Updated: 24 April, 2008

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Bookstore Tour
Elizabeth's guide to signing shelf stock in Austin

Austin has many bookstores (http://www.thecityofaustin.com/book/ but this list is a little out of date--doesn't list the big new Borders at Esperanza Crossing), some handier to reach than others. Here's a list of the major large stores that might repay a visit to sign shelf stock, with a suggested route that will swing past most of them. It would be a good idea to call ahead to find out if your books are in stock. Cap Metro (http://www.capmetro.org) has bus service from downtown to some of these locations, but changes its schedules too frequently for me to give you details now.

The Austin area has a lot of road construction and some new toll roads (Grrr) some of which can be used only if you have a "TX-tag"; others will accept cash. If the sign says a road you want to use is for TX-tag only, they mean it. (Grrr.) I do not use the toll roads, so I am not completely familiar with which entrances require TX-tags. Construction continues as I write this. (Grrr.) The Central Texas Turnpike System map (http:www.centraltexasturnpike.org/ctts/map.aspx) shows roughly where these are or how to get around them and is supposed to have up to date information on construction, roads opening and (somewhere) what the tolls are. (Did I remember to say Grrr?)

North of the River:

Book People, 6th and Lamar, (512) 472-5050, will host the mass signing. Lovely, big store, friendly staff. Accessible from 6th (westbound one way--be in right lane) or Lamar northbound (be in right lane.) Across 6th from Whole Foods giant store, and across Lamar from a Waterloo Icehouse.

BookStop, 4001 Lamar just north of 38th, (512) 452-9541, easiest to enter and exit when northbound on Lamar (right lane, right turn in to shopping area.) Smaller than the others on this list, but by no means a hole-in-the-wall. Across Lamar, for camera bugs, is Precision Camera & Video, my favorite optical-stuff store.

BookWoman, 5501 A105 N. Lamar, Austin, TX 78751, (512) 472-2785. This feminist bookstore is friendly, but does not have a large selection of SF/fantasy. Check to see if they have your books in stock before stopping by to sign stock.

Borders Books & Music, 3309 Esperanza Crossing (access from Burnet Road and Braker Lane)--easiest to access from Braker Lane going west, or Burnet Road either north or south, but reasonably easy to turn into from Braker going east (there's a light at the entrance road. It's a bit tricky once you turn in, since the obvious entrance, to the right, is to the industrial park side of the property, formerly part of IBM. Stay to the left; the shopping center (Esperanza Crossing) is ahead on the left. It's easiest to park and get in and out of by going left into the Borders side of the complex. This is the big Borders on the north side of Austin. Note that the map on the Borders website will lead you astray...that's how I ended up spending an hour trying to get to it.

Barnes & Noble, Arboretum, 10000 Research (US 183), (512) 418-8985. Easiest to access from 183 south (take Braker/Great Hills exit) but there's a loop-around from 183 north. Parking's often tight here, but it's a great store and worth squirming through the silly lanes and lots of the Arboretum. Same shopping center, nearer the Renaissance Hotel, is a Chico's, and the same center also has Amy's Ice Cream (Austin tradition.)

Follett’s Intellectual Property, 2402 Guadalupe Street, Austin, (512) 478-0007. This is one I know nothing about and haven't ever visited.

Short loop: these stores (or any combination of them) can be done in a fairly simple loop.

Long loop north:

Barnes & Noble, La Frontera Village, Round Rock (512) 600-0088. The northernmost big Barnes & Noble. La Frontera is just west of I-35 and north of a toll road/1325 complex. Take the 1325 exit from I-35, stay in one of the left-turn lanes and turn left onto 1325. Then move to a right lane to turn into the La Frontera entrance. The store is worth the struggle to get to it (construction in this area really messed up businesses that were thriving north of 1325, making it impossible to get to them for months at a time.) If you go straight there from the hotel, up I-35, it's not quite 17 miles and will probably take 20 minutes in low-traffic times of the day. If Frank's still the manager and CSR, he's a big SF fan and a great guy.

Barnes & Noble, The Homestead, Lakeline Crossing, (412) 249-5644, on 183 North, one block north of 620, in The Homestead shopping center, which really looks as if it's part of Lakeline Mall (there's a complex of shopping centers.) Small but good. From 183 (north or southbound at ground level) turn west onto Lakeline Crossing and then into its parking lots. If coming up the 183 expressway from the south, Lakeline is the last non-toll exit and you will turn left. If coming south on 183, do not enter the expressway portion; stay at ground level and to the right.

South of the River:

Borders Books & Music. 4477 S. Lamar, (512) 891-8974; easiest to access while going south on Lamar. Kind of old and beat-up area. South Lamar, like South Congress, is undergoing development and losing a lot of its Austin flavor...see it while you can.

Borders Books & Music. 9500 S. I-35 (easiest to access while going south on I-35 access road.) I haven't been to this store--it's way south and I live way north.

Barnes & Noble, Westlake, 701 S. Capitol of Texas highway (tricky entrance; the shopping center it's in is hard to see from your road until you're almost past it; there is a light with a left-turn lane into it, however.)

Barnes & Noble, Sunset Valley, 5601 Brodie Lane (ditto on the hard to see--the store is kind of hidden behind other stores that front on Brodie), (512) 892-1580

Contact by email or phone--no physical location:

Adventures in Crime & Space
www.crimeandspace.com/

Lame Excuse Books
home.austin.rr.com/lperson/lame.html

--Elizabeth Moon

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