[It turns out that I incorrectly posted this episode back in April as just a 42 seconds-long clip. Oops! - frustratingly, I have only just realized, but I have now replaced the short clip with the full episode - So sorry everyone!]
Yesterday - on Saturday, April 27th, 2024 I helped celebrate Independent Bookstores Day by becoming one of the Guest Booksellers at Brazos Bookstore, my amazing local indie here in Houston TX at the invitation of Randi Null, the general manager. I'm not sure how many books I helped sell, but I certainly had a great couple of hours talking to the staff, the other authors who were Guest-Bookselling too, and of course, to the readers of all ages who were checking out the shelves and asking for recommendations so I could give you the chance to help us celebrate the indie bookstore network around the world too. I even got to talk to the Inprint Poetry Buskers - all Masters students at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program - who were on duty with their trusty typewriters, ready to produce an original poem to order - just give them a topic and then pick up your piece of original literary artwork a few minutes later.

Of course, because we were recording live in the store, the sound quality is rather louder than usual, and unfortunately, because I was trying out some new lapel mics for the interviews, my own sound is a little distorted at times. Huge apologies, but I hope you'll forgive all that and just enjoy soaking up the atmosphere of a bustling indie bookstore on a busy Saturday afternoon.

My fellow Guest Booksellers on the afternoon shift were Chris Cander and Sydney Dunlap, and the Inprint Poetry Buskers were Adrian Pachuca, Caleb Berg and Anna Barr.

Shoutouts to other indie stores mentioned by my guests:
Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston TX
Kaboom Books, Houston TX
Class Books, Houston TX
Buy the Book, Woodlands TX
Village Books, Woodlands TX
Moe's Books, Berkeley CA
Bad Animal, Santa Cruz CA
Literati, Ann Arbor MI
Dawn Treader, Ann Arbor MI
Curious Books, East Lancing MI
Parnassus Books, Nashville TN
Goldberry Books, Concord, NC

And also to the two libraries mentioned - Aurora IL Public Library, and Ms Nelson, the school librarian at Roberts Elementary School, Houston TX.

And thank you to all the readers and book-buyers who so willingly let me accost them and demand to know what books they'd chosen.

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Music by Oleg Kirilkov - #We StandWithUkraine