Gregory Maguire, the supremely talented author of Wicked, had a reading and discussion of his new book, The Next Queen of Heaven, at McNally Jackson Books last night. The novel is about a gay choir leader, an ancient order of nuns, and a dysfunctional Christmas pageant. Sounds pretty cool right? What do you think McNally Jackson was charging for the books?

Nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nada. 

The book is published by the Concord Free Press. The press was founded in 2008 by Stona Fitch, who spoke at the reading. The press operates entirely on donations; they publish two books a year and give them away for free. But readers must pass on the book when they are done. Their goal is to promote literacy and giving in general. They ask that the money you would have spent buying the book instead be spent on a charity. Maguire joked that charity could be six dollars for a baby on the street crying for more milk.

Maguire read the first chapter of his new novel and part of the thirteenth chapter. He was very entertaining in his reading. He acted out every part he read. At one point, he was screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs- but only as the character of course. During the discussion, he hinted that the Next Queen of Heaven might end up being a Broadway play. He also joked that he wanted to write about somewhere weird and the only place weirder than Oz is upstate New York (the setting of the novel).

I think Concord Free Press has a novel idea. I question the success of what they are doing though. They are only publishing twenty-five hundred copies. Chances are, the people who are going out of their way to find the book are true book-lovers or collectors. I doubt they will want to part with a first edition novel by the author of Wicked. Most people will not have access to this book. So while they may be promoting literacy, nobody is going to end up reading the book. Seems counterintuitive to me. But who am I to judge? I still think Maguire is a genius, even if he takes part in the misguided endeavor of the Concord Free Press.