Writers love to read perhaps more than any other subset of people. Writers can appreciate what it takes to produce a play, poem, novel or newspaper story. When writers aren’t writing for themselves, most of them are reading.

Even as a kid, I used birthday and holiday money for books. In no way did I feel I was wasting my money because books could be read and re-read. As an adult, I still buy books, but my budget and space limitations make buying all the books I want to read impractical, so I buy some I wish to keep in my personal library and I borrow others from friends and the library system.

One of the authors whom I buy is Carl Hiaasen. He writes funny and his stories and characters are captivating. I pre-ordered his new book months ago and when I found he was to be in Pensacola tonight, I thought perhaps the paper might be able to do a brief interview to accompany our book review on Aug. 12. I called the bookstore where he will read from his book and found out the name, phone number and email of his publishing house publicist. I was told by the bookstore the Pensacola daily paper had been granted press access and I figured maybe all press would be herded off into a room for a short Q &A with the author to save time.

I told the publicist The Beachcomber is the only paper in two counties doing book reviews by local writers, rather than relying on wire service reporters and we have received numerous emails thanking us for steering readers in one direction or another. I directed her to our website where she could read some of the reviews if she chose. I suggested our reviews help to sell books because they do. Other readers have told us this.

She was unimpressed. She told us he would be unavailable for an interview, no matter how short. I was crushed. Sure, it’s true The Beachcomber is not some giant corporate newspaper, but we are dedicated to arts and entertainment and for many reading is entertainment. I would put up our book reviews up against any being printed in any newspaper anywhere. Every one of our book reviewers is a writer and a lover of words. They know what is good and what is not. With five writers doing book reviews, the variety of personalities allows us to cover fiction and non-fiction according to the interests of the writer. Plus, we are damn good at it. We buy the books we review, rather than waiting weeks until we can get them from the library, thus spurring on the book market.

I intend to send a letter to Carl Hiaasen in care of the Miami Herald detailing the short shrift we got from his publicist. As a newspaper person himself, he will understand my fury and my disappointment. I doubt he has much control over his schedule, but next time out he can tell his publicist he wants to be available to newspaper people when possible. It’s not often a writer with his stature and sales record comes anywhere near our corner of the universe and I think it is short-sighted of his publicist not to grant access to all of the media.

One thing readers in Okaloosa County with computers might like to know is that you can now order books from the public library over your computer. Simply visit www.readokaloosa.org and go to the online catalog. There you will find Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen and you can add yourself to the waiting list. It won’t be as fast as going to the local bookstore, but it will be free.

Alternately, you can get in touch with me and I’ll loan you my copy as soon as the current borrower is finished. Two can play the dismissal game and Random House did a disservice to their bottom line when they dismissed us as unworthy of their author’s time.

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