My favourite of these is "it's big, it has a green cover, and it has war in the title." It took me two guesses to work out that it was Battlefield Earth (not The Illearth War); more experienced sf booksellers have guessed it in one.
The most recent was "It's a hardcover, it's black, it's a new release, and we'll know it when we see it." They didn't find it.
Of course, there was one guy who didn't know what sort of shop he was looking for, but since he was carrying a staff with a runestone set in it, presumably he was dowsing rather than browsing. No, I am not making this up.
The trouble with "It's blue" is then more often than not, it's yellow. I try to be forgiving and imagine in a previous printing or incarnation it was in fact blue. I do this more for my own sanity though, I suspect.
Comments 9
Isn't it, though?
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My favourite of these is "it's big, it has a green cover, and it has war in the title." It took me two guesses to work out that it was Battlefield Earth (not The Illearth War); more experienced sf booksellers have guessed it in one.
The most recent was "It's a hardcover, it's black, it's a new release, and we'll know it when we see it." They didn't find it.
Of course, there was one guy who didn't know what sort of shop he was looking for, but since he was carrying a staff with a runestone set in it, presumably he was dowsing rather than browsing. No, I am not making this up.
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Or maybe the REAL color of the book is banana-blue. Or bluberry-yellow.
Or something.
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"This is it."
Customer: "No, it isn't."
"Why not?"
Sometimes that gets more out of them.
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