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Waltzing in like you've cut yourself a key
With apologies if I have accidentally stalked anyone on or adjacent to my friendlist, I am fascinated by how difficult it has just proven to locate a print copy of a small-press queer novel published ten years ago. I discovered Adam/M. A. Fitzroy's Make Do and Mend (2012) through a page of Natalie Marena Nobitz's History's Queer Stories: Retrieving and Navigating Homosexuality in British Fiction about the Second World War (2018); the romantic pairing of a wounded naval officer and a conscientious objector pinged my attention even before I scrolled back and found Nobitz describing the novel as "a modern re-write of Renault's novel that opts for an idealistic ending to signal its liberationist consciousness." I thought to myself that I would totally read a quasi-fix-it of The Charioteer (1953) and decided to see if I could acquire a copy. Not from my local library system. Not from AbeBooks, either. Out of luck with the Book Depository. Amazon seemed to suggest the possibility of used copies if I was willing to deal with their marketplace, but trying to follow the relevant link revealed that they have confused the novel with an entirely different book of the same name. I found a nice interview with the author from 2013 and became depressed that my own copy of Nicholas Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea (1951) has been in storage for almost that long—also slightly wary that I might have banged into the author on AO3—but the link to the publisher's website was d-e-d dead. If the author has a website of their own where I could drop a line and ask if we could arrange some sort of exchange of goods and services, I couldn't find it. Over at Barnes and Noble, I can with no difficulty at all find a recently released e-book, but I don't like e-books. I don't even like e-books of my own books except that other people buy them. I will read books online and as pdfs if I have no other options, but I do best with print and ink and in the case of this novel I don't see how to get hold of any. I genuinely did not expect it to be this complicated. I would rely on the random luck of used book stores, but I haven't been inside one in almost three years.
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I was honestly expecting to end up ordering a used copy from the UK. I didn't expect the internet to be so bereft of used copies period. My books from 2005 are easier to find and they were print-on-demand! (It's demoralizing.) It feels like a testament to the fragility of publishing and the internet.
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Thank you! Just to see what happens, I may.
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I would have thought! I am used to this sort of trouble trying to track down novels from the actual mid-century, not from the literal previous decade. And I have had better luck with mid-century novels. So much for living in the future.
(It doesn't help that so many gay & lesbian bookstores have long since gone out of business.)
(This is true and also depressing.)
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I would not have thought that would produce a total dearth of free-floating copies, but I guess the author was lucky in their audience. (I can't believe I missed this novel at the time. I would have snapped it up and saved myself this post.)
I do not want to have to ask a friend to print me out a copy. It seems rude.
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(I had a quick look around some local sellers here, on the offchance but nothing so far.)
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You're a hero. Thank you even if they never write back!
Update!
Dear [frac]
We closed the business a couple of years ago but I'll send this on to Fiona who may have stock.
best
Re: Update!
Well, God bless your work address.
(Again, even if nothing comes of it, thank you for reaching out. It had occurred to me to contact the author if I could find them, but not the defunct publisher.)
Re: Update!
An update: there will be a POD sometime in the New Year. Drop me a note.
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Re: Update!
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Re: Update!
fruition
Caveat: the printing seems to be only out of the UK, so the shipping may make the cost of this version its own prohibition:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Make-Do-Mend-M-Fitzroy/dp/B0BQ5L6G48
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Thank you!
(I was honestly kind of hoping to be able to buy one of the original stock, but I gather there were none. I will deal with the UK shipping costs as I have done for the last few years, i.e. screaming.)
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Re: Update!
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One possible solution is to learn bookbinding? It's a lot of fun, and it has let me do things like have my friend's self-published ebook novel that I have beta-read in my book case, and also bind it for her. But of course, it does take time and energy that not everyone has.
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Oh, cool. I had no idea it existed until this evening. Based on fandoms and also general interests, I don't see how I missed it.
But of course, it does take time and energy that not everyone has.
At this point in my life, I don't think I do, but I'm glad it's something you do.
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I appreciate your passing on the recommendations!
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It didn't come up on a standard Amazon search, but it looks like there are copies available.
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It is—that's the Amazon page I found. It's just that if I click "6 Used from $8.86," it sends me promptly to this page, which is the same-titled different book. I am willing to believe someone on Amazon Marketplace is selling used copies of the Fitzroy, but since it's been confused with the other title, I don't know how to find them!
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Thank you for doing so.
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Right? If that's what it is, I want to read it just to see what's been done!
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Absolutively!
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Thank you! I have leads from several people who have commented, which is really pleasant in and of itself, and at this point I am just so curious. I will obviously report if any of the leads pan out.