Scene From The Lunchroom.

[camwyn]

Enter camwyn, who sits at a table, alone. She produces a copy of The Books of Magic trade paperback and a container of vegetarian Chinese takeout, and begins reading the first and eating the second.

Enter Co-Worker.

camwyn: Hey.
Co-Worker: Hey there. Good, it's quiet, none of the usual lunchtime crowd and noise.
camwyn: Yes. *continues reading*
Co-Worker: *eats for a bit* *begins talking*
camwyn: Mm. (This is code for 'I don't mean to be anti-social, but I was doing just fine before you came in, and you're not even sitting at my table. May I please continue to read in peace?)
Co-Worker: *talks some more*
camwyn: Ah, gotcha. (This is code for 'Apparently not. Well, I can multi-task if I have to. You have the attention of my right ear and its associated hemisphere of the brain, but the rest of me is busy with Mr. Gaiman, thanks.')
Co-Worker: Whatcha reading?
camwyn: A comic book.
Co-Worker: Ooh, what comic?
camwyn: *holds up book*
Co-Worker: That's a comic book?
camwyn: Yep. *thinks 'well, most folks I know who aren't in comic shops regularly aren't aware of TPB's either*
Co-Worker: Can I see? I won't get anything on it.
camwyn: Sure. *hands book over*
Co-Worker: *examines cover* Is this a real book of magic, or is it just called that?
camwyn *puts down fork* If I had a real book of magic, do you think I'd be reading it at work?
Co-Worker: *without even pausing* Yeah.
camwyn: ...
Co-Worker: ...because it'd be incomprehensible to everybody else here, so you'd know no one would figure out what it was.
camwyn: *laughs* You're probably right.
Co-Worker: *turns to one of the painted sections* YOu're sure this is a comic book?

Comments

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

/me shakes head in slightly stunned disbelief.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

*sighs* Irritating, but not entirely clueless.

*puts down brick, limits self to bapping*

[arabel.livejournal.com]

*blink*

...

I mean, I know not everyone is familiar with the more interesting comics that are about, but..."is this a real book of magic?"

0_o

[camwyn]

And people want to know why the Fen have to hide themselves.

[foster9563.livejournal.com]

*sob* I can't find the original Books of Magic where I live. Are they still in print? Of course, I'm in England, so it may not apply.

I've had that conversation several times before. Except with me it's usually accompanied by a lot of 'Why the fuck do you read so much?' and trying to steal said comic book. Those conversations usually end with either physical violence or painful politeness on my part.


Adrienne.

[camwyn]

I can't find the original Books of Magic where I live. Are they still in print?

Not to my knowledge. My comic store was trying to order the TPB for me from their distributor, but it's at the point of 'when we get around to it we'll consider checking the warehouse for you'. I bought mine used off amazon.com. If you have the opportunity, you may want to try searching on amazon.co.uk- I don't know if they sell used books there, I only ever bought a new book from them.

I've had that conversation several times before.

Me, I'm a totem child of Nuclear Submarine, whose first tenet is 'run silent, run deep'. This is the first time I've ever brought a comic into the office- and I've worked at this place for five years. I wouldn't have brought it out at lunch, only there wasn't anyone else in the room when I arrived; I figured no one could bother me about it if they didn't see it. Alas, Co-worker- who is a nice person, but a bit of a ditz- came along. (You weren't on my friends list then, but some months back I had to remind her fairly vigourously that Calgary is not in the United States- and she's been to Alberta.)

Calgary...

[whobunkyboo.livejournal.com]

Don't be so hard on her...occasionally Calgary needs to be reminded that it's not in the United States.

*Sigh* and I have to go back there for classes in 3 weeks and I am nowhere near ready.

[jjloa.livejournal.com]

*L* I've heard the 'you're sure this is a comic book' thing applied to Mr. Gaiman's work before ...

But never the 'is it a real book of magic' thing.

*L*

I'd say the moment was priceless except I know how annoying it is trying to read and being interrupted like that, but otherwise ... *G*

[camwyn]

Yeah, that was the part that got me. That, and the blithe 'oh, yeah, you'd be reading one at work all right'.

(Although I admit the original intent of my question had been 'if I had access to books of magic, what makes you think I'd be working as a sysadmin in an office full of people who don't know how to re-map a dropped network drive'. But still.)

[jjloa.livejournal.com]

*wince* My office is like that (except for our little group of web developers). I very much play the 'oh, I do software don't know hardware' card for just that reason.

(one of my co-designers admitted to knowing how to do it when the two ITS people were busy somewhere else. Now everytime anything goes wrong ...)

Sounds like a good reason for real books of magic to me, agreed ... though Gaiman even without magic can take the edge off at least :)

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Depends on what you'd mean by "book of magic," I reckon...

-- Lorrie