Steal This Book (not really…)

I just learned something strange. People have stolen The Lucifer Messiah from the Library.

The Cuyahoga County Library system here in Ohio has 10 copies of it listed at their various locations. That’s a high number for a one-book author with no real following. In part this is because folks here generally make an effort to support their own, whether it be in music, art, sports or anything else.

Even though I’m not technically one of their own, since I’m not a native Clevelander (I can’t even bring myself to call soda “pop”) I have lived here since the late 90s – and even transplants get support around these parts.

Apparently, of the 10 copies (five of which are currently checked out – amazingly) two of them have been checked out and never returned. They’re so overdue in fact that they’re now listed as “billed” which I assume means that the library has simply given up on getting them back and charged the customer.

I don’t advocate theft. I can’t, as an officer of the court and simply as a matter of principle. So I’ll say for the record, please don’t steal my book. I know it’s not on the shelf at the local Borders. But it’s available on Amazon, and Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million, as well as Chapters/Indigo in Canada and about 30 independent booksellers accessible through Google. A few brick and mortar stores still carry it too, mostly used bookstores or non-chain places.

On the other hand, I think it’s kind of a bizarre compliment. Either a number of very lazy people are borrowing my book, or some of the people who are reading it have decided to just keep the damn thing for themselves.

Or maybe it means nothing.