I’m a big admirer of Douglas Coupland’s work. I’ve read all his books, and am especially fond of Girlfriend in a Coma and Hey Nostradamus.
So a couple of months ago, I went into a biggish branch of a high street book retailer to pick up a copy of GiaC to give to someone, because I’d been raving about it over lunch a few days before. I rifled through the various titles on the shelf, disappointed that they didn’t have the one I wanted in stock, when my fingers alighted on…something unexpected.
The Gum Thief is Coupland’s keenly-awaited and newest novel, due to be published in at the beginning of October. And yet there it was, on a shelf in a shop, in the middle of July.
I looked closer. It was bound in unfinished thick paper, and the back cover carried details of how it was planned to be marketed, and likely sizes and prices. At the bottom of the front cover was a small legend - UNCORRECTED PROOF: NOT FOR SALE. Yet there it was, on a shelf in a bookshop.
Which was rather odd.
So I took it up to the cash desk, queued, and then when it was my turn said to the assistant, “Look, I know this is a weird thing to ask, but this book….it shouldn’t be here, but it is. Can I buy it?”
He took hold of the book, examined it, and then said, “Hmm. How did that get there? How weird!”
He had a think.
“Well, I can’t sell it to you. It’s not for sale. And it’s not out yet, so it’s not in our system, so….well, there’s nothing to stop you, um, just walking out with it.”
I peered at him. “You mean to say, I could stick this book in my bag and leave, and I wouldn’t get into trouble?”
“Yes,” he said, “it can’t be stealing. It doesn’t exist, and besides, it isn’t on sale. So no, you wouldn’t be shoplifting.”
This was clearly too good an opportunity for a Coupland fan to pass up.
“Right then,” I said, still slightly unsure about the whole thing, “….er, thanks very much.”
I picked it up, and walked out of the shop, still expecting to feel a heavy hand on my shoulder as I passed through the door, but it never came.
And that’s how I came to have a super-early copy of The Gum Thief in my sticky little hands, which I sneakily read during the summer. I’m on my second read through now, and let me tell you: it’s good.
Go out and buy it. I just might, too.
Cool story, and Oh, hey! Bingo, thing to do next week:
Coupland will be in town reading/autographing… I have been to his readings a few times before, I am a bit of a fan myself. He is very soft spoken yet quite entertaining in an understated way.
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/261184/
You could ask him to sign his UNPROOFED copy, if you dare, ha!
email me if you are up for it.
See, nothing like that would ever happen to me, and I’ve been through the Coupland section at Borders many many times.
My best find was a $2 copy of Eleanor Rigby at a flea market.
I don’t think we’ve ever met, but I think you’ll understand when I say: you bitch.
(My guess is that someone left it in the shop by accident, and a not-entirely-concentrating assistant ‘re’-shelved it.)
Please say it’s better than JPod.
Excellent stuff. I love it when stuff like this happens.
Well I say that but this is the first time I’ve heard of this happening but hey, I’d love it if it happened to me!!
Of course you need to buy a proper copy when it comes out (so you can check that they have fixed the errors that you have presumably found).
James - I’m going to take that in the spirit in which (I hope) it was intended.
It is, indeed, better than JPod.
Hah - if that’d been me on the ’til I’d have apologized, withdrawn it from sale, and taken it home to put on eBay.
Made quite a killing selling proofs back in the day.
’til -> till, of course.
hi
“it can’t be stealing. It doesn’t exist, and besides, it isn’t on sale. So no, you wouldn’t be shoplifting.” - this is an incredibly cool attitude for him to take. I’m a huge Coupland fan, so am as envious as anyone else here that you got your hands on it early. His attitude was a good one, because if it wasn’t for your post and your story I would not have been as excited as I am about picking a copy up myself.
I am always put off from buying proofs because of the fear that perhaps a few words or even just the odd comma or other punctuation might have changed in the published version, so that unknowingly I would not have read the work as the author fully intended it to be.
Didn’t know Coupland had a new book out. After reading your post, I went out to get it, though I had to pay a little more :-)