On Oct. 25, the day Gunslinger was released, I placed a copy inside a bookstore at Los Angeles Airport, then posted some hints on Twitter in regards to its whereabouts. A reader discovered it, then shared with me a hilarious story.
Here you go …
I am tour guide for Americans traveling to Cuba. I’m flying with a group out of JFK/Jet Blue today and happened to see your Facebook post. What a coincidence.
So I run into the book store and spent a minute or two looking around before I spotted the lone copy, which I thought was odd, and it was the on you signed.
I had assumed the book was paid for given your post, so I went up to the cashier assuming she knew about it, would be excited for me that I found it, and let me go. She had no idea.
She proceeds to lecture me about how it’s very common for authors to walk into the store, sign books and leave them on the shelf. The author did not pay for the book, she says, so I had to, which annoyed me. But I was already this invested into it, so I gave her my credit card.
She then has trouble scanning the book as it won’t come up in the register. I show her your post and she calls her supervisor who had to get the manager. They continue to scan it and it’s not in the system. They keep saying they don’t understand why you wouldn’t have told them about this. But they don’t think they own the book.
After much reluctance to allow me to leave without paying, they decided there was nothing else they could do and let me go. So thank you very much for a cool story and what I’m sure will be a great book. My group was thoroughly entertained.
