In a week of sad news on the pulp front, PulpFest regretfully has more to add. PulpFest dealer Greg Ketter’s DreamHaven Books has been vandalized, with significant damage to the store’s interior and inventory.
According to our 2013 Munsey Award winner, Garyn G. Roberts:
Greg and Lisa Ketter have been my dear friends since I first walked into their store — DreamHaven Books of Minneapolis — in the fall of 1986.
DreamHaven is located on East 38th Street in what was once an absolutely beautiful setting. I have been in touch with Greg every day for the last three days. Last night, I saw DreamHaven’s neighborhood — I know the buildings, architecture, artwork, and more very well — burning on television news.
Earlier today, I spoke with an absolutely devastated Greg. He had been secluded in his store’s basement, working and hiding out in recent days. His beautiful store was vandalized last night. Glass was broken and bookcases turned over. There were several attempts to start a fire, but none caught. Greg was quite choked up as he supplied me with details. He said, though, “I will survive, Garyn.” I reminded him that Virginia and I could be there in 4 and 1/2 hours if needed. I assured him that we love him and his wife, Lisa, and that we are here for them.
Ray Bradbury once told me that while books are very important, there is something even more important: the people behind the books. Greg and Lisa are family, and I am praying for them.
Not many people like books as much as I do, but I love all of you even more. I will not wait any longer to tell you all that.
An independent bookseller for over forty years, DreamHaven Books was founded in 1977. Specializing in new and used science fiction, fantasy, horror, film and media books, comics, and graphic novels, DreamHaven was described as “A book seeker’s cave of miracles,” by the late Harlan Ellison. Over the years, DreamHaven has been a significant presence at both PulpFest and the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention.
Sadly, two other Minneapolis bookstores located about two miles from DreamHaven — Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s — were destroyed by fire. In business since 1974, Don Blyly’s Uncle Hugo’s had been the nation’s oldest surviving science fiction bookstore. Mike Glyer’s File 770 has more on these tragic events.
Our heart goes out to Greg and Lisa Ketter and the entire DreamHaven Books family, as well as Don Blyly of Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s.
(The December 1970 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION featured one of Mel Hunter’s more poignant paintings of his signature robot. Hunter’s automaton debuted on the October 1955 issue of the now seventy-year-old digest magazine. The robot continued to appear on the magazine into the early 1970s, gracing its covers for one last time on the May 2003 number. PulpFest 2018 used one of Mel Hunter’s robot paintings for its annual postcard and welcome banner.)
