Melville House Books

Pynchon's latest

A Cappella Books in Atlanta, Georgia, has announced that they are having a midnight release party for the new Thomas Pynchon book. Move over Harry Potter and Stephenie Meyer, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that store owner Frank Reiss is promoting a midnight party for the August 4th launch of the reclusive author’s “new stoner-noir detective novel Inherent Vice.â€

“We’re even going to have a band,†Reiss told the AJC, “We’re going to use social networking. We can better touch base with people who have that particular obsession.†And just how many people is he expecting to have that particular obsession? Expectations are modest. He told the AJC, “I’m hoping a couple of dozen people show up.†Not Harry Potter numbers, but not bad for asking people to go to a bookstore in the middle of the night.

Reiss had a 2006 midnight launch event for Pynchon’s last book Against the Day which met with enough success that he decided to try again. “People who become obsessed with books become obsessed with Pynchon,†Reiss told the AJC. “His works are so demanding. You have to be a pretty committed reader. It’s a certain self selectivity. There’s also a paranoia that comes through in his books. And bookish people tend to have a soft spot for paranoia.â€

A paranoia shared, apparently, by Penguin Press, which has only allowed a handful of reviewers personalized advance copies of the book. And will only send the A Cappella Bookstore their books late on Monday, August 3rd, a few hours before the release date.

Valerie Merians is the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.