Bookstore Successfully Binds 2 Literary Tastes : It’s an Unlikely Marriage of Science Fiction, Literature From Latin America

When Lydia Marano opened her bookstore in Sherman Oaks, she named it Dangerous Visions--after a book by Harlan Ellison--because she planned to combine her two loves, science fiction and Latin American literature, under one roof. She worried that the combination might turn out to be too capricious, too quirky to actually be commercial.

In the five years since then, she has discovered that dangerous visions can be commercial ones, and she is now entrenched in a specialized but popular bookstore with a devoted following. Regulars stop by several times a week after work to check the “new books” shelf, and Marano calls many customers by their first names.

“I have proven that I can sell this mishmash,” Marano said. “But I do have people calling up to ask if we sell books on land speculation.”

Marano’s dream-come-true of how a bookstore should be is a cozy storefront with a rug and easy chairs amid the bookshelves, two laid-back dogs for company, a bulletin board and a rack of magazines, tapes and records. It’s a relaxed place. The only thing that seems to make Marano stiffen is “when someone opens up a hard cover and it immediately goes crack .”

Ran Sci-Fi Bookstore

Marano managed A Change of Hobbit, a science-fiction bookstore in Santa Monica, for five years before starting Dangerous Visions. “I did all the ordering, all the returns. I moved the store to its new location. After a while there was nothing new for me to do and I had to move on,” she explained. Before she quit the Hobbit, she considered investing in that store. In fact, Marano and Hobbit owner Sherry Gottlieb are still friends and even cooperate in planning autograph parties and handling overstock.

“But I didn’t want to be tied to her store because it’s too limiting. It’s strictly science fiction. I found myself selling Latin American books out of the back room like they were drugs or something.”

Marano’s stock is dominated by science fiction, new hard-cover books and new and used paperbacks, with the Latin American and other literature displayed along one wall. In a back room, she stacks old issues of science-fiction magazines. “I never return books to their publishers. I will hold on to them long after they have gone out of print,” she said.

‘Stock Everything I Can’

When it comes to Latin American literature, Marano said, “I stock everything I can find.” Although her section seems small compared to the science-fiction selection, she gets referrals from other bookstores because she carries a broad selection. “I have some people who come here just for the Latin stuff,” she noted. Marano does not read Spanish, so everything here is in translation. “Many of the translators, like Gregory Rabassa, are writers themselves so it is more of a collaboration than a translation.”

Marano was introduced to Latin American fiction by her friend Ellison, the science-fiction writer. “He would call me up at 8 in the morning and read me passages from ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ and ‘The Obscene Bird.’ He kept saying, ‘You have to read this,’ and when I finally did I was amazed.

“I’ve gotten a lot of my science-fiction people hooked on Latin American fiction. I don’t know if it’s the graphics on the covers or that I’ve pushed the stuff on them so long. I find that I break them in with Jorge Amado. ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ can be trickier. I always tell them to put a bookmark in the front where the genealogy is.”

Marano finds that science-fiction readers are very receptive to the “magic realism” of Latin American books. “The magic takes place in daily things which are accepted as run-of-the-mill. In ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude,’ no one thinks about the man with the butterflies following him.

“Part of the interest in Latin American literature among science-fiction people has come out of science-fiction writers Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm, a husband-and-wife team who went to Brazil to teach writing. What’s going to come of that cross? I can’t wait.”

Marano likes to “play with people’s heads” but finds that “owning a bookstore is much work.” She works seven days a week, either in the shop or at home. She has five limited partners who give her free rein in running the store.

Marano is quick to note that a key to her success in a field known for quick and sad failures is that old saw: location. “I picked this location because of Scene of the Crime,” she says. Scene of the Crime, a block away, specializes in mysteries.

Since opening five years ago, Marano has seen other book shops follow her lead. Bread and Roses, a feminist bookstore, is nearby, and a children’s book and toy shop is directly across the street. “What we need around here now is a really good used bookstore,” she observed.

Took Midday Siesta

It took a while for the shop to get on its feet. “When we first opened, I used to lock the door in the middle of the day and take a siesta. It was that slow. I could never do that now. It took about three years before I really felt that the store was going to work,” she said. Now her shop is a hangout for local science-fiction writers as well as readers. Marano is a clearinghouse of gossip in the field. “Writers like Robert Bloch, John Shirley, Norman Spinrad, come in all the time. We all talk about literary trends, science and who’s doing what to whom.”

Not all her customers are hard-core science fiction addicts--yet. For newcomers, she has an 11-page reading list, broken down by categories and with cross references. Part of the shop’s draw is Marano’s and her employees’ strong opinions on books, as well as their willingness to guide readers to favorites. “I’ll ask them what they’ve read. If they haven’t read science fiction, I’ll ask them what else they’ve read,” Marano said. “There are so many sub-categories of science fiction.

“I love it when parents come in and they say they don’t know what to buy for their kids. I know,” she said, smiling. Marano sells more than just science-fiction books for young readers, buying whatever appeals to her. For older children, she stocks two spinning cases filled with science fiction for the young-at-heart such as Andre Norton and Robert Heinlein books. “They’ll be in print forever. I started reading them when I was 9.”

Hottest Books

For adults, Marano says the hottest books she sells are by Clive Barker, a British writer, and Piers Anthony. She routinely puts up little signs (“We dare you to read this book”) on personal favorites and sells 50 or 60 copies this way. “Nobody complains. They like the challenge,” she said.

Marano has found that book signings are another good marketing tool. “We do at least one a month. We have a good time, no matter how well-attended they are. At a good signing I sell hundreds of books. I don’t just have the one book, but all the other books by the same author. I generally don’t do signings for first-time authors. When we had Harlan Ellison and Larry Niven here, together, we had two lines in the store and one running down the sidewalk. Signings are definitely profitable.”

One Locked Case

One case is glass-enclosed and locked. That is where Marano keeps her rare books. “When I opened, I didn’t have that case at all. Now I’ve got over 500 items, books, manuscripts and original proofs, and I’m putting out my first catalogue.” Prices for her rare books range from $20 to $600. The top price is for a first-edition British import by Roger Zelazny. Stephen King’s “The Gunslinger” sells for $550. “But it’s a limited edition, signed and in very, very hot demand,” Marano explained.

Besides the 24,000 titles in the store, Marano has a personal library at home of 19,000 volumes. “I have much more Latin American at home, most of it out of print.” She confesses to reading “one-tenth to one-fifth” of her own collection.