The Book Guys

categories: Cocktail Hour

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NOT BILL AND DAVE

I am about to head out for a week on the San Juan River.  To paraphrase Abbey, “Saving the world is a good hobby.  But I’m going down the river.”

Yesterday, a marathon drive from Hurricane, Utah to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  One of the high points was when the Car Guys came on the radio.  Which reminded me that I had an old, unused post hidden back somewhere in the Bill and Dave files.  Which reminded me I could be lazy and post it here:

Many of you are no doubt fascinated by the origin story of Bill and Dave’s.  Not the origins of our cartoon superhero alter egos, but our humble selves.

It started at Holy Cross, where Bill was teaching and had me in to speak.  We did a Q and A in front of his class, and I think we were a little funny, maybe even pretty funny.  Anyway, we were pleased with ourselves. We had a good rapport and afterward one of us said: “We should do a radio show together.  Like the Car Guys.’

“Ya,” said the other.  “Except we’d be the Book Guys.”

We quickly sketched it out.  People would call in with their book problems—the carbeurator was clogged on their novella or the in-valve for their sonnet wasn’t working.  And like the famous goofballs from MIT we would kick around a few possible solutions and have a few laughs.  The trouble was that no one was offering us a radio show at the time.  So later that evening—over drinks, appropriately—it occurred to us that we might be able to start up a website.  About which we knew absolutely nothing.

But like brave cavemen we ventured into the new world of technology.  Armed with old-style drawings and old style essays and bill’s nascent filmmaking, we ventured tentatively into this unfamiliar territory.

But one thing that we’ve forgotten from that long ago first day is the idea of making reader questions central.  So please send them along.  Any questions you have about the whole book-making thing.  Is you carb clogged?  Let us know.  We’re the Book Guys after all.