Neil Gaiman Indie Bookstore Contest

R.J. Julia Wins Neil Gaiman Indie Bookstore Contest

R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, Conn., won the Neil Gaiman Indie Bookstore Contest by selling the most copies of his latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, in November and December 2013. Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calif., finished second, with Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif., a "very close" third. As winner, R.J. Julia receives a well-earned store visit by Gaiman.

In a letter about the contest she had sent to customers last year that was as much passionate handselling as get-out-the-vote-for-Gaiman, owner Roxanne Coady wrote: "If you forced me to tell you what it does, Ocean makes you think about how to retain the qualities of childhood--unconstrained by the heavy hand of adulthood--being iconoclastic, imaginative and without guile. It also reminded me that allowing the fear of failure to restrict your actions might, in fact, guarantee another form of failure altogether--preventing you from ever realizing your full potential in life.

"All that said, I urge you to read it. If we're able to generate enough enthusiasm and interest in his book, we might even be able to get Neil to come by our store... which would be phenomenal, of course." And it will be.
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