Mr. America, walk on by your schools that do not teach. Mr. America, walk on by the minds that won’t be reached. Mr. America try to hide the emptiness that’s you inside. But once you find that the way you lied and all the corny tricks you tried will not forestall the rising tide of hungry freaks, daddy! “Hungry Freaks Daddy” written by Frank Zappa

I have led a charmed life. Seeing old friends pop up unexpectedly on television (et al) happens with some frequency, and that’s really cool.

For example, a week ago Saturday, I awoke to the sight of comics and s-f retailer Greg Ketter on MS Now’s Ali Velshi program, perceived as left-wing by those who are too insecure to think for themselves and are cool with the recent murders of Minneapolis citizens. What I’ve seen on his show is truth.

I first met Greg some four decades ago at various midwestern conventions. Even well after I moved out East and degenerated in age and attitude, at the very least, I would go to the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, a swell weekender where a couple hundred old fogies would gather to drool over the great stuff imposed upon the remains of slaughtered flora. Given the likelihood that I was the second youngest person at the show, I thought better of going into that small, ill-conditioned dealers room during Covid.

I said “second youngest.” Greg Ketter is a couple years younger than me. After bloviating with a bevy of friends like George Hagenauer, Anthony Tollin, and Jim Engel, I’d make a beeline to Greg’s table. I enjoy talking with him immensely, but I enjoy gawking at his wares all the more. It is a sea of wonderful science fantasy books, astonishing fantasy art tomes, and strange and heretofore unknown publications. I always had so much fun that when I would be short on funds I never even considered boosting a few items. This fanboy can offer a retailer no higher praise.

Greg runs DreamHaven Books, an amazing bookstore in Minneapolis that handles his stock in trade, including comic books. He’s been at it since, I believe, 1979 — I had been to his store a couple times, but I believe it was in a different location.

No doubt you noted the words Velshi, Minnesota and murder, and you know exactly where I am heading.

DreamHaven Books is very close to the site where George Floyd was murdered, and the subsequent demonstrations caused some damage to the store; damage from which Greg fully recovered. Things were a little tense in town, as eleven people were killed by police between 2010 and the fatal Floyd knee drop. Since Minneapolis is perceived as the starting point for the Black Lives Matter movement, I guess Trump and his fellow fascists think less of the town, as evidenced by their recent activities.

After the murders of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, Greg decided to join his fellow citizens in a show of anger that continues to be exhibited today. Ketter is 71 years old, a time when a many of us tend to look like hippies, and he was quoted as saying he was just an old man who had had enough.

I could not put that better myself.

A week later, Velshi had Greg on his show as the honoree of his weekly banned book club. Having given up my subscription to Reader’s Digest when the Vietnam War started, I find Ali’s program to be particularly educational. But last Saturday he honored not a writer of banned books but a seller of same. And not just any bookseller, but also a person who is willing to stand up for his beliefs — even in weather so frighteningly cold that most Americans wouldn’t think of going out even to get laid. My hat’s off to Velshi.

Lots of comics and science fiction novels have been removed from libraries, including the usual suspects such as Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984. This is our culture being held hostage. Selling those books is Greg Ketter’s vocation. After his media coverage, Greg received a shitload of donations from worthy citizens and, seeing that his store already was in great shape, he donated all of these contributions to local Minneapolis food pantries and social service organizations. Every penny.

Greg, you do our little donut shop proud… and I, for one, am very proud to know you.

Thank you, my friend.