- Bakka-Phoenix
Bakka-Phoenix Science Fiction Bookstore is a small
independent bookstore inToronto, Ontario , which specializes inscience fiction andfantasy literature.It was started on Toronto's then-bohemian
Queen Street West in 1972 as a combined science-fiction and comic book store called Bakka, a name taken by founding owner Charles McKee from aFremen legend inFrank Herbert 's novel "Dune"; Bakka was "the weeper who mourns for all mankind." The comic-book business split off early on, becoming the Silver Snail, still extant on the opposite side of Queen Street West. Bakka used to have a substantial stock of used, as well as new, books, but when Jack Brooks left the store, the emphasis shifted almost entirely to new material; Brooks now runs his own, entirely used, bookstore, Brooks' Books, inOakville, Ontario . Unlike many other SF specialty stores, Bakka has remained almost exclusively a bookstore; it does not sell toys, games, comics, memorabilia, or collectibles.Its third owner, Ben Freiman, bought the company in 2003 and gave the store its current name.
Several noted Canadian science fiction and fantasy authors, including
Robert J. Sawyer ,Tanya Huff ,Michelle Sagara ,Cory Doctorow , andNalo Hopkinson , have been employed by the store. In 2002, in honor of the store's 30th anniversary, "The Bakka Anthology ", containing new stories by all of these writers, with an introduction bySpider Robinson , was published. The anthology was edited by Kristen Pederson Chew, and was the final volume released under the "Bakka Books" imprint, established by then-owner John Rose.The store first opened at 282 Queen Street West in Toronto, moved in March 1998 to 598
Yonge Street in Toronto (in the same building as theLGBT bookstore Glad Day), and relocated in March 2005 to 697 Queen Street West in Toronto. Intriguingly, this move was predicted in 1998'sHugo Award -nominated "Factoring Humanity", byRobert J. Sawyer , set early in the 21st century, which says, "Kyle continued on until he came to Bakka. The store had started on Queen West in 1972, had moved away a quarter-century later, and now was back, not far from its original location."The manager of the store is Chris Szego.
External links
* [http://www.bakkaphoenixbooks.com/ Official website]
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