Library Planet

Library Planet is a chapbook and novel by Tom Hendricks. Fifty copies of it were published on June 24, 2004 by the zine Musea. Library Planet is a complete short novel of 25 pages, but also a section of a larger work in progress entitled, "Writings in Science". As it says on the cover, "Within these pages you'll find a sci-fi adventure, a gothic tale of suspense, a mystery, a quest, a romance, and a 1,000 libraries to house them in. A story so vast it requires a Library Planet."

A federation of planets are now splitting up. And none of them want to continue the upkeep of a federation library planet. A rich industrialist , Street And Smith, buys it and lives there alone spending all his time visiting the many alien libraries - each different in a way that reflects that planet's heritage. Part of the fun of the novel is visiting all these separate alien libraries. Then one day a ghostly experience happens and ....

First line: "I'm a solitary man, somewhere over 200 - who counts with 3 or 4 hundred left..... I'm a wealthy man - so much so that I control my life and every moment in it, and most of the lives of those around me (when I allow them to be around me.) I live where I choose and do what I want. I love to read. Reading is my pleasaure, and my expenses, and my life. Bibliophile? Perhaps to the power of one thousand!..."