Popular Science Fiction Book Sold Out in First Week?

Aug. 9, 2012 - PRLog -- Boston, MA, USA - 9 August 2012 - When one rabid science fiction fan arrived at Barnes and Noble at the Prudential Center he was sure they'd have a copy of a book he'd been waiting for over the past six months: CHIMERA - the latest in an award winning and critically acclaimed series from Orbit Books. After all, the store is huge. In fact it's so big that it took the guy a while to even find the science fiction section and when he did it took even longer to find the right shelf, but then he saw them. There was the first book in the trilogy, GERMLINE, snuggled up next to its sister and second in the series, EXOGENE. But the third and final volume?

It was nowhere to be seen.

The fan, undaunted, hopped into his car and figured that the Barnes and Noble at Boston University would have his book because after all, this was the largest store of its kind, and always had everything, right? Wrong. No CHIMERA. Now he was getting flustered and when he asked at the counter he got the same answer as at the last store: "we're sold out but we'll order it for you; everyone is asking for it." It wasn't until the fan found a small indie book seller in Back Bay that he was able to walk out with a copy in hand, and that was after spending quite a bit of time and gas money.

And this is happening all over the country.

The series' author, T.C. McCarthy, stated that he's been contacted by multiple fans, all of whom are scratching their heads about the state of things and "to tell you the truth I don't know what to say. I guess it's good that my books are selling out so quickly? I've heard from fans in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Des Moines, Augusta - you name it. My advice to you is that if you want CHIMERA that badly, just call ahead and have Barnes and Noble order several copies, or go to another bookstore, but you better move fast? I don't have any clue what's happening, only that the first two books have sold really well. REALLY well."

And to tell you the truth, we don't have any clue what's happening either.

Publishers Weekly gives CHIMERA a starred review and calls it "impressively deep and profoundly moving... breathtaking and heartrending, this is the future of military science fiction." In addition to his novels, T.C. McCarthy's short fiction has appeared in both literary and genre magazines, including Per Contra, Story Quarterly, and Nature, and in 2012 he won the Compton Crook award for his debut novel, GERMLINE.

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C Haynsworth