Black Friday at the Schaap Bookstore

Out of nowhere, it seemed, a man I didn't know raised his hand at a presentation I was giving at a library out here in northwest Iowa. He told me he loved a story of mine, then proceeded to describe it in detail. It took my surprised self sometime to realize that he was talking about a collection of short stories now ten years old--or more. It won a contest and was published on-line, then done again as an in-your-hand book (the covers are greatly different). Here's the on-line cover:

Same insides, different skin. I'm not at all sure where the ferris wheel came from, but this cover won some kind of prize, if I remember right. Both still available on Amazon.

For me, it was odd but fun, all the stories originating in a cemetery, a gathering of dead men walking (women too), souls who abide there and have been given generous opportunities to return to the small town where they lived out their lives, not to interfere--there are ground rules after all--but to observe and think seriously about the world they once occupied and have now (not entirely) left behind, think in ways that, well, blessed by their having passed into what Native folks would call "the Spirit world."

I wrote one story, then decided there were more there, if I'd think about it a bit. I am an inveterate cemetery stalker. Visiting new neighborhoods, I often choose to spend any extra time I might have by strolling through the graveyard because the stories are so abundant--and almost instantly imaginable.

“James Calvin Schaap has done the impossible," Mary Swander said, a former State of Iowa poet laureate. "In Up the Hill, he has beautifully crafted a collection of stories written from the grave, and these voices are both humorous, powerfully moving, and scary."

Nice. But "scary" surprised me. I didn't think of the stories at all Halloweenish. She must have meant something else.

"Up the Hill is a very original and heartwarming collection of tales that invite readers to listen in on the congregation of the dead as they speak from the afterlife," or so said Jim Heynen, an old friend and writer of darlingly tall tales.

Here's Diane Glancy, another old friend: “A fine mix of characteristic Schaap grit and wholesomeness, frugality and abundance, colloquialism and wisdom. If you don't read these stories, ‘Honestly, you don't know what you're missing.’”

I even concocted a little book trailer, hoping to gather some readers:

Have a look

Today is the day the world calls "Black Friday," so I thought I'd open the bookstore down here in the basement and let you know that today you can buy any of a dozen Schaap books at bargain basement prices. Just tell me what you want and what you want to pay. I'll be more than happy to oblige.

Sometime soon take a walk in a cemetery and let me know what you come up with. If nothing at all, let me know and I'll send you a book, or two or three.