There's Something Fishy Going On....
The name 'Chapters' or 'Indigo' will be familiar for those of you lucky enough to live in Canada. They're big, monolithic bookstores like Barnes and Noble in the United States, or Borders in the UK or Australia.
On a recent jaunt through a Chapters near my office, I noticed something odd. No Vonnegut. No Burgess. Their places on the shelves are occupied by DVD cases with "Inquire at the Info Desk" written on them.
Excuse me?
Are you telling me you don't have Kurt or Anthony in stock? Two of the English Language's most creative voices?
Or is it something worse? Are their books being censored, removed from public view?
This wouldn't be anything new. Both authors have had their books banned the world over. But have such draconian measures arrived in Canada?
And when Canada's biggest book chain starts banning books from its shelves, that's a big problem. Chapters/Indigo has a virtual stranglehold over book distribution in this country. If they censor something, hundreds of thousands of people may be denied access.
I'm going to go confront somebody about this today. I'll let you know what I find out.