Mark Steyn: Anybody Out There Seen My Book? You won't sell my book in Canada? Why, I'm flattered

Maclean's ^ | November 2, 2006 | Mark Steyn

[quidnunc]

Some years ago, back when this here Internet thing that the kids are crazy over was brand new, I remember reading a piece about Amazon.com. And some fellow was wondering whether he should invest in Amazon.com. "No," said the big financial journalist, "you should be amazon.com."

From the murky slough of my memory, this thought swam up to the surface for the first time in years. The other day my new book was published — as you may recall, if only because it was the cover story in Maclean's a couple of weeks back. Don't worry; lest you think this is a book plug, I don't think it's possible to plug a book that at the time of writing is unavailable in any Canadian bookstore coast to coast, from Gander to Victoria. Authors have always been interested in inventory, of course. I don't know whether he still does it, but for many years the "novelist" Jeffrey Archer had a habit of wandering into shops and surreptitiously autographing all copies of his books, thus rendering them unreturnable. Less motivated chaps, on discovering the local emporium has not a single copy of the magnum opus, tend just to shrug and move on to writing our next unwanted book.

Which is pretty much what I did when kind readers — well, technically, non-readers — wrote after the Maclean's cover story to point out that Chapters-Indigo-Coles-Smithbooks and all the many aliases of Canada's multi-appellated monopoly bookstore chain had no copies of my new book, whose title escapes me, as evidently it did Heather Reisman. Ms. Reisman, if that is indeed her name, is the proprietress of Chapters-Indigo-Aliases R Us, and is famous for ostentatiously announcing the simultaneous banning from all her chains of Mein Kampf, which is tough on visitors from the Middle East, where the new Arabic edition is a bestseller. ("Kampf" is translated as "jihad." Really.)

-snip-

… A gentleman in Calgary inquired about my book and was told there was no demand for it. During this exchange, two other people asked the same question of a neighbouring clerk and got the same response. There's no demand for the book, just a huge demand for the explanation that no one's demanding it.

-snip-

So in the end, we directed readers to Amazon.ca, which Chapters, you'll recall, wanted banned from the Canadian market. At Amazon.ca, the book made the week's Top 10 bestsellers on its first day and rose to No. 2, before selling out. At which point, Canadians had to go to Amazon.com and order from down south. And, if you do that, something called "the Canadian Border Services Agency" charges you a couple of bucks for GST along with a five-dollar "service fee." It seems a little odd for a service agency to sting you with a service fee for the service they're meant to provide. Rather as if Maclean's charged you the cover price and then tossed in a five-dollar "service fee" for writing and editing. But I guess calling it a "service fee" is a way to disguise what it really is: a protectionist tariff that's in breach of the NAFTA treaty. That's if they let it through. A day or two before the cover story in Maclean's was due to go to bed, I received an urgent email from the editor saying their copy had been "held at the border." Hmm.

[Lorianne]

Canadians are big on censorship.

[goldstategop]

Canada is a dying nation. Oh well, there'll be no one left in a century there to read Mark Steyn's book. I guess the demographic rut goes hand in hand with its being banned from Canadian bookstores from coast to coast.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Leisler]

Just order Steyn's book and the Looming Tower; The Road To 9/11 from Amazon.com

Bookstores can go out of business.

[Leisler]

You could always write The Canadians Guide to Arabic. Could be a big seller.

[My2Cents]

Correct. Steyn put Canada in the same crosshairs as Europe, so no wonder they're not thrilled by his book. Of course, Canada is going the way of Europe because it is the most European of No. American nations. But the US isn't that far behind, and if it were up to the John Kerrys of this country, we'd model ourselves after France (which is dying from nihilism). The US is only an election away from tipping over into the abyss.

[Old Professer]

Everybody go to the site and read the good parts left out here - you won't regret it.

[Maneesh]

Mark Steyn's book is a must read. I have bought 20 copies and giving it my 20 favorite liberals. If they only read this it has to begin to change their thinking. The facts and arguments are irrefutable and the writing style is a hoot. You laugh even when reading about the inevitable demise of Europe because of the classic humor Steyn uses. The Republican party and the US military is all that stands between freedom and complete tyranny.

And yes Canada is an increasingly irrelevant nation even though Stephen Harper is a great leader and is valiantly keeping the good fight alive.

[goldstategop]

If the Left had it its way in America, America would be the leading proponent of Zero Population Growth. Thank God that hasn't come to pass here. Canada on the other hand, is a study of what happened to a society in which ZPG has set it on the road to extinction.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[jacquej]

I ordered my copy from Zooba.com. Great value for good books!

http://www.zooba.com/doc/browse/detail/product_detail.jhtml?repositoryId=905110B131

[MattinNJ]

The US is only an election away from tipping over into the abyss.

Exactly. The fact that some of these races are even close is frightening. Demographics will get us and we will enter the new dark ages.Ironically we are at our peak right now-the sole superpower. China and the Muslims will take care of that within a generation or two. A shame for our children and grandchildren.

[Caesar Soze]

And for the first few dozen, I wrote back explaining that it's certainly not that we failed to deliver to Ms. Reisman, and thus her "World's Biggest Bookstore" was reduced to filling the front tables with a groaning cornucopia of thousands of copies of unreadable anti-Bush tracts (Dumbass) faute de mieux: Chapters chose to order that stuff.

My French is a bit rusty, and I'm having trouble contextualizing that parenthetical. Is Mr. Steyn questioning Ms. Reisman's intelligence with a word he thinks she might understand, or is that the title of an anti-Bush tract?

[goldstategop]

Its the title of anti-Bush tract. Interestingly enough, given that most Canadians are Lefties, faute de mieux is indeed apopros. The anti-Bush tracts are the detritus of an era already passing into history. The history of the world to come is what ought to be focusing people's minds.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[My2Cents]

Of course, with the left's habit of calling darkness light, right wrong, and lies the truth, if or when this country falls into a new dark age, the left will call it the "New Enlightenment."

Personally, what the left suffers from is a spiritual malaise. I'm OK with letting them go their way, but they want to suck the rest of us down into the pit with them.

[My2Cents]

The history of the world to come is what ought to be focusing people's minds.

Well-said. Unfortunately, too many people consider what happened ten years ago as "ancient history," and don't look beyond next payday.

[NorthernRight]

As well, CAIR Canada, has attempted to get Steyn fired rom his position as a columnist for Macleans Magazine:
Fire Mark Steyn,...???
and,
CAIR vs. Mark Steyn.

Apparemntly CAIR is all hot and bothereed over a "derogatory" column Mark wrote.

Well, this ought to be fun!!!

[HitmanLV]

120 Proof STEYNAHOL! I have been archiving Mark's radio appearances if anyone is interested - just visit my FR page and click the pic of Mr Steyn towards the bottom of the page. I will be adding about 4 or 5 more interviews today I think!

Three cheers! I am a STEYNAHOLIC!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

What the heck? Is this bookstore chain run by Vive le Canada or Global Research?

[jpl]

My experience is that the people who talk the most about how "tolerant" they are in reality are usually the least tolerant people anywhere.

[listenhillary]

Ranked #22 in sales on Amazon USA

http://www.amazon.com/America-Alone-End-World-Know/dp/0895260786/sr=1-1/qid=1162504550/ref=sr_1_1/104-7628844-0752747?ie=UTF8&s=books