In the Navy!

by wjw on July 26, 2016

I had an unexplained bump in the sales of a seven-year-old book, and on checking I discovered that the U.S. Navy had bought 1555 copies of my novel This Is Not a Game.  To which I had a number of responses.

  1. Whoa, this is awesome!

  2. What’s the heck is wrong with the other services?

I’d kind of like to know what the Navy is doing with my novel— I mean, would it help if I came and delivered a talk about it or something, because I’d totally be down with that— but on the other hand, it’s just about enough to know that I have somehow, in some strange way, served my country,

TRX July 26, 2016 at 5:06 pm

A) someone is using it as a reading assignment in some class

B) a fan is stocking the MWR shelves with reading material

C) aliens

Personally, I’m leaning toward A), probably in some intelligence school.

John F. MacMichael July 26, 2016 at 5:14 pm

This is rather cool. Have you asked the Navy (or at least their PAO) what prompted this sudden outbreak of literary good taste? Also, why 1,555 copies? One for every USN ship and base in the world?

You might keep an eye out and see if this leads to an upsurge in sales for your backlist; both the Dagmar Shaw series and others.

wjw July 26, 2016 at 7:46 pm

I haven’t asked the Navy, and wouldn’t really know who to ask. (Though I have put inquiries in train.)

I find from online searching that the Navy has 300 libraries ashore and 30 afloat, so it seems unlikely I’d just end up on shelves somewhere.

Dirk Bergstrom July 26, 2016 at 8:54 pm

I could see them picking up Deep State right now because it’s topical.

Privateiron July 27, 2016 at 9:23 am

Even though the song is Village People, the vocal quality is very Abba.

I don’t have any better suggestions than TRX. I hope it doesn’t remain one of those unsolved mysteries, like the origins of Gus Fring or the fate of D B Cooper.

IronOre July 27, 2016 at 9:52 am

It definitely sounds like your book is being taught in a classroom on some Navy base. Probably something about augmented reality games and their impact and usefulness. That’s pretty awesome.

Privateiron July 27, 2016 at 4:45 pm

As far as I know, IronOre and I are not two aspects of the same personality. But would I be aware if we were? [Dramatic prairie dog music cue]

Johan Larson July 27, 2016 at 6:13 pm

The US Naval Academy has approximately 1,200 students in each class.

One copy for every entering “plebe” and one copy for every Navy library is approximately the right number.

IronOre July 28, 2016 at 9:25 am

Privateiron is obviously the more refined version of the personality.

mark July 28, 2016 at 11:57 am

Here’s a thought: they’re stuggling with sexism and sexual assaults. They’re also thinking about ‘Net attacks. This gets the reader thinking about the second, and the first is drawn into their consciousness, and it’s from her viewpoint….

mark

Stephen M. Stirling August 7, 2016 at 6:37 pm

Dang, and I thought it was cool when the Coast Guard used mine!

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