There is a certain downtown chain bookstore here in Hamilton that has a bad habit of putting Thomas Pynchon’s new novels out on the shelves well before their release dates. Back in 2006 I buy Against the Day from them five days before it comes out. And on Friday a gleeful Laura buys Pynchon’s new Inherent Vice from this same store, though it’s not supposed to go on sale until next Tuesday, the fourth of August. Booksellers are not allowed to sell books in advance like this, especially when we’re talking about famously reclusive authors and their [somewhat] hotly-anticipated, [somewhat] secrecy-enshrouded new works. I’m told that publishers demand strict adherence to street dates, and promise terrible fines for retailers who ignore them. All I can say is: Bad chain bookstore, very bad chain bookstore. No cookie for you.