GOOD BYE, BORDERS

First it was Ruby's Diner, one of my favorite places for a burger. Great Cobb Salads, too. And the shoestring fries were pretty much second to none. Then, one day they were -- BANG! -- gone from Washington State in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing but my thirst for their syrupy-sweet Cherry Coke.

Now Borders Books (a.k.a. Waldenbooks) will be closing its doors for good in just a few days. And this time it's on a national scale.

At least once per week I'd go to the local Everett Mall for my lunch break. They have a food court there that's no great shakes, but at least they have an Ivar's Seafood joint and a Teriyaki place where I can get chicken and stir-fried veggies. After that, I could browse the Border's right next door. They were generous with their discount coupons and I purchased many a book and CD this way.

This is also the place where I purchased a good share of my monster mags, too. I usually found titles like SCARY MONSTERS, VIDEO WATCHDOG, FANGORIA, and RUE MORGUE lurking in their magazine racks. Guess I'll be going to the nearest Barnes & Noble for that now. The other options are to buy direct from the publisher where offered or otherwise online, or Diamond Previews (the lease profitable for indie publishers). The point is that brick and mortar bookstores are slowly going the way of the DoDo and Billy Beer. There was some hope that a benefactor would come in at the last moment to rescue Borders from bankruptcy, but alas, the miracle didn't occur.

Ironically, MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD'S recent survey showed that readers prefer their monster 'zines in printed form rather than digitally. I, for one, also much prefer the traditional bookstore/newsstand. Call it Pavlovian, a learned response, or whatever, I still like to browse the shelves and smell the fresh paper and ink of a newly printed book or magazine. I'll just be doing it at one less place in a few more days.