Corey Mesler has written some fine things over the years. He has a new story here at thieves jargon.

Corey, How's the book business going? Have you owned the store since the beginning? Do you have any book buying stories like this?

The book business, like much of retail right now, is struggling, especially little guys like us. It ain't no picnic.

Have I owned the store since the beginning....of time? Well, the bookstore is 133 years old and while I am an ancient man with a hoary soul I have only owned this venerable old Burke's Book Store since 2000.

I don't have a story as salacious as finding porn in any books. I did find a topless picture of a guy's girlfriend stuck inside one of the used books we bought in. And we've found marijuana secreted away in the spine of a book. No money though. You always hear stories of book buyers finding money but it hasn't happened for me yet.

I just read your story at titular on Roots. What did you do with the topless picture? How has this picture effected your life? Also, how has getting a blurb for your novel by John Grisham changed your life?

Of course I squirreled the picture away for those long nights when lonesomeness sings through me like a siren's song. How does any beauty affect your life? It enriches it. The John Grisham blurb, I wish I could say, really made my name. John is a good friend and his name is gold but, in my case, it may have nudged my sales into the double digits. I'm not really sure. It is rare that anyone even mentions the blurb, so thanks for that.

I wish I could say this interview will push sales into the triple digits, but I'm hopeful that day will someday near. Regardless, maybe if you describe your morning habits or your spiritual views you'll sway some of the readers.

My spiritual views, like anyone's spiritual views, would only bore. My morning habits are as fixed as the stars. I arrive at the computer at roughly the same time every morning, between 6 and 6:30, run through the usual routine, checking and answering emails, visiting various diverting sites like Facebook and Good Reads and Library Thing. When I've exhausted the playground aspect of the internet I open up Word Perfect and pray to the gods for inspiration. As Annie Lamott has said, if you put yourself in front of the blank page every day at the same time chances are good that you will write. The body readies itself for it. This has proven true for me and it's a rare day when I don't do at least a modicum of work toward what I ironically call my writing career. Some small bit of editing, a submission to a new zine perhaps, or on those days of fire, a brand new poem.

So, I've never been to Tennessee, can you give me an idea of what the lit scene/overall scene is like? What do you drive for a car? Do you walk to work? Is it a laid back life? Are you in a band? Has Elvis ever bought a book at your store?

The flip answer would be, what lit life? But recently the universities have hired some energetic and talented folks who have injected some much needed literary mojo into the community. Our readings at the bookstore have been livelier and better attended. And these good folks have re-energized the university's literary magazine, The Pinch, with local readings and great publicity.

When I drive I drive a Honda CR-V. My wife does the driving.

I walk to work when it's not as hot as monkeys the way it is today. It's a lovely 7 minute walk. Sometimes I bike if I'm in a hurry.

In a band? No. I would trade all my other meager talents for musical talent but alas I have none. I was the only kid in my fifth grade class who didn't learn to play his recorder.

Elvis has never visited but his daughter and her outer space husband Michael Jackson have. They shopped with us one Sunday afternoon for about an hour and a half. And, yes, he really is that strange.