I'm so upset that McNally Robinson is closing its Calgary location. Sure, it's a blow to the literary scene, since it's one less free, convenient, and most importantly, licensed location for readings. But even worse, it'll cause a major reduction to my quality of life. I live downtown, in a city of a million people. I should have easy access to all kinds of culture. But sadly, no, there are no other bookstores in downtown Calgary. Not even a Chapters. Oh yeah, I guess there's a Coles, but it's one of those sad, off-putting mall bookstores. And anyway I don't like to spend my money at the Indigo-Chapters-Coles empire.

Walking to McNally's, browsing their poetry section, their magazines, their prairie writers section, their sale section, maybe having lunch or a coffee, hitting a couple of clothes stores on the way home - this is one of the most satisfying ways I can think of to spend my time. I guess I could walk across the river to Pages on Kensington. I was there this afternoon, and I noticed they have a pretty impressive poetry section lately (they stock my book). But it's a much smaller store, and they don't sell remaindered books at superlow prices like McNally's and big box bookstores. I can't buy books (other than poetry books) for retail! That's absurd. Just last week, at McNally's, I bought a J.M. Coetzee novel and a University of Oxford Press book on Athenian democracy, each for under five dollars. How could I possibly make such random purchases at retail prices?

I was at Higher Ground earlier this afternoon, writing, and I noticed some lanky slacker type guy reading the same book on Athenian democracy I've been reading, which he clearly also bought at McNally's. In a city without an independent outlet-style bookstore, where are the kind of people who sit around coffeeshops all afternoon reading for fun and self-improvement supposed to acquire their reading materials? Damn you, McNally Robinson, the forces for good in this city are so few, how can you abandon us?