to my humbly captive audience

over the past few years I have been bubbling an idea around in my head to write about an individual who was a book scout (married and stay-at-home dad) who makes some particularly foolish decisions that lead him and his family into harms way. International intrigue, spy networks, that sort of rot.

i wanted to figure out if having an using a real blog in a fictional enterprise is kosher. It seems to be so -

we are on.


My own "book fetish" as it were was only unleashed in 2001 when I spent the summer working at a recycling center outside of Philadelphia a few days a week. I was paid very minimally - except that I was also allowed to take donated books as part of my "pay". I gained a lot of weight that summer. No, I didn't get fat but the farmhouse where I was living at the time began to fill up with books. A lot of books. Dozens at a time. Paperbacks, mostly. The classics and oddballs. I was amazed what people dumped at the Center. Books that Auntie Em or Ralphie Boy had their closets, or attics, or basements -

I watched in horror as others at the Center ripped off the covers of Hard Bounds and toss the pages in with old newspaper for pulping. It was like they were killing defenseless animals. Of course, some of the books were mildewed, soiled, highlighted, water logged. BUT STILL! On principle alone I started to "save" books. I vowed to find homes for them somewhere. Used bookstores. Then a few years later, online.

the reason I asked....

...is because I am working on a novel with some real-world elements in it and I wanted some idea of how do prepare for the possibility that people reading the novel would then click onto the real sites and blogs

would it generate interest in things that I (or the main character) find interesting?