Fleeting Pages is a Joy to Walk Through

I loved walking through the vast post-Borders spaces and the aisles of 100% small press books at Fleeting Pages bookstore today, their second day open to the public. Here are some photos of the space and the shelves; more books will be arriving this week. If you are a small press author or publisher, I encourage you to send your books now--Fleeting Pages will accept new books through Friday, May 13th. Yesterday, they had a great crowd for opening day, with lines forming at the register--and they sold 321 items. Read Bill O'Driscoll's account of opening day here.

Thus far, two of Pittsburgh's independent bookstores have shelves at Fleeting Pages: Big Idea Bookstore (a radical bookstore and infoshop) is above and Awesome Books, a used bookstore, is below.

Fleeting Pages will be evolving throughout the month--today someone brought a typewriter by, for use in the store.

Below, books from Spuyten Duyvil Press and a pull quote from poet Julien Poirier.

Below, Dave Newman's novel and a recent title from Pittsburgh's Autumn House Press.

Hand-bound writings from author/blogger Jackie Wang.

Below, a well-lit corner space for writing and bookmaking workshops.

Earlier on this blog I called tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE a one-man avant-garde movement, and I'll stand my ground after seeing his display (below), a small fraction of his output of self-published, various-media texts over the last 30+ years.

Tim Hall on Undie Press resides between Sarabande Books and Raw Dog Screaming Press.

Green Lantern Press from Chicago surrounds Spuyten Duyvil from Brooklyn.

Below, Jen Michalski's stories from So New Publishing adorn a Fiction shelf.

Other small presses and publications I spotted on the all-face-out displays: 40-Watt Spotlight, Air & Nothingness Press, Barbary Shore, BOMB, Caketrain, Creative Non-Fiction, Fiji Island Mermaid Press, Ker-Bloom!, Lascaux Editions, Litmus Press, Low Ghost Press, Public Illumination Magazine, Rose Metal Press, Ugly Duckling Presse, and many more.

*****

As I walked up to Fleeting Pages' door this afternoon in eager anticipation, I saw a middle-aged couple spy a hand-scrawled sign in the window: "Come In, We're Open!" They scoffed: "Give the books away, already!" They thought it was still Borders trying to sell down the very last of their slash-price bankruptcy-bin books. But a customer leaving the store stopped to educate them on what was going on at Fleeting Pages. Inside, people from various generations read in comfortable chairs, browsed the eclectic shelves, or sat at a table making books. It seems like so far, all of Jodi Morrison's plans are coming together. Bravo to Fleeting Pages on a successful opening weekend.

Find more info on Fleeting Pages here: http://www.fleetingpages.com/

Previously: Interview with a Pop-Up Bookseller