{"id":12871,"date":"2020-02-02T18:08:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T23:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=12871"},"modified":"2020-02-02T18:08:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T23:08:42","slug":"episode-360-otto-penzler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-360-otto-penzler","title":{"rendered":"Episode 360 – Otto Penzler"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 360:
\nOtto Penzler<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Episode_360_-_Otto_Penzler.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWriting is hard. I\u2019d rather do yard work than write. But this memoir was the least onerous writing I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>The great publisher, editor, anthologizer, retailer and collector of crime fiction, Otto Penzler<\/a>, joins the show to talk about his wonderful new book, Mysterious Obsession: Memoirs of a Compulsive Collector<\/a> (Mysterious Bookshop), and his decision to auction off the world’s greatest collection of crime fiction (think ~60,000 first editions). We get into his instant regret about that decision, how it inspired this amazing memoir, and how he’s getting by without all those books (especially because he designed his house to accommodate an even larger<\/em> collection). We discuss the changes in his Mysterious Bookshop<\/a> and his other Mysterious pursuits (see links below) as the internet has warped book and retail culture, the camaraderie and friendships that he built over a lifetime of collecting, the mania that can strike during auctions, and the difference between collecting and reading. And we talk about how he learned to edit major writers for his anthologies (including a near-disaster with Joyce Carol Oates), the farthest he\u2019s traveled to acquire a single book, the moment he realized he had a writing style and how that unlocked him as a writer, how he had to choose between Sherlock Holmes and the rest of crime fiction, the vagaries of fame and literary reputation as reflected in book collecting, and why he characterizes himself as a parasite in the mystery world (having done everything but writing a mystery novel of his own). Give it a listen!<\/a> And go buy Mysterious Obsession: Memoirs of a Compulsive Collector<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\u201cI came up with one word \u2014 MYSTERIOUS \u2014 and my creativity was finished.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n