[Steven Lyle Jordan]

"Wow. These guys really are everywhere," I couldn't help but say.

Amy glanced at me wryly, and walked inside, following the proprietor. "Try to keep up," she said.

"All right, I'll bite," I said. "Why a Starbucks?"

The proprietor looked at me. "Boy, this is the future for writers. Where else can you spend time in a public place, with free internet connections, sit at a private table, pound on your keyboard all day long, and still be considered cool?"

"Um... libraries?"

He made a rude noise through his lips. "Geeks hang at libraries. Luddites hang at libraries. Why? To see sexy librarians? They aren't there any anymore!" He made a face, and muttered more softly, "Trust me, I've looked." Then more forcefully, "They've all become sexy business associates that hang at Starbucks!"

"Hadn't thought of that..."

"You were in the castle too long."

"The what?"

"The castle... the publishing castle," Amy explained. "You were in there with the rest of the elite, the royalty that ran the publishing empires, while the peasants have been out here, shut out by the publishing elite, toiling away in the muck. It's been that elite attitude that has kept the publishers isolated from the rest of the world for so long. Resisting the winds of change."

"But someday," the proprietor added, "the peasants here will rise up and storm the castle, and those inside will find themselves the guests of honor at the re-enactment of the French Revolution!" He raised a pudgy hand, straightened his palm like a blade, and brought it down on the back of his neck.

"Back to Starbucks," I urged.

"Oh... right. Look around you. Here, people can be smart, and attractive, and private, and pretentious, and connected, and supportive of the economy, all at the same time. And through the windows, you can see the world going by... they are in the middle of what's happening! That means they can know the world, and they can write what they know!"

"If you want to write about pedestrians," I mused, though only now had I noticed that this Starbucks, approximately three stories underground, actually had picture windows that looked out onto a street!

Before I could ask about that, though, Amy had noticed my reaction. "Display screens. Cameras up on the street are capturing the street scenes in real time, and broadcasting them down here."

"What's above us?" I asked. "It's not a real Starbucks, is it? That would blow my irony meter right to hell."

"No," Amy said. "If people were coming in and out of a real Starbucks upstairs, it would eventually blow our cover. The street entrance is a place where no one ever goes anymore."

"Where's that?"

"A XXX video store."

"Ah. So, what happens now?"

"Well," the proprietor said, "from here you can create your new obscure literary reference screen name and avatar, set up your website, your MySpace page, your You-Tube page, your Yahoo page, and your Second Life page... establish your PayPal account... start programming your interactive videos... assemble your viral marketing campaign... get a latte... poll the marketplace to choose which of the approximately 200 conversion programs you plan to use... set up a blog to trade ad space with other bloggers... buy vintage Sinatra CD at the counter... download your bootleg education copy of InDesign... and, um... write."

"What? What if I don't want to do all that?"

"Well, you can always get a frapp instead..." the proprietor shrugged.

Amy interrupted him. "What did you think you'd have to do, to sell books outside of the publishing castle? Did you think you'd just have to sign on to some obscure fanboy forum, and hope the world would beat a path to your door?"

"Um..."

"Welcome to the 21st century... log onto Craigslist and buy a clue! We are on our own out here! No one is going to come waltzing into your local malt shop and 'discover' you! If you want to write, you have to work hard at it! You have to do all the things the publishers used to do for you!"

Then, Amy moved closer to me, and whispered lightly, "Or... you could help us."

"Help you to do what?"

"We're going to bring down the publishing castle," she said. "We're going to level the playing field... for everyone." Even pitched as low as her voice was, many of the patrons looked up expectantly from their laptops and PDAs and waited for Amy's next words.

I asked, "How are you going to do that?"

Amy smiled. "We're going to take away their ability to print."