past Saturday, and all showed substantial gains. Not enough diversity? Chinua Achebe, Joan Didion, Ernest Gaines, Sylvia Plath and Anne Rice are all on the verge of greatness. Will you be the one to give them the push they need?
Before I mentally leave the market, one more observation, to be filed in the The Kids are Alright file:
A kid I see at the Freret Market every time, must be about 11, was looking at a paperback copy of Hell House, by Richard Matheson. It has a pretty scary looking skeleton in what appear to be monk's robes on the cover, and I'm thinking that is what is attracting the kid. So I ask him if he has seen episodes of the original Twilight Zone, since Matheson wrote several episodes, second in volume only to Rod Serling himself. So the kid politely lets me know he's aware of that, and he recently read I Am Legend, the novel also written by Matheson and made into two movies, starring Charlton Heston and Will Smith, respectively. I play it cool, but immediately show my respect.
Now let that sink in. Again, I say he can't be more than 11, and this kid is savvy enough to be reading one of the modern masters of dark fantasy and science fiction, someone legitimately placed in the company of Lovecraft and Bradbury. In an age when he is bombarded with gory computer games and Saw 8 and Crescent Wrench 4: The Revenge of the Plumber, and young adult vampire stories and Marilyn Manson, this kid is choosing Richard Matheson. How cool is that?
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